please help. im a newbee. im looking for info on the best way to lift my old gal. herd and read lots on here now im more confused then before. what are the pros and cons of the shackle flip how many inches will it gain. im looking for the best but chepest way to lift my truck to run 40 in boggers and still have it flex. cuz thats what im building is a mudder crawler just a verry capable digger. thaks for any and all info.

 

Well the cheapest way would be to add in a super large body kit, but i can't stand body kits. Check out summitracing.com they have a few kits to look at.

 

I don't know if cheap would be in what you are looking to do. Say you get a free lift kit from someone on here somehow, you would still have to get higher ratio gears, and for that you might need to get a bigger axle. You do not specify what kind of truck you have, so there is no way for me to know what axle you have.

 

just cut the fenders.
you can fit anything you want.

serious, you have to be specific about the vehicle. 1/2 ton trucks with coil springs and 3/4 tons with leafs are ver different.

 

1975 ford f 250 high boy. i would like to run 40 in boggers and still have room to flex but dont want to go to high and make it roll easy.

 

That's my ride!

JK-LOL

 

My combo to clear 40 inch tires are as follows:

99 - 04 Super duty (Gas) front springs. 8" BDS

Stock chebby 64" rear spring, 3500 series silverado, stock block and shackle flip. Stock chebby rear shackle, and chebby hanger.
Better option may be a 6" spring pack to eliminate the block and a slightly longer shackle.

Relocated rear shock mounts, and custom front shock mounts. These are required to allow enough travel. The new speing flex a bunch.

Still hit the fenders at full compression, but I dont run bumpstops and bumps would minimize some of the sheetmetal contact.











Still tows reasonably heavy loads:

 

nice rig 75 350 thanks for the info.
99 to 04 springs bolt right up?
8 bds?? whats that mean
and stock chev 3500 rear springs with shackle flip. that dont soud to bad how bad is the install. what do you think your total lift is?
did you have to do any stering mods. i really apprecate all the info keep it coming. thanks blu

 

That would be 8 inch leaf springs up front and they do not exactly bolt right in. They have different mounting bolt sizes (metric you know) so you wil lhave to make some slight modifications and open up the hole in the spring hanger to either 18mm or use a larger 3/4" bolt. The larger bolt will require a modification to the bushing since 18mm is slightly smaller than the 3/4" bolt.
Next is the shackle length, the stock shackles are too short to use so you will have to make some new ones. Longer shackle will help improve the articulation, and will provide a better shackle angle. The SD spring is one inch longer than the stock leaf spring pack so this also helps with a far better shackle angle which improves performance and ride quality.
My little daughter helped to make some shackles for me:


These measure 5 7/8" from mounting center lines.


For the rear, I used stock chebby leafs, and stock hangers. The front was donated from the silverado where the leafs originated from, and the rear hanger is actually the stock front hanger for original the rear spring. This was used to hang the shackle from, and it worked out alright.

Stock chebby hanger:



Stock hanger used for shackle flip:



Not difficult but you have to be decent with the tape measure to keep stuff square.


Steering? Yes, I run a saginaw box for a power steering upgrade and crossover steering. I also run a Dana 60 front axle so the crossover upgrade was easier than with anything else.

 

Will you ever get tired of explaining the SAME thing over and over and over Ed?

Oh - and in one of the pics of red it looks like the front bumper is a bit crooked - quit bangin the dang thing on rocks

 

Sometimes, but for the sake of helping out, it is not so bad. I have had three PM's and four other visitor things asking the exact same thing. Not bad, I should write it out for a sticky or something, but each of the small details change a little, so I keep typing it all out every time I learn something or something else comes along. The shackle length and the bushings for example.

The bumper has been taking a beating and this last sunday was not any different. I flat tore it up! I was out at Azusa, and some dudes with 44's were taking a run at a huge mud bank. Well, you know,,,,,,,I made it, but it cost me a bumper. I have one new one left, and might be throwing it on there soon. Poor wrinkled up red truck.
I also tore up the bed, and ripped off the chrome just behind the cab on the pass side. That hole was deep and rutted real bad.
All in a days work though, and red hung tough. We were the only, I mean only truck to get through that stuff. I like it when we set the bar.
I believe that we only made it because we had enough suspension to keep all of the tires on the ground. Got pretty twisted up from one guy running 44's and open diffs. That made it rough for others, but we managed to look like pro's.

 

Good deal.

If you can bare to put a 73-77 bumper on there I may have one for ya soon. They way you are going through them I don't think you can worry too much about making sure it is a 78/79 any more!

 

Probably just time for me to just make a rock crawler style bumper. I have the demand, and have several trucks that want them, so I guess I should spend a little time to design one, and start production. Steel is not that expensive right now, so along with the stuff for the diff covers and such, I probably should move into bumpers.

 

We have discussed that before and yet here we are with neither of us moving forward yet. You think that is because we both have a bunch of other crap to finish 1st

 

IN may case, I am just lazy.