Okay, hello everyone fairly new member here, been following these forums for a while and decided it's time to show my latest project to you guys. Started out as a 97 7.3 cc lb with a mild lift and 35 inch rubber underneath it. It looked real good but decided it was time to go higher and get a little more power out of the old 7.3.


So first thing I did was get a new set of leafs arched up pretty good as well as an add-a-leaf under it, but really disliked the front shackles that Ford uses so I decided they'd have to go. I put the frame up on blocks and dropped the shackles out.


Then I ordered a set of heavy duty rear shackles that will replace the old front ones.

I fired up the cnc plasma table and cut out some new hanger brackets for my new shackles.
Then the I tack welded the hangers to the frame then drilled through the hangers and frame and bolted them on with 5/8 grade 8 bolts. I then added a length of 1.5" heavy walled round bar between the inside hanger brackets for added strength.





I now have better shackle geometry with this setup and gained over two and a half inches of lift👍🏻 so now with my springs and this I'm running just over 6.5 inches of lift.
Just waiting on delivery of a PMF adjustable panhard bar then she'll be all good to go again.

To wake the old 7.3 up I ordered a TS 6pos chip to pump up the fuel, installed a 6637 filter with a filterwears prefilter to push more air through her, and I also installed a diamond eye 4" turbo back exhaust to keep the flow going. Also ordered EGT and boost gauges to keep an eye on everything. Future plans include swamps stage 1 injectors and move up to 37" tires.
I will post more as it comes together, any questions or comments appreciated thanks!

 

I like the rear shackle up front idea!

What gears do you have now and will you change them when you move to the 37" tires?

 

I've got 4:10 gears so I should be fine with 37s for now. Got everything back together and drives awesome! Bumps are waaay nicer now much less impact felt.



I also needed to chop off the old track bar mount and I fabbed up a new heavy duty version.





Chopped 3 inches out of my shock mounts and rewelded them all around





Love the way she's sittin now ready for 37s





Also ripped out my Ford bench and installed buckets out of my first gen cummins.

Ts chip is now also installed. This truck is alive! Turbo back, new intake and a chip are the best things a 7.3 owner can do! These trucks are nearly gutless compared to today's trucks but it feels like a beast now!!!! Egt and boost gauges will hopefully be on soon. Just on the hunt for a 99 7.3 near me that I can steal the intercooler system off of!

 

I love that she's a 4x4 5spd! Beautiful truck!

 

Thanks man!

 

Clever shortening the shock mount!

Why the beefier track bar bracket?

 

Needed better clearance for my adjustable track bar so u though why not go beefier than stock?? Haha

 

I understand, there's not much room to tighten the nut.

 

Military 37s that I'm gonna run

 

Hopefully picking up an intercooler and plumbing pipes off of a e99 7.3 this weekend, then find out how to fit that onto my non intercooled 7.3!