I have a 1981 ford f250 reg cab long box. It has the Dana 50 TTB front suspension. Im building the truck into a woods truck for the summer. i have the lift done in the rear. Im just wondering if anybody has made brop brackets for this model truck. ill have to make drop brackets, use 6inch rectangle tubing between axle and spring (leaf springs not coils)and probably have to buy a drop pitman arm. I was told my best bet for this truck is to put a solid front axle under it and that is very true. ill be getting a solid axle next season for sure. I just want to lift the front how it is just for this year and i dont want to put much money into the TTB front end because ill be changing it next year. Im just wondering if anybody has done this before and there experiences or any advice would be great.. thanks very much.

 

If you are referencing drop pitmans, they are sold for about $50-$75 dollars. Please get one, they cure 90% of the issues people have with lifting these.

 

Not very many people make their own drop brackets, it's not cost effective. They have to be made correctly, and strong enough, and also fit. By the time you have all that figured out and buy the steel, it's cheaper to just buy them. You can probably re-sell them later and get a little bit of money back out of them.

 

When I bought my truck, I was foraging in the tool box and found drop brackets that would allow me to drop either 4" or 6". I'll see if I can find them. Let me know if you want them.

 

is this t lift the truck or to drop it??

 

I'll have to find them, but I'm pretty sure they're to lift it. My truck's a 4x4 and the bumper was cut when I bought it. I'm assuming it had a big set of tires on it.

 

My 86 has a homemade 6" drop bracket. They used 2x6 tubing to make the drop bracket.


As for using retangular tubing as blocks between the axle and springs, that is VERY BAD IDEA. Front blocks will kick out with lateral forces and then the whole axle will come out from under the truck causing you to loose ALL control and crash.

Wait till you have the money and do it right

 

Hope you enjoy death. Hopefully it's not painful when your hack job home made 6" front lift blocks fail.

Do yourself a favor and don't waste any time or money on the TTB. Get a Dana 60, rebuild it, and swap it in. You'll be around $1000-1500 to do the SAS + lift but it will be done properly and safely.

 

See my "Garage" page for some TTB lift photos.

 

Others have already pointed this out, but this really can't be overstated.

THIS IS A PHENOMALLY STUPID IDEA.

And to be honest, if you are dumb enough to put rectangular tubing in between the axle housing and the springs, I would not trust you to correctly make the drop brackets.

 

are you keeping the stock front springs ? if so you might think about a front shackle reverse kit !

 

cj06: Have you ever seen the front suspension of a leaf spring TTB? What shackle reverse are you talking about?

 

I rarely ever come off as heavily opinionated on competence in this forum, but I'm gonna have to do it here (Not towards Cadunkle). I have seen some incredibly horrendous SAS applications, that only get worse when a lift is added. If the O.P. is considering front lift blocks, then I highly doubt he possesses the proper knowledge it takes to correctly install an SAS + Lift.

 

Nobody seems to have noticed the initial posting was made 4 months ago (to the day) but this thread was woken up by a newbie.

I'll bet he's already finished, or at least well on his way....

 

have a couple of them myself , 89 F250 4x4 , 90 F250 4x4 the 89 i put a straight axle from a 77 d44 in it , what a mess that was !

Reverse Shackle Kits - Off Road Unlimited

Reverse Front Shackle kit - Ford Powerstroke Diesel Forum

sky use to make one that would give you 5" rise ! may still do ?