Hey All,
I've got a 1979 F-250 Supercab 4x4. A buddy of mine works at a junk yard and so I told him I was looking for about a four inch lift kit for my pickup. He stumbled accross (and i aquired) a set of 4 inch blocks. I already have the 3 inch stock blocks on the rear axel. I have seen alot of information out there saying blocks on the front axel are a bad idea. I've heard everything from the axel folding under the truck to shooting the pinion through the floor board to blocks shooting out. I should mention however that the front leafs under the truck utilize square u-bolts and on the driver's side there is a bracket that locks on the casting of the front differential. If I were to put the 4" blocks on the rear and the 3" on the front, utilizing NEW u-bolts, Tightened them and retightened them, then welded them to the axel perch with 7018 (I'm a Certified welder, It's what I do for a living) would I be ok? Also, would this be legal in California? Thanks in advanced. -Jtapal

 

Unless this was strictly a trailer queen i.e. never driven on public roadways under real world conditions i'd highly advise against front blocks, not to mention they are illegal.

The leverage and lateral forces front blocks would experience at speed, under braking and cornering conditions, are far greater than that of rear blocks, if it were my truck i'd lift it the right (safe) way, using new springs.

 

Not just no, but hell no, REAL bad idea, no matter how you weld/brace or modify. If it was a beater trailer to the trail rig or a mud pit only, I'd say maybe, but still a bad idea.

Its a accident waiting to happen, yes the lateral forces on a front axle are
unimaginable, stay safe and just get a proper lift by replacing the front and rear springs.

Also I am sure it illegal in Cali, since you are a welder make a front spring, front mount drop block and some longer shackles on the back of the front springs and then a shackle flip in the back.

Use the search in the 4x4 forum there is a lot of ideas in there on the front drop bracket. Ruff Stuff has real nice rear shackle flip kit.

A 3 " body lift is better than front blocks any day.

 

i love how you guys hate on blocks yet trucks have come from the factory with the amount hes stated. i honestly would lift my truck withl eafs but the only problem is the 'cheap' company wanted 550 PER spring. im not about to spend as much PER spring as i would on buying the truck, or as much as im going to spend for my heads to be fully done.

 

Thanks for the replies. Sounds to me like the risk of the front blocks isn't worth the lift. This is a good thread, maybe will keep others from making the same mistake. If you have had an experience with blocks failing PLEASE tell us about it here.
In other news just to prove there is a God, I called that same friend of mine just about an hour ago, to tell him what everyone said about the blocks. He told me "man it's too bad you don't have an '01 F-250, one came in today because the owner apparently RAN IT OUT OF OIL (WHAT A JACKASS!!!) but he told me he just had Hellwig fab him up a set of 3 inch lift leafs, they've only been on the truck for about 6 months."
I asked him if the truck was gas or diesel. He told me "Gas".
SD leaf swap anyone?
Best part is I can get them for scrap weight, which right now is about a whopping $0.12 a pound!
I'm tickled to death!

 

I can't tell you of blocks ever failing except in a car accident( I bought y highboy wrecked) and the blocks failing probably saved the frame and axle from worse damage. And no one is going to say a time when their blocks did as they should since everyday you have them, they do. Highboys had 4" front blocks, and I've yet to hear of a story of the 4" blocks failing. If you dot screw up the installation of the blocks you will not have abnormal problems if your only putting these blocks in place of stock ones. I do believe traction bars(is that what their called?) are mandatory if you really begin to lift it tho so your axle is held in firm.

 

I also like what Parkerparkerm says. If it wasn't for my current situation there's no way I could afford the set of leafs. Heads vs leaf, Materials for paint job vs leaf, Rhino Liner/ Bed Armor in bed vs leaf, 1/2 a set of mud grips vs leaf, 10 tanks of fuel vs leaf, complete air bag kit vs leaf, Edelbrock carb + air cleaner housing + beer money vs leaf, Another truck vs leaf. The guy has a point. This list goes on and on. Don't even get me started on what you could get with the money spent on complete set of leafs!

 

My passenger leaf is missing 2 springs from the accident and isn't even bent, but it bent the mounts. My bro bought a set of dodge front coils with a d44 and I'm thinkin well weld up a platform(of course properly done) and then throw them on there. I can't even find replacement springs for some reason. Hopefully I don't have to go to a junkyard and get a Dana 60 front with leafs to just have a front end though( my axle is most likely bent). The price of a leaf lift is just insane now. Might as well not lift the truck unless you want to go big if your doing leafs.

 

Parkerman have you ever looked under the front axle of a highboy they do not have lift blocks on the front ! The springs bolt right to the axle. Yes the rears have blocks but they are designed for that purpose.

