I've never cared for the look, so I've never payed much attention. I've been informed we're putting one on the wife's truck, so I've got a few questions.

As I understand things the F250 rear blocks are about 1.5" shorter than the F350 rear blocks. The 2.5" leveling kit seems to work on the F350's, but I'm worried about the nose high look if we put too much up front. I don't really want to change the rear blocks unless there's some other advantage. I'd also like to keep the ride as nice as possible. Tires won't be larger than 285's.

What are the advantages / disadvantages of mini spring packs? Shackles? Should I be looking at 1.5" or 2" kit? At what point is an adjustable track bar considered a good idea?

 

I have a Tuff Country add a leaf and I really like it. It was about a hundred bucks and 4 hours to install in my driveway without air tools. The front came up 1.75" , which still set a little nose down on my F350, but levels out nicely when towing. On an F250 it would probably be about perfect for level. The ride is excellent, not too soft, just enough added to make it stand up a little better in the corners.

I run 285's with the add a leaf and it doesn't have any issues with rubbing. I need to update my gallery, because the pictures only show it when I had the 315's on it.

Hope this helps.

 

What did the box on your kit say it was supposed to raise it Eric? Was that their 1.5" kit? I know Roland has the 1.5", but I never really paid attention when I saw him.

 

I think it said 2'', but it didn't raise that far.

I forgot to add that the add a leaf kit I used utilizes the factory shocks, track bar and U bolts.

 

Now I can get my facts straight. I was looking back thru my records and found it was the 1.5'' kit, but now I remember the the place I bought it said it would raise the front 2".

It has been 3 years since I put it on, so things are a little fuzzy back that far. Now that I realize how long it has been in there and still working good, I feel it was a well spent 100 dollars.

 

I typed up this big bulleted list with pro's and con's and whatnot...but I lost it. My computer will go back to the last page randomly. I must bump some button that does it.
Ranked in worst to best order from what I have read on FTE, industry professionals, and truck driving and pulling friends.

Shackles - They are cheap and relatively easy to do. They are not really the best way to get the job done, esp if you only lengthen the back. The right way to do it is lower the front as well. Two years ago nobody lowered the front as well, but now they are. Retain factory ride.

Add a leaf - They are cheap and still easy. They will eventually fall and you will be close to where you started. They are cheap enough you could buy two seat for every complete replacement set. Stiffer ride.

Heavier stock springs - Not too cheap unless you find takeoffs. Not too fun to replace. I would guess they will fall again. Nobody has a ton of info on what spring vs what truck vs how high. I AM THE COOL KIDS and this is what I did I went from 4800# worn out springs to 30k mile 5200# springs. This raised the front end 1.5-1.75 inches. I like it, I got a little lift and heavier springs for the plow. The back end still sits about an inch higher. It does seem a little stiffer, but it does corner better. Better cornering is probably more a result of having newer springs than firmer springs.

Complete lift springs - Not too cheap and not too easy. I would guess they will fall some day just like stock springs. Good driveability, probably a little firmer.

As for the not too easy thing. Taking the front spring stuff off just plain sucks. They put the bolts in so you can't get them out w/o taking about 500 things off first. Some of the things I had to take off include front drive shaft, swaybar, some cooler mount thingy, and what the hell...how about the bumper. That didn't HAVE to come off, but at that point what is another six bolts!?! It sure did make a lot more room to work. In the end it took me and another guy five hours with air tools. We worked the whole time and NO BEER! We could probably do it now in 4 hours.

Do you mind if I hijack a little?
What are these lift springs rated at? Esp important for us snowplow guys. I never saw it glaring at me and never noticed.

As for F-350 blocks. From what FTEers say, it is the only thing different between a 3/4 and 1 ton truck. I am thinking about doing it so I have a little more towing capacity with my gooseneck. A guy I tractor pull with has F-550 springs on his 350...it hardly swats with only one tractor on the trailer!

Tires - I was rocking 285's with no lift and had a little rubbing when at full turn with a bunch of suspension travel. Never any rubbing when on the road. It wasn't enough to hurt anything, but it did rub the mud off the fender liner.

 

Leveling "Kits" (for the most part) are a waste of money. I worked for a truck accessories company and we installed a leveling kit on a 2001 F250. It cost $800 and all it consisted of was a longer shackle and a couple plates of steel that dropped the other spring mount. Another "kit" was $400 and all it had was a book of instructions that said to crank up the tortion bars and it had a block for the rear.

