Recently i put some 31x11.5 tires on my truck. Looks so much better than its stock size tires haha. But i found that when i hit a bump or something that they will rub a bit.

So i figured i would put in a front leveling kit on my truck.

Could anyone point me to a affordable but good leveling kit? Thanks

 

Is it a 2wd like mine? If so, how about considering putting the Moog 844 or 844s coils in it. I think the 844S's will give you 2 inches, and the 844 will do 1-1/2 inches.

 

Correct, it is a two wheel drive truck. So just replace the stock front springs with those would give me all the lift i need? If i did this will i need different shocks?

Where did you get those springs?

Thanks.

 

I have not done this yet, although it is something that I will do this year or next. I read about these springs somewhere on this site. I did a search; https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/9...swap-pics.html , and this is one of the things I found.

 

One word of warning about using stiffer springs to raise your 81. If you have king pins (like most 81's), and raise the front, the only way of getting the camber adjusted is by bending the I-beams. This requires specialized equipement, and a highly trained operator, or they can be permanently ruined.
82 and newer with ball joints have adjustable camber, as do the D44 TTB used under 4x4's

 

Rouge, so i need to check and see if i have ball joints or king pins on my truck?

If i cant align it without bending the i beam, is there another way to lift the front end?

 

I think Rogue was trying to caution you about the effects of running larger tires on a truck with I-Beam type suspension.

On I-Beam suspension, running too big of tires throws off the camber angle of the front end alignment. If you do it anyway, you will wear out tires unevenly and way too fast, as well as not having the best handling. Bending the I-Beams (to try and maintain the correct camber angle for running the too-large tires) is just not practical.

Rogue also suggested to check what kind of suspension you have. Here are example pix I just snagged from google. Maybe this will help you determine what type of suspension you have on your truck.

Example 1

This suspension type is called I-Beam. See the solid beam, painted black in this pic, sitting on the jack stands and running horizontally between the wheels, curving up to the middle of each wheel? As you turn the steering wheel, the wheels and tires pivot to left and right, and the "hinges" that the wheels and tires hang from and pivot around as you steer are called king pins. Just like a door hinge.

Example 2

This suspension type is called Short Arm / Long Arm (SALA). This is the type of suspension that most cars and many trucks of 70's - 80's and even through today are built with. In this suspension design, the "hinges" that the wheels and tires hang from and pivot around when steering are called ball joints.

Hope this helps you identify your suspension type. If you're still having troubles, take a picture and post it here. Once you know what you have, that will guide you to the best solution for lifting it.

 

Appreciate your help axman. Next time im at the farm im going to check this out and maybe snap a picture. Thanks again.

 

Actually, neither of those pics are correct. All 2wd F-series (100-350) pickups from 65-96 came with twin I-beam suspension. Kinda similar to the upper pic, except it's 2 seperate axles. 65-81 all used king pins, just as most every straight axle has since the dawn of time, but the 82 and newer F100/F150 switched to using ball joints on the I-beams. Ball joint style I-beams are camber adjustable by changing an excentric bushing, king pin I-beams can only have camber adjusted by bending the beams. This proceedure requires highly specialized equipment, and an equally highly trained operator, therefore it costs a highly trained and specialized cost.
Tire size doesn't affect camber. Ride hieght does. All twin I-beam systems have camber changes during normal suspension travel. The trick is getting it set correctly for *normal* ride hieght, so the changes thruout the normal travel are withing accpetable limits.

 

Hi Rogue,

You are right about the pics, and I was aware of that. The pics I quickly found for Twin I-beam did not show the difference between kingpin and ball joint type suspensions as clearly. Or so I thought. Hopefully, FordNFishinLover will come back with a pic that shows what he has, and we can go on from there.

I was not aware Twin I-beam suspension used ball joints, thanks for that info. My experience is kinda wide but it's not very deep with Fords. I only know what I've owned and busted knuckles on, and even then, I'm asking bunch-O-questions from true experts, to minimize breakage and bleeding.

