Hey everyone, I have myself a 96 F250 4x4. Just got it about a month ago and the tires are bad so I got a set of 33s for it. While they are being installed I was going to go ahead and have the mechanic throw on some blocks to make the truck a little taller.

I’m a new owner and I don’t know as much about vehicles as I’d like to, so I wanted some input for this decision. I am looking for the truck to sit level and a little bit taller off the ground. I know a lot of people say 2” front blocks would cure the leveling problem perfectly but I wanted a little bit higher overall, so I found a kit with 3” front blocks and 1” rear blocks. At first I figured that sounded perfect because the front is still going to be level because it will be 2 inches higher still. So I went ahead and ordered them. But then I looked behind my tires and I see that there are what looks like stock wheel spacers from the factory. They are just about 2.5 inches tall, without the little plates on each side. They are right where the new rear blocks would be so I assume that it wouldn’t be a good idea to put blocks on top of stock blocks (please correct me if I’m wrong though). So if I’m supposed to swap out those blocks with the new 1” blocks won’t that completely ruin the leveling aspect of the lift? Or am I missing something? If I left the stock rear blocks and put just the 3” front spacers on it would still stick its nose up in the air, which is not the look I’m going for.






Or should I just cancel the order and find a different leveling/lift kit? Any suggestions on those would also be much appreciated. I thought 2” were okay and 4” was slightly too much, so I was thinking an overall lift of 3” would be pretty sharp.

 

You do you, but I won't use lifting blocks on a steer axle, under any circumstances, and I have a hard time believing that a professional shop would install them.

 

It sounds to me like you would be better served with a 4" lift kit. The TTB front axle will not align properly if you lift it 3" with blocks (which isn't advisable) or taller springs alone. You need drop brackets for the beam pivot points. Otherwise, the front wheel camber will look like this \--/. The rear comes with factory blocks, notice the bump stop perches are part of them. For 4x4 trucks, the F-250's had 2" blocks, F-350's had 4" blocks.

 

Thank you that was all very informative to me and you likely just saved me from a big mistake! Are there any lift kits you would suggest? 3” is ideal but 4” would be good as well

 

You're welcome. To further clarify, small changes in ride, no greater than 2", can typically be accommodated using upper ball joint offset bushings during a quality alignment job. But they are limited in range of correction, and can't quite adjust for a 3" lift.

I'm not very familiar with the 3/4 leaf spring lifts, so I can't recommend any particular product. My experience lifting has been with 1/2 ton axles (longer beams) with coil springs.

 

100% agree.



It is apparent you do not know what you are doing, sorry. Cancel the order, then educate yourself on the TTB and general 4x4 suspension lifts for these trucks. There is far more to the IFS than just popping in blocks...which you do not do.

 

Of course I don't know what I'm doing. I tried to make that apparent in the initial post by mentioning I just got the truck and I don't know as much about them as I'd like to. That is why I'm here and I'm happy to read all of the corrections that I need to make.

Upon my initial research, I did think blocks were a good idea as I found plenty of people who are running them and every search I made for lifts on this truck the results were almost completely block lifts. Upon doing more research and getting feedback from other more knowledgeable people such as yourself, I realized that they are NOT the way to go, and I appreciate that. If you have any feedback about what I should be doing I am open ears

 

Cheapest thing for some height is a 4" rear block, which F350s probably had and an add-a-leaf for the front for a hair more. BUT you still will not be level. Leveling it will change the steering geometry which to me, is pointless and a bit dangerous. Trucks are ***-up to compensate for loads.

I would decide how high you really need/want to be and if you want to keep the D50 TTB and do the drop brackets or do a D60 solid with a reverse shackle kit. I bet just fresh leaf bushings and fresh shackles up front along with a single add-a-leaf would gain you quite a bit of ride height. Past 100k, that stuff is all worn and droopy.

Apologies if came off harsh, but the way you wanted it is recipe for disaster that can easily kill someone on the road.

 

Thanks I think that is what I will do then. If I add one add a leaf and put some new bushings in there, do you think I'd need to get the axle pivot bracket? The leaf I'm looking at says it will ad 1-2" (hopefully closer to 2 lol). And then like you said hopefully the new bushings will get me a little bit more.

 

Unsure how much you can adjust out in the front and if there are even single springs available to add. Never really looked that close. The pivot bushings are also probably junk at this point too, mine were at 250k. This causes camber issues and can throw toe off due to how they fail.

As a few others stated, you will probably need a full kit of some sort. 4" is common, I think those 2" would be decent also. Buy good shocks, I like my Bilsteins.

Anyway, I will pester my pal with a lifted D50 and see what he did.

Solo Motorsports seems like they do a ton of TTB stuff, may want to nose around there or call them.

 

I did the Tuff Country 2.5" on my '92 F250 a number of years ago. It worked well, and didn't ride any worse than stock.

 

Anybody know if "mini leaf packs" are safe enough to use? I figured they were basically the same thing as blocks so probably a bad idea. But these are solid so they won't break as easily, basically just a really short set of leafs just for height. Is this a good route for me to go or should I continue to look for a kit with full leafs?

 

No, those are not safe. And They're going to cause the same alignment issues that a solid block would.