has anyone lowered a f-250? If so, how?

 

Need to know what year and how low. Also do you plan to do any suspension mods or just lower it. I have a 61 unibody I lowered by installing a "volare" clip up front and removing a leaf and adding shackles on the rear.

 

it's a 1966 f-250 custom cab long bed.

 

lower maybe 2 to 3 inches. I want to beable to use the stock wheels

 

old pig - I have just lowered my truck a little by removing some of the rear leaf springs and cutting the front springs. I know this is not the best way of doing it, but it did help a little. I would love a set of 'dream beams' but no way I can afford to send them to South Africa. I have some pics on my website -

http://www.f100.1965.8m.com

Mike

 

Putting the front end on the ground with a 65 - 79 eFFy is very problematic because of the way spring hieght dictates camber & suspension travel.

Many folks resolve camber issue by heating & bending I Breams' tops "outward" to compensate. I Beams are made of forged steel however, and depending on how they are heated, treated, and manipulated during alteration & bending their "properties" can be altered in one or more ways.

Regardless of which way heating alters forgings, once altered they are no longer forgings, at least not at point where heating & bending took place. This info is available in any "Metallurgy 101" course. The big problem with heat/bend solutions is it has to take place outboard of spring seats, which actually are bearing points. Bearing points can fulcram in dynamic app's.

Because of "S" curve nature of "I Beam" as it sweeps up to the knuckle where spindle & kingpin mounts. Reverse Moments [points where energy/load vectors change directions] take place in S's switchback. Forged steels have tighter crystal structure and tolerate much more than non, or corrupted, forgings are capable of. When heat & bend has been done (depending on several variables) a forging can soften, or brittle, or fissure, or a number of combinatiations of faulting can occur.

Corrupted forgings in a "worst case scenario" can fail in what's called a catastrophic event [snap breakage, parting, separation, breakage, or rapid collapse] under certain loads or stresses. They also can catinary, twist, bend and distort.

I am not saying this is absolute and HAPPENS EVERYTIME, I am somply pointing out that heating & bending forged I beams will open the door to potentials and risks which did not exist before.

I really want to drop/ "Slam"/ lower the nose on my eFFy, but do not, because I know too much about risks I'd introduce/ engage into the equation. Since GOD watches out for, protects and helps children, uninformed, drunks, and idiots, I fear doing something I understand to be dangerous, & understand why it is so.

GOD might take such an act(s) on my part as a direct challange. I certainly am not worthy of challanging my creator, even though something so foolish might be seen as idiotic to some.

So 'til I can either afford to get some certified, dropped, I beams or use later type "A" Frame suspension [97 & up] as a custom done fabrication or adaptation, I've resigned myself to riding around in a eFFy that's just a tad too tall for my tastes.

I did graphic modeling [in ADOBE 6.0] of 65-6s chopped several hieghts & slammed a few different hieghts. I did some combos of both. I want what I want but I WANT IT RIGHT & SAFE first.

I've got this personal quandary about substance before image, circumstance B4 Pomp, and so forth. . . . FBp

 

Right way/best way/safest way/more expensive way=New lowered beams (dream beams or similar items)....

 

do most custom shops stock these? How much are we looking?
so to drop the rear, you remove some leafs? The axle is underneath the springs?

 

Removing Leaves weakens capacity & resistance of leaf springs plus changes ride & handling characteristics. The way most folks I know lower eFFys is by changing position of rear axle tube to top of spring, by reversing, or adding new, spring perches to bottom of axle tubes then running U bolts & Spring plates upside down, so they have nuts & plates on bottom of spring.

Then they "spring" [look a pun!] big money for those welded up dropped I beams. Problem I have is welded up dropped I beams. I get my 66 into mid 11's @ 125+mph in "Drag Trim" . I'm not at all comfortable w/ Welded up, dropped, I beams I've seen so far. Henry II cuts mid 12 sec. ets in street trim. 4Me Safety is JOB 1!

Besides forces of drag racing, like wheel pull up/ even front end lift & hard loading stops @ 125+ mph, there's wgt of 460 engine & so forth. Also driving in traffic, around corners, down the boulevard, etc with Welded up, Dropped, Light wgt front I Beams does not appeal to me.

