Got a few questions about the lift kit I plan on going with for my 95' F350 Crew Cab. I am basing my lift off of this truck right here (the first white one)

1997 Ford F-350 - OBS - From The Ground Up - 8-Lug Magazine

I know the article states that it is lifted by means of a 5" reverse shackle and 8" leaf springs. Now to my understanding reverse shackle kits only are applied to the front so the front would be lifted a total of 13" if he put the 8" leaf springs up front. Now the article doesn't say anything about the rear of the truck and how it was lifted. Would it just of been atlas 12" leaf springs? Because it appears it has the factory blocks based on the pictures...and the truck appears to be leveled....which makes sense in my mind because the front would be lifted an extra inch than the rear giving it the leveled appearance. Or do they make some sort of rear shackle drop that I've never hear of? Any input about this truck and how it was lifted would be great. Absolutely love the look of this truck and want the same exact stance for mine...unfortunately no one offers a 40x13.50r20 tire anymore so getting forced into buying 40x15.50r22's.

 

It is possible to get a type of Shackle flip for the rear, but unlike the front it doesn't flip it, it just lifts it, I'm planning on doing the same to my 97 f250 with a solid axle swap. I believe that sky manufacturing makes both kits! The front and the rear.

 

The front is typically a Reverse Shackle Kit (RSK for people who are too much of a hurry to type it all out). That moves the shackle from the front of the spring to the rear of the spring (and moves the fixed end from the back to the front). The shackle still points down after the changes (so it's not "flipped"). This is done to give a better ride, but since there isn't room to do it otherwise, it ends up lifting the front end about 3".

At the rear you are typically talking about a shackle flip. That flips the shackle from pointing up so that it's pointing down. The shackle stays at the rear of the spring (so it's not "reversed"). This is done to get more height, cheaply, but generally considered to be at the expense of other considerations. It typically seems to work well for most people who aren't really pushing the rear suspension very much. But it would NEVER be considered by desert racers and others who demand the most from their suspension.

 

Lift the front however much you're planning and then order some springs from Atlas for the needed lift to mach the front. Add 3-4" to the rear spring number if you want to get ride of the factory rear blocks.

My 350 has National springs front,Atlas rear.

 

Just looked on their website and Sky does make the flip for the rear. Will have to look into them. If I did a shackle flip in the rear it says it would give me 4.5" of lift so I'd have to go with 8" leaf springs front and rear which would give me 13" of lift in the front and 12.5" of lift in the rear. The rear shackle flip would be cheaper to do but the truck has a decent amount of rake to it stock and so if I went with that set up it would only sit 1/2" lower in the rear and I feel like that 1/2" wouldn't do a whole lot of difference and it would still be noticeably raked...but I guess I could get smaller blocks for the rear to bring it down that way as well. Any thoughts on that set up? Not too worried about doing the rear shackle flip in the rear as this trucks just going to be a weekend toy and the most towing it would do would be a 20' pontoon boat so they won't be seeing a whole lot of load on them. I'm most curious of the longevity of the aftermarket shackles for the rear if I flip the rear shackles... I say this because I've gone through 2 sets of rear shackles on my 1997 f350 gasser and the 1995 f350 diesel I'm lifting has a set of "Backyard Customs" shackles on it right now so if there's a weak spot on these trucks from experience it's those rear shackles. Anyone know anything about the longevity of the rear shackle flips? Did you get rid of your rear blocks Briansshop??

 

Yes. No blocks.

 

Any benefit to doing this?

 

IMO,yes,because I tow a car trailer with mine. I just didn't want the blocks. Not really a big deal to run the stock ones,but I wouldn't stack or add blocks for sure.

 

Just a FYI. That is NOT a 5" RSK. That is a 2.5" ORU RSK with an unknown amount of spring. The rear of that truck also has 2 sets of blocks. the stock 4" plus what looks like another 2" block below the originals

Look at RuffStuffs rear shackle flip IMHO it is superior to SKYs in just about every way

Also. have you checked local lift laws to make sure you are legal to go that high?

 

Briansshop got cha! I know double stacking blocks is a big NO-NO and would not be lifting any vehicle by that means. I did a bit of research and turns out if you delete the blocks you can flex a bit more but this truck won't be seeing any crazy off-road conditions so I think I'll just keep my factory blocks and compensate for the rear lift in spring size and shackle flip. If it winds up being the cheaper option that is which I'm sure it will be because the bigger the leaf springs the bigger the cost.

Diesl_Brad What is a ORU RSK? I did notice that it had two sets of blocks the other day while staring at the picture more. Is this what you are talking about from RuffStuff?

Universal Shackle Flip Kit - RuffStuff Specialties

As for the lift laws I'll be well past legal limits but I work at a shop who will pass me for inspection....I may even register it as an antique to cover my a$$ even more as it's only going to be a weekend toy and not see a whole lot of millage. Plus the cops around where I live won't bother you till you do something wrong....and then they hit you with everything they can. But I got cops who owe me favors from pretty much all my surrounding counties so I'm not too worried about having problems with the authorities.

 

ORU is Off road Unlimited. RSK is Reverse Shackle Kit

And Ruff Stuffs REAR shackle flip is just that. It puts that shackle UNDER the hanger. I have one in my bronco and am very pleased with it.

Good luck with the legal stuff

 

I do see the difference between the Sky 5" rsk and the ORU rsk now after doing a bunch of research on google and other forums....don't like how the brackets hang so low on the 5" rsk so think I'll go with a smaller one...any opposition on the smaller 3" sky rsk or just avoid sky all together?

 

Personally I do Not like SKYs stuff. I like Precisions Metal Fabs RSK and RUffStuffs Rear shackle flip

 

fwiw, any blocks (even stock) promote axle wrap and hop. its much more leverage on the spring. of course, if you are riding around in a stock vehicle not doing anything stupid, you'd never experience anything violent or detrimental. put some power to the ground, and you'll know it.

rear shackle flip is much better option than blocks of any sort, but blocks have their place.

 

I'll have to look into them then!! Thanks for the advice!

'82F2urd Yeah I know which is why ladder bars are on the list of things to do to help with that but even still the trucks not going to be making big power or compete in tractor pulls or anything that would be putting a huge amount of stress on the rear to the point where I couldn't use blocks. I'm probably just going to keep the factory blocks and do a rear shackle flip and what ever size leaf I'll need to achieve that 12" of lift in the rear.....but If a leaf with 4" more of lift to compensate for the block is only a few $100 more I may wind up deleting the factory blocks. My question then is how do you attach the leafs straight to the axle? Will it just sit on the factory perch or will I need to weld on a new perch? Also I know that ATLAS (which is where I plan on getting the leafs from) only offers the heavier duty leaf packs up to a certain lift level. I wanted to keep a stiffer leaf so I can still tow/haul the rated towing/hauling amount without fear of it squatting like crazy.