 

Mine had them and I've know of plenty of others with them. But what I'm saying, blocks aren't as bad as people make them out to be

 

Highboys have 4" blocks in the REAR, it's all spring lift up front, no blocks!

 

i've never seen blocks in the front of a rig before. if i have-i must be in denial.

i think you could run blocks if you had a 3 or 4 link. but at that point, you might as well get the proper springs.

 

still have access to them springs? wonder if they'd work on my 99 f350 7.3?

 

Yes I do but they're going under my truck. BTW gas front SD springs are different than diesel or v-10. Yours are gonna be a lot stiffer to handle the weight of that 7.3.

 

I am not even going to discuss if a HB let alone any Ford truck had factory front blocks.

SD front leaf swap has been done, here is a long read with 2 ways to do it, its from a fellow FTE'er. It also discusses a rear shackle flip JY style.

The leaf spring bushings are slightly larger than the original hanger, so grinding the bushing down is a reasonable solution. This only has to be done to the front of the spring. For the rear, I replaced the pivot bushings, and used an off the shelf Toyota poly bushing used in 80's era 4x4's. These bushings had to be modified a little to fit, but worked perfectly.
By taking a small torch to the old bushings, they popped right out, and left a small metal insert in the pivot itself. I was able to leave this in there and not fight it to remove. This can be tough to remove while the pivot is still in the truck.

By taking about 10 thousandths off of the bushing itself, it went in with little trouble. This is almost a perfect fit. Then I lubed up the metal insert, and viola, it is the same width as the spring bushing, and a perfect fit. Front end is done, and everything lines up.
Oh, if the leaf is equipped with a military wrap design, it may have to be either cut or removed to fit the smaller hanger of the highboy. Later 78/9 bolt on hangers are larger and fit the military wrap leaf.
Longer front shackles will have to be made, and the new length should be right at the 5.75" mark. This will provide enough room for the spring to flex and keep the spring from hitting the frame. This has been a problem I have been working out over time. Quality material and thick steel has to be used here. Too small or thin and the shackle will flex.

For the rear, the popular thing to do is the shackle flip. Since this requires the removal of the rear hanger anyway, half of the work is already done. Now since the perfect donor hanger is to use the fixed hanger found at the front of the rear spring, this means that another hanger needs to be installed where this one was removed.

Step by step:
Remove both hangers, and throw the inverted rear hangers in trash.
Purchase, a longer hanger for the front of the rear spring. 1/2 ton, or 2wd hangers are longer and will provide more lift. Make sure that the width is the same as the spring. Chebby hangers can be used here too.
Align the 64" rear spring so the axle is centered in the wheel opening.
Install the newly purchased hanger in the front of the spring and attach to the frame.
Install the original front hanger in the very rear of the spring and hang the shackle from this. Bolt up and verify that all hangers are level. Use a quality fastener here.

This will net some pretty serious lift and much will depend on the rear spring that you use. This 64" spring is easy to find in the salvage yard, and will cost way less than new springs.

I am telling you, this system works and works well. Not expensive either. My front leafs ran about 500 bucks for the pair, a great friend gave me a set of leafs (thanks again ChaseTruck754) and my hangers ran about 40 bucks from the salvage yard. This clears 40"rubber, and flexes like crazy.
Rides well, I mean extremely well, and I still tow a car hauler with a rather large 1 ton truck with this truck.
When looking for spring hangers, don’t limit yourself to just this era of ford trucks. They are limited in numbers at the salvage yards and just try to find a new one at a dealership. That being said, you can use a later model spring hanger, the hanger does not care. I suggested that one look into chebby hangers, if you are going to remove the spring from a 2000 plus silverado, grab the front hanger too. Use this on the front of the spring, and then use the factory ford one on the very back of the spring for the shackle flip. This is a very inexpensive way to lift a vehicle and still use the comfort and versatility of the newer spring.
I used:
Front:
8" BDS front springs from a 99 to 04 "gas" Super Duty
Extended my front shackles, they now measure 6 inches from center to center
Custom front shock mounts (17" travel front shocks)
Stainless braided front brake lines
Crossover steering (Dana60F) and power steering conversion using Saginaw 16:1 box
U bolt flip
Rear:
Stock 64" long 3500 series chebby silverado rear leaf
2001 chebby silverado 1500 series front spring hanger mounted lower to provide more lift
Stock Ford front spring hanger installed in the very rear to accommodate shackle flip
Relocated shock mount to accommodate 14" travel shocks
Stainless steel brake line
1.They are quite simple, you will have to follow some of my old threads, or read some of the posts where we have discussed it in great detail. You will have to cut or remove the military wrap leaf to clear the small spring hangers, and you will have to make longer shackles. The SD springs use larger fasteners so you will have to drill the hanger to 18mm or step up to 3/4" bolts. The shackles are going to get drilled anyway, so you can go with the metric stuff or use 9/16" SAE.

