Duff lift problem

[BigSwifty8]

Yesterday i installed a Duff 2.5" lift on my 91 and now that it is back on its wheels it looks like the front end has shifted about an inch towards the passenger side.
The driver side wheel is even with the fender and the passenger side wheel sticks out about 2" it used to be about an inch on each side.
Has any one else noticed anything like this with their JDuff lift?

 

[PekingMan]

Mine is the same way. I also know that I a lot of other people's Ex's did the same thing and that it is not only the Duff lift, but also the Superlift as well. If I remember correctly, I think it was Goober who had this problem as well. I could be wrong. I am not sure of the reason and I'm sure if anyone else does either. I took it to Discount Tire, where I had the new tires/wheels put on to check and see if they had messed up the backspacing on one of the rims, but that was not the case.

 

[410Fortune]

There are a couple of "tricks" that should be done with these lifts. First go measue the distance to the ground from each fender and compare sides.

The coil "spacer" Duff provides almost always is only needed on one side, and there are two spots on the frame where the axle pivot drop brackets install that need a small washer.

Did you replace the axle pivot bushings?

As for your problem have you had it aligned yet?
These things may help a little, I have never seen such a problem with the Duff lift, but I have seen 2 or three intstalled and there are a few things Duff could have improved.........

 

[BigSwifty8]

I have not had it aligned yet because I wanted to try and resolve this first so I dont have to align it again after fixing this. I did replace the pivot bushings when I installed the lift. I did not notice anywhere that would need washers on the pivot brackets. to be honest I was impressed with the kit as I was installing it because every hole was lining up perfectly. Normally with after market stuff I always have to "Make it Fit"

 

[BigSwifty8]

Sorry I forgot. I have measured it and it seems really good within about a quarter inch side to side.

I did not use the spacer but like i said it seems pretty good.

 

[410Fortune]

DId you put the coil spacer in on both sides?

Are both sides sitting at the same height?

Yes Duff lifts are high quality, their drop brackets and VR coils are great. I cant say much for thier radius arms and dual shock hoop however.

Are you sue it's not a camber problem giving you the appearance that one is sticking out further? Camber shims will fix this if it is......

 

[BigSwifty8]

The driver side is about a quarter inch lower than the passenger side. I will try the coil spring spacer later tonight to see what that does.

As far as the camber issue, that is a small part of it however I am looking at 1. where the sides of the bumper are in relation to hubs And 2. I used a long straight edge across the sides of the back tires up to the hubs to obtain a reltionship beetween the front track and the rear track. It is definatly about an inch towards the passenger side according to those 2 things.

 

[410Fortune]

Have you driven it around yet?

Theonly way one axle beam would stick out further then the other is if the axle pivot drop bracket was not made properly. If you have it drive it around (let it settle) have the camber shims installed (most places will align it and give you a free adjustment before 90 days for your new springs to settle) and it's still the same I would contact Duff and ask them for a new bracket....

Of all the Duff lifts I have seen installed I have never seen this problem......

 

[BigSwifty8]

Last night was able to park on a reasonably flat surface and made a whole bunch of measurements. Every measurement I made it comes out level.
Then I started to measure where the front end is in relationship to the frame and every measurement I made I came up with 9/16 shifted towards the passenger side.
Today I will be calling Duffs and hopefully getting new pivot drop brackets. If not I will weld up the holes at the pivot points and redrill them myself.

 

[410Fortune]

It would be interesting to compare your passenger side axle pivot drop bracket to another from Duff.

That is interesting. I had to drill my frame on the drivers side for my Skyjacoer radius arm bracket and crossmember because the holes in my frame were more then 1/2" off, when looking at the Skyjacker bracket it looked to be welded up wrong. I plan to re-enforce it with a drilled metal plate on the back side of the frame since I now have two holes that look more like an 8 then a 0.

Let us know what you find out.

 

[BigSwifty8]

I talked to Duff's today and they asked me for a few specific measurments, then they guy says "thats only 9/16th of an inch thats not very much" I was floored by that comment, I don't think it should be off by any amount. Anyway he said he would look into more for me and get back to me.

