07GtS197
Well-Known Member
I wouldn’t sweat it, yours is pretty sweet as it is.
Elrod's 96 F-150 Restoration
- Thread starter ElrodKTPQ_89
- Start date
I’m just seeing this thread for the first time and I’m just blown away what an incredible job you did resurrecting this truck into a “proper” ride. Man, you must’ve gone over ever inch 2-3-4 times (or more?) but hecka worth it. Bad ass truck man. Something to be extremely proud of ++
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ElrodKTPQ_89
Legend
So for a long time now I have noticed that the truck sagged toward the passenger side on the back end. I finally decided to pull it into the shop and check into it last weekend. At first I was gonna have a buddy come over and help pull the bed and take measurements of the bed and frame etc to see where the problem was, but when I started crawling around underneath noticed I had a completely broken leaf spring on the passenger side.
If you go back and look at the pics when I did the axle/gear swap look close and you can see the crack from the outside of the spring pack. I just missed it somehow while doing that swap and it looks to have gotten worse or cracked fully after the swap. Not saying it wasn’t there all along but if it was I don’t think it was as bad as when I finally noticed it.
Here you can see how bad it was sagging.
So I went to the wrecking yard after work Wednesday and snatched a pack of springs, came right home and swapped them out.
After replacing the spring pack I stepped back and looked and the bed was still sagging just not quite as bad. For now I wound up throwing a stack of (I think 3) washers under the corner of the bed and was able to shim it up enough to make it a little less noticeable but it’s still not perfect.
Sorry I have not taken a picture after shimming the bed up. So I’m not sure what’s the culprit here, could be the bed or the frame I suppose I will still wind up pulling the bed off soon to measure and find exactly where the problem is coming from.
I am also really considering new coil springs, right now I have some F-250 springs to give it a little lift but they ride like shit. I’m looking into springs from Desolate Motorsports but can’t decide if I just want a simple 2” lift spring for now or go ahead and bite the bullet and go with a 4” with extended radius arms and do some beam modification for some more travel.
If you go back and look at the pics when I did the axle/gear swap look close and you can see the crack from the outside of the spring pack. I just missed it somehow while doing that swap and it looks to have gotten worse or cracked fully after the swap. Not saying it wasn’t there all along but if it was I don’t think it was as bad as when I finally noticed it.
Here you can see how bad it was sagging.
So I went to the wrecking yard after work Wednesday and snatched a pack of springs, came right home and swapped them out.
After replacing the spring pack I stepped back and looked and the bed was still sagging just not quite as bad. For now I wound up throwing a stack of (I think 3) washers under the corner of the bed and was able to shim it up enough to make it a little less noticeable but it’s still not perfect.
Sorry I have not taken a picture after shimming the bed up. So I’m not sure what’s the culprit here, could be the bed or the frame I suppose I will still wind up pulling the bed off soon to measure and find exactly where the problem is coming from.
I am also really considering new coil springs, right now I have some F-250 springs to give it a little lift but they ride like shit. I’m looking into springs from Desolate Motorsports but can’t decide if I just want a simple 2” lift spring for now or go ahead and bite the bullet and go with a 4” with extended radius arms and do some beam modification for some more travel.
I have never seen one of these generation Ford truck not have a sag just like yours have
It’s hard not to like these old OBS trucks.
Here’s my buddy’s that we swapped motors in earlier this year and has been living in my backyard since.
Here’s my buddy’s that we swapped motors in earlier this year and has been living in my backyard since.
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ElrodKTPQ_89
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how was the landing on that lol
You know, it landed way better than I thought it would. We had to weld up the radius arm bracket and so he wanted to make sure it was going to hold. He jumped it probably 3 times that afternoon - ole TTB just soaked it up.
TELL THEM
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ElrodKTPQ_89
Legend
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ElrodKTPQ_89
Legend
Just kidding. I'll elaborate, and have been wanting to make a one year review.