What you say makes sense, a ball joint type suspension should be easily adjustable, and a "fixed" type suspension - eg traditional I-beam - would not be as easily adjustable. Easily is a relative term. I have no direct experience with Twin I-beam yet. In a typical SALA suspension with ball joints, you adjusted camber with shims between the upper control arm rod and frame studs. Tilting the wheel in and out at the top by moving the top hinge point of the spindle in or out. I'm sure there are other designs, where you set camber using the bottom hinge point of the spindle..

Anyway, I was attempting to suggest that he avoid bending his I-beams, if that is what he had.

Your comment about tire size not affecting camber is correct. I screwed up there, over-simplified my explanation, too focused on the effect of bad camber setting.

Getting tires not to rub by way of leveling kit, (lift kit?) was the original question. Suggesting that he avoid bending I-beams was the point I was going for. I'm diving now for the Haynes manual, hoping for correct and better pics, more precise knowledge for me, and then the right solution. Thanks for the precision and clarity.

 

Hey FordNFishinLover,

I maybe led you astray with those other pics.. Anyway, here are hopefully better pics from a Haynes manual. If you don't have a manual, it's worth getting. I made circles on the pics generally where to look on your truck.

Pic 1 is a stamped axle. The stamped axle allows for easily adjusted camber. No bending of I-Beams required.




Pic 2 is a forged axle. Bending of I-beams is required to change camber. Which you don't normally want to do.



Now, the question is which one you have. Once you know which one, the leveling kit question can be properly addressed.

 

I got to the farm today and snapped a few pictures just to be sure. Its sorta hard to read from those pictures, i will also have to go through my manual and check it out. Appreciate your help guys.

 

King pins.

Honestly, for this truck, I wouldn't recommend anything stiffer/longer than the CC820 springs.
I have the CC822 under my truck, and they're a bit much. If I had to do it again, I'd go with the CC820 instead. May still swap to those.
Just for reference, my truck sits ~1" higher in the rear with the 822 springs, and I have 235/75-15 fronts and 31x10.50 rears. With the same size all around, it would be level, or slightly higher in the front than rear. I also have camber issues, never did anything about it due to thinking I will swap the springs for the next step down.


How bad, and where is the rubbing? Does it just do this over larger bumps? It's hard to get much more than a 31x10.50 to clear on the front of a 2wd F100/F150, and those can be tricky enough on some trucks.

 

I thought you said it would be a bad idea to put different springs under my truck since it has the king pins??

I havent gotten to drive the truck much since im working on it on spare time. But just some test drives around the yard i could hear it rubbing some. I just bought the 31x10.5's for the truck, so getting bigger tires isnt in my thought. I just heard this rubbing and can tell that the front wheel wells are pretty well stuff so i wanted to get a leveling kit for the truck.

Is it possible the front springs are getting a bit worn themselves and making it sit a bit low?

Thanks.

 

Not only is it possible, it is probable. Your front springs could be 30 years old, and if so, they have been holdng up your truck for long enough to definitely sag.

Not to put words into rouge_wulf's mouth, but I believe what he was saying was that if you have the king pin type suspension, you might consider Moog cc820 coil springs rather than cc822. The cc820 springs are a bit shorter than the cc822's and therefore should not adversely effect your wheel camber as much. It's true they also won't lift your front end as much, but how much is enough? It's a trade off. Here are specs for both, which I copied from somewhere on this forum:

Spring # CC822
Inside Diameter 4.000
Bar Diameter 0.718
Install Height 13.00
Load rate (lbs) 1230
Spring Rate (Lbs/in.) 366
Free Height 16.38
End Type pigtail ends

Spring # CC820
Inside Diameter 4.000
Bar Diameter 0.718
Install Height 12.13
Load rate (lbs) 1428
Spring Rate (Lbs/in.) 366
Free Height 16.19
End Type pigtail ends


My '86 2WD has the adjustable camber bushing -type suspension. The cc822's jacked my front end up too much (higher than rear), and my wheels became around 3 degrees out of camber alignment. This is *just* fixable with the right aftermarket bushings. I returned the 822's and am putting 820's in instead.