im thinking about puttin a 6 in suspension lift on my 87 F-150. it has coils in the front and leafs in the back. the leafs arent gonna be a problem but how would i compress the coils enough to get them under the truck?

 

I put a 4" rough country lift in my 88. Same truck


about a week ahead before parking the truck, soak all the bolts down with JB80. Also, check the brake hoses and see if they have any wear. Buy some new ones if they do.

unbolt and take off the top clip. When I installed my lift, i put 2 jackstands on the frame about 6 inches behind the radius arm brackets. Lift the front of your truck as hi as you can. Its a lot nicer to not have to lay down taking stuff. Take a few extensions through the top of the coil bucket and take off the bolt inside your coils. If i remember right, i used a 12" and 2 6" extensions. Sorry, i cant remember the size of the nut, over an inch. Mine broke loose with a pipe at the end of my breaker bar. You'll prolly be jacking the truck up from the TTB. Once you let the jack down, the hubs should lower, and the coils will come out. Put the washer and nut back on. I'd disconnect your brake hose if they are or arent bad. You'll get a little more play. I rented a coil compressor but didnt even use it.

 

alright thanks for the info. ill probably do exactly that

 

Skyjacker makes a good quality lift kit but don't expect the finish to last more than a week.

How was the quality of the rough country lift?

 

the drop axle brackets and radius arm brackets are black, and still holding. The coils are black and the protectant coating was comming off so i stripped it, sanded, primed and painted them red. Looks cool. Still, i would go with skyjacker then rough country. Nicer ride. I already replaced my shocks. They were sitting on a wrecked truck for about a year before i swapped it into my truck though.

 

Install instructions are spot on.

fordman363,
Keep us in mind if your looking to go with Skyjacker, we have a FTE forum promo for 20 bucks off and FTEDEAL dropped into the cart gives the discount.

There are some more comments regarding skyjacker on product pages here:
http://motorhaven.autoanything.com/suspension-systems/20A50508A1.aspx?kc=MOTORH

 

I'll add if you didnt know already, the front TTB axles on fords don't like big tires, especially if you mud. just look at the set up of it and you'll figure out how much stress is going certain spots. I have a 4" lift with 33x12.50's and the tire size fits the lift size IMO. I could fit 35's, in fact i fit 36's and they only rubbed on the radius arm(i didnt mud) what size tire are you planning to go with the 6"? If you have a 302, 35's would work it a bit too hard IMO...


Few other tips

Don't even bother trying to break and take off the 8 nuts from the u bolts. I tried taking one nut off, and just ended up cutting them. Didnt have a use for the stock u bolts, and they are only like $10. wear glasses, and be ready for a POP! lot of tension on them! You'll be cutting slower and slower waiting for it...made me flinch all 4 times, and i wasnt even cutting them!

Grind off the rivets on the radius arm brackets, obviously. Drilling them sucks!

Install the drop axle mounts and new radius arm drop brackets and get them tight.

I put the axles in before i put the radius arms in. I used a pipe to get the radius arms in the drop bracket.

Stock pitman arm wasn't a fun one to take off. We tried lubricating, the candle trick, heating. Finally we just cut a vertical cut on the top of the pitman arm to releive some tension. Slipped right off

Steering stabilizer is pretty straight forward. Blocks are. shocks are.

I wish i would have taken pics during the process, but i have the before and after in my album

 

I have an '88 almost exactly like yours. I noticed when looking at your gallery that you put the 33x12.50's on before the lift.

Did you have any fitment issues with those tires before the lift? Any rubbing?

 

actually no. Yet, I did not flex or mud in them but as far as on the street, i am getting the same rubbing as i currently do..on the radius arms. I belive my rims are 8" wide. Belive it or not, when I had 36x14's, they didnt rub, because of the wider rim. I think if you went with 10" wide rims, you wont have a rubbing problem like I do. its doing this because my tires balloon out, you know, 2 inches wider from the rim. If you went with 10" rims, they wouldnt ballon as much, but stand a little taller, which wouldnt rub

 

I installed a BDS 6" lift and the coils aren't a huge issue. You don't need to compress them at all, cause you need to drop the diff anyways to put in the box drop. I have some pics of my lift being done at www.cardomain.com/id/92280