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Hello to the forum, Newly joined member and this is my first post! I am looking for suggestions on how i should go about lowering my Truck. a little background on the truck, its an 81' flare side with stock suspension and body that i recently swapped in a coyote.The only thing i have in the works right now are front and rear sway bars that are on order. Now, I am not sure how low i want to go but i do know that i don't want the oilpan rubbing on the ground. Maybe just so the tires are even with the top of the wheel wells? Thanks for the help
Welcome to FTE
Nice looking Flare Side (step side is a bow tie).
The 80 - 82 has a little issue with trying to lower it because of the kingpins, they came in 2 different sizes.
DJM http://djmsuspension.com/ only makes 1 size kingpin beams for our trucks.
Would you know what size the kingpins are on your truck?
Did you install the power brakes or did the truck come with them?
What size is the wheel bolt pattern?
Other than DJM I don't know of any other way to safely lower our trucks.
Don't even think of cutting the coils as that will remove wheel travel and it will through off the camber that cant be adjusted on our trucks.
Dave ----
Installed power brakes, 5x5.5 wheels and no king pin on this truck it has ball joints
Well you or someone else installed the ball joint beams as 81 trucks had kingpin as I had 2 - 81 trucks, 1 of each size kingpins.
The thing is my F100 non-power brakes has 5x5.5, I also installed the power boost unit, uses the large kingpins and DJM does not make this size lowering beam.
Being you have ball joints do you know what year the beams are from?
If so then you could just get lowering beams for that year and you would be good up front.
They have kits for lowering the rear and shocks for all 4 corners.
Dave ----
First off thank you for all the help it’s appreciated, as far as what year the i beams are I cannot say as I always thought they were factory, FWIW I do know that the ball joints I have do not have the camber adjustment
on another note, did you also swap out the pedal assembly when you installed power brakes?
On the beams you would need to check with DJM to see if the BJ ones are all the same for the years after kingpins.
From what I have seen posted not all trucks had the adjusters from the factory and yet others may have been added later.
Yes I did replace the pedal assy. but only because I knew the power brake pedals and non-power brake pedals were different from another swap from power drum to non-power disc on my drag car.
The only difference is where the master cyl. rod hooks up. One is a little higher / closer on the arm than the other to the pivot.
Other than that I have not seen any other difference between them.
Dave ----
...as far as what year the i beams are I cannot say as I always thought they were factory, FWIW I do know that the ball joints I have do not have the camber adjustment
It's not the ball joints that are adjustable. The upper ball joints fit into bushings, and you can buy offset or adjustable bushings to correct camber. My '84 has the original bushings still installed, but they are concentric. My point is, if the truck has ball joints, then it is by default adjustable. You just need to buy the offset or adjustable bushings.
If you buy the lowering beams by JDM, then you should be able to use your existing spindles. It sounds like somebody swapped a later set of beams and spindles into the truck at some point. You just need to determine if the beams in your truck are 1983-1986, or 1987-1996. Do you have any pictures of them? Which way are the balljoints mounted?
From what I have seen posted not all trucks had the adjusters from the factory and yet others may have been added later.
Dave, my '84 came with 0 degree bushings, and they're still in there now. I talked to an old guy that used to do a lot of alignments on these trucks, and he said that most of the 2wd drive trucks did not need offset bushings. He said most of the time all they needed was new springs lol. They start to sag after a while, develop negative camber, and they'd have to install offset bushings to correct the camber.
I do not have any pictures of them but I do know that they are the stamped I beams, not the cast ones, so they look like a complete box with a weld rather than a traditional I beam look. As far as how the ball joints are mounted, all the threads face downward and the spindle sits under both
Also I see there are a few different kits from djm, how low is a 3/5 drop on these trucks? I don’t want to be much lower than top of the tire at the wheel well. Thank you all for the help
I do not have any pictures of them but I do know that they are the stamped I beams, not the cast ones, so they look like a complete box with a weld rather than a traditional I beam look. As far as how the ball joints are mounted, all the threads face downward and the spindle sits under both
Ok. The stamped and welded steel beams were a one year wonder, I believe only 1982, maybe even only a partial year. If you search for info on them you will find discussions. The balljoints in my '84 are mounted the same, so it certainly sounds like you have Bullnose balljoint beams and not the later 87-96 style.
I do not have any pictures of them but I do know that they are the stamped I beams, not the cast ones, so they look like a complete box with a weld rather than a traditional I beam look. As far as how the ball joints are mounted, all the threads face downward and the spindle sits under both
Sando, what is the build date on your truck? It isn't 8/1981 is it? It's on the Certification label on the cab just inside the driver's door.
According to the post linked below by the resident Ford parts expert, the stamped steel beams were found in trucks with build dates between 8/1981, and 6/1983. So, if your 1981 is a really late 1981 (built in August) then your stamped beams may indeed be the original beams. They probably started building the 1982 models in September of 1981.
Sando, what is the build date on your truck? It isn't 8/1981 is it? It's on the Certification label on the cab just inside the driver's door.
According to the post linked below by the resident Ford parts expert, the stamped steel beams were found in trucks with build dates between 8/1981, and 6/1983. So, if your 1981 is a really late 1981 (built in August) then your stamped beams may indeed be the original beams. They probably started building the 1982 models in September of 1981.
I guess I’ll try the DJM beams and see what happens, I think I’m going to replace the leafs and coils while I’m at it, hopefully it cuts down the wheel hop a little
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