I am currently saving/scheming money for a full on lift for my truck, but in the meantime I'm trying to do things to give it a litle more ride height and possibly some more wheel travel. Iwas trying to keep activities under the $500 mark and only looking for 2-3 inches at the moment. better suspension performance would be nice, too. I wan looking at getting a pair of lift spindles (opps, almost forgot...I have an 89 f-150, 302, AOD, 2wd, std cab, longbed w/shell), but those get close to maxing out my $500 limit. One thing I was tossing around was the idea of just replacing the springs, but do I need to get aftermarket ones? would it be cheaper to just use...I don't know...heavy duty springs from an f-250 or f-350? I would think the spring rates would be higher for an f-350 with a diesel. Just trying to get ideas...I'm a college kid with not a lot of time on his hands between school and work, and have enough bills to keep me from unloading all of my money into my truck. I live in San Diego, so some place in South Dakota that sells stuff cheap mught not help that much, with shipping and all (not that I have anything against South Dakota, it's just far away).
Thanks in advance...

P.S.: If anyone has drawn out plans for custom parts, like race-type bumpers, cages, suspension pieces, or links to some, It'd be appreciated.

 

Hotrodmex, I think that your best bet would be to hold out until you get your lift kit. You would really have to check out donor trucks to get the proper parts, if they even are enterchangable. Most f-150's that I have seen are coil springs where as most f-250's and above are of leaf spring design. By the time you spend the money to get used parts and make/shift parts to attempt to raise the truck, you could get a lift kit. A lift kit would be easier because everything just bolts up and the kit will have all of the modified parts for the front suspension and steering. Just a thought. Good luck.

Jakegypsum // Ford fleet, soup to nuts.

 

>I am currently saving/scheming money for
>a full on lift for
>my truck,

It would be simple to raise the rear end of the truck, probably your idea of getting springs from an F-250 would work. Or even adding another spring from an f-150 would stiffen up the rear end enough to lift it.

But you are right about the front end. If you just put stiffer springs in the front end, the camber would be out of whack..

This topic reminds me of a guy I knew in high school. He found a real cheap way to jack up the rear end of his 60's something mid size Buick. He jacked it up and slipped 2 by 4's under the rear axel !!!!!! It looked pretty cool cruising around the high school at noon hour, until one of the 2 bye's split and fell apart, then his car looked REAL DORKY !! :=)

Yup. It's best to do it right, or not do it at all..

Good Luck in College !

LeRoy