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All Inclusive Do's, Don'ts, Common Lift Questions, Reference Pictures, etc.
As some of you may have noticed the old sticky no longer contains the information it used too, so I went through and compiled all the old threads into this one! Hope it helps!
Coil Spring Front Suspension (97-03 & 04 Heritage F150) (2WD) You can lift with the use of:
You can lift with the use of:
You can lift with the use of:
Do not stack blocks under the front leaf springs, it messes with the steering and create's a stress point which can cause them to crack. Instead consider either lift leaf springs, lift hangars, or mini-leaf packs. I highly recommend the Performance Accesories body lift in the 3" size if your considering one, due to the fact it comes with bumper relocation brackets and instructions are readily available. If you can't do the install, it's not cheap. It can range 500 (on the really cheap side) all the way up. If the truck is excessively beat on or a lot rust of around the cab mounts on the body, I'd say to probably look at another source of lift. The body lift has the potential to, under extreme, circumstance, to cause the body to crack around the mounts or push through the cab completely. Regearing the axle can make differences in a couple areas, like better gas mileage (to an extent) or more power off the line for turning those big tires or towing. Some general things about them are:
Don't run the line's near anything that will get hot (exhaust), anything sharp, or anything that will move in the suspension travel and can pinch it. Having a bag blow or deflate is going to make for a bad day. For the rear suspension you can lift it with the use of:
If you tow big amounts or with big tires frequently definitely consider regearing. It'll give you more power for inclines and it'll take some stress off your transmission. Remember just because an Add-A-Leaf adds a little more weight capacity it doesn't mean you csn haul more than truck is rated for. Generally aftermarket leaf packs can decrease your towing capacity because they're softer but you can have them built to maintain the same capacity. Also big blocks and towing can increase chances for axle wrap. Converting to 4x4 isn't a simple or very cost effective swap, expect to spend about 3k in parts and probably double that in labor if you can't do it yourself. And that's with using junkyard parts, otherwise the sky is the limit price wise. Unless your seriously attached to the truck or your going full show or mud truck and don't care about your base vehicle its more cost effective to just buy another truck to play around in thats 4x4. The only real options are to do a solid axle swap and then either do a leaf front suspension or a 4-link suspension up front, with leaf being the cheaper route and the linked being the better riding one. If your trying to convert from ifs (independent front suspension) to an ifs 4wd suspension, I'd just forget about that idea. The only real feasible way to do this is to literally just do a body swap if you wanna keep your original truck body. Because of the way are frames are designed and the ifs suspension is you almost really need to swap everything from the frame and below. However if your dead set on doing this here's a short/incomplete list of things you'll need:
While I don't recommend these, if your deadset on them the smallest size that can be "safely" run is 1.5". This is the smallest size you can get with the studs already pressed in and it'll still require minor trimming of the stock studs. Some things to note:
And of course if you have any questions or anything you think should be in this thread feel free to post in here or pm me anytime! |
9 Attachment(s)
Note: I played no favorites when choosing pictures for the references. I used the new image search on here and choose the first picture each time that was a good viewing angle and had what lift/tires it had listed with it. If you don't want your trucks picture up on here pm me anytime and I'll promptly take it down.
97-03 4x2 Leveled - Courtesy of 1clean42 Attachment 16678 5" on 33's - Courtesy of GaNole07 Attachment 16679 6.5" on 35's - Me Attachment 16680 8" on 33's - Courtesy of Buxton91 Attachment 16681 12" on 37's - Courtesy of GATOR CREW Attachment 16682 97-03 4x4 Leveled on 35's - Courtesy of woopigsooie Attachment 16683 6" on 35's - Courtesy of 03KingRanch03 Attachment 16684 9" on 38's - Courtesy of JASON'S98S/C4X4 38's Attachment 16685 11" on 38's - Courtesy of bigtruck311 Attachment 16686 These are just reference pictures to give you a general idea of what height your truck could sit with certain wheel/tire combos and lifts. If you want to know more about a certain truck, search for it with the forum search tool. |
6 Attachment(s)
04-08 4x2
Leveled 2.5" - Courtesy of BMWTech Attachment 16672 4" - Courtesy of 6" - Courtesy of bhall1222 Attachment 16673 8" - Courtesy of 04-08 4x4 Leveled - Courtesy of MJG-FX4 Attachment 16674 4" - Courtesy of 6" on 35's - Courtesy of Pockets Attachment 16675 8" on 37's - Courtesy of allrsdup Attachment 16676 10" on 39.5's - Courtesy of Mark Mayes Attachment 16677 These are just reference pictures to give you a general idea of what height your truck could sit with certain wheel/tire combos and lifts. If you want to know more about a certain truck, search for it with the forum search tool. |
4 Attachment(s)
09-13 4x2
Leveled - Courtesy of 4" - Courtesy of 6" - Courtesy of 8" - Courtesy of 09-13 4x4 Leveled 2" - Courtesy of 2009KR Attachment 16668 4" - Courtesy of Desert Dawg Attachment 16669 6" on 35's - Courtesy of TimeLessr1 Attachment 16670 8" - Courtesy of 10" - Courtesy of fx4 for life 79 Attachment 16671 These are just reference pictures to give you a general idea of what height your truck could sit with certain wheel/tire combos and lifts. If you want to know more about a certain truck, search for it with the forum search tool. |
Mod's please delete this post sent Picture to Pizzaman
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Thanks! If anyone else has any pictures I'm missing or you think should be added just drop me a pm with the link to them so this thread doesn't get too cluttered with pictures.
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We really appreciate pizzaman711's willingness to make this compilation. It took a bit of time and work but will assist many in the future. It's guys like this that make this a great community of Ford owners.
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Thanks a lot Bluejay!! The kind words mean a lot!
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Good job man. One thing though, that picture you used of my truck at 8" it was actually on 33's at that time. You might want to edit it to avoid some confusion. If you need a picture of it with 35's on 8" I'll send you one. Fortunately I'm probably one of the few on here that has went through all of the various lift and tire sizes (And taken pictures at that!). haha
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Originally Posted by Buxton91
(Post 4957452)
Good job man. One thing though, that picture you used of my truck at 8" it was actually on 33's at that time. You might want to edit it to avoid some confusion. If you need a picture of it with 35's on 8" I'll send you one. Fortunately I'm probably one of the few on here that has went through all of the various lift and tire sizes (And taken pictures at that!). haha
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Pm will be sent to you shortly peetz. About maybe putting my truck in here with a 13.5'' on 38's. And im very disappointed with some of the pic description's. Why? cause there is no tire size listed in most of them. I know what size they are just by looking at them. But the newbs who are interested wont know and could be a bit frustrating for the little guys (noobs).
I know there is no need for a 13.5'' on 38's pic. Its just an opportunity for me to show off my baby |
Originally Posted by lltoolj02
(Post 4964204)
And im very disappointed with some of the pic description's. Why? cause there is no tire size listed in most of them.
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Theres a few that don't have tire size. I take most back and replace it with a few. And i am not as disappointed. Pizza did a great job with this thread. Props to you sir
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Wow...this post is dang good and very helpful...it obviously took some time and effort...thanks pizzaman...way to represent mechville boys haha....im never really mean or bash on anyone on this site...but lltoolj, come on, your name "tool" is starting to describe you the more and more i read...
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Originally Posted by hunterjh
(Post 4964426)
Wow...this post is dang good and very helpful...it obviously took some time and effort...thanks pizzaman...way to represent mechville boys haha....im never really mean or bash on anyone on this site...but lltoolj, come on, your name "tool" is starting to describe you the more and more i read...
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