2.My set up on the red 74 (now its a 74, as I have since sold the 75. I had two identical trucks a coupe of years ago, and they sort of evolved into one truck) is a BDS 8" front spring pack with 2 leafs removed. Custom shackles to allow for additional travel, custom front shock mounts using 2.25" diameter smooth body shocks, 17" stroke.
Rear is a bone stock 3500 series chebby silverado leaf pack with zero lift, stock 4 inch block and a shackle flip using stock hangers.
That’s it, it clears 39.5" boggers. Unfortunately I do not run bump stops so my fenders take a beating and are always wrinkled.

ADVICE#2
Now we are starting to see why alternative lifts are becoming popular.
With 10 inches, one could assume that you have a desire to clear 44" rubber right?
I only ask because, 10" SD front springs will give you greater than 10 inches of lift over your stock height.

You will have to grind the spring eye bushings a little to fit inside of the 75 spring hangers. A few minutes with a flap wheel and an angle grinder will make short work of this.
You will also have to make longer shackles for the front springs. If you do not jump the truck, or get overly aggressive, you can get away with a shackle that is 5.25 inches. This will clear the frame, and allow a decent amount of pivot. The shackle angle will increase with the use of the longer SD spring, but this angle is good, and contributes to the better ride quality.
At this time, you will probably want to replace the front pivot bushings. I can guarantee that your 30 year old ones are shot.
You will want to be aware that this extended shackle does affect "caster" so caution must be used when making this modification. Too long, and the pinion angle gets whacky, and the truck steers very slow.
You will have to remove the entire leaf that makes up the "military wrap". This is the second leaf in the pack. The diameter will not fit in the stock hanger. I have run with the entire leaf removed, and have cut the wrapped portion out of the pack. Removing the leaf itself allows for more flex. I have yet to encounter a failure, or bend a main leaf after a removal. I am pretty hard on my vehicles.
After this, the spring mounting hardware will have to be addressed. The bushings are a larger diameter, and will require you to drill the hanger to a larger size. You can either drill to 18mm and buy an 18mm bolt for the front, or make the bushing larger to accommodate a 3/4" bolt. Since you are making your own shackles, you can use the stock size upper bolt, and drill the lower to the appropriate size.

For the rear, you have many options here, but the best so far, is to ditch the stock leaf all together. You will probably consider a shackle flip, and since you are removing the rear pivot, you might as well remove and replace the front one as well.
What I did was remove the front fixed hanger and mounted it to the rear. This creates a new mount for the shackle. For the front fixed mount, I replaced mine with a late Chebby hanger. It was longer and created more lift. These lift figures will vary depending on how you mount it to the frame. The longest hangers can create as much as 6 inches of lift when combined with a shackle flip.
Alright, so you have the hangers off completely, and now you have a few options. The best option here is to use a 64" long rear leaf, also from a late model chebby truck. 2wd, or 4wd this does not matter, and it will fit the shackle, and hanger from your highboy.
I used the very end bolt holes as a reference for my new bolt holes. The very outside holes became the inside mounting holes. This required me to drill a bunch of holes for the new 1/2" hardware, but I was confident in axle alignment because I was able to use 4 existing holes. Shackle angle is at 23 degrees, and has a bunch of flex with a 2wd 1500 64" stock leaf.
Longer shackles will change this. Weight capacity is very limited if you use a 1/2 ton rated spring. The fix here is to use a 3/4 ton spring.
Lift figures will vary based upon different springs, and which hangers you use. It is very easy to create the 10+ inches of lift with this method of lift, and though it sounds rather complex, it is really pretty easy, as long as you can read a tape measure, and are careful to attach everything with safety in mind.
These rather flat springs really flex well, and offer a fantastic ride over the stock units. Because they are flat, they do a pretty good job of controlling the axle, and help to eliminate wheel hop. I can really lay on the throttle, and spin up the rear tires in any condition, and the axle does not hop. It does get a little weird if I lock the brakes up, but this has only happened once or twice.
While this combo sounds like a bunch of work, when compared to the amount of work required for a similar modification, the rewards are well worth the effort.
Shock lengths become the limiting factor, because the springs at this point are capable of more travel than the shocks can travel when using the stock mounting locations, but for the weekend user, the stock locations will be fine. For a more aggressive user, new mounts that are farther apart will be a benefit.
I am still working out the bugs for additional travel, but I am using just about the entire stroke of a 14" front shock. Not bad for such a large truck. Fenders really suffer (Thanks again to Steve / chasetruck754 for all of the fenders I keep crushing, lol), a little because of the additional flex, but this can be eliminated with the use of an aftermarket bump stop.
Guess I should state the obvious: brake lines, steering, drive shafts will all have to be addressed.