It is sweet. I hate to ask, how does it do on speed bumps and on getting up driveways? Around here, the bumps are 6 or more inches high. Does it still clear?
Thanks
Chris

 

Not normally an aftermarket lowering kinda guy myself...but I must say the factory Lightning looks great low...

 

FatherFord,
Looks good man!! Love that color! hehe
I dont care if its lifted, lowered, wild, mild or just stock.
I like them all.
As far as you mentioning the DJM haters out there. Feel the same way about that too. Dont care how you get there DJM, McGaugheys or Ground Force. All that matters is that your happy with it.
And for people saying trucks are made for work and off road stuff. Well, maybe so, but there are trends out there and the Sport Truck look has been around for a long time, dont think its going anywhere soon either.
And yes I do take mine off road. Dont really do any 4x4 stuff but we go camping alot with our scout troop and we're always driving back to wooded campsites and through mud and stuff, lol. Also pull a boat and a camper during the summer.
Again, I love them all. Just make sure its a Ford.

 

Like a champ. Wondering though how much clearence ill have rolling on my 26" tall nittos though

 

Did you install the DJM kit yourself? I found that the instructions are total BS, they gave me one fricking page to read, 1 sided page!!!! And I mean, it had ***** like... remove axle leaf spring bolts and now install under axle. Im like WTF, no *****? that was easy. I actually had to remove the fuel tank to remove the bolt on the driver side. My pinion agle is totally phucked too, I have to fix that now. Also, the leaf springs had 2 centering bolts that also held the leaf spings all together, it didnt say which bolt I had to remove, I thought that maybe I had to wrong kit, so I had to experiment on which to remove, I had to trim down the bolt aswell for it to fit to center the leafs in place. I was phucking pissed to say the least. It took me 4 hours to get only the rear done, and yet I have to remove it again on Monday to adjust my pinion angle and install the shocks in the rear and get my control arms on, cause I didnt have enough time to do the front. I have installed frlip kits before, so its not like I am a n00b or anything. I work at Ford dealership, so I ahve access to lifts, hydrolic stands and such, and yet this was a pain. Sorry to vent, lol

hope you had better experience with yours. I must say though, I only have the rear dropped, it says 5 inch kit (I got the flip kit and 1 inch raising shackle) but it seems to only have lowerd it like 3.5 - 4 inches. The front isnt lowered and the rear only looks to be like an inch lower the front. It sure does look ALOT better dropped though, AND I can actually see smaller cars behind me when backing up and such, the rear of these trucks are so damn high. Im waiting on my 22's too, I should be posting pictures of it soon...

edited for bad language

 

No problems with my install. Went on great. Had it all done in 4 hours or so. I too had to grind a little on my flip bracket to fit over the hole. No biggy. My instructions said which bolt to remove and flip around I just used torch to cut my driver side bolt. Had my pinion angle right on also. Luck maybe? My rear dropped an easy 5"s.

 

Which bolt did you leave on the leaf spring to center them? I left the rear bolt cause it seemed to go on easier, hopefully it was the right one.

I will have the control arms installed on Monday aswell, they looked easy to install. Did you have to align it after you where done?
Im pretty sure I know what to do on Monday to straighten out my driveline angle. Did you have to use angle shims for the angle to be right?
I only had 4 hours to do all this at work, being that it was saturday, we close at 4 and I got all my stuff from FedEx at noon, so needless to say I was rushing it too.

 

Oh and just to make sure... The lifting shakle does go in the rear of the leaf right? Im pretty sure it does, but again, I had no instructions to tell me otherwise

 

Unbolt and flip the rear one so the nut is on the bottom. Leave out the front one.

Yes you will have to get the truck aligned.

You arent required to have shims for this setup. You adjust your pinion angle by the top plate that sits on top of the axle. You adjust the two bolts on the front/rear side of the axle to make the pinion angle change. You might have to loosen up your U bolts to do this. Make sure the truck is sitting at ride height(you need the front control arms on to do this). You just need to make sure the drive shaft is straight with the rear.

Yes they go into the rear. Make sure and lube those and the front up nice. Tighten any of the poly-urathane stuff while the truck is sitting on the ground. Helps keep from binding.

Control arms:
http://www.djmsuspension.com/Instruc.../CA3204L-2.pdf

Flip kit:
http://www.djmsuspension.com/Instruc...p/FK3204-6.pdf

 

thats one reason i want to lower my truck. I debated about keepin my 2000 f-150 4x4 and lowering it for all wheel drive. though all the 4x4 purists were goin to have a heartattack.

then i started lookin at the 2005 lariat and love the center console shift. so i have decided to trade in the truck and lower the 05 with either A)mcgaughys or B) the socal lowering kit

I want to put either 285/50/20 or some 22s on it when lowered.

i load my bikes and or my dogs into the truck-3 rottweilers

who else has used the mcgaughys lowerin kit? any comments? anyone used the kit from socal speedshop?

 

Yeah I insisted on the flow thru console. They had plenty of black on black lariats but most of them were screw styles with tiny beds and such. I insisted on the center console, a 6.5" bed and a 5.4L V8. NO sunroof, and in an scab configuration...thats all I asked and thats what I got.

 

Thanks for the links, should help some

 

yeah me also. It was hard to find a lariat 2wd that was "Stripped down" in a supercab with a 6.5' bed. luckily i found 2 within 20 miles of my house. One in dark red(maroon) and one in the aspen green. I took the dark red with the black interior. My current 4x4 is black and didnt enjoy keepin it clean since it was parked on the street 24/7. im figurin the maroon will hide the dirt better.

i was lookin for a stone with black interior and capt chairs but it seems that locally they are all with tan interior.

how do you like the mcgaughys kit? hows the ride with it? im lookin at it or the socal speedshop kit to put on my truck.

 

I had the dealer do a "dealer trade" to get what I wanted. The hardest part was getting the 3.73 gears in a limited slip in the color config I wanted.
As for the suspension, I love it. Ride quality is just about stock and the only thing that changed the ride characteristics is the tires. Kinda wish I got 45 series tires for a little more tire abosorbsion but its still very nice. Handles great with little body roll.

 

How close are you to rubbing/bottomin out with the current size? I was thinkin of runnin 285/50/20 when i lower mine next week but if there is some room there i might goto 22s. i just saw a pic on socalsupertrucks.com website of a guy runnin 305/35/24 on a 2004 black supercrew with a 2/5 groundforce lowering kit.

I was goin to get the 3..73 but i dont tow anything so it wasnt a necesity to me though i might change the gearing later on.

i want the ease of loadin the bikes in the bed though im tryin to find a decent tonneau cover that is removeable when not dealin with the bikes.