Is there a way to tell how much room my front end still has for alignment? I have 3.5" lift spindles and a coil spacer and never ended up getting an alignment because it drives perfect and tires wore perfectly after 30-40,000 miles. I am getting 34" terra grapplers tomorrow (finally!) and thinking I am gonna want to remove the spacer and get either a 2" or 2.5" lift spring to gain a bit more height. I think the limit for the UCA's is 2" but I know I have also seen a few others running the 2.5" springs and got a perfect alignment with the stock UCA's. I am wondering if mine is already towards the end of its adjustment or if I have room and can accomodate them. Looking to get the most lift possible without buying UCA's.

 

So you plan on running 34" tires, by using a combination of different stacked leveling kits? You're not getting a real lift kit with all the components? On who knows what size kind of wheels?

And your only worry is the alignment?

 

Not quite...I want to get rid of the leveling kit and put a longer spring in. Looking for an extra inch or so. The 3.5" spindle kit is a true suspension lift and does not change the suspension angles at all, just drops the wheel down. Im using 17x7.5 oem fx4 wheels. There are several people here running my current setup, I am just wondering if there is a way to see if my truck will accept a 2.5" lift spring instead of the 1-1.5" coil spacer. Limit is sopposed to be 2" but I know there are a couple people on here running the 2.5" wiith stock upper arms. I am hoping it will be ok and thinking that I should have plenty of room for adjustment since I havent already had to adjust it.

 

Does your truck have alignment cams?? And I'd stick with the spacer.....you never know what you are getting with aftermarket coil springs.

 

no, surprisingly I did not have to do anything regarding the alignment. I was and still am surprised, but to this day the truck drives like stock, almost perfectly straight with the wheel straight, and the tires wore perfectly. I guess I got kinda lucky, but if it was off I would have done the alignment. The cams give you even more room for adjustment right? Is there any other options that would give me another inch? Not really interested in a body lift because I think that would lift it too much.

 

The cams are what provide adjustment. Without the cams, the only thing that is adjustable on the suspension is toe-in.

That extra inch is gonna kill your ride....you're gonna loose most of your downtravel and that's where your ride quality comes from. THAT'S why people add upper control arms......to get more downward wheel travel.......not for alignment issues. It's the same deal with 4x4 trucks and torsion bars. You can add about 1.5 inches of lift with your stock keys.....without much of an effect. But when you try to put on aftermarket keys and crank it up to over 2 inches, it kills your ride and destroys your upper ball joints

 

ya that was my other concern...it already has a lack of down travel...its not bad unless I drop off a curb hard or something, BUT you are right on. I didnt realize that the upper control arms allowed more down travel. Sounds like Im gonna have to wait and go ahead and do both. Any suggestions for shocks? Everyone likes bilstein, but I heard they are really stiff. Thanks for your imput!

 

got the tires on today and they are BIG! will post pics tomorrow. They fit without rubbing at all with the valence trimmed. The front looks good, but the back needs a bigger block, (only running a 2" with a little Cali rake) Still I wouldnt mind a bit more in the front. If I went with upper arms and 2.5" springs will it ride better and have more travel? I found a guy on here somewhere, running 2.5" springs AND 1.5" spacers with the upper arms. If I was to get this setup, would longer shocks be a good idea?

 

The shocks stop at pretty much the same point as the control arms. So when you add control arms, you HAVE to get longer shocks. So keep this in mind. If that's the setup you want, it's best to buy it all at once.

Going with the springs AND control arms would put you close to stock in terms of ride quality. Unless you went with a really exotic setup, don't expect much more travel. I mean you'd get more downtravel from the arms, but your 2.5 inch springs are gonna eat that up.

Springs AND spacers?? Don't ya think that would be a bit much??

 

so do you get 4x4 length shocks? I would never do the spring and spacer unless I went with a smaller spring so that I could adjust it, I was just amazed that there was a guy running 4" lift just with springs and spacers.

I was looking at the front suspension yesterday while they were mounting the tires...I could not find a bump stop to limit down travel...It looks like there is a spot on the upper arm that could function as one, but it was atleast an inch above the stop at full droop so I am wondering if the shocks are limiting my current setup or maybe its the upper ball joint angle?

 

The 97-03 2wd trucks used a different lower mounting method than the 4x4.....but other than that, they're the same shock. All 80-96 F-150's, 83-97 Rangers and 97-03 4x4 F-150's use the same basic front shock. The 98-08 Rangers and 97-03 2wd F-150 use a similar shock.....except the lower mount is different. So basically, you can take a shock off an 83 2wd Ranger and put it on an 03 FX4 4x4 F-150. Now, there are exceptions....such as Lightnings and other "special" trucks......but you get what I'm saying.

Yeah, there's a spot on the upper control arm that supposed to make contact with the frame before the upper ball joint maxes out. It's most likely the spot you're referring to. I'm not too familiar with the 2wd, but I know that on a 4x4, the shocks usually limit travel before the control arm bottoms out. According to what you are saying, that seems to be true to the 2wd's also.

So here's what you can do: Unbolt the lower shock mount from the lower control arm. Raise the truck up and remove the wheel so you can see the upper control arm really well. There should be a "bump" on the arm that's bottomed out on the truck frame. Now look at your lower shock mount. There's probably a gap between the bolt holes and the control arm. If the gap is no more than about an inch, you can get some longer bolts to re-attatch the shock and fill in the gap with some washers. This is an easy way to extend your shocks and get a little more droop out of your current setup.

If you go with the aftermarket control arms, the manufacturer usually offers shocks of the correct length to go with their arms.

 

Hope you don't mind if I jump in here. I am new to this site, but very interested in this topic. mxr181, what model year is your truck ? And, If you have pics of the set up that you have discussed that would be great. I have a 2001 super crew 4x2 with a 3 inch spindle lift from Rough Country. The guys there say the 3 inch body lift is the next lift for me, however I would love to use the spacers and a slightly larger block in the back. The say I will have alignment issue (which I need at this point). My questions are: what size spacers would work best to maximize the front end height ( nice and level ) without the alignment, bottoming out issue, ect... mentioned above. I ordered the 3 inch body lift yesterday and plan to use it regardless, but if I can lift it more... well then more is better, right. I also ordered my 35" procomps this morning.
Thanks for the help.

 

You can add a urethane spacer for a little more lift. Alignment would NOT be an issue. Worst case would be you have to get alignment cams for the upper control arms. However, your ride will suffer......and there's no way around that without adding longer shocks, or extending your current shocks.........and possibly adding aftermarket upper control arms