Hello Everyone,
As you can see, I'm a new user...I've searched the forums, but still can't quite find the answers I'm looking for...
Thanks in advance for any help you may offer!
I want to raise my 88 4x2 f150 up to around stock 4x4 height or higher. Cost is a strong consideration--I don't want to pay too much, but I don't want to take shortcuts, either. Anyway, I would like to get 31's or maybe even 32's on it, but I don't know how high I need to go. One guy told me 31's would fit it right now, but I don't believe it...Is he right? Would Airbags work to lift the front? Would "lifted I'beams" work much better? I've been told about them, but I'm not very familiar with them...Where can you get them? If I use either of these, will it sit level, or will I need to raise the back, too? Can I simply put 4x4 shocks and struts on, or will that tamper with the toe/camber, etc...
Thanks again for any help.
Cory

 

also, will 1.5" lift leveling springs lift it to clear 31's? what about 32's?
thanks again

 

I have a 1988 F-150 4x2 I-300 with BFG All Terrain 30x9.5x15 tires. All stock suspension, no lift at all. Fits perfect, tires do not rub.

You can special order 2" oversized stock front coil springs at local auto parts stores (under $200 for the pair). Then buy the 2" generic lift blocks for the rear leaf springs. Then buy extra long shocks, or a set of shock extensions. Then get it alligned, no other special modifications are needed. There are other ways to lift a 2wd higher - up to 6" that I know of, but the price gets very high and it is more involved. Remember that when you replace worn out sagging stock springs with new 2" oversized ones, the overall lift might be more than 2".

I have noticed that if I were to go to 32" (which is what I want) the problem would not so much be any rubbing against the fenders because of low height, but the front tires would rub against the radius arm (the part that the bottom of the shock is mounted to) when you make a sharp turn. To fix this problem a person would have to make some kind of modification to the arm &/or add wheel spacers. Maybe rig the truck so it would not be able to steer as sharp. I dont know, I am trying to figure this out myself.

Anyways, I bought my tires at NTB. They said that they would be willing to try different tire sizes on my truck as long as I dont drive away. When I do leave, those are the tires I am stuck with.

 

My 90F150, has the 235/75/15's, are those the same size stock tires you had on your truck? I am also looking into lifting my truck, Money is key, but I don't want to have to keep fixing what I break, So I may just leave as is....

 

yes the stock size was 235/75/15.

 

I have 31x10.50's on my stock truck, trw cc824 springs will bring you up to approximately the same hieght as a 4x4, depending on your engine size accesories etc.

 

i have a 2wd 67 f100 that i lifted 4". i got new coils for the front, and then i made drop brackets for the i-beams so the tires would sit straight, an alignment would not be able to fix the camber on a 4" lift on a 2wd, got the blocks for the back, watch your driveshaft though, and get a drop pitman arm.

 

Remamber when lifting a TTB setup, adding longer coil springs can cause camber problems, if you lift it you need axle drop down brackets, and radius arm brackets too. You simply can not get longer coils and expect it to work. I have a 90 f-150 4x4 that i lifted for a mere $200 everything included. It is the Rough country 2.5" susp lift. It was my first truck i lifted and it went quite well, with detailed instructions, and adds enough lift for me to get 33's under it.

 

Not to argue - but the information I gave on lifting 2" was given to me by a place called General Spring of Kansas City. They never looked at my truck, just gave me a price over the phone. That could be one of those deals where you take your vehicle in and the price keeps going up.

I never did lift the truck like I wanted to. Instead, I ended-up selling it (trade-in) to a Ford dealer for a new Super Duty (5 speed automatic ).
I actually got $2,000 for the truck - as is.

 

Right now you could fit 31's on your truck, it's a really popular size for the 2wd crowd. I had a 95 F-150 2wd that had 31's on the front and 33's on the back. My first truck was an 83 F-100, 2wd. I had 4x4 coils put on the front and it already had extra overload springs in back. I was told that after a few months it would settle and I could get it aligned. I go back 6 months later and they tell me it will never settle enough to be aligned. I had plenty of romm for 33's, but the bad camber was quite noticeable. I was a little ticked off. I traded the 83 for the 95 before I wore out the tires.