*New Guy* 84 F150 Questions

[Cali84]

Hello Everyone,
I just joined FTE and have been watching the forum for a couple weeks - a lot of good knowledge and helping eachother out. I like it. SO I just picked up an 84 F150 4x4 with the 300-I6. Got her real cheap (Free-plus $125 back registration). Have been wanting one for a couple years and just happened to be at the right place at the right time. The engine apparantely has some valve/head issues and the bed is beat. It has the 8.8 rear end in it. I also just picked up an 85 F150 4x2 with a strong running 300 in it. Perfectly straight with a 9" rear end. I plan on swapping motors, the bed and the rear end. From what I am reading I should run the 9" rear end correct? I am going to rhino line the whole interior and tear out the complete dash and fabricate a new dash out of sheetmetal mounted on steel tubing with aftermarket gauges. I want to turn this truck into something I can reliably drive on the street but still go wheelin and take a hose to the inside at the end of the weekend. I want to utilize the 300-I6 and possibly someday upgrade if needed. One question I have is about lift kits. I have seen the Ruff Country 6" suspension lifts on ebay for around $500. They include drop style brackets for the radius arms. I have looked around and Ruff Country also offers a kit that forgoes the brackets and has whole new extended radius arms as well as steering kits, but those kits run about $1200. I want a nice truck, but don't want to pour a ton of money into it. Any ideas or knowledge of these lift kits? I want to keep the independent front suspension- I have seen a lot of banter about the SAS and I do plan to make this truck work, but I think the IFS will be fine for my application. Also with the 6" lift what is the max tire size I should run? I do not know what gears I have, but am not afraid to re gear if necessary. I own a mortgage company by trade, but love to work on vehicles so the wrenching doesn't scare me. Any insight would be helpful as I have a 2000 Lightning but am not too familiar with the 80-86 Fords except for the one my Dad had growing up.

Thanks!

-Neal

[Franklin2]

Either the 8.8 or the 9 inch will work. Both are good rearends. If the 9 inch does not have the same ratio as your frontend on the 4x4, then you will have to use the 8.8. If you plan on changing gears in the future, then the 9 inch may be easier to change around or just swap another center chunk, but you still have to mess with the front gearing.

So you need to see what gears you have now if you are planning big tires. If you are going 35 inch or bigger, you may want to consider something in the 4.11 range or higher, or you will kill the six cylinder(in reality you would kill the acceleration on most engines except possibly the diesel or a 460).

Independent frontends are not easy to lift, and always cost more money to do it right.

[kickingber]

If you plan on running the TTB frontend and tires bigger than 33in off road you should plan on busting axels and u-joints about every 3 or so monthes. I tryed it because of the nice ride off road but got tired of hunting for axels,so went to the stright axel. It rides rough (big time) but haven't had to change any axels since. If you stay with the 300 six cylinder (IMOP It wil run for ever) you will want to run no less than 4:11's if you go to 33 or bigger tires. As far as lift I don't know a lot about rough country. my old man ran a 4in rough country on his wrangler for years and had no problems. myself I like the skyjacker systems(with rear springs) not skyjacker kits(uses blocks in the rear). Hope this may have helped you. goodluck.