So I've been driving this truck pretty much daily for the last year aside from a few times that it was just more convenient to take my other truck. My goal all along was to get it restored back to stock form with a few minor upgrades and see what needed attention the most and then upgrade from there. First thing being the gear change from 3.08 to 3.55/LSD. That made things a lot better but there's still a lot of room for improvement. The biggest downside to this truck has been the ride quality. From the start I always said it runs drives brakes and steers excellent but rides like a loaded log wagon. Any bump in the road or rough spot on gravel, even transitioning from my driveway onto the pavement the suspension feels like it is just rock solid. I'll add a picture later but my front springs are compressed at the top to where I maybe have a credit card fitment between the top 3 coils (progressive rate coils suck) and the shocks are pretty much maxed out as well. It's bad enough that I absolutely do not enjoy driving the truck even on pavement, and since I wanted a truck to go blast around on gravel roads and whatnot, we just can't be having that. So I began doing some research and had been trying to decide between a simple kit with new coils, shocks and extended radius arms, or going all-in with a 4" lift. I was almost sold on just keeping it simple with the 2" kit until Thanksgiving night when we went for a little off-road trip and after getting beat to death decided fuggit this thing is getting a proper lift kit. So with a little motivation from Black Friday, behold:
Hopefully arriving on Wednesday and I will start with the rear suspension first. The plan is to get the bed off and clean everything again before installing all the new parts and will also take that time to measure everything and see if I can figure out anything on my bed sag. The front will be next, I'll need a little time to get the new beams painted and round up a few parts for the install. But basically what you see above is what will be going on. New leafs, shackles and Bilstein 5100 shocks for the rear. The front gets the extended high clearance radius arms and mounts, drop pitman arm, limit straps, 4" coils with Bilstein 5100s, extended brake lines front and rear, new alignment cams and the biggest part being new 'cut and turned' beams which if you aren't familiar with that term just means that the lower ball joint mount has been cut from the beam and extended outward to correct the camber issues when lifting a TTB. The beams also have some mild plate work and the axle window in the passenger beam has been opened up some to provide more clearance from the extra articulation. It was a big chunk to bite off but it was gonna either be this or the truck was fixing to hit the chopping block. I will have to send my beams back as cores, and will also be selling most of the remaining factory front suspension to a buddy who is rebuilding a similar truck. What's cool about the Desolate stuff too is that I can easily upgrade from here if I ever feel the need. Next step from this kit would be to add a little more plating to the beams and convert from stock bushings to uniballs, and I could also go to coilovers with ease with weld-on shock mounts and new shock towers, but I doubt that will happen anytime soon.
So with this lift I will be able to clear a 35" tire with no rubbing. I'm going to keep my 33's for now and hope it doesn't look too bad, but could easily sell them if need be and upgrade to a 35. However that brings us back to the gear debate. I feel like a 35" tire with 3.55s will put me back pretty close to how things felt with the 3.08s. So if I make the jump to a larger tire I will probably be changing gears again too, either 4.10 or 4.56. I'm already used to terrible gas mileage so the gear doesn't scare me I'm just not sure which gear would be the best choice for my driving style and conditions. I'm open to opinions on that.
Not trying to overload my wallet too quickly but I would like to put this 357w block together this year some time too. The junkyard engine has been holding it's own but this is just the logical next step with the build as this engine was basically just to get me on the road. And I mean come on, what fun is long travel suspension with a stock engine.
Will be adding some recent/relevant pictures later, and hopefully everything will be here by Wednesday and I can get started before the weekend.
