buying a parts truck this weekend so my sas and lift of my truck is going to start soon. been researching a little and cant decide what to do.

coil spring and radius arm setup. found a good set of coil springs for about half the price of the leafs i was looking at. extending the stock radius arms wouldnt be hard to do. read a lot about these setups binding and not flexing much. any insight to this? also could use the steering setup with little modification and the stock spring and shock brackets from the parts truck

leaf springs. this is what i was first thinking of doing. would need a lot more fabbing for brackets and steering. simple design though

 

Run leaf spring front.

make a new hanger across the front of the truck and mount hangers there, then use a shackle on the back.

(if you have the time and knowledge, do the shackle on the FRONT and hanger in the back this will give the suspension an upper hand advantage over obsticles)

Id run a 2.5" wide leaf spring for a softer ride.

also you will want to run crossover steering, you will want a Drop Pitman Arm (Jesse @ Farmboy Fabrications can get you this for a great price) Google Farmboy Fabrications, get his number and tell him what you need.

They dont make Drop Pitman arms for 97-03 F150's but Jesse knows which one will work, i bought my 4" Drop Pitman Arm from him.

Id also run Heim Joints for the whole steering setup, much stronger. The tie-rod and drag link should be in the same plane this will help eliminate bump steer.

Farmboy Fabrications has a SAS kit for our trucks id talk to Jesse about that aswell.

 

What kind of axle and what's it out of?

For example, if you have say a 78-79 f150 d44 then radius arms will be the way to go. If you have an earlier d44 then you can cut the wedges off and run leafs easy.

Since you have ifs in the 97 leafs would be easier.

 

have you seen the way these frames are designed in the 97-03? its the stupidest thing ever!!!!!

honestly if you can do the geometry 4link the front go with coilovers would be the best route.

Ford D60 High Pinion would make for a great axle to swap in. IMO i wouldnt go anything less than a D44 HD. even a regular D44 wouldnt be worth it.

 

Haha nope haven't had the pleasure of seeing the 97-03 frame. I don't think a 44 has any place in an f150 (even though they came stock lol) that's going to be used offroad. I'm scared of breaking mine in my explorer with only 35"s. Fortunately it's held up well after three years of wheeling jack stands lol.

For my first run (hopefully) in august i'll be rocking stock steering. However once it's back home i'll start replacing that with 1.5x0.25" DOM with Heims. Heims will wear out quicker than TRE's though and get some play in them. My trac-bar is made from 1.5x0.25 DOM as well...it's beefy

Trimble...does Jesse do an 05-08 kit?

 

I dont believe so. I will PM you his number if you would like. give him a shout and see.

the frame on these trucks goes from wide then turns upward alittle and inward then back down and out wider and lower than what it was before! and thats all just the from the frame horns just past the front tire.. then it bends another time or two for the bed. stupid design.

 

Yikes sound like a cluster lol

good luck man!

 

the truck is a 77 f150 with a d44. i found a 77 so it has the welded on brackets so i can convert it to leaf springs if i want to. if it was a 78-79 i would have to keep the coils cuz the brackets are cast on and cant be removed

i almost want to run the radius arm setup now cuz it would be a lot less work. the parts truck has almost all of the parts that i need and wouldnt need a whole lot of modification to fit them onto my truck. steering is mainly what im talking about. it would need to be converter to high steer if i run leaf springs

 

also if i go with leafs, im gonna go with chevy 2.5 inch wide springs. they are 46 inches long i think. would get them from competition leaf springs

for coils i can either go with skyjacker or superlift coils. probably skyjacker cuz i read the superlift ones are stiff

 

(if you have the time and knowledge, do the shackle on the FRONT and hanger in the back this will give the suspension an upper hand advantage over obsticles)

This is INCORRECT!!!! I know this is a crazy old thread but this is wrong. Imagine climbing a ledge. with shackles up front as the spring compresses the axle moves forward. so as your tires roll into the ledge and start to climb up it compresses the springs, when the tires finally break ove the edge the suspension drops and the axle moves BACKWARDS(ie pushes itself away from it). and you fall back down. Look up how many dozens of kits swap the shackles to the back for jeeps. if you understand physics and geometry at all you would understand

 

A three year old thread bump for that?

 

Noobs are getting more unintelligent daily. your tires do not fly back 3 feet and you slide back down the obstacle w/ a shackle up front.

Only reason for going to a reversal IMO is to get the shackle out of the rocks on approaches. This topic has been beat to death on offroad forums, there is no better or worst way between the 2 set ups.