1995 Ford F150 DD prelander

Tonight I realized I never cycled everything with the bed on the truck. So tomorrow i'm going to remove coilovers and 1 spring, then reassemble that onto truck along with the bed and rear tires, then cycle checking for clearance on everything. I may have to trim the underbed support ribs since they sit directly ontop of the frame and the shock may come into contact of that but a simple notch of that would fix that issue. I will also check tire clearance and do new rear bedside support as well since it mounts to be near the frame where the cantilever arm and everything swings.
 
Yeah I know the supports go flat against the frame and the shock does go a little above it at full bump so hopefully a notch is all that's needed since I already removed the middle of one support to fit the bronco gas tank in there.
 
OK well I made the links connecting cantilever to axle too long so that end of the arm went into the bed at full bump. So I designed a new arm and going to make new shorter links this weekend. Then paint and reassemble again.

I was thinking the bed floor was 2" above the top of the frame BUT it's basically sitting on the top of frame above the bump stops.

Original setup and new plasma cut 16ga arm to show difference and to cycle and test before cutting out of 3/16 which isn't cheap anymore. $0.72 a lb not $0.45 like pre covid days.
Screenshot_20240930_154723_Photos.jpg
20241004_191515.jpg20241004_191518.jpg

Also this middle rib i cut flush to bed floor in order to mount the bronco tank in the f150. Only notches I had to do was the rear bed floor crossmember dips lower outside the frame so I had to trim that flat to clear shock mounts.

20241004_141526.jpg20241004_141519.jpg20241004_142023.jpg
 
Decided to add to this post for reference to other people to see. The factory ford frames are real floppy. I don't want the frame to permanently bend or have the bed smashing into the cab making dents or noise. Did 1-3/4" Dom tubing from infront of the upper link mounts to new crossmember i did because upper link hit that at full bump.
20241005_144755.jpg20241005_144748.jpg20241005_144740.jpg20241005_144745.jpg20241005_144735.jpg20241005_144729.jpg
 
OK got some more work done, reassembly, trimmed the rear bumper brackets and installed that. I also mounted a small badlands winch behind the bumper. Theb took it for her maiden voyage this afternoon. It worked good and rode good down the road perfect as well. Now the axle i got is 5.13 gears and with the 35s at 65 it's at 2600 rpm which is higher than I want it to be at. So I'm planning on regearing both axles in the future to 4.88 or 4.56 since I'm planning on this driving miles down the road before the dirt miles.
20241009_180355.jpg20241009_180413.jpg20241009_180420.jpg20241009_180402.jpg20241006_113121.jpg
 
Well took the truck out to Camp Kyle to watch the shitbox 69 guys do a rally around the desert. Truck worked really well. I'm guessing it needs stiffer springs then the 300/450 i have thinking 400/500 would help maintain ride height with full tank or gas and doing a drawer system in the bed. Rear tires rub lip inside wheel opening so I'll hammer those flat to bedside this week to keep it from wanting to cut the tread of the tire.

20241012_141854.jpg20241012_141733.jpg
 
Back
Top