Hey everyone just wondering what lift I could run on a 97 & 98 f150.

I'm in the navy so Im in no hurry but cars and trucks are a passion of mine. I am normally a Chevy guy but these Ford trucks surprised me my mom used to have a 2003 7.3 stroker F350 and I fell in love my first ford was a 97 that my brother blew up so I put in a new 4.6 (w) about 6 months later a tire blew out I ended up on a tree and upside down in the ditch. Yet my truck was still running and still runs great! I bought a 98 f150 4.6 (T) with the 5spd and thinking about putting a lift on it not too high, but I don't wanna touch anything if ya know what I mean I wanna be able to tow but have no problems in the woods.

when I get out I wanna do first rescue.

Any Idea's???

 

They make all sorts of lift kits for these trucks, it just depends on how high you want to go and how much money your willing to spend. A lift and tires defiantly affect towing. If you tow a lot, or tow heavier loads I would recommend not lifting the truck. A good mild lift would be around 4 inches with 33" tires. Many people run a 6" lift with 35" tires. Remember that you will have to change gears if your running bigger tires, other wise the trucks performance will really suffer. A gear swap can get really $$$$

 

the 5 speed is not a great trans to be towing with. what weights are you talking about towing? also what size tires you want? how much you want to spend? you have 3 choices really. turn up the torsion bars and run a aggressive 33" 285-75-16. ( the cheapest route). put on a 3" body lift some run a 35" with that set-up with the torsion bars cranked, still a pretty cheap route. or go with a suspension lift. lift will cost $1,300-$2,500, more expensive route, but the best route if you plan on using the truck off-road.

now you need to figure in cost for the gears. mine was $1500. but you should have the 8.8 rear axel, so yours should be a little cheaper than that. I would say $1200-$1400 For both gears.

4.10 if you want 33" tires
4.56 If you want 35" tires
4.88 if you want 37" tires

That is the most common answers for gear ratios.

Make sure you know what you want to do with the truck before you do the gears you only want to do it once.

Also always over gear some, instead of under gear

I have the 5.4 with 35" toyo MT with the Rough Country Lift with 4.56 gears I love it.

My truck is
2002 f150 supercrew
5.4 motor
auto trans
RCX lift ( $1300)
4.56 gears ($1500)
35.12.50.17 Toyo open country MT ($1500)
and 17x9 Bullet hole wheels ( $100) Craigslist

Here is my truck

 

MIKE 04 GT are you running a 4" lift and what is the height to the bottom of your bumper? I have a 30" limit in my state, I'm guessing if you have a 4" you'd be somewhere between 32-34 inches. I could probably sneak 32 through the garage.

 

If its a RCX lift I believe it would be a 5" lift.