F150 Coil Seats Install and Shackles for TTB suspension based platforms

[Tbars4]

...After some help from Froader I decided to do an f-150 coil seat install and add some custom shackles to my Ranger 4x4...
I wanted 1 1/2" more lift in the front and 2"'s more of lift in the rear...My 95 4x4 came with 2 1/2" of lift in the rear and 2" over coils in the front, stock from ford...

Disclosure :
Read First before the following...I did this to my truck and I will not be responsible for what you do to yours...this is just what i did..

Intro:
First i searched all I can find on this and other forums...I decided i was not happy with my trucks suspension as the coils and leafs had sagged a lot over it's lifetime and now i constantly have the weight of a shell and carpet kit on it...I first started with new shocks in front, gabriel ultra's, and then i put coilovers for loads in the rear, also by gabriel...(see also my thread on "coilovers for loads")...that was great for about a month and i noticed my rear leafs were still sagging but now on a daily basis of loading the truck with work tools it was getting more evident...the soft springs and coils were fine off road and the load carrying was fine but i hated the tail sagging as you could tell when the truck was loaded and it was now sagging below level when it was empty...So I bought some add a leafs with new leaf bushings and that lifted the tail and my coilover for loads would soften the ride before the hard bounce of the aal's...
Now I had my stance of the rear being 1" higher empty and level when loaded...Now i wanted to raise the truck for more clearance when i'm off road...Just enough to cross creeks and to help clear my rockers over rocks and keep my tail from dragging going thru gully's...enough story, on with the install.

WARNING: Using leveling spacers or coils can lead to quite an alignment problem. Positive camber results from this type of lift, and if you do not have enough adjustment available in your factory camber bushings you will need aftermarket ones. What you will need to do imediately after install is to bring the tires back into spec after the lift. You will need an Alignment that will cost about $150 bucks or more

Tools I needed:

1-1/8" open end wrench
T-30 star driver for my shaft
Standard tools for removing shocks and unhooking front stabilizer bar

Parts Upate
..These Coil Seats can now be easily gotten from one of our own great, Explorer Forum Vendors...tmcphail
...Here is a link to their own site and also the info you need to order these items from them...

http://www.trademotion.com/partlocator/index.cfm?siteid=318

Mechanical Catalog
Item Number MSRP Core Price Price
F2TZ5A307A $30.00 $0.00 $23.94
Front suspension - Suspension components - Spring seat

Mechanical Catalog
Item Number MSRP Core Price Price
F2TZ5A307B $20.00 $0.00 $15.96
Front suspension - Suspension components - Spring seat

..Be sure to let them know you are from Explorer Forum...... Good Luck with your Project...


Install:
First I needed to purchase some F150 coil seats from my Ford dealer... They costed with tax, 39.07 total...The part numbers were = Right and left sides...the part numbers are as follows:

F2TZ-5A307-A
F2TZ-5A307-B

The dealer was happy to sell them as they are not a frequently replaced part and I bought the first ones in three years and they were collecting dust...These work better than the 2" coil spacers that you can buy new for 50-110 bucks because you don't have a thread add on for your existing bolt to worry about... Also, I sprayed deep creep on mine 2 days before and it made my job of removing those big nuts easy..

Note: I was told if you have a 4x2 truck you would have to replace your current bolt with longer ones as they are removable but, with the 4x4 the stock fixed bolts are perfect with enough thread to get all of the nut on and then some...

I unhooked my front stabilizer bar then i jacked up my truck and put jackstands under it...I then rmoved the wheels and and then I removed both shocks (as these would only interfere with the spring removal)...I started with my driver side as this appeared to be the most difficult side to work on...(It has the front drive shaft and it would be more challenging to hook the coilspring back up in less of a space)

I first removed the nut and the coil spring hold down washer (saved them as they were need for re-install)and I then removed the coil spring...I used a coil spring tool to compress my coils before removing them and this made my work easier also..(When i put it back together it was easier since the coil spring tool also worked as an alignment tool for the re-installation...the coils went back in exactly the way they came out and i didn't have to fight the tool because it got hung up in the tight quarters)..I then removed the stock coil seat and the nylon bushing that was on the stock coil seat...(I saved my stock coil seat for future coils, but I reused the nylon bushing on the new F150 coil seats)

Important: The F150 coil seats are marked 4x2R and 4x2L. I heard that with the offset of the new spring seat, the 4x2L fit better on the right and vice-versa. The only important thing was the spacers have a long tab on the bottom (as seen in my pics), and I made sure to put those to the rear of the axle arm..

I then reinstalled the Coil spring with the help of some long handled persuaders...(this should be done with a couple people as i had 3 persuader bars going and only one of me, lol)...I installed the coil spring washer and the nut and torqued it down as per specs i believe...I moved over to the passenger side and it was easy as pie....

Then I wound up with this front end and I gently sat it down off of the jacks to exagerate how your front end would be without an alignment...

