My coil springs are worn out in my 94 F-150 4x4 so I was looking thru the suspension book at CarQuest and seen that E-250s use coil springs that are 2 inches longer and the diameter is the same. Will these fit in my truck?

 

yes they will but they will be a lil stiffer. also all 2wd pickups have coils. if i were you though i'd go to JBG and get a set of their coils... brand new they are like $120 or so for a pair!

-cutts-

 

Will E-250 springs lift my truck any?

 

With The TTB front end longer springs will make your tires lean. YOu have to match your spring with your brackets at the center of the TTB and at the radius arms.

 

If I make drop brackets for the radius arms will the longer coils work?

 

you have to also make brackets for the pivit point at the center of the axle.
You need to just buy a lift for your truck if you want it taller

 

Are solid axles easier to lift? If so what is needed to lift it? and how much work is it to swap?

 

yes, you dont have those pesky pivot point brackets in the the middle. only thing NEEDED to lift a solid axle is (one of or a combination of) dropped mounts, lift springs, longer shackles. MOST ppl go for the lift springs b/c it is a bolt in. the swap is a direct bolt in (granted you get the donor axle from a truck that has the same suspension as yours... IE coils or leafs, narrow or wide)

when i swapped out my D50TTB for a D60 SA i removed the pivot brackets and unbolted the leafs from the axle, drug the D50 out, pushed the D60 in and bolted it all back up

i have a couple of vague pics in my gallery of the swap

-cutts-

 

That is exactly what I wanted to hear. What years of trucks should I be looking for? Will my 3.55 gears swap into the solid axle from my TTB?

 

you'll need to be hunting the old skool trucks.... 79 and older. keep an eye out on e-bay theres always a D44 going for sale. yes your gears i believe will swap over

-cutts-

 

Is there anything else that I'll need from the donor truck....ie. steering? Are there any problems that I should expect to run into? Also I read somewhere on here that doubling up on the radius arm bushings will slightly lift the front...is this true?

 

well grab everything that you can obviously, but you will wanna get the trac bar. make sure the shock mounts are the same b/t the 2. honestly you could get the steering and you might as well IF it doens't cost you anything but you will prolly wanna get all new steering just to be on the safe side. but that'll have to be your judgement call. also grab the radius arms/mounts/bolts.

-cutts-

 

Here's some information I have gathered from different sources.

You should also check out this site: http://77cj.littlekeylime.com/Dana44.htm


Also do a search on this site for more. This has been talked to death around here and other sites. Where this parts list says 94 just use the year of your rig. I got this information from 78F3504x4 here on this site.

-78 F150 Dana 44
-78 lower coil cups
-94 F150 upper coil buckets (stock)
-4" lift Skyjacker coils for a 78-79 F1504x4
-90 F3504x4 drag-link
-78 F1504x4 tie-rod
-78 calipers
-94 brake hoses
-78 brake line (on the axle)
-78 ford hubs
-94 F1504x4 pitman arm (Rancho drop)
-4" lift shocks for a 94 F1504x4
-78 F1504x4 radius arms
-78 F1504x4 radius arm brackets
-custom 18" adjustable track bar ($40 from local race car shop)
-custom front shock mounts (single)
-dual steering stabilizer I rigged up from my old TTB one.

We welded 1/4" thick steel to the engine crossmember before drilling a 3/4" hole to mount the track bar. I used the track bar mount on the axle, and it lined up perfect to the crossmember. Its been a while, so I can't remember everything. If you want I can take some pics and send them (digital). Seems every swap I see was done different. Later man!!!! Steve

Also, some other stuff:
-4 degree c-bushings
-front 94 front driveshaft fit perfect on the 78 axle
-the 78 driveshaft u-joints are the same as 94
-If you like the dual front shocks, you can get the bracket from a 77-96 bronco

 

Thanks alot for all the help. If you get pics of all the fabricating it would be very helpful. I went to a wreckers and got a price on the complete front end from a 78 F-150. Does $450 sound resonable? The ratio is 3.50. Can I run that with my 3.55 rear? Would the 78 have a 9" rearend and if so could I swap it into my 94?

 

yeah they put 9" axles in the rear of F150's and Broncos. Its your choice but the 78 rear end would gear ratio wise would match the front end you are looking at. If you are going to over size your tires it wont matter because you'll need to regear anyway. My suggestion for 33" tires is at least 4.11 and for 35" tires would be 4.56 but maybe 4.88's would work better. As for the 3.50 gears, they would work ok with the 3.55 rear end but 3.54 gears would be better. The rule of thumb here on 4X4 gearing is that the front gears should be .01 faster (numerically smaller) than the rear gears. As for pics, I have not started my swap yet but I got most of this information from 78f3504x4 on this site. I would suggest IMing him for pics as he oonly sent me finished pics of his truck parked next to an F250.