There was a stock Ex at work today so I measured some things and found that something is definatly wrong with the Duff brackets. The overall axle width on my truck is 3/8 inch narrower than the stock truck. I measured that at the brackets that mount the sway bar to the axle.

I have a friend who works at a body shop and he said he could get me factory frame specs and suspension mounting points and I should be able to figure out which bracket is bad from that.

So thats about it for now I'll keep you updated as news comes in.

 

[410Fortune]

Sounds like the one sticking out too far is good and the other side isnt sticking out enough.

Duff's customer service is questionable at best.

We (friends and I) have not been happy with them. I would recommend their standard lift and their bumpers and thats it. Their early bronco stuff seems to be good to, but for the Explorer's, rangers, and BII's there has been alot of talk about their quality and mostly customer service...

I have actually had a good experience with them, I bought my bumpers from them and they were cheap and delivered quick, and they were nice on the phone. I got my Duff lift used from a friend so I cant say much about that other then it fit great and is tough as nails.

I just know that their radius arms, dual shock hoop, shocks, customer serivce, 5.0L conversion headers, and some other stuff just plain sucked for a couple of my friends. Oh and the prices of the bumpers I bought have doubled since I got them.....

 

[KEbert]

I have the JD lift as well. I put the coil spacer under the drivers side and now both sides look exactly even.

 

[410Fortune]

so you have the coil spacer on the drivers side only, correct?

 

[BigSwifty8]

Are you asking me or k ebert about the spacer? I dont have one in my truck at all. But like I side it definatly sits level now, so I dont want to put one in.

 

[410Fortune]

Sorry that was for Kebert. We have found that the coil spacer is necessary on the drivers side only as well in order to level the truck, for some reason it just works out that way. Also there is a spot on the passenger side axle drop bracket where the frame is not exactly flat and a washer in there keeps the bracket nice and straight.

 

[Kirby N.]

I have put the 3" Vr on two trucks and they worked great. I think it sounds like your frame is tweaked a bit, like 9/16". The Duff customer service has beeen wonderful, of course I wasn't a Jerk to them. They helped with my Radius Arms and the lift. And when I used to have the Dual shocks one boke and they sent us a new one for free, we welded up the old one for a spare. I didn't like the dual set up, but if I was running the desert I would. The radius arms are great too.
I ditched the spacer deal, mine didn't need it. did, however use f150 spacers though.

 

[BigSwifty8]

OK, I have my truck fixed so here is what happened. I took my truck into the body shop where my friend works. and we put it up on the frame rack. We got the frame specs from Ford and made a bunch of measurements. The center bracket was off to the passenger side 1/8 inch. we were able to tweak how that one mounts to get it int the right location.
The passenger side mounting point was off by half an inch, so we took that one off and welded up the hole drilled a new hole and put it all back together.
Then we remeasured and all the suspension mount points where good.

Then we put it on the alignment rack took initial readings of the ride height and alignment. The driver side was low by a 1/4 inch so we put in the duff spacer.

Then it was to high on that side by 1/4 inch But the camber and caster were right on on that side and still way off on the passenger side, so we made a 1/4 spacer for the passenger side.

The ride height was right on and camber and caster where within spec but towards the high side of spec so we made some minor adjustments on the passenger side and its all good!

Now everything measures out right and visually looks right.

And by the way I was very nice to the customer service people at Duffs, and they still have not gotten back to me.

But I am happy with the end result anyway even though it was a lot of extra work.

 

[Kirby N.]

Good to hear it is up and going.
It might have been that I talked to the only woman there too. Christine or something, maybe the guys are jerks!

So was the frame the problem or the brackets?

 

[BigSwifty8]

The Frame was fine, everything measured out to spec except for the mounting/pivot points of the axle. ( the two bolts that go through the brackets that hold the front axle in place ) So it had to be the brackets and before the lift everything looked correct as well.

I am happy with the kit though, it is a nice amount of lift for a mainly street driven truck and the suspension just feels a lot better than stock, although I would like to replace the leaf springs and get rid of the add-a-leafs.

But like I said it was a lot of extra work and I dont think I could have gotten it right without the patience of the guys at the body shop who let me tie up the frame rack and alignment rack for 2 days.