i have an 83 ford long bed single cab 2wd stock and want to do a lift and dont want drop down brackets. looking for any and all ideas about bending the i beams and how to do it would be appreciated.

 

impossible

 

impossible???? What are you smoking?

Us desert guys do it all the time...

www.autofab.com does a lot of these.

How much lift are you looking for? If you go much more than 5" your track with starts getting too narrow.

Autofab has a 100 ton press and a jig and does the beams cold. Some people bend them themselves at home and you have to heat them to do so. Most people that do them at home pie cut the things and then weld them back up and plate over the cut area for extra strength.

What info exactly are you looking for?

 

came across this in some daily reading on another site. LOTS of BS on the site - but some good info lurking as well. There is a link to another thread in here that also is a bit of a write-up on cutting/extending.

http://www.dezertrangers.com/vb/showthread.php?t=95802

 

also look for an old school alignment shop, put taller springs in (i would only do a inch or two) and drive there and have an alignment done on it.

 

I assume you're expecting the alignment shop to bendthe beams for him? If so - the original poster would have a harder time of that than we do Brady. His beams have ball joints in them and therefore high degree alignment cams can be had for them. Most alignment shops would try and do those rather than bending the bemas in the 83+ trucks.

If he does find a "cool" (read: knowledgable, easy to work with and GOOD) shop, then they might bend them to spec (you give them caster and camber you want) for you.

 

i am really looking to do the beams at home if possible. i have torches welders chop saws and i would like to give it a shot. i also have an extra set of i beams just in case i guess.

 

you need a step by step walk through - or you got an idea of how you're gonna do it?

 

step by step would be great. that and i am wondering how much of a lift you can do. i really dont know anything so far about how to bend them.

 

step by step directions would be great. its 3/4 ton 1983 just a reminder. thanks

 

You gotta love those desert guys.

 

Here ya go. Cut there. Bend a bit. Than weld. Not to difficult. Lol. Its hard for some one to give u a step by step, due to each rig will be a bit different. I need to figure out how much lift u want and what u want to do with the rig. And than go from there. On a 83 arn't each axle half different lengths? I think they are. So if that's the case the measurements and bend will be differnt on both sides.

 

You being sarcastic or serious?

From what I have seen - many other "off road" types could learn quite a bit about fabrication from us. I'm not sure why (maybe it's the high speed and need for safety in a roll), but par for par the fabrication quality on desert trucks is far above most of the mud runners and trail trucks I have seen.

Granted - there are nice trucks and hack jobs in every realm, but I'd say the vast majority of the desert stuff is nice.



Sorry for the delay. I've had an email reminder going to get me to post here, but I've been busy at work during the day and shop at night, so I haven't had the time to sit and write for as long as this will take.

Before I get started - how much lift are you looking to get out of this? I wouldn't go much higher than 5" or so max. At that height I think you're loosing about 7/8" of an inch in track width.
If you only want 2-3" of lift then you MIGHT be able to get away with buying high angle aligment cams (83 was the 1st year of ball joints instead of kingpins in the beams - allowing this.)

If you want 4-5" of lift - or if you buy 3" lift coils and try the alignment cams and they don't work - follow below.

I'd say buy the lift coils for the desired "lift" you want before you start this. Keep in mind for more than 4" (even at 4") you might want to extend the radius arms so you don't get crazy caster change through the suspension cycle. Plus you can't get the wheel travel with the stock length arms.

Also - here's a good thread to read as well
http://www.dezertrangers.com/vb/show...highlight=f100

Post #13 here is good - as well as the rest of this thread BUT these guys are cutting and extending beams
http://www.dezertrangers.com/vb/showthread.php?t=59205

This one deals with caster
http://www.dezertrangers.com/vb/showthread.php?t=91917


I'll do a semi quick run down and you can ask questions from there.

But before you install the lift coils - park the truck on a level surface and support the frame and front suspension at stock ride height.
Take a wheel off (front obviously) and take an angle finder and put it on the face of the rotor or take the dust cap off of the rotor and use that flat surface. You are looking at the stock camber angle. At ride height it should be very close to 0*.
To get the same camber after the lift - write down or remember that #. I'd just go for having 0* at ride height- so you can skip this step if you want.

The problem with bending the beams to 0* with new coils is your lift coils will sag/settle a bit so if you bend to 0* with new coils you'll loose your 0 at ride height once they settle, BUT many high angle alignment cams are adjustable - so you can get back to zero.

Anyways - moving on.

Now install the lift coils.
Once you have the coils installed your tires will look like this \ \ / / (bad camber) due to the lift. The truck should still be parked on a level surface.

Put desired size wheel/tire combo on one of the beams and measure the distance from the center of the spindle/snout to the ground.

Take the tire off and put a jack stand under the beam so that you can re-create the measurement you just got from the ground to center of spindle/snout.

Once beam is in the correct position/height take an angle finder and put it on the face of the rotor or take the dust cap off of the rotor and use that flat surface again.

The difference between the angle you find and 0 (for 0 degrees camber at ride height) will be the angle you'd want to bend to.

Now comes the heating/bending part.

Some people do it on the truck and some do it off.

Doing it off the truck you heat the beam with a rosebud tip on an oxy/aect torch so it gets dull glowing red.

You can then put the beam in an h frame press to bend.

This will take multiple times of heating, bending and test fitting/testing camber degree to get right.


For bending on the truck it is usually a little bit easier if you have a engine cage (this is solidly attached to the truck and makes for an easy place to attach a ratchet strap) - but it can be done without.

With the tire off the beam/spindle assembly and the truck/beams supported at ride height tie a heady duty ratchet strap around the fender mount (or something solid that you can pull against) and then securely on the beam.

Heat the beam to red hot and start ratcheting with the angle finder on the rotor.dust cap area still.

Ratchet up (make sure to pull straight up - not back or forward at an angle unless you want to effect the caster) until the angle finder hits 0 or whatever degree you want.

Don't forget to check the beam ends for desired caster angles if you want to modify this as well.


I'm sure you will have questions - but I have been working and typing this off an on for about 1/2 an hour or more now - so I need to stop.


Good luck.

 

Awesome reply Steve. Rep given!

 

thanks buddy. You grab those leafs yet - or you getting um later today?