Hey all,
If I were wanting to remove the cheesy P.O. installed lift kit from my truck, could I use tuff country 2" axle pivot brackets with factory coil springs and shocks?
If not, where could I get a set of factory axle pivot brackets to replace the drops already on the truck? I ask this because I have access to a set of factory coils and shocks for the price of getting them out of the guys shop.
One other question. Was there any kind of factory lift block for the rear end? There are the standard 4" lift blocks on the back end now.

Thanks in advance,

Dave S

 

What so cheesy about it? No, couldnt use the 2 inch without your wheels being like / \. sure you could trade someone though.

 

Go to my gallery and take a look at the side views. The lift kit appears to be wrong for the truck. The radius arm drop brackets are set back and inward, pulling the front wheels back. If I tried to fit anything bigger than the 31's on there, I'd have tire rub issues. It had 33's on it when I first got it and they rubbed on turns etc. Too bad, they were nice M/T's.
For the time being, I'd kinda like to go back to a stock suspension and height.

DS

 

kinda hard to tell from the pics, but if thats the case it can be fixed, just move the radius arms.

 

How to move the radius arms though? I estimate about 1 - 1.5" of setback. I thought that maybe the entire body was set forward, but the cab mounting bolts are pretty much lined up with their respective holes.
I had posted in here before about maybe putting a spacer on the radius arms to push the axles towards the front end, but there doesn't appear to be enough length on the r.a. to do this.

Kinda annoying,

DS

 

Might just have to get a pic of it I guess. I think I would just try putting stock brackets back on, or just drilling new holes and moving it foward.

 

whats the wheel base on yer project trk here? i might be wrong here but i think the previous owner put a pickup on a bronco frame, that would explain why they had homemade steel body lift and also explains why the front axle isnt centered in the wheelwell. pretty sure a bronco frame is a little smaller than a f150 frame. i'm assuming thats an 8' bed and an f150 with an 8' bed has a longer wheelbase than a bronco, i'm bettn you have the wheelbase of a bronco here, my '79 bronc wheelbase is 102" from center of hub to center of hub to give you a reference. i dont kno but somthin dont look right in those pics..

 

Whew! Huckster, you made a good point and generally scared the cr@p out of me. The wheelbase is correct for the shortbed f-150. It's about 116 and 3/4" center to center. I just measured it (in a bit of a panic, lol).
I'm going to break the radius arms loose and see if the front axle will move forward any. If it will, I'll go from there.
I'm going to post some pics of the radius arm drop brackets in my gallery, maybe they'll shed some light. I took a bunch of pics before in the hope someone on the forum could find the maker. I'll just re-post them.

Thanks again for all the replies

DS

 

Hmm, radius arm brackets look like a DIY job. . .most of the kit R.A. brackets I have seen around here are cast, and BEEFY. . .and they didn't angle backwards lol. I don't know how far forward you can move it before you it that cab mount though. You might keep an eye out on ebay, those things show up more often than you would think

 

i agree that those brackets look homemade, i just put the 2.5" lift kit on my truck, a 90 f150 4x4, and the drop down bracket that i got bolted in between the stock bracket and the frame, just moving it, not replacing it. the only problem your going to run into getting new stock brackets is that they are riveted on, otherwise you could just go to a junkyard and yank them off. get a port-a-torch or see if you can get them oem from somewhere. thats the route i would go, then call up rough country and see what it would cost to just get the drop brackets for the radius arms. btw, the rough country brackets are made out of 3/8" steel. VERY beefy looking.

justin

 

For the moment I'm planning on going back to a stock suspension while I save the $$$ for a real and correct lift kit. I can get the factory r.a. brackets from jeffs for next to nothing. Only problem is finding the right axle mounting bracket(pivot bracket). I called the dealer and was told that part went obsolete in may of this year. This is the description and ford part number if anone knows anyone that can find it:

IFS right axle mounting bracket - F4TZ 3B178 A

Thanks again,

Dave

 

maybe a junkyard? you could probably use one from any year between 1980 and 1996. or check some parts houses, if it just went obsolete, they may still have a few.

justin