At this time I also swapped out my stock shackles that were 4-1/2" bolts on center with these custom tig welded ones that are 8" o.c....(these gave me 2" of lift in the rear) I needed everything as it would be for daily driving before it got aligned..I also put taller shocks on at this time

Alignment: The next step was to drive directly to the alignment shop in which i already had an appointment and they replaced my stock bushings with 2.75 bushings...

Conclusion:
I did this and got the results I wanted as I wanted to keep this pretty much stock and max it out...I increased my front by 1 1/2" and my rear by 2"...Loaded it only squats about 3/4-1" in the rear...I will in the future remove these when i find the new front coil spring setup I want, maybe even a coilover setup...but for now, I am happy with the ride and performance...

 

[cgriffin_5139]

Sweet good write up tbars.

 

[Lt.Jim]

Great write up When I did the f150 spacers on mine I followed the rangerstation write up. I like yours better. More pics and detail.

 

[Tbars4]

thank you both....froader helped me with info on parts and showed me trs writeup, and i also searched relentlessly hi and low on different forums as well as talked to several people who had done this very thing and i was left with i thought, some missing info on the install...I hope this will help others...

 

[Tbars4]

rick, could this be saved as a tech info sheat???

 

[FROADER]

Excellent write up!!

I'm sure it will be referenced to many, many times.

 

[Tbars4]

thank you and again thanks for the info input that allowed me to do this mod...

 

[Tbars4]

could this be moved to the how to threads or is it fine where it is??? thanks

 

[FROADER]

I just made this a sticky since I referenced it twice in the past 3 days.

 

[Tbars4]

woo hoo, your the man...i seen one of the threads yesterday...

 

[91explo]

hmm sounds like a better way to lift rather than a body lift....but do you have to replace shocks?

 

[Tbars4]

...you do not have to change the shocks but i did...the reason for doing this is now your shocks have 2" less of extension...you can easily go to 4wheelparts and ask them for 2" over shocks...there is also another sponsor here, shockarehouse who gives discounts to members...

...shocks are not expensive and if you do the f-150 coil seats, warrior shackles you have spent about $100 bucks...say 150 max for alignment...thats 250 max for a lift...i got 5 procomp shocks 4- 4" over and 1 stabilizer shock and it's mount for like 140 bucks with a lifetime warranty on all of them...

 

[91explo]

i c...so when you say 4 - 4" over do you mean you get more travel on top of the 2 inch? sorry I'm farly new to all this suspension stuff... and also i noticed that warrior shackles lift it only 1 1/4? so with the seats at 1 1/2 then the back end will sit lower?

 

[Tbars4]

...i won't get into a debate over shackle height but i did what i wanted to get my truck the way i want it for an inexpensive price...it's not an exact science as there are variables...
...i am not sure where you got 1 1/4" from on shackle lift but they usually lift your truck 1 1/2"-2"...your rear is usually higher than the front to begin with...after you do this tell me what you think, hmmm...:scratch:

...my reference to you would be, if you are going to go from stock to 2" lift, get 2" over shocks...
...on my truck it was already set up 2" over from the factory...i did my 2" lift and that gave me 4" over...good luck on your project...

 

[91explo]

great....thanks for all the info Tbars4, I appreciate it! I'm in canada so I have to look into who's going to have the stuff i need, I'm hoping I'll get going on it in a week or 2!

 

[91explo]

i got the 1-1/4" Rear Lift from the warrior shackles that seem to be the popular ones. (War153)

 

[Tbars4]

...just curious where you got the 1 1/4" from...i don't believe i have seen them advertised that short...sounds like you got that off somebody's thread that had some different variables to their X...

EDIT:
...i found them advertised as such, sorry for doubting you...

 

[Tbars4]

...the rule of thumb is:

... you measure the center of bolt to the center of the other bolt on your stock shackles....let's call it 4" for example...
...say the war-153 from bolt hole to bolt hole is 8" for example....that makes the differance of 4" for the 2 different shackles...divide the difference by 2 for the angle it will sit at...and you get 2" 's...that gives you your lift height difference...
...again as i said before, there will be several variables included and i'm sure you will find some more information on them using the search as there is an abundance of information on war-153 shackles on here as hundreds of X owners on this sight have them...
...for my project X, i do not have them and my suspension is alot different than yours...for my ranger, i went with custom made tig welded shackles, 8" o.c....
good luck...

 

[cybergasm]

...for my project X, i do not have them and my suspension is alot different than yours.

Different? Both have leaf springs, the only real difference is how there are mounted besides with the ranger you have few more options like shackles and blocks since the springs are already on top of the axle unlike an Explorer.

 

[Tbars4]

...my suspension as a whole on my project X, front and rear, is alot different than a stock X...
...for the explorer, springs over the rear axle and leaf pack, number's a leaf's, anti axle wrap setup, are also part of a upgraded suspension setup...
...my X has stock shackles..