i am planning on building a cheap "tough truck" (the closest thing we have to prerunners in Kansas) out of an 89 f150 2wd. i already have the pickup, just need to get it running with 302 and auto. i always thought a twin I beam would be cool for jumping. i might put add-a-leaves and coil spacers to run bigger tires. A real lift would be nice but like i said, a cheap truck. has anyone done this with one of these trucks? any advice? thanks

 

I would not put coil spring spacers. you should look into some lift coils, maybe look for some cheap used ones, check your local junkyard, and lift shackles for the rear... you could probably make them yourself. If you lift that front end your camber will be off, as well as the caster. So you wont be able to drive it on the street without wearing out your tires very fast, and you having steering problems. If you want to correct the camber drop your i-beams, its the cheapest way. it will cost 10-15 bucks for the steel and then weld it to the old brackets. I have a layout of the brackets if you want me to PM you them or email them to you. My brackets can be cut out of a 1ftx1ft sheet, I used 3/16" thick. There is pictures in my gallery. Then you will have to drop your radius arms, Im in the process of doing that right now, as well as extending them. Pictures in my gallery of that also.

 

IF you are going to be buiding a truck that won't be street legal, strip it remove anthing you won't need, ie. make it as light as you can as less weight when jumping equals less breakage. Radius out the fenders, get some long travel shocks and make up some new mounts for them to get the most out of them. Since you have the 8.8" rear axle i would consider fabbing up an axle trus as well.

 

god.boots, if you don't mind could you send me the layout for the i-beam drop brackets? What size of square rubing did you use for the radius arm drop brackets? Thank you, I appreciate it.

hotrod48

 

hotrod48, I sent you a PM. I used 1/4" thick 2.5" x 2.5" square tube.

-Ethan

 

if you are really serious then you dont need to take shortcuts and cut corners. you are looking for as much suspension travel as possible. also with going airborn you might wanna think about rollcage and harnesses... a 5000lb truck rolling over on you wont feel good

-cutts

 

Thanks god.boots. Pm received. I appreciate it.

hotrod48

 

I built a 79 2wd years ago(it was even on TNN when they were covering tough truck with USA Motorsports) I was on a really tight budget back then so I did my own lift for wheel travel purposes. There were no lift coils available for this year truck so I dropped the coil buckets by cuting off 4 inches from the bottom then bolting it back on 4 inches lower and welding on lots of bracing. I also cut the shock mount off the bucket and built my own structure for those that supported each other across where the engine used to be (moved it back 3 ft into the cab) I lenghtened my original radius arms using lengths of thick walled tubing. For the I beams I cut most of the way through them just to the inside of the coil mounts then heated them up at the cut and bent them to accomodate the 4 inches of lift so they would keep the tires at the correct angle, then welded 1/2 steel back in where I cut and bent it. Originally I built a coil spring/ link setup for the rear, but later I went back to the original leaf springs because the frame kept bending due to the extra unsupported weights I had bolted to the very back of the frame for traction. The whole mess sounds cobbled, but it worked really well in my opinion. I actually still have all of the front end parts in case I ever have time to build another.

 

wyldstallyn73, do you got any pictures of your i-beams?

 

Probably not, if I did, I dont have the capability to get them on internet. Sorry