In addition to my 66 eFFy, "Henry II", I also drive an 88 F150 SWB XLT/Ranger, a pair of "Gen 10" T-Bird Aero Coupes. They're light weight, McPhereson Strut & light weight 3 link, rear coil suspensions. Mamma runs an Aerostar 4X4 AWD with a 4.0. the last 3 [2 Birds & Aerostar] are small weight/size power trains & light duty suspensions work great in them.

But if I were to put mass, weight & energy of a 385 series BB in either of them I'd have a problem with light suspension, both in my sensibilities and most likely on the road too. It's same to me as whacking up suspension under Henry II by cutting my front coils or subtracting leaves from rear springs. Not a good idea the way I understand factors Involved.

Over time I've been involved with Automotive Industry a lot.
There are plenty of variables, a lot of diversity, but 1 thing I will & can "GARooonTee Ya" [ to quote a Cajun Friend o'mine] is NO OEM [w/ possible exception of Ferrari etc.] will spend $$$ for any thing they can get away without.

So what that = everything OEMs produce is an absolute minimum for what's claimed a thing is/ has/ does. Suspensions under 1/2 tons are made for & maxxed @ 1/2 ton. Suspensions under 3/4 tons are made for 3/4 ton etc ad infinitum. . .that's fact.
Go to dealership w/ a problem under warranty, if/when they find out vehicle rated @ 1/2 ton's used to carry 3/4 ton you'll have no more warranty.

Knowing this, makes a notion of reducing rated capacity further via alteration, modification, or etc a high risk potential in my mind. I tend to increase ratings etc in things I build/modify. The prime example of this, I cannot get my mind around is why anybody would put a suspension designed for a 2,500 -2,700 pound car under any F Series Truck. It does not appeal to me at all.

YES !!! M-2 IFS IS A GREAT SUSPENSION, for the type, design & capacities it is suspension for. BUT it is too small, light @ weak for a 3,200 lb & heavier vehicle [IMHO]. I cringe every time I see an M-2 under a 3,500 or 4,000 lb vehicle. I think that's pushing the envelope foolishly, myself. BTW M-2 [= Mustang II] which was in truth designed for & used on Pinto- Bobcat. In 1979, When FoMoCo came out with FOX Mustangs, no M-2 IFS was under it.

FoMoCo reverted to "modification" of their 60's Falcon/ Comet etc. style, high spring tower & seat, principle McPhereson used when designing strut type suspensions. In Fact 79, FOX bodied,
'stangs use McPhereson style struts instead of "coil overs" like its' ancestors used. Geometric principle is same, mechanicals are different since top "A" frame, shock & Outer Coil spring were all replaced by a strut mechanism, but it works very similarly to its' predecessors.

I have been accused of "laying stuff on thick". That may seem to be the case if what I'm discoursing/ discussing is unfamiliar or new to somebody. None the less, I have put a lot of time effort & design into suspension system I built/put under "Henry II".

It's a "radial tuned" system w/ Anti-Sway & roll Control features created just for it. BUT its' worth is in driveability of this 66 F 100 looking truck. I'm not claiming I can out perform a pro driver on a closed course, in a comp car, but I will claim that I have out performed several BMWs which owners believed to be the worlds ultimate driving machine, on twisting roads over long distances.

BMW folks abhor being passed & out handled by what appears as a nearly 40 year old pick Up Truck. Although "Henry II" is not lowered he does corner flat, and will slide before roll, lift, or tip. It is a matter of not overpowering in, or coming out of a turn. I load against its' bite cushion going in, roll on the power increasingly as I transect the arc, then floor board it smoothly w/ out wheel spin once I feel centrifugal forces diminish.

BMWs people drive in public may have good cornering or better cornering than most vehicles on the road. But they do not make over 550 ft/lb of torque + associated HP. As long as HenryII can hang with them in a corner, he can get by them coming out if there's ample room. In fact in "correct turns" he can pass going through a turns' apex. I think that's due to driver craziness tho'.

Anyway, my point is if/ when I find a way to slam Henry II, that doesn't have negative impact, or implications, I will certainly do it 4 SURE. . . .but until I find what I know it will take, I will stay with what I have because it works great. FBp. . .

 

What exactly are you wanting to lower your 3/4 ton truck for? if all you want is a lowered 60's pickup, swap out the drivetrain and lower it as you go. It would be a waste of your time to lower it as the ride would be way to rough anyway.

 

thanks for the info. I probally should've bought a f100.