Hi all,

My gal and I bought her dream truck. I'm working on it and struggling with lack of knowledge and information. This is a long post. I'm hoping some kind soul will read it all and start me on a path of useful suspension knowledge. I included all of the detail so no one has to ask about the truck or us to get a better idea of what we are asking. It's all in here! Yes, I searched the forum.

The truck: 1974 F100 360FE NP435 Dana 21 4WD Short bed short cab
Very stock. Including the original Arkansas farm mud with original leaks. Which was great! It had a thick coat of greasy mud protecting everything. No structural rust on the body or frame!
I bought it from a kid in Las Vegas that thought he would just drive it around. So he put 33's on it and did squat all else to it. I Roadkilled it from Vegas to San Diego until the electrical system finally gave up the ghost 13 miles from home. My gal has since completely replaced the electrical with an American Autowire kit.
Currently, the truck is a mostly bare rolling frame with brakes and a cab. Two separate beds (make two into one). The entire engine and drive train has been removed except the differentials and axles.

Me: I'm a professional airplane mechanic and parachute rigger. I'm also an amateur motorcycle mechanic and a competent welder. My gal works on automated weapons systems as a military contractor. We have the skill sets and time to do a nice job on this truck.

However, automotive/pickup truck suspension practical aspects are a mystery to me. Obviously, I understand shocks and springs, camber, caster, damping, compression, etc. All of the basics and how the individual pieces do their jobs is easy. I've been learning about radius arm suspension, track bars/pan hard rods, and the finer points of body vs suspension lifts. I understand the importance of avoiding bumpsteer with correct drag link, connecting rod, and track bar lengths, and ensuring that the pitman arm is mostly level from the steering box shaft to the drag link. But, the weeds of Ackman angles and geeking out over lowering and lifting are not in my wheelhouse, and I just don't care.

I don't know what the stock ride height was. I don't know if 33's would fit in a stock F100's wheel wells. I do know that it doesn't have suspension upgrades like sway bars, or 4 links, or any of those other terms I don't necessarily understand. I know this because I have identified most of the major components from my paper service manual and Blue Oval parts diagrams. I don't know how to identify a body lift vs. a suspension lift upon sight.

I do know that in general we enjoyed the way it drove before we tore it apart (after she did the wiring but before the timing chain jumped). We love how it looks right now minus the dirt and rust. We aren't turning it into a lowered show vehicle or a behemoth rock crawler. We learned to drive in the 90's as poor kids in the country with 20 year-old vehicles. This is our childhood/teenage years here. We just want to upgrade what needs upgrading. Leave it looking mean, riding nice, and driving well.

This truck's future is to drive my gal to work on normal town roads everyday, haul our Airstream on highways for out-of-town work trips or motorcycle trackday weekends, and get us to remote trailheads and campsites in places like Wyoming, Utah, and Tennessee for camping, hiking, drone flying, and BASE jumping.

It's heaviest day would be with 1,800 pounds of motorcycles, people, dog, and tongue weight in it, and a 3,800 pound trailer behind it on the highway. Or, just the three of us (me, her, and dog) on a normal off-road situation (dirt, ruts, rocks, mud; not boulders, ponds, logs, and other crazy stuff) to the base of a cliff on an unmaintained camping road for her to fly her drone and me to jump off.

So, is my truck lifted? The 4x4 forums basically ridiculed others for asking the same question so screw those guys. Their response was, "Find a stock one and compare it. yuk yuk yuk!" Yeah, let me go find someone driving a relatively rare-ish F100 (at least the combo of 4wd 4-on-the-floor short bed and short cab is sort of rare) with a stock suspension and convince that person to drive to my house to compare their truck to my rolling chassis without all of the weight currently on it!

So, what's up with my suspension? Is it lifted? Is it lifted well or poorly? Where should I spend our money to make the ride quality comfortable, handle normal off-roads with ease, highway cruising pleasant, and still look mean?

