Good, thanks for the feedback! I like to think we generally have a good handle on what is needed. But everything is subject to improvement at some time it seems.
I used to work for Trailmaster (they were in Coldwater, MI too) when BDS was first starting off in the building next door. Then known as "Big Dick Suspensions" I think shortening it to their acronym was a good business move!

Looks like they've grown quite a bit, and claim to have a very good warranty ("no fine print warranty") on their stuff too. Did you get replacements from them the first time or two at least, before you made your own?
Hopefully they've got it in for a re-design, since it sounds like it was breaking way too easily for you.

Anyway, glad ours looks beefier. So far as I know, we have not had any come back at the wrong end of a trackbar!

Thanks again.

Paul

 

The issue I've had with the BDS part is the sleeve on the upper bolt. Through normal wheeling it actually crushes, causing the bolt to get loose, and the truck to wander all over the place. Once it crushes all you can do is torque the bolt down more and more....Thin materials. Everything is 0.125 wall stuff. I made mine out of 1/4" 2.5" box tube and bolted just to the inner piece. I also reamed out the holes in the frame to accept 5/8" bolts....MUCH stronger. It ain't moving unless it rips the frame part.

I never did warranty those brackets. Maybe I should. Bought them from Bronco graveyard and paid for both of them. I do have a BDS 3" lift on my Ram and the components on it seem to be of very good quality by comparison.

 

 

Nope. Not really.
As long as you get your alignment correct, and the angles when using both brackets are desirable, and you have enough lift to clear a riser, they can work well together.
There is really only a minor downside to a drop bracket that I can think of. And that's if you're a really hard driver, or mud-bogger with really big tires, the frame-mounted uppper trackbar drop does add a leverage factor to the frame.
This is not really a big deal on 99% of full-size Fords out there. The frames are robust enough to handle it, the leverage factor is not that substantial, and I can't say as I've ever heard of someone with a full-size cracking their frame there.
But I mention it because it is "a thing" to be aware of. Adding leverage in that plane can be a bad thing on a weaker frame.

So the riser is stronger simply because the forces are being placed along the axle tube (not sure what the proper geometry-speak wording would be for that concept?) and has a long strong weld on an extremely thick material (the axle tube).
But people do use both fairly often on custom steering setups. On both the Early Broncos and the '73-'79 full-size trucks.

Any time you make a change to the actual linkage (TRO, or high-steer for examples), your best results usually follow some mocking up of parts. Don't just bolt things on and go to town with the welder until you've eyeballed stuff and made sure that all the parts play well together.

Paul