So I've been driving this truck pretty much daily for the last year aside from a few times that it was just more convenient to take my other truck. My goal all along was to get it restored back to stock form with a few minor upgrades and see what needed attention the most and then upgrade from there. First thing being the gear change from 3.08 to 3.55/LSD. That made things a lot better but there's still a lot of room for improvement. The biggest downside to this truck has been the ride quality. From the start I always said it runs drives brakes and steers excellent but rides like a loaded log wagon. Any bump in the road or rough spot on gravel, even transitioning from my driveway onto the pavement the suspension feels like it is just rock solid. I'll add a picture later but my front springs are compressed at the top to where I maybe have a credit card fitment between the top 3 coils (progressive rate coils suck) and the shocks are pretty much maxed out as well. It's bad enough that I absolutely do not enjoy driving the truck even on pavement, and since I wanted a truck to go blast around on gravel roads and whatnot, we just can't be having that. So I began doing some research and had been trying to decide between a simple kit with new coils, shocks and extended radius arms, or going all-in with a 4" lift. I was almost sold on just keeping it simple with the 2" kit until Thanksgiving night when we went for a little off-road trip and after getting beat to death decided fuggit this thing is getting a proper lift kit. So with a little motivation from Black Friday, behold:
Hopefully arriving on Wednesday and I will start with the rear suspension first. The plan is to get the bed off and clean everything again before installing all the new parts and will also take that time to measure everything and see if I can figure out anything on my bed sag. The front will be next, I'll need a little time to get the new beams painted and round up a few parts for the install. But basically what you see above is what will be going on. New leafs, shackles and Bilstein 5100 shocks for the rear. The front gets the extended high clearance radius arms and mounts, drop pitman arm, limit straps, 4" coils with Bilstein 5100s, extended brake lines front and rear, new alignment cams and the biggest part being new 'cut and turned' beams which if you aren't familiar with that term just means that the lower ball joint mount has been cut from the beam and extended outward to correct the camber issues when lifting a TTB. The beams also have some mild plate work and the axle window in the passenger beam has been opened up some to provide more clearance from the extra articulation. It was a big chunk to bite off but it was gonna either be this or the truck was fixing to hit the chopping block. I will have to send my beams back as cores, and will also be selling most of the remaining factory front suspension to a buddy who is rebuilding a similar truck. What's cool about the Desolate stuff too is that I can easily upgrade from here if I ever feel the need. Next step from this kit would be to add a little more plating to the beams and convert from stock bushings to uniballs, and I could also go to coilovers with ease with weld-on shock mounts and new shock towers, but I doubt that will happen anytime soon.
So with this lift I will be able to clear a 35" tire with no rubbing. I'm going to keep my 33's for now and hope it doesn't look too bad, but could easily sell them if need be and upgrade to a 35. However that brings us back to the gear debate. I feel like a 35" tire with 3.55s will put me back pretty close to how things felt with the 3.08s. So if I make the jump to a larger tire I will probably be changing gears again too, either 4.10 or 4.56. I'm already used to terrible gas mileage so the gear doesn't scare me I'm just not sure which gear would be the best choice for my driving style and conditions. I'm open to opinions on that.
Not trying to overload my wallet too quickly but I would like to put this 357w block together this year some time too. The junkyard engine has been holding it's own but this is just the logical next step with the build as this engine was basically just to get me on the road. And I mean come on, what fun is long travel suspension with a stock engine.
Will be adding some recent/relevant pictures later, and hopefully everything will be here by Wednesday and I can get started before the weekend.
Y’all have been TOLD!
I’m excited to hear what you think about the Desolate bits. My buddy with the OBS in my yard is really considering building this one up a little for offroad because his WJ is not long for this world with the way he beats on it.
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ElrodKTPQ_89
Legend
They actually came in yesterday to my surprise! Will be going more in depth in the next post.
Going back a few days here. I’ve been having belt problems ever since I replaced all of the AC components, I’m sure it’s just a misalignment issue. I got ready to leave the house one day and threw the belt twice in my driveway and then a third time about a mile up the road, so came home and swapped trucks then grabbed a new belt while I was in town thinking maybe mine hd just stretched since I was able to slip it on without using the tensioner. When I made it home with the new belt I realized the tensioner retaining bolt had snapped off into the accessory bracket so had to tear everything off and extract the broken bolt and replace the tensioner. While I was in there I replaced the alternator with one I’d had rebuilt and will just hang onto the other one for emergency.
I still haven’t figured out the belt issue because a few days later it threw the belt on start-up. So either I could run a slightly smaller belt or something is just out of alignment, we’ll see.
Here’s a post-off-road excursion shot. This thing pulls like a mule but just doesn’t have the clearance or ride quality it needs.
And a close-up shot of the coils.
Got a text yesterday at 3:30 saying my stuff had arrived so I went straight to load everything up and of course hd to haul it home in the truck it’s going on.
And here’s an unwrapped shot. Lots more details on the parts to come in the following post when I get a little more free time.
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ElrodKTPQ_89
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Here are the radius arms and brackets. These things are beefy, the heims are 1.25”. Also included are a set of limit straps.
