I just finished restoring the interior on my 68. Still want to change a few things but over all Im happy. Thought I would share some photos:









You can also go to my online album and check out my updated pics here if interested:
1968 Ford F100 Ranger pictures from hobbies & interests photos on webshots

 

Nice work. A classic look and is one purty truck.

Your ABSOLUTELY nailed the stance.

 

What did you do to drop the truck?

 

Nice Truck !!!!

 

VERY NICE , I LIKE THE STANCE OF YOUR TRUCK

 

mine looks like yours, whats the difference between yours and his? I have no chrome, is it just trim?

 

Thanks guys. I used the lowering Ibeams along with the rear shakle and hanger kit from AIM. I also bought their matching lowered shocks with that same kit. I had that installed back around 2003 or 2004.

 

LOOKS REALLY NICE - black/red is a tough combo to beat

 

Howz that saying go? - "Mimicry is the sincerest form of flattery"?

I've been looking long at your rig and have concluded that I want to get the same stance on my 70 LB. Would you be so kind as to post your wheel sizes and tire sizes? That would help me a ton.

A few more questions:
Is that a 3"/4" drop?
Were any leaves removed from the rear?
Was your rig equipped with the Flexo-matic rear shackles? If so, what was needed to delete them when lowering the rear?
Any issues with bottoming out when carrying the infrequent load?
Any tips/tricks/FYIs you could offer on lowering?

I can fabricate, do bodywork, paint, and rebuild everything except trannies and rear gears. Mechanically, here's the plan with my 70: DJM beams and shackle kit (or should I just do a front hanger flip?), TKO-500 speed to replace the NP435, 4.10 rear gears with Traction-Lok, power disc brake swap from a 78 Dent (already have the parts but need a booster and MC), Edelbrock 7105 intake and 4106 carb, Flowtech headers, 2.25-inch mandrel bent exhaust and Flowmaster mufflers.

 

That is an AMAZING truck!

 

I am curious about something. With everything you plan on doing to the front suspension the $ are going to be at least around $1000. No sway bar, no PS unless you already have it & you still have that body roll of a buckboard front suspension. The CV swap will get you roughly a 5" drop, power rack & pinion, 12" rotors, dual piston calipers & sway bar in the $1000 range. Toss in drop springs from Eaton Detroit and you end up dropping 6 1/2".

I looked at dropped beams and if I remember right they were in the $800 range. Why choose the dropped beams? Again just curious.

 

My goal was to have a factory original appearance truck, but simply lowered. I wanted to have it sitting where as the fender well chrome is sitting right at the tire height, front and back. I didnt want to buy parts and "butcher up" the frame in any way. Everything on the suspension is "bolt on" parts only. I can always put the truck back at its original stance at any time as well. I run 215/70R15 T/A's front 275/60R15 T/A's rear on orginal Ford 15 inch wheels. The kit I have is from AIM and contains the following parts and prices which I bought in 2004:



This kit after it was installed gave me a 3 inch drop in the front and 4 inch drop in the back. There is still plenty of play in the front suspension, and I still have a set of factory uncut big block coil springs in the front, so really it could drop even more if I were to cut the coils. On the back, I took out one leaf, thats it. The ride is "OK" in the back. Its not something that I would want to take down a real rough road every day. As far as hauling stuff I couldnt tell you because Ive never hauled anything ever in this truck. I use it only as a weekend cruiser.



Any questions that I missed please ask! Thanks for all the compliments!

 

Good questions. My 70 already has PS. I'm not concerned about a swaybar.. it's a truck and driven like one - not looking to carve the canyons. If it can be added later I'll do it but it's not a high priority.

I've looked at the CV swap and the mid-90s T-bird rear IFS and have concluded the total cost would actually be more than the DJM system. I'm in CA where everything costs alot. A CV subframe is about $500 plus it would likely need to be rebuilt since the ones around here have over 150K before they're put out to pasture. Add the initial cost of a T-bird IFS and its rebuild, driveshaft, and miscellaneous stuff, plus alot of time, and now I'm looking at a cost between $1500 and $2000.

I share williamwilliam's approach described below - the "keep it simple" principle and would rather not hack on the frame. Plus, I'm getting a 27 Model T frame in a couple of weeks and gonna go ***** out on that project.

Thanks for the reply.

I assume the wheels are 15x8 front and rear? Do you recall what model and year/series were they sourced? Also, did the trim rings come with it or were they added by you?

Ah, the tires are what provides the visual proportions. That's an interesting approach with 70s in front and 60s in the back.

Was your rig equipped with the Flexomatic rear spring tensioner? Still run it?

With my 70, the PO bought a load helper spring kit but never installed it. This is the set up that mounts on top of stock leafs and provides added tension to the stock leaf pack as they are compressed. I think the kit or at least parts of it can be installed after removing a leaf from the stock pack and doing the hanger flip.

Thanks for mentoring me on this...

 

HIO, yes, I run 15X8 front and rear. They are found on alot of ford trucks in the 1964-79 era, torinos, etc. The 60 series puts a little more "meat" in the rear fender wells while the 70 series on the front helps even out the front/rear look from the back which limits it from looking like its running sideways to whoever is behind one of these trucks The trim rings were added by me along with the 1960 ford hubcaps that I run most of the time. The trim rings are 3 inches wide, chrome.
I still run the flexomatic leaf system. i think there is 4 leaves originally??? My mechanic removed the second longest spring from the top, so I have 2 leaves plus the thicker spring that is directly on the bottom in all. As far as the helper springs....that may work......but I dont know if it will effect the outcome of the rear height after installed or not???? If it doesnt effect the height, I may look into adding the helper kit myself later on if I can find out that it doesnt!

 

William are you saying your truck dog tracks? If so it is caused by one of the ends not being perpendicular to the frame. Seems like I see it quite a bit around here in lifted 4x4's. This would be the first I have heard of it in a lowered truck but the principle is the same so there is no reason why a lowered truck wouldn't demonstrate dog tracking. Well now I understand why only do the beams. You guys are correct as to altering the frame. You have to remove the front crossmember which was designed to be permanent. It was less than fun to say the least.

HIO as to the rear. Quite a few go with rear mods like you speak of. Some even change out the 9" (I don't know why) for a late model 8.8 then either flip it or shackle work. You have quite a different set of circumstances. I paid $250 for my CVPI IFS with 54,000 miles on it. After buying 1 1/2" drop springs I still had less in mine than what one would cost you out there.

Some of my expense was due to having a heart attack. I can not be around welding any more due to my implant so now I have to pay for any welding work I need done. I have a total of roughly $1200 into the front swap. The rear I bought for $125 BUT that is a very good deal. I have yet to find one under $350 around here. Another $400 for the mount kit which when I got looking at it seemed like the way to go. Why reinvent the wheel? If I were putting it inside the rails it would be different but I am approaching it as I did the front. Trying to mount it as close to original in the TBird as possible. As I am sure you know there are a bunch of incidentals like brake line adapters and the such. I have another $80 in rear shocks. All in all I have roughly $635 into the rear swap and it hasn't been put in yet.

My main problem now is who I trust to do it doesn't have the time right now. I imagine I will have another $400 or so having it put in. So it looks like I will be just over $2000 into all of it. For me it was a "great deal". I was looking at the Mustang II kits. $3500 for it all sitting on the floor waiting to be installed and that's just the front. I saved over $1500! LOL.