I'm thinking aobut when I do my axle swap about getting 1 or 2inch blocks to give her a lil bit of rake. Most if not all the people down here I ascoate woth say it will look stupid and trucks shouldn't have rake and reserve it for the mussle cars...I beg to differ!! Ever heard of a mussle truck?!? exacily!!
Anyway before I go out and spend the money on the blocks, what do y'all think? I don't want to put taller tires on my *** end if that's what your wondering. If anything I'd put fatter meats on there that are the same heigh.
Looking forward to hering your thoughts.

 

Typically the Ford trucks had a 2 inch rake from the factory, you could just swap 3/4 ton rear springs in and get your rake that way as well.

 

really? 3/4 ton leaf springs would bolt directily up? Granted if they are from the same body style yes? Wouldn't that make the ride a lil stiffer then as well?

By the way.....I dunno how significant it is but this is my 100th post!!!! Yeah!! I feal special lol.

 

For some reason most people want thier trucks to sit level with nothing in them. Problem with that is as soon as you put anything in the back the headlights point up in the sky, my guess most of these poeple do very little work with thier trucks. Personally I don't think there's anything wrong with a truck that sits a little higher in the back, but I wouldn't go out of my way to make it sit that way. Blocks are easy but they put additional TQ on the leaf springs which results in more axle wrap and the possibility of damaging U-joints. For that reason alone I don't like them and think they should be avoided, re-arched springs are a better option but are more expensive. If there's no budget for that replace the existing block with a taller one (don't ever stack blocks) and install traction bars.

 

traction bars lift the rear end up a lil too huh? Or traction bars to help with the axle warp? And just how much more stress does blocks put on the axle anyway?

 

When you apply engine torque to the axle, the pinion gear climbs up the ring gear so naturally the axle torque's the springs because of the twist caused at the ring gear of the pinion climbing up that gear, likewise the front axle will tweak downward because the pinion climbs down the gear (but dont hold me to that). The traction bars transfers this twist to the frame rather than to the springs. So if you put blocks between the springs and axle it will be like using a longer pry bar to move an object, it becomes easier to move it.

 

lovely......so 3/4 ton leafs or taller tires woud be my best option along with traction bars right?

So from what I'm getting is I can use blocks BUT it puts a lot more stress on my u-joints and makes the axle twist more....lovely.

 

Simply adding a leaf to the rear stack may give you enough lift, even the stock springs have quite an arch in them but they flatten out under the weight of the vehicle.

Here's a site with a selection of traction bars, the type that bolt to the U-bolts and frame are what I was referring to.
http://www.rockymountainsusp.com/tractionbars.htm

 

When I was a kid, I remember the coolest looking cars & trucks in cartoons always had a lil rake to them. Go for it. Worst case, if you don't like it, just take it back out.

A muscle Bronco ... I like that sound of that.