Springamahjigs
Roughly where the radius arms will be mounted, basically in line with where the mirror attaches to the door.
The brackets will be a pretty quick install. I’ll have to enlarge one existing hole on the bottom of the frame and then mark/drill 3 additional holes in the side of the frame.
Included but not pictured for the front are the beams, new alignment cams, extended brake hoses, beam pivot bushings and a drop pitman arm, and (4) new Bilstein 5100 shocks. The rear includes springs and extended shackles, brake hose and also a set of 5100s.
Springamahjigs
Roughly where the radius arms will be mounted, basically in line with where the mirror attaches to the door.
The brackets will be a pretty quick install. I’ll have to enlarge one existing hole on the bottom of the frame and then mark/drill 3 additional holes in the side of the frame.
Included but not pictured for the front are the beams, new alignment cams, extended brake hoses, beam pivot bushings and a drop pitman arm, and (4) new Bilstein 5100 shocks. The rear includes springs and extended shackles, brake hose and also a set of 5100s.
OFY
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ElrodKTPQ_89
Legend
Here’s some comparison shots on the passenger beam. The lower ball joint mount has been cut from the beam and pulled outward 1.25” from my rough measurements and the area has been plated and gusseted for strength.
The window on the passenger beam where the axle passes thru has been opened up some, so the passenger beam has been plated pretty extensively.
Not really sure how I feel about this, I’ve seen other pics and videos showing this entire plate welded fully. I may finish welding it all out before install.
Also pretty cool is the fact that when you buy a beam and radius arms package they will weld on the radius arm mounts for no additional charge.
The window on the passenger beam where the axle passes thru has been opened up some, so the passenger beam has been plated pretty extensively.
Not really sure how I feel about this, I’ve seen other pics and videos showing this entire plate welded fully. I may finish welding it all out before install.
Also pretty cool is the fact that when you buy a beam and radius arms package they will weld on the radius arm mounts for no additional charge.
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ElrodKTPQ_89
Legend
My review so far with the kit and overall experience comes in at a solid A. All of the parts speak for themselves, with the exception of the plating not being fully welded. I’m gonna try to contact them tomorrow to ask a few general questions and that will be brought up. Maybe that’s how they send all of their beams out or maybe it got rushed off the table to stay on track because I know they prepped a lot of parts in expectation of lots of orders coming through on Black Friday. But yea, the parts are phenomenal. Beautiful welds on everything and nice finish on all of the powder coated parts. If only I could make my welds match theirs when I finish out welding the plate lol.
Before even deciding on what kit to buy I chatted with sales on the phone for a bit so I’m still giving the customer experience a thumbs up. One of the issues I was aware of from reading reviews and seeing on some YouTube install videos was that there are 0 instructions included with anything other than the configuration chart that comes with the alignment cams. However, all of their install guides are available to download from their website and there are several YouTube videos showing how to install the majority of their parts. It is a pretty straightforward install though too, and I guess if you’re buying a kit like this you should already have some basic idea of how to change all of the components. But really the only grey area is on mounting location for the radius arm brackets and where to setup the heims. Again though all of this info is in their website so if you have access to a computer and a printer just make a copy ahead of time if you want quick access to instructions.
This last part I’m not gonna lie, it kinda hit me below the belt.
I didn’t get any stickers.
Are stickers banned in California now for adding too much HP?!?
Seriously though, imma ask em what’s up with that too lol
That is all. So far the plan for tonight is still looking good and that is to pull the bed, roll the truck out and wash the rear half of the frame really good, then roll it back in and start installing the rear kit. Once I make sure I have everything I need for the front and get the beams painted I’ll start chipping away at it.
Before even deciding on what kit to buy I chatted with sales on the phone for a bit so I’m still giving the customer experience a thumbs up. One of the issues I was aware of from reading reviews and seeing on some YouTube install videos was that there are 0 instructions included with anything other than the configuration chart that comes with the alignment cams. However, all of their install guides are available to download from their website and there are several YouTube videos showing how to install the majority of their parts. It is a pretty straightforward install though too, and I guess if you’re buying a kit like this you should already have some basic idea of how to change all of the components. But really the only grey area is on mounting location for the radius arm brackets and where to setup the heims. Again though all of this info is in their website so if you have access to a computer and a printer just make a copy ahead of time if you want quick access to instructions.
