Hi guys. I just bought a 14 f350 cclb but it sits really low in the front. Who has done just spacers and what do you think of it and who has done nice leveling kits like carli? There is quite a difference in price from spacers vs coils and trac bars. What about the plow package. Seems like the plow prep trucks seem pretty high in the front.

 

Crickets??.....

 

I have the carli leveling kit and I am pleased with it. I wouldn't say it is a world of difference, but I just bought Bilsteins with it.

 

What bags did you go with? And, did you go with a compressor kit? Would you do anything different next time around?

 

I went with the readylift 3.5" spacer kit that comes with a drop trac bar bracket and 3" larger factory style rear lift blocks. I have 0 complaints. I am using the provided shock extensions, but plan on upgrading to full length bilsteins in the near future. The snow prep springs will lift your front 1-2", but will also result in a much harsher empty ride.

 

1.5" ready lift leveling kit, factory rear blocks and 18x9 Black rhino wheels with 35's. No problems at all so far.

 

I have firestone airbags. I had them on my old truck for quite a few years too. I have a Viair 20017 sitting in the garage waiting for me to install when I find the time. Until now, I have just been filling the bags with my home compressor or a portable Harbor Freight 12v compressor (it is actually pretty decent).

Dual 450C OBA | VIAIR Corporation

https://www.harborfreight.com/12volt...sor-69285.html

Anything different? Yeah. Better shocks and possibly a little bigger lift. Maybe just another inch or two, but I am pretty happy with the set up. It does everything I need it to.

 

I have a 15 F250 6.7 and my truck sits very level. i have 42,000 miles so it's broke in and it still looks nice and flat.

 

I think that’s because the f250’s sit 2” lower in the rear from the factory. They have a 2” block in the back vs 4”

 

The truck was designed the way it is for a reason. Be sure you know what you're doing, what you're using the truck for, and the unintended consequences.

I've got an F-350 SRW that already has the 4" block on the rear. I was considering getting a leveling kit for the front until I read that the taller rake on the back was intentional. It was engineered this way so that when a load is put on the back, the vehicle levels out. Without the rake, when you put weight in the back, the front is higher than the rear. This can also cause problems with steering stability when weight is taken off the front of the vehicle. You know that "death wobble" you hear about all the time? It's because the front wheels are wobbling like the shopping cart at the supermarket since the dynamics of the vehicle were changed with lift kits, leveling kits, etc. You can balance it out by putting weights on the front of the vehicle (just like tow trucks do with their extra heavy bumper up front).

Since I use my vehicle for towing and hard manual labor, I decided against the leveling kit. Sure, it looks better leveled while just tooling around the city, but that's not why I bought a Super Duty truck.

 

Sorry, but even with a load over max payload sitting against the tailgate, a properly installed leveling kit is not going to be the reason for having death wobble. I guess that means that a truck with the snow prep package has death wobble when loaded in the rear?

Now what it will do is cause your headlights to be pointed in the trees when you have a heavy load.

 

i understand that. That’s why I wanted the f350 to begin with. I also decided to go with the Carli stuff so that the geometry is corrected. The truck will be off road a lot and the front is to low for many of the water bars and stuff I will have to cross. I also will have a100 gallon fuel tank and also lots of tools. I bet it will have 1500 lbs in it daily. However lucky for me the previous owner already has installed air bags and if it still sits to low I can always lift the back a little more for the level ride again.

 

i agree. Ford is smarter than that. They are not going to let a truck go out there door with death wobble because it’s sitting 2” lower in the rear because of payload. I have two mid 90’s trucks a f350 and a f250. They are always squatting in the rear and I have never had death wobble in them. That’s with 310k on one and 265k on the other. They both are worked hard and clapped out. In my experience death wabkencome from badly warn components combined with a cheap lift or un-rotated tires.

 

so pros and cons....

if you use spacers to lift the front the wheel top begins to tilt outwards and your wheel bottom tilts inward basic spacer kit does not provide the means to counter adjust the angle change.

the more elaborate kits replaces a non adjustable bar to one that allows adjustment for this angle change.

its hard to say at what point should you get the adjustable kit vs just the spacers....spring variations due to tow package or not...result in different severity of angle change per inch of lift.


another factor in using just spacers is the change to the shock travel range and rest point. typical superduty has a extended shock lenth of 20" and compressed lenth of 13.75 in the front with an at rest lenth of 18". basically +/- 4"/3.5" inches of travel. if you add spacers with out shock correction, you loose shock travel since the spacers extended the shock. so your travel range becomes something like +/- 1"/3" . you loose shock extention equal to you spacer thickness.

 

I have to disagree with this. It would be true in a Chevy with independent front suspension, or a twin ibeam system. But we have solid axles. Without an adjustable trac bar or drop bracket, your axle will be shifted slightly to the drivers side.

With different spring options, at what point does that axle shift become to much?

Edit: I may need to apologize. OP, do you have a 2wd? If so, what speaker said is correct. I assumed you had 4wd, and we all know what assuming can make you look like.