Hi, My name is Ben, im a 15 year old highschool student involved in dragracin and MX. I am just beggining work on a 1953 Ford F250. The truck has a Flathead V8 and a 4-speed manual. I hope to get some pictures of the truck up on here soon but havent gotten a chance to take any yet. Anyway, onto my question.

The truck sits to high. I know its a 3/4 ton, but it needs to go atleast a little lower. Can anyone point me in the right direction to a lowering kit or any information on lowering these trucks?

 

Hi Ben,

Welcome to FTE, it's nice to have you here.

There are lots of things you can do to bring it down a bit. Easiest is to look into tires that are not as "Tall."

If you aren't going to be hauling stuff or towing, you could probably take a leaf or two out of your springs.

Or, if your plans include installing an IFS, that will also drop the front end down - substantially.

And I'm sure there are kits too. I'll leave that to the guys who are a little more in tune with "effie" suspension.

Good luck and let's see those pictures soon!

 

easiest is something jule said , take some of the springs out of the packs and lose the overloads . starting with the second from the bottom take out every other in the packs , get you about an 1 - 2inches . you'll get some more bump steer up front due to it but it's the price to be cool . also out back you can move the front spring perch all the way to the top of the frame and gain a coupl more , but you'll have to reset your pinion angle with some wedges or knocking the leaf spring pads losse and rewelding . you can look in mid fifties catalog and go with a gm steering conversion to get away from your bumpsteer or a toyota box conversion . after that it's up to you , your imagination , and what ya want to use . i did a bad thing and had a spare pitman arm shortened to help with my bump steer . haven't gotten any thing done yet so no report on how it worked .

 

ok thank you 55 f350. that is what i was thinking. My truck has 8 lug axles, is that going to cause any trouble?

 

Hi Ben,
Welcom aboard, as mentioned above there are several ways to lower your truck. I used a drop axle for the front and a TCI lowered rear leaf sprint for the rear. It's not in the weeds but it's low enought for me I can go over a speed bump with no problems...

 

I have looked into aftermarket wheels on this exact question on the 8 lug wheels. I have a 55 f250 and they are 8 lug 6.5 lug pattern not sure what it is on yours but if its the same there are actually a lot of choices out there for you. I like to look at the discount tire website you can pick 8 lug with your pattern and it gives you all your choices. There are websites that do the same but that is my favorite, this is all a moot point if you are not looking for aftermarket wheels!!!!

 

dunno bout it causing issues , the wheels , as twise dumped his 57 3/4 ton by removing some leaves on it . i think that 8 lug pattern is the same all the way up on gm's ford's and mopars until the mid to late 80's so besides the aftermarket you got a lot of oe stuff to choose from too . don't let it stop ya . if wosre comes to worse you can change the diff out for a 67-72 nine inch from a ford 1/2 ton in , no malarky just bolts in , or any dana 44 from the 53 - 56's and the diffs from every year in tween 56 and 66 are the same length i believe . then , and youll have to check on the bearing differences , but i think if i remember theyre the same outer diameter on the 1/2 and 3/4 ton , change the front hubs to 5 lug 1/2 tons or maybe have 'em redrilled . that opens up even more choices for you as far as wheels go .you can go another step now also and swap to discs up front as obviously ya gotta chase down 1/2 ton parts for it if ya swap over . if you keep the 8 lugs discs can be added too . 70's era fords work with a little elbow grease and research .............to much info yet ? as a side note why wouldn't low profile automotive tires fit the 16's on it guy's ??? if you're not using it as a truck and exceeding the weight limits of the tires ????????????????

 

oh yeah pifd a moot point without mags ????? personally i like the look of my steel wheels with the dog dish's on mine . matter of preference i dare say . tim's 57 still had the steel wheels and oe hubcaps and it looked just fine { twise on here } .plus in a day and time when everyone has been putting some of theses ugly modern looking mega inch rims on everything the oe stuff is a refreshing look . oh and yeah VERY COST EFFECTIVE i might say ..............

 

LOL, 55 350 i didn't mean it like that, i meant if you are not looking at doing a aftermarket wheel my post is moot point there is no info that will be relavent to what you are trying to do. I love the old school/original look you really cant go wrong with anything you do. No matter what a truck looks like some like it one way and some like it another way thats what is so cool about old trucks!!

 

so true my friend , so true . old cars trucks in general are cool .