I was looking at your photo gallery and was really impressed by how clean your truck and the lift kit installation on it are. Did you install it yourself or did you have someone do it for ya? Was the kit complete or did you have to buy things here and there? What would you do differently if you were to do it again? I installed a similar lift on a 4x4 Ranger I had and it was a long drawn affair. The hardest part was getting the rivets out of the radius arm and I beam brackets, what was your experience like? What size of tires do you have on the truck?

Thanks,
Pat

 

First, thanks for the compliment! You're the first on the web to say that. I was trying to get this 2WD to look like a stock 4WD. It's pretty close.
I didn't install the lift myself, too much work and my co-workers are usually completely lit by the 2nd hour of work (And me too), and I wanted it done correctly. I had 4WheelParts (www.4wheelparts.com) in Plano do the work for me. They also did my 1994 F150 6 years ago. They did a great job on both.
The lift kit was complete as far as the suspension goes. I didn't like the 1" blocks that came with the kit because it made the truck look like it was sitting nose up, especially with about 1500 lbs in the bed. I had 4wheelparts swap it out for a 3" block, longer U-bolts and longer rear shocks.
The second thing I found out later that I needed was a center carrier shim kit. With the 3" blocks, the truck would vibrate pretty bad on take-off. That's a common problem with the u-joints being out of angle by 3 degrees or more, even on stock 4WD's! No problem, shim kit to the rescue. I also got that from 4wheelparts and my friends and I installed it. Unfortunatly, I stripped one of the nuts that hold the carrier to the frame and we had to go steal a tap and die set at work. (We had been doing this for more than an hour so I was half in the bag. No Canadian Whiskey and beer when you install the shim kit!) After dropping the carrier bearing a total of 1 3/4", no more vibrations. Very effective on reg cabs. If that didn't work, I would have had to get a custom drive shaft. There's a shop in Mesquite that will make you one for about $150.00 including tax.

The third and very important thing was that I needed the truck re-aligned after 2 months. 4wheelparts did it the first time after installing the lift. It drove very straight after the lift and two month after, the suspension had settled a bit and I had some feathering on the front tires, although it still drove straight. Too much camber, it needed a bushing on the driver side. Weaver Springs in Hutchins did that. On a straight road, I can eat half of a BigMac without touching the wheel, not bad. (Yes, and stupid)

The rest is all cosmetic, as far as the tube steps and fender flares go.
I have the stock 16x7" steel rims and the stock Pirelli 265/75R16's on there right now. Yep, they're too small. Once the truck is paid off in May, I will put some Weld SSII 16x8" rims and some 285/75R16's. I'll have Ford recalibrate the speedo while I'm at it.

In retrospect, I think I would do the same thing if I bought a 2004 2WD. Everything turned out well. I haven't had any problems with the worksmanship or the quality of the lift kit. Fabtech seems to make some really good quality parts that are a good fit. The only problems although somewhat expected were the 2nd alignement and the carrier shim kit. Like I said, no big deal. I don't know if you needed an idea of what it cost to do this but here goes:

4" Fabtech lift kit: $1668.05
3" blocks, U-bolts and shocks (swap) : $71.45
Center carrier shim kit: $34.63
2nd alignment with bushings: $122.06
Total for the lift: $1896.19

The flares were 242.46
The Steps were about 166.70

The next few things for next summer are:
New seat, take-off out of a 2003 F250 XLT.
Sliding rear window
New wheels and tires with Ford center caps.
Ranch-hand rear bumper.
I might even put a Warn semi-hidden winch mount and a Mile Marker hydraulic winch if I can get my wife to get me a PTO hydraulic pump and tank from her work.

 

I know if I saw that truck going down the street I would think it was a 4x4. It's probably a good idea not to install a lift like that if you've been hittin the moonshine. I remember mine was a pain, it took all weekend to get the lift on. You gave out alot of good info, I appreciate the time it took you to write it out. I'm gonna look into doing it on my truck. I already have 285's and if I could get the front end up a little bit, I think it would look more proportional.

Pat

 

What are you lifting?