ok im starting the rebirth of the truck listed in my sig. it is an extended cab with a full 8' bed. i am looking for either a 6 or 8 inch lift (suspension only, no body lifts) and am looking at either a Superlift, Skyjacker, Pro Comp, or Tuff Country systems, and am hoping to get some advice on which company(s) you have had good or bad experiences with, or any other advice you have.

once lifted itl be on 35'' tires (6'' lift) or 37'' tires (8'' lift) the truck is my daily driver, but will see offroad use at least every other weekend in muddy, mountainous terrain with the ocasional desert trip thrown in. i know a superswamper type tread would be best for the terrain it will be in mostly, but swampers dont hold up the greatest to daily on road driving since they are so soft. therfore, im asking your opinion on tires as well.

Seeing as it currently has 3.08 gears, a gearing ratio upgrade will definantly be nescesary to regain lost fuel mileage and keep the power on the ground with the big tires. however, i dont want to go to far to the other extreme and have such a steep ratio that i kill my mileage. i was thinking 4.10 gears, does that sound about right?

and lastly will be the exhaust, emisions are not a concern whatsoever to me, as such, im looking for long tube headers into a full H pipe with either Thrush glasspack mufflers, or flowmasters, and then exiting in true dual fasion behind the rear tires.

Any and all advice/opinions on this setup greatly appreciated, i will respond to any questions as well

thanx in advance!

 

My 4" Pro Comp suspension lift is working out great, very solid lift with good quality parts, and my radius arm brackets in front are adjustable for about another 2 inches of lift, a nice bonus. My brother has a 4" Rancho lift on his F250, that lift kit is several years older than mine and is still holding up great, I'm impressed with his Rancho lift too. Do remember that once you reach the 5 or 6 inch suspension lift range you will start to need some extra modifications to keep your truck running smooth (heavy duty traction bars, pinion angle adjustment shims, etc).

One word of advice with the lift... If you have a 2-piece driveshaft, MAKE SURE to shim down the center driveshaft support bearing ~0.25" per every 1 inch of lift. I had a REALLY bad vibration from take-off after the lift was put on and it drove me nuts trying to figure out the problem... Needed to shim down that support. Most likely you have a solid driveshaft so that probably won't matter for you.

For tires, I think the perfect compromise between off-road and daily driving is to get a quality all-terrain tire. I'm partial to BFG's but I've seen a lot of guys on here that don't like the price tag... neither do I The A/Ts are going to give you 60k+ miles and they mind their manners when driving on pavement (minimal hum, decent control, great traction). If you want to take 1 step closer to off-road and 1 step away from pavement then go with a mud-terrain, I would consider that the halfway point between an A/T type tire and a set of swampers. Be prepared to burn a hole in your pocket for quality 37" tires, you'll most likely be paying at least $1100 or $1200 if you spring for a name brand.

For your gear ratio, you can refer to the following site to find a good compromise between mileage and performance:
http://www.4lo.com/calc/geartable.htm

Good luck man, sounds like it's gonna be a pretty bada$$ rig. Might also consider a SAS while you're spending all this money

 

yeah, going with the SAS idea, that 1990 F150 has the TTB dana 44.......not something you want to try turning 37's with....and if you do lift it and even with 35's, be careful with the power out strategy, its great dont get me wrong, but that axle is pretty weak to handle that much tire meat.

everybody here has always had great stories of Tuff Country, Superlift (more commonly on toyotas though) and Skyjacker....im partial to Skyjacker myself.

4.10 gears sound great, but again, watch your foot on the skinny pedal, that 8.8" rear axle might give way with those big meats.

I say you're good with the exhaust man. Your sig says 305cid....whats that? Are you meaning a 302? Anyways, since you're going with duals, don't go bigger than 2.5" pipe once it leaves the header, otherwise the exhaust velocity will slow down, and like the gearing, it will lead to poorer performance

 

ok, im probably goiing to feel really stupid when you tell me, but what do SAS ans TTB stand for?



and do you think i would need longer drivshafts with a 6'' lift?



and nighthawk, the ford "302" engine actually displaces 305 cubic inches, however when first developed ford badged it as 302 because chevy already had a popular 305 ci engine, and ford wanted to build a rep with the new engine and not have people immediatly think of a chevy when they herd about a 305 ford.



anything else greatly apreciated

 

SAS stands for Solid Axle Swap, and TTB stands for Twin Traction Beam...if you look under your truck, the axle has two beams that go like /--\

you might need the longer shafts, whats your truck, std cab, ext cab, shortbox, longbox

 

as i said in my first post its an extended cab long box.

any sujestions on how to deal with the TTB axle in terms of longevity?

 

oh sorry I missed that.......if you're going to try to keep the TTB, and especially with 37s, just be really wary of the skinny pedal when you're out wheelin....it could break easy or it could last, it just depends on how ya drive it

 

I would say based on what you're planning on doing with the truck, you definitely want to a solid axle swap. A 78-79 F-150 or Bronco came from the factory with a solid front axle. It's more or less a bolt-in upgrade, but do a search in the offroad & 4x4 forum for a lot more info.

If it were me, I would use a 9" rear out of the same Bronco/F-150 and upgrade it with some aftermarkets shafts.

What gears you go with will depend on what tire size you eventually decide on. 4.10's is about right for 35's, but you want something a little deeper for 37's I think.

 

maybe 4.56s for the 37s, and yeah, if you're talking longevity and still good off road use, the SAS swap, and the 9" is a good way to go

 

any estimates on the cost to do a SAS swap? would that just be a junkyard purchase or what? what trucks could i get a solid front axle out of, and same question for a 9'' rear? im not familiar with axle swaps and dont know how difficult a proccess it would be

how much will my speedo be off by with either a 6 or 8 inch lift respectivly?

 

ask the guys over in the offroad forum, its a pretty common swap.. the best year of trucks to get them out of are 1976-1979 F150s and Broncos, or if you wanted to go big with a Dana 60, any 4WD F350.

your speedo is going to be off because of the size of the tires, not the lift....plan on being anywhere from 10-15mph off at highway speeds with 35-37" tires

 

That's the stupidest thing I have heard.. this week.
The Ford 5.0 displaces 301.59cu in.. which is commonly rounded up to 302. The only way you can make it a 305 is bore it out 0.020". As you were....

 

Thanks, thats what I thought, I was so confused

 

yes, yes, aparently i have been misinformed, thats just what i had been told about the 302 by someone who usually knows what they are talking about.

 

ok ive been trying to research about the TTB suspension, but everytime i find a discusion or article about it everyone is either saying how bad it is or how good it is, but neither party seems to be saying why they think that...
the same goes for body lifts, while i have always been taught that they are junk, when i actually started to research alittle i find people either saying yea or nay about them, without much proof either way. from what i gather, severl vehicles have had body/frame seperation problems in accidents or hardcore wheeling (sounds like more of an instillation problem to me ?) but it seems like if installed correctly there would only be minimul risk abouve factory mounts, and that would be a good way for me to get 2-3'' of lift on top of a 6'' suspension lift.

so before i go any further with the planning for my truck i need to get several things straightened out.
what is the problem with TTB front axle, and how nescesary is a SAS
what is the problem with body lifts (when used in combo with suspension lifts)

one more thing, if i do go for upgraded axles (likely out of F350 front & rear) would it be better to do from a truck my year or close, or would older (and cheaper) parts be fine?