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So I am looking into lift kits for my 91 f150 and was just curious about the different options I have. Do the kits with the drop brackets allow for a descent amount of travel? And compared to the kits that come with the longer radius arms what are the pros cons of both? I know a SAS would be the way to go but for now I just want to get back on the trails. Any info and pics of your rigs flexed out would be great thanks.
First off, a solid axle might be better that a coil sprung TTB in some situations, but certainly not in all. A solid axle has more unsprung weight so apples-to-apples it's going to ride worse than a similar coil sprung TTB. Look at desert race trucks. Lots of them (even other than Ford) have twin I beam (if 2WD) or TTB (if 4WD) front suspensions. The F-150 TTB can be the base of the best all-around front suspension you can get.
Now if you're rock crawling and you have really low gears you might be able to get strength better and cheaper by putting a solid Dana 60 in. And if you're doing the "engineering" yourself it's probably harder to screw up a solid axle suspension. But don't knock what you've got.
As far as what you need to do to get more travel in an F-150 TTB, I don't have much experience. I did put about a 3" lift on a '95 F-150 I owned a long time ago, but I didn't ever push it so I can't say how much travel it had (don't even recall the brand of the lift right off).
But generally speaking longer radius arms will give more compliance and therefore more travel. As the wheel moves up and down, two things related to the radius arms tend to limit travel, and longer arms help address both. First is that the bushing at the frame end of the radius arm needs to flex. The more angle the radius arm swings through the more the bushing needs to flex. A longer arm won't swing through as much angle for the same wheel travel as a short arm so the bushing doesn't have to flex as much.
The second is probably more significant. As the radius arm swings through an angle it forces the traction beam to twist. This twist means the bushings at the frame end of the traction beam need to flex. And again, longer arms mean less angle means less bushing flex means more travel.
Less twist in the traction beam also means less caster changes as the suspension cycles (sorry, no reduction in the huge camber changes the TTB is famous for though). I don't know how significant that is, but it's got to be better for handling.
As for downsides to longer radius arms, I don't think there really are any, other than cost. I suppose if you get poorly designed long arms, or attach them to poorly designed mounts it might be weaker than the factory setup, but that wouldn't be the fault of the longer arms.
As to the "let's see your rigs", here is a pic of my lifted F-150. I did have longer radius arms. You can kind of see the end of the radius arm a little behind the front of the door. And for reference, the tires on it in that picture are 33/9.50-15s.
First off, a solid axle might be better that a coil sprung TTB in some situations, but certainly not in all. A solid axle has more unsprung weight so apples-to-apples it's going to ride worse than a similar coil sprung TTB. Look at desert race trucks. Lots of them (even other than Ford) have twin I beam (if 2WD) or TTB (if 4WD) front suspensions. The F-150 TTB can be the base of the best all-around front suspension you can get.
Now if you're rock crawling and you have really low gears you might be able to get strength better and cheaper by putting a solid Dana 60 in. And if you're doing the "engineering" yourself it's probably harder to screw up a solid axle suspension. But don't knock what you've got.
As far as what you need to do to get more travel in an F-150 TTB, I don't have much experience. I did put about a 3" lift on a '95 F-150 I owned a long time ago, but I didn't ever push it so I can't say how much travel it had (don't even recall the brand of the lift right off).
But generally speaking longer radius arms will give more compliance and therefore more travel. As the wheel moves up and down, two things related to the radius arms tend to limit travel, and longer arms help address both. First is that the bushing at the frame end of the radius arm needs to flex. The more angle the radius arm swings through the more the bushing needs to flex. A longer arm won't swing through as much angle for the same wheel travel as a short arm so the bushing doesn't have to flex as much.
The second is probably more significant. As the radius arm swings through an angle it forces the traction beam to twist. This twist means the bushings at the frame end of the traction beam need to flex. And again, longer arms mean less angle means less bushing flex means more travel.
Less twist in the traction beam also means less caster changes as the suspension cycles (sorry, no reduction in the huge camber changes the TTB is famous for though). I don't know how significant that is, but it's got to be better for handling.
As for downsides to longer radius arms, I don't think there really are any, other than cost. I suppose if you get poorly designed long arms, or attach them to poorly designed mounts it might be weaker than the factory setup, but that wouldn't be the fault of the longer arms.
As to the "let's see your rigs", here is a pic of my lifted F-150. I did have longer radius arms. You can kind of see the end of the radius arm a little behind the front of the door. And for reference, the tires on it in that picture are 33/9.50-15s.
Thanks my last trail rig was a Toyota with an ifs front suspension and it was a real issue at times and short of a SAS there was no real way to gain travel and I didn't want to end up in that same situation. That's a good looking truck way nicer then my old truck which I have took to ccalling rusty! Thanks again and y'all keep the pics coming
Thanks my last trail rig was a Toyota with an ifs front suspension and it was a real issue at times and short of a SAS there was no real way to gain travel and I didn't want to end up in that same situation.
Don't equate a TTB with any other IFS. It has it's own strengths and weaknesses, but for desert racing (where huge, controlled travel is everything) it's king.
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