Oh, and please don't bother to tell me to do a drum brake upgrade, please. We can afford it. I can do it. I just don't want to. We both learned on quad drum vehicles. I am very good at adjusting drums. In our opinion, they do the job just fine if you don't tailgate the people in front of you and do your maintenance. It's a lot of money, work, and parts to do a 4WD drum to disc swap for an upgrade we don't perceive as necessary.

Here's Rommel the day he was towed into our driveway, VIN, and pics of the current suspension:

 

Welcome to FTE, the thing looks stock to me back end suspension wise. Stock looking leaf springs and the one OEM block with the bump stop ear. Normal. Front looks stock, I do see a different color C bushings..maybe had front end work done for maintenance? But does not look like it has a lift kit.

Looking at your "gaps", like eng compartment inner fenderwell to frame rail, bed/tailgate to rear frame rails, bed inner fenderwell to frame rail, does not show a body lift. I see a new steering coupler AKA "rag joint" where the steering shaft connects to the steering box. Good sign.

What exactily were the symptoms when the "electrical system finally gave up the ghost 13 miles from home". It might of been a common part that goes bad like the ignition module AKA "brain box". Inner fenderwell dvrs side 2 elec connectors.

Elec troubleshooting tips in deep in here and then some..https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...then-some.html

I would check out and join the Southern California FTE state chapter, great way to get to know fellow in state members and you never know you might have a neighbor that is a FTE member.
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/forum103/

 

I didn't read that whole book you wrote but the stance and pictures look stock to me.

 

The front coils look a bit tired, it would look really good if the front was the height of the rear.

I would leave it as is, except I would find a newer sliding window at a salvage yard. Up to 1996 will fit right in there.

I know this is a lift related thread, but throwing a couple engine and interior pics in can't hurt, right?

 

Thank you very much, 77&79 250. My experience lurking on message boards has been to see people flamed for too little detail, too much detail, the wrong details, and pretty much the posts degrading into arguments with the original question lost in pages of flames. You answered my questions right away. Awesome!

I kind of figured it was stock. The history of the vehicle leans towards stock. The patina of surface rust matched the stock leaves. And as I mentioned it drove so nicely it was hard to believe someone had altered the ride height that well! LOL!

The electrical system was Mickey Moused together in some of the worse **** you have ever seen. The battery ground went to the headers via melting the wire against the pipe halfway and then continuing to a loose sheet metal screw at the frame. The alternator was wired in twice (in parallel). It looked like the stock wiring had corroded so someone just put some random wires in approximately the same locations without removing the old stuff. The symptoms were specifically that the battery resting voltage was 12.3v. Cranking was solid. Didn't even drop below 10.8v. Running voltage was 12.4v initially, but as the night went on, headlights were operated, and we got further from Vegas the running voltage dropped below battery voltage. The gauges weren't connected (we since learned the original gauges work perfectly, they were literally just disconnected for no apparent reason). So I did not have an ammeter and did not bother wiring in an external. I did a battery swap halfway home and made it.

Basically, diagnosis from those symptoms and limited gauges were that the wiring was corroded, wired poorly, and the alternator had died right as the kid parked it and sold it on ebay.

New AAW harness, alternator, coil, plugs, wires, and distributor, electrical ran like a charm. Unfortunately, it doesn't fire at the correct time when the chain jumps! Hahahaa!

 

Good info about the windows Jklnhyd. My gal prefers the solid glass for looks. I like a slider for the dog. I'll be roadtripping it to our new home in Tennessee this late summer/early fall. I'll probably be truck camping too. So I'm likely to have a slider installed for me, the dog, and the cat. If the solid glass comes out clean, I will save it and she can decide if she wants it reinstalled when she returns from overseas.