This last part I’m not gonna lie, it kinda hit me below the belt.
I didn’t get any stickers.
Are stickers banned in California now for adding too much HP?!?
Seriously though, imma ask em what’s up with that too lol
That is all. So far the plan for tonight is still looking good and that is to pull the bed, roll the truck out and wash the rear half of the frame really good, then roll it back in and start installing the rear kit. Once I make sure I have everything I need for the front and get the beams painted I’ll start chipping away at it.
No. Sticker..
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ElrodKTPQ_89
Legend
!
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ElrodKTPQ_89
Legend
Follow-up to the review post!
I called Desolate today to ask a few questions and found out the beam plate is actually stitch welded on purpose. The idea is that if the buyer ever decides in the future to ditch the rubber pivot bushings and install uniball cups, the plate (which has to be removed so the ball cups can be fully welded) can be cut free a little bit easier than if it were fully welded. And since I may eventually be doing that upgrade later the welds will remain as-is. Also the sales rep is gonna send me a sticker pack lol. They basically had a lot of their kits pre-built and packaged ready to hit the road and didn't throw in any kind of sticker bundles instead focusing on getting orders out the door to the customer as quick as possible.
I did follow through with my plan from yesterday. Got the bed off, cleaned the frame, then went right to work on the rear suspension install. I purposely left everything bolted in loosely because I was a little unsure about the exact setup of the rear springs. So I was able to confirm that on my phone call today. The springs are supplied with a wedge-shaped block to correct pinion angle, however they are only to be used on Bronco's due to their shorter wheel base. On an F-150 I won't use the wedge block or the factory 2" block, instead the leafs will sit directly on the spring perch. The pitman arm that was supplied is also identical to the pitman arm I currently have installed and from what I've seen, 2wd trucks and vans actually use this type of pitman arm which makes sense with me running the steering gear box from the van I yanked the engine from. So the pitman arm is gonna be going back when I send in my beam cores.
Will add all of my pictures from lastnight ehhh eventually. The plan for tonight is a trip to town to round up a few shop supplies then come home to paint the beams and remove the wedge from my spring pack and I will be done with the back. I did also mount the radius arm brackets to the frame using the existing hole so still have to drill out the additional 3 per side and the mounts will be done. Depending on how tonight goes I may also go ahead and spin the truck around to start tearing down the front suspension. Stay tuned.
I called Desolate today to ask a few questions and found out the beam plate is actually stitch welded on purpose. The idea is that if the buyer ever decides in the future to ditch the rubber pivot bushings and install uniball cups, the plate (which has to be removed so the ball cups can be fully welded) can be cut free a little bit easier than if it were fully welded. And since I may eventually be doing that upgrade later the welds will remain as-is. Also the sales rep is gonna send me a sticker pack lol. They basically had a lot of their kits pre-built and packaged ready to hit the road and didn't throw in any kind of sticker bundles instead focusing on getting orders out the door to the customer as quick as possible.
I did follow through with my plan from yesterday. Got the bed off, cleaned the frame, then went right to work on the rear suspension install. I purposely left everything bolted in loosely because I was a little unsure about the exact setup of the rear springs. So I was able to confirm that on my phone call today. The springs are supplied with a wedge-shaped block to correct pinion angle, however they are only to be used on Bronco's due to their shorter wheel base. On an F-150 I won't use the wedge block or the factory 2" block, instead the leafs will sit directly on the spring perch. The pitman arm that was supplied is also identical to the pitman arm I currently have installed and from what I've seen, 2wd trucks and vans actually use this type of pitman arm which makes sense with me running the steering gear box from the van I yanked the engine from. So the pitman arm is gonna be going back when I send in my beam cores.
Will add all of my pictures from lastnight ehhh eventually. The plan for tonight is a trip to town to round up a few shop supplies then come home to paint the beams and remove the wedge from my spring pack and I will be done with the back. I did also mount the radius arm brackets to the frame using the existing hole so still have to drill out the additional 3 per side and the mounts will be done. Depending on how tonight goes I may also go ahead and spin the truck around to start tearing down the front suspension. Stay tuned.
