Already have a decent lift..whats the next step?

[CodePoet]

If you're actually going to wheel here's what i'd suggest.

1) Ditch the autozone shackles and buy some warriors (or build some). They are MUCH stronger than the stamped crap they sell at the auto parts store.

2) Gears and lockers

3) Sliders (best 100 bucks i've ever spent on my truck)

 

[DitchWitch]

If you're actually going to wheel here's what i'd suggest.

1) Ditch the autozone shackles and buy some warriors (or build some). They are MUCH stronger than the stamped crap they sell at the auto parts store.

2) Gears and lockers

3) Sliders (best 100 bucks i've ever spent on my truck)

Again, thanks for all your input!!
I do need new headlights! These are very foggy.
The bodylift came with the truck so Im not sure exactly where it came from.

to the above post:
Will the warrior shackles give more lift at all? I have noticed that my rear leafs are sagging a bit too..

I am pretty sure I do have limited slip, but ill check for sure.

...sliders?

PS: I have taken off the running boards, and the airdam..and it certainly does make it look taller! And its a hop to get in lol.
I left the fender trim..but it may go too.

 

[Burns]

The next step

 

[CodePoet]

I don't know if warrior shackles will give you more lift. I suggested them because they are much stronger than auto zone shackles. They are made from thicker steel and have a crossbrace.

Sliders go under your rockers where your running boards are now. Mine are made out of 2x2 and 2x4 steel. I put a picture of mine below. Unlike what you would probably want to do, I cut all of the rocker panel out and put my sliders where they were. It allowed me to get rid of my rotting rockers, and I gained a couple inches of body clearance with no additional lift.

**sigh** my truck use to actually have wheels on it

 

[CodePoet]

The next step

Hahaha that's the inevitable next step after this next step

 

[Tbars4]

...or like these...

 

[DitchWitch]

hmm very nice. I want to do this. My rockers are really rusted in the rear under where the running boards were.
So im assuming everything is still sealed up after cutting the rocker out?
Anymore pics? Or link to album? Thanks a bunch!

 

[Burns]

being serious for a moment i would go for protection.

Sliders, bumpers, roll cage, and driveline upgrades

 

[CodePoet]

hmm very nice. I want to do this. My rockers are really rusted in the rear under where the running boards were.
So im assuming everything is still sealed up after cutting the rocker out?
Anymore pics? Or link to album? Thanks a bunch!

I did not cut into the door jamb portion at all so everything still seals up fine.
Here you can see how I cut it out. This is on a 1st gen...i have no clue what the rockers are like on a 2nd gen. You can see there is still some cancer left over. I would like to graft some new metal in there one of these days but I blow through thin stuff like butter with my arc welder. I'll need some practice with that. Anyway, you can see i left around .25-.5"s of rocker in there.

 

[DitchWitch]

thanks alot for the pic man
I am going to be taking a closer look at the rockers on mine and see what I can do. Cool look, could be useful, ditches the holes..and rust (mostly) .. that is a must have there! :exp:

 

[CodePoet]

I used 2x2x.187 for the "posts" that go to the frame, 2x4x.187 for the slider portion, and the frame mounts are 6x6x.25 plate steel.

 

[brianjwilson]

Hey, sorry for the delayed response. I measured my Warrior shackles today and they are 8.5" from center hole to center hole. Stock was 5.5".
Total lift is the difference(3") x.5 (1.5" lift).
Just a reference to measure your autozone shackles, maybe the warriors will give more lift.

 

[carlover]

Auto zone shackles are fine IMO, i destroyed my front suspension and have beaten the crap out of the truck and they have help up just fine for me.

 

[hardywo]

I agree w/ Carlover, the cheap shackles are fine. I personally have the exact same lift as you except I took the springs off of an 80s (don't know the exact year) F-150 and combined them w/ some of mine to reach a total of six leaves on each side in the rear. That alone was about 1.5-2" of lift. Also, where are you from, cuz if you're throwing away the fender flares, I'll take em. I only have the rear ones now as both my front ones were ripped off long ago. Thanks

 

[brianjwilson]

Auto zone shackles are fine IMO, i destroyed my front suspension and have beaten the crap out of the truck and they have help up just fine for me.

I didn't say anything was wrong with the autozone shackles.
In earlier posts in this thread, we were discussing if maybe the autozone shackles didn't provide as much lift as the warrior shackles did, I was only giving measurements so he could compare.
Since we're talking about it, do any of you have measurements from the autozone shackles?

 

[carlover]

Ill go take some measurements in the morning.

 

[DitchWitch]

is it morning yet?

 

[Donner]

Yep

is it morning yet?

So back to the paint, one color? Keeping it the same color?

 

[DitchWitch]

So back to the paint, one color? Keeping it the same color?

Yea it will stay blue. Today I ditched all the eddie bauer stuff off of it, soon I will be rhino lining the bottom half and around the fenders. Lots of holes to cover. lots

Also... I can def tell the rear is sagging bad...and the leafs are flat, damn near broke over.
Is there a specific leaf I should get? Or just get some new stockers with aal?
ty!

 

[Donner]

O/R will know what type...

That's going to look great! The o/r know about the leaf situation... will be waiting for pics (when you're ready)