Unfortunately, pics probably won't be much help, but here they are. You have to see me and a couple of friends' ugly mugs too. The engine is currently down to a long block on it's way to a full rebuild. The interior is completely gutted except the dash and steering wheel are still in place. I'm the medium hairy one in back. The two of us inside are on a camping stool and a milk crate. The bed floor against the fence is the one I am going to weld into the rotted bed with good side walls you see on saw horses.

 

Your experience on OTHER message boards might be bad and the Off Road and 4x4 section here...well they try to be like Pirate 4x4. lol I do not have anything to do with either for the same reason you do not. Flaming a person (just to be a SA jerk) does not help the reason they came to the web site.

99.99% of FTE is nothing but great people trying to help out there fellow Ford truck owner. IMO the 73-79 section is outstanding above them all, with lots of experience and knowledge and people that know what is going on with these old Ford trucks.

PO's (previous owners) can sure screw up a truck..so bad there is a thread that has PO hack jobs that we all cringe at. Sounds like you have the elec all under control.

X2 on dead alt and a bad voltage regulator. But always carry a spare ignition module in the glove box or tool box.

Here is a great extra ground ides from a fellow FTE member, good grounds fix alot of issues.

 

Oh, one more thing for 77&79. I forgot to reply that I replaced the rag joint already, but that was a Roadkill replacement. It's going to be replaced again. That one is an O'Reilly Chinese knock off. I don't trust most of those parts. The wheel bearing seals and thus the bearings from O'Reilly failed in less than 50 miles. But, good eye!

As for bump stop ears. Now that you called them that I think I figured it out! I was wondering what those were. Is there supposed to be some sort of rubber piece mounted underneath the frame for those ears to contact before the spring u-brackets hit the frame? I saw a part in the Blue Oval Diagram that looks like what I just described, but could not find said part on my truck. The diagram was a little difficult to follow so I couldn't tell what it's purpose was and I haven't found that part in the text descriptions to get a part name. Now I'm thinking that part was what the ears contact.

Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention that some of the "aftermarket" wiring in other places was spliced in by shaving the insulation on one side and then wrapping a bare lead around the shaved portion and closing it all with black vinyl tape! Hahahaha!

 

Living in san diego, airplane mechanic, and parachute packer, i'm guessing ex navy?

 

Geez, that wiring sounds like a Chevy loving high school kid had it,lol. Looks like a great project. Have fun and hope to keep hearing from you on this build.

 

Yes there is suppose to be a piece connected to the lower frame rail that is rubber ended and when you load/overload the truck down that rubber piece will contact the "ear" to stop from critical parts making contact.

A better upgrade to the rag joint is a Flaming River rag joint or a complete u joint set up or a complete Borgeson steering shaft.

Rag Joint Flexible Couplings - OEM Style Flexible Rag Joint - 3/4" DDM x 3/4"-30 - OEM Style Flexible Coupling Rag Joint - 770 Round (Male) x 3/4"-30 for FR Power Box Conversion
Steering Universal Joints
Borgeson Universal Company :: Ford Truck 1970-04

Steering box: Red head or Blue Top.

https://www.redheadsteeringgears.com/

Blue-Top Steering Gears, Inc.

A few diagrams here. https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...then-some.html

 

Keep it coming, 77&79. I'm writing all of this down. When I get to the steering I will be researching these parts. I'm doing a full rebuild. I'll take any other knowledge on high quality parts you have!

 

bigreed91: Of course, LOL! I was an H-60 Aircrewman. Now I'm a civilian earning my FAA certificates to keep working in aviation. 'Cause it's fun!

 

Just hit these top RED stickied threads and read on read on.

HIO's has a TON of upgrades ideas, vendor lists ect.. post #8 is the most current list...https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...mpilation.html

Another top red to read. https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...ease-read.html

You a UH-60 guy huh....me to for 20 years. Mech/CE/FI/SI, its a small world when you can relate to the joys of safetying a t/r inboard retention plate.

 

Since you are rebuilding the engine, maybe think about upgrading the 360 to a 390? You mentioned towing and whatnot, so these guys here could give you facts and opinions.