You could get what you want made locally at a machine shop for much less or order from a company like Blue Torch Fab. They'll make whatever you want.

I guess what I'm trying to get at is, buying a kit from a lift company like skyjacker is a waste. A fab company will charge you much less. Also, you don't have a trac bar with leaf springs. I'm assuming you mean the drag link. IMO, you don't need an adjustable drag link until you go over 4" of lift.

Here is a kit from Sky Manufacturing that is pretty cheap and they are a very good company.
Ford Superduty 99-04 Leveling Kit - Sky's Off-road Design

A monkey with any welding skill could put that kit together in about 3 hours for ~$40.

Edit: Here is the same kit as above but from a "suspension company" and it's $120 more.
Ford Suspension Lift Kits

 

My add-a-leaf front leveling kit is considered a 1.5" lift for a PSD. I still have a slight nose down attitude because of the optional HD springs that are on the rear and grille guard up front. I have 1 5/8" blocks on the rear axle with them. Ford showed these blocks to be the correct ones for these springs. I still have stock length shocks all the way around and stock track bar up front. Pics of this combo, with 285 tires, in my gallery.

 

How did the add a leaf affect the ride Roland? Any difference the wife would notice (read complain about)?

 

That is very true, but you can't just tell your welding monkey to make them. He is going to want dimensions and hole sizes etc. Hole sizes are one thing, but dimensions are a whole nother subject. I looked for a long time on FTE and other sites for dimensions on the Skyjacker kit you had listed. They are not around. I barely have measurements to make the rear shackle, but the front nobody can get anything on.
To maintain factory specs you can't just go throwing a longer shackle on the rear w/o any lift at the front of the spring. How are you going to make it float on the shackle like it does from the factory w/o bottoming out all the time? How high do you have to go in the front to keep the proportions the same? These are just some of the questions my machine shop asked when I told him, "Build this."

 

It does seem a bit stiffer now. I guess you could say that "I can feel the road more now." I think the "mini packs" would give a better ride and keep the stock type rate of the original springs because of their shorter length.

 

That's why I listed the kit by Sky Manu. I think it's a very good kit for a reasonable price. That's the way to go if you don't know how to do the measurements.

As far as the design for the front mount... You have to figure out the angle that your new, longer rear shackle will sit at once loaded and calculate how far down and back the bolt hole moved. You have to replecate the same movement for the front spring mount. Lifting with a shackle and a drop mount will move the front axle to the rear slightly (if the shackle were in the front, it would move toward the front). If you were to have springs made that were longer by the amount that the shackle bolt will move to the rear, you could just extend the hole for the front mount directly downward from the stock location. There's really no point in doing that, but it could be done.

 

You might want to check that comment about "don`t have a track bar with leaf springs" . I have a 2000 F350 4x4 and it has exactly that.

 

Ford Superduty 99-04 Leveling Kit - Sky's Off-road Design

This leveling kit or similar is what I would recommended.

I had a Donahoe hanger kit on my 1999 F250 reg Cab v10 and it leveled it out good.
On my current 2000 F250 crewcab with 7.3 I put on a Fabtech FRONT SPRING HANGER SYSTEM and it was nose up. So I did put on a set of F350 blocks in the rear and it leveled it out. Currently I'm running 33/12.5/16 tires and no rubbing. I did have a set of 35/12.5/16 and they did rub while turning. I think that my factory ride was retained and so did my wife. If you do install one of these kits my sure you have a come-a-long. I found this the easist way to pull the rear of the spring in to place. and get yourself a set of bilstiens

 

Hey Chris, I got a 2 inch Sanderson's shackle kit from Zack7.3 last year, on my 250 it raised it about 1.50-1.75. The ride is stiffer but managable and no ajustable track bar here used. My truck sits almost level, the nose looks like its up a bit if you really look hard, I have f-350 blocks given from Kris sitting over at Adam0331's house, waiting to GTG so I can get those on, should be where I want to be towing and such. Towing with these shackles and the weight of my trailer, I'm pointing towards the sky, I need to get these blocks on. So back to you, price wise, Spring pack, if I had the extra cash, brand new heavier springs, subscribing.