DIY lift kit
 

Any of you guys try to make a homemade lift, I seen on an episode of trucks, they cut off the bracket that attaches leaf to chase and welded some blocks under it, this would be for an off road only truck and it has leafs all around, so have any of you guys done this, and if you have how hard is it, also possibly anybody got tips on welding spider gears in a rear end.

ahhh, so much to learn young grasshopper!

i have done both on several occassions.

take your time on your lift. get the size tires you want and build around them. trust me its much easier than guessing. look into doing a shackle flip in the rear. also you could pretty easily just drop all the spring hangers to net you the amount of lift desired. but beware.... you MUST take into account everything you will affect... IE driveshaft angles, steering linkages, pinion angles, caster/camber, etc.

as for welding, do NOT... do NOT weld the diff unless its a 1 ton 8 lug rear! even the D60 rears cant hold up with some thrashing. trashed a couple personally doing just that. you have to pull the diff out no matter what... unless you want to replace your axle housing. cleanliness is of utmost importance... it is more important that how you weld or how much you weld. if your metal aint clean nothing will stick and you will just destroy it the first time out. you HAVE to let it cool. alternate welding each side like you would install a wheel on a truck. burn one side in, then alternate to the other side and burn it in. then let it cool for 30 minutes or longer. you are going to warp your ring gear no matter what, but if you use Pre- and Post- heat you will minimize the amount of warpage.

i have said enough so far... have any more specific questions post up. we can help

post specs of your rig and/or fill out your sig.

-cutts-

cutts covered how to weld the diff like you wanted, and to give a little more of his advise, to strengthen things more in there, stick pieces of metal in there and weld them in there. Don't do this if your questioning your welding skills or machine.

A shackle flip would be a better idea for a lift over blocks.
What ever you do, don't weld blocks to the axle, and never stack blocks.

What do you plan on getting out of the lift? What size tires do you want to run?

I agree, drop brackets would be MUCH better than blocks. I learned that a few years ago.

I saw on summits or jegs webpage that you can buy drop leaf springs. You can get them up to a 10" drop. Can you install these leaf springs and just get an extended driveshaft, pitman arm, drop the track bar, and get some new shocks. Possibly some traction bars?

It depends on what truck...., but drop springs drop a truck, were you talking about lift springs?

I don't know what manuf. springs are on summit, but if they are roughcountry, I'd run the other way.
What are you trying to accomplish.

I know it may look like a hack job but I made my own on the rear. It does work and I dont baby it. Almost forgot, I have added some braces to my drop brackets after I took the pics in my gallery, not sure if they were needed but it beats trying to drag a truck out of the woods with no rear end under it.

Over the winter I will be making some brackets for the front of the truck to improve the pinion angle on the front driveshaft. Like the other guys said, buy your tires first so you know how high you have to go.

Sorry I meant lift springs. here is a link to what I was talking about http://store.summitracing.com/partde...677+4294821219+
That is a 8in lift spring.

Thats only a rear spring. Kinda spendy for one skyjacker spring.
Compare that to a complete lift kit, and you will find that a kit is less expensive. $300.00 pluss per spring, new u-bolts, and asociated hardware, and you might have only spent a bit more than a complete kit. Especially after shipping individual components.

I did the lift on my 84 F250 piece by piece. D44HD low pinion front, with custom perches, added a leaf to the front spring packs (huge mistake, rode like a brick on a roller skate), used Explorer Pro-Comp springs advertised on Summit to give 3-8" of lift, I used them without blocks and got about 6" of lift and the truck actually sat level. Cleared 35s with no problems at all, but the frame flexed before that front end did, and the downfall of the truck was that it shook the cab and nose apart.
I am doing my own lift on the 72 (still), probably going to have to go with an 8" lift to clear 38's, lift coils in front, drop the rear end of the radius arms to compensate, custom hybrid 3/4 link rear with coils and adjustable mounts. Lots of work, still a long way to go.
I would never weld a rear end. Go with a Detroit if you want a cheap locker. They are effective, decently strong, and were a factory option on early 70s F100 4x4 trucks with the heavy 9" rear.
You can get much more stuck much more easily with a welded rear than an open one, and it can also make a slick trail much more of an adventure than it needs to be.
If you want to be really creative, keep the open rear or have a limited slip, and separate the parking brake with two handles in the cab. Whichever tire is spinning, pull it's handle, and the power will be transfered to the other side.

thanks for the help

you ever run a welded rear? doesnt sound like it! i have run one for about 6 years or so with no problems! why would a welded rear act any different than a detroit in the rear? a detroit locks up just as soon as traction is lost. so there is no selectability! i agree full selectable is best but there are moving parts that are prone to failure, just like anything else. a welded rear is dead simple and perfectly reliable. both shafts turn 100% of the time with no variation! actually in my limited experiences a welded rear got me through more slick trails (isnt it supposed to be an adventure from the beginning?) than any open or even lockered trucks!

if this truck is a trail only or something like a 90/10 trail/street truck then welded rear is the way to go (1 ton full float only(NO Dana 60's)). we STILL dont know what truck we are talking about so all this is speculation. i HIGHLY doubt it has a 1 ton rear... hope i am wrong

-cutts-

The truck im planning on doing this on is an 88 F250 7.3L 4 speed w/ overdrive, sorry its taken me so long to get back been very busy with school, From what i have understood so far is that it might just be a better choice to go down to a local spring shop and have them bend some new leafs up. A friend of mine had that done by some guys and got about 10" for 250 a leaf. but i was just wondering if i could make a homemade kit and from what it sounds like is that it probably wouldnt be realible.As for my welding skills i am very confident so Ill probably try it after the lift. as for tires i have no idea am considering around 36 to 40s big gap but am not quite sure how big because if i go to big i am afraid i might not have enough power to turn them. Thanks for all the advise it has been very helpful.

A DIY lift kit for a TTB? This is an F250 right?
Gonna be more to it than just bending up some new springs.

O thank gaawd, when i saw this thread i was expecting to have to chastise someone about a homemade body lift (again),,, well everyone has said pretty much what i was going to already so i'l just add that check out www.broncograveyard.com (they are a sponser here) they have all the drop springs and shackle flip kits you could want