I'm new to the forms, so just give me a kick if this topic has been covered in detail already.

I want to lower my '79 stepside 4" in the front and 5" in the rear. The kits I've found are only 3-4's. is there any tricks so I can get an extra inch in the front without any major reconstruction. Getting 5" in the rear will be no problem. Also, is there a way to lower the front without buying new I-beams. I know that on the 2wd you can lift the front by flipping and swapping the beams to the opposite sides.

Any help is greatly appreciated...

Ryan

 

Welcome to FTE!

You've come to the right web site.

I've noticed there aren't that many fans of lowering trucks but there are a few.

For now ,I would suggest you take a stroll through previous posts on this forum.
Ther are a few *Lowering* related threads on here that would give you an immediate answer.




Dennis https://www.ford-trucks.com/user_gallery/sizeimage.php?&photoid=1733&.jpg
[i][font color=red]Calgary,Alberta,Canada[/font][i]
https://www.ford-trucks.com/user_gallery/sizeimage.php?&photoid=3180&.jpg



http://community.webshots.com/user/mil1ion

[font color=green] Please Don't Ask Me Any Tough Questions,
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[font color=blue]78 F-150 429CJ,Silver,Explorer Pkg.
641/2-Mustang 260,Pre-World's Fair Car.
64-Fairlane500 S/C waiting for a 390-4spd.
68-Mustang 289-Sunlit Gold 80,892Mi
78-Buick LeSabre 403 4V
84 Volvo DL Wagon [/font]

 

I didn't relize that this topic seems to be posted to death already....My bad....

But still, all I see is everyone going to the 3-4 kits and nothing more on the '79 and earlier.

 

if you go with air ride you can use the following


I-beam lowering kit in the front and take out leafs in the back (keep 3" clearnce from axle to frame and use a shorter travel bag to lift it up for you. rear bag kit $439.33
compressor kit $367.86

upgrade to single paddle switch, guage and tank $191.54
all taxes extra

i beam for the front $779.96 (comes w/king pin, bushings and life time warranty by DJM)

these prices aer in canadain from a company called low life. this i sone of the many lowering options

 

Air bags are certainly the key to the ultimate slam, but the expense can be great, and many times good fabriction skills are needed. I love air ride suspensions and have installed many units on street rods and others. The fall back is price! Other than converting your front suspension to a Mustang II style, the only other safe and correct way to do it is with lowering I-beams. AIM and DJM sell them, and i prefer DJM, i have used both. For the extra inch up front you can play around with coil spring rates or cut about 1/2 of a coil. You can get into alignment issues by doing this, and the front bump stops will have to be removed or at least cut down also. Out back, take a long hard look at things. Without air ride, a 4" drop is going to be the max unless you are willing to "C" notch your frame. A 5" drop without a "C" notch will result in the rearend hitting the frame on harsh bumps. This really sucks, believe me, i tried it! My current truck is in the user gallery under "low mile 79" and it has the 3-4" drop via DJM. The whole set up, not including tires and wheels ran me $600 US. Your truck may sit a bit lower than mine if your springs have settled a bit. My truck had not settled at all due to its spending most of its life in a garage. Good luck, and have fun. FOMOGO

 

I'm willing to go with a C notch in the rear. I was affraid that I would have to resort to an M2 front end. The cost in the front end conversion is a llttle more than putting baggs on. Fat Man Fabs quoated me just shy of $1800 for the tubular setup. I'm going to file it on my wish list, since I've still got to restore the stepside first.

FOMOGO, thats a sweet lookin '79 short box. You said that you liked DJM, are the beams round or "I" shaped for the '79? I've seen the round beams from them bend under the weight of the front F-Trucks.

 

FOMOGO
VERY nice truck. It sits just the way I want mine to sit. Did you do the frame notch? What size tires did you go with? My truck's a 70 with 78 I-beams, coils and brakes. I also converted over to the 78 leaf springs and mounts. Wider springs then my stock, and they seem to ride better. Wish I could have found something with low miles like you, instead of having to rebuild one from the ground up to get a low mileage F100.

 

Steve and Mudmnky, My truck does not have the "c" notch done. I have never had it bottom out, but i have never hauled anything in my bed, nor have i tried to pull a trailer. I have a new Superduty for those tasks. The front tire is a 235/60/17 (only available trough Goodyear) and the back is a 275/60/17. The front uses a 17X8 wheel with a 5" backspace, and the back is a 17X10 with 5" backspace. You could go with a little less backspace in the front if you prefer, but in my opinion Ford pickups always look to have a wider track in the front than in the back. For this reason, i wanted to tuck the fronts in to make the back of the truck look wider and enhance the big and little effect, and to give plenty of tire/fender clearence. As far as DJM goes, i know they make some round beams. The beams for my truck are made with very heavy rectangular/square tubing, and have some reinforcements also. I was not pleased with the appearence when i took them out of the box, primarily because they sprayed them with a black/silver crinkle paint that was tacky to me. I sanded them down, did a little mud work on the seems and painted them black. My truck does not see any extreme usage like hauling or towing, but i do not think a semi's weight would break them down! The AIM units i used were made from welded together pieces of flat plate, and were poorly done at that. I spent a bunch of time on them. The DJM units went in easy, and at alignment i only had to adjust the tow in. The AIM units required a large pry-bar, a torch, a lot of yelling and screaming, bloody knuckles and so on. I had the truck back and forth to the alignment shop 4 times! I had to make a set of adjustable radius arm mounting points, and i never did get the Camber right on. In my opinion they are junk, and i have been through all of this twice, once with mine, and once with a buddies 93'. Do what you want, but you have my advice. The low point of the DJM, was the tie rod relocators, a pain to install, but work OK. Well I have gone on enough, see ya FOMOGO

 

 

FOMOGM,
That's just the opinion I needed. I was looking for some actual usage of the DJM and AIM kit for the '79. The only other question is what do you think about using the DJM kit when towing? Do you think the beams can handel the extra breaking stress?

 

Mudmnky, I have lowered 4 Ford pickups. The first was a 67' of my own, that i used the AIM stuff on. The second was with a friend who lowered a 93' with AIM also. Both were a real pain as described above. I then lowered my fathers 94' Lightning and we used Bell Tech stuff on it. Then my current 79' you saw pics of, and I used the DJM stuff on it. The Bell Tech parts are far superior to the other two, but unfortunatly they do not make anything for the older King pin style Fords. None of the trucks i have lowered were ever used for towing or carrying heavy loads. So my opinion is just speculation, but i would not be afraid to tow with the DJM stuff. I think it has pretty sturdy construction. it is comprised of three pieces of square tubing, each sleeved inside one another and welded together, and then welded to a large machined piece of plate where the spindle goes on. My guess is that they are close to the same strength as the originals, but i do not know for certain. I think it also depends upon what you are towing. A small trailer, or boat should not be a problem, but i might be a little concerned trying to pull a heavier load. I would suggest you contact DJM and AIM to see what their load capacities are. Good luck FOMOGO