I have a couple of ideas in the planning stages for my truck. Feel free to comment and add suggesions. The truck is a white 95 F150 XLT, single cab, lwb, 4x4, 5.8, E4OD. It's stone stock except for a muffler and some 31's. I am considering a few 6" suspension lift kits with shocks and arm for around $500. I am also going to keep the factory chrome XLT wheels. So, I think the super swamper LTB's in a 34x10.5-15 would work well. Whatcha think?

 

A little bit of information I learned the hard way. I bought my '95 from a dealer with a lift already on it. The dealer had undercoated everything so there was no way to find any markings indicating what brand the lift was. After much searching, I believe it was a Tough Country 4" Performance EZ Ride kit. Long radius arms, etc...

Here's the problem. Most cheaper kits have axle drop brackets that bolt to the cross member with maybe 5 or 6 bolts. The added torque from the lift puts MUCH more stress on the cross member than the stock suspension. While trying to get my alignment problem fixed, I discovered that not only were the crossmember rivets loose (common problem) but the crossmember itslef was cracked right above the passenger side bracket. The crack was about 3" or 4" long. Needless to say, if it had broken all the way through, it would have been a bad thing. I had to have the crossmember welded, and ordered new drop brackets from Superlift. The brackets supposedly (parts are lost somewhere in UPS) have a brace that connects the two brackets together making the whole thing virtually one piece. The frame shop said they have seen MANY F150's with cracks like mine caused by cheap lift kits. They did say they have never seen one with the braced brackets develop a crack.

 

I was doing a bit of reading and there seems to be a fair amount of people who suggest superlift or skyjacker for my price range. I have been warned about tough country, are there others I should stay away from as well?

 

My truck 95 150 with 3 inch body running 33X12.5. Had to trim bumper just a TAD, no rub at all. You could probably go 35's. But if your keeping the stock wheels its good to not go real wide. Save your money and get a GOOD lift kit that come with longer radius arms. Improves suspension movement and is better in the long run. Now how about gears? Your probably going to want your power back.

95 F-150 302 5 speed
94 F-250 PSD 5 speed

 

The truck currently has 31x10.50's, and they fit well. I won't be doing any body lift, so I am relying on suspension alone to give me enough room for bigger tire clearance. I really don't ever see me running anything bigger than a 35, but I would like to be able to fit them. Who do you recommend for a "good" kit? Currently I have 3.55's, with the 33's or 34's I'll be using, I think they will be sufficient. However, I have plans to swap out to lockers and 4.10's in the future.

 

A good rule of thumb is 33's on a 4" lift and 35's on a 6" lift.

 

my .02 cents is that an I beam or TTB suspension lift should never even be considered without longer radius arms, stock radius arms put a huge amount of stress on the suspension and ride quality is poor.

 

for the crossmember cracking on my skyjacker lift they had me weld the drop brackets to my frame to prevent cracking.

 

LOL, what the heck were you driving??? I had 35's with a 3" body lift. When I got my 6" skyjacker put on (threw out the body lift) I had 38's that fit very nicely and no cutting was needed. BTW...I had a 93 F-150 4x4 supercab 351w E4OD.

-Jason-

 

Look at my gallery, I have 32's on a stock 4wd. There isn't much room for suspension travel there. I just put a 6" skyjacker system on. Sure you can stuff the tires under there but that isn't what you really want to do. For off road you need suspension travel and wheel clearance. Look at Ryan50hrl's truck in his gallery. He had 4" and 35's and it rubbed. He went to 6" and it still rubbed a little.

 

i'm going to have to agree.....35's on a 6 inch...works well.

 

True!!

-Jason-

 

I wonder how the 34-10.50-15 LTB's on my factory 7in wheels would work on a 4 inch lift?

 

If it was me I would try it, I like the big tire/small lift look, just my prefrence

 

A friend of mine bought the LTB's in a 34/10.50/16 and I think these tires run a bit small from looking at his. It may work.