F150 spring perches on a 93 2wd?

[danlong]

I read through about 15 pages of posts regarding the F150 spring perches, but never found any real answers about using these on a 2wd. From what I gathered, they will fit the beams and coils just fine, although the bolt that goes through the beam and radius arm isn't long enough. Has anyone found a good solution to extending this bolt? Should I just go to a fastener store with the stock bolt and get a replacement Grade 8 bolt that's longer, or would it be possible to use the extenders that Daystar includes with their poly spacers? I also saw some mention of using the 4wd stud setup, but I'm not familiar with the 4wd's.

Basically, I've got a set of Chassis Tech lowering beams on the way, but I want to keep the Eibach 2" drop springs that I've already got. 5" of drop will be too much with my tire size, not to mention how hard it is to get a good alignment with a 2" drop spring, so this should net me about a 3.5" drop, which will be perfect.

 

[danlong]

bump...anyone?

 

[yosh18981898]

Not many people have ever tried lowering a first generation........

 

[jimbo74]

sow you are lowering your truck, but wanting to raise parts? seems like you could use the extenders that the daystars have if you can get them seperately, or just get the bolt from a 4x4 and use that... however to me, it seems liek you are trying to bandaid the real issue... and bandaids are a sketchy thing.....

 

[danlong]

Is there a reliability issue with the F150 perches? I'm not trying to "bandaid" something, its just a matter of the right combination of parts to get the drop and handling that I desire.

What would you suggest as a better option? Get a new set of stock coils and cut them? Keep just a 2" drop spring that can barely be aligned and leaves virtually no suspension travel?

I've got a brand new set of performance springs, a brand new set of lowered i-beams, and a brand new set of spring perches on the way from Ford.... nothing is hacked up or jerry-rigged, I can't really find any faults. I was mainly trying to find out if anyone had used the perches on a 2wd Explorer, and what they had done about the bolt through the beam.

Is the 4wd bolt just threaded on both ends and slides through the beam and radius arm, then "nutted" on both ends? Or is it a stud that is threaded into the beam?

 

[yosh18981898]

I would start looking for a lift kit..............

 

[danlong]

Smart a$$....... , now use those smarts and answer my question about the 4wd bolts!

 

[danlong]

Not many people have ever tried lowering a first generation........

You know, I really don't know why this is, aside from people just not wanting to spend the money to do it properly. I spoke with John V at EE, and he said they just never could do it and keep any kind of ride quality. When you use drop beams, you retain ALL suspension travel, and as long as you do a C-notch in the rear, you'll keep that travel as well.

Granted, when I'm done with the beams, springs, perches, c-notch and shocks I'll probably have $1000 or so invested, but compared to the cost of bagging a truck, or even many of the more extreme lift kits, that's really not that much money.

 

[yosh18981898]

I've got a set of f-150 spacers in mail. I'm using them on my 92 4x4 to get about 2 inches of lift. I'll let you know what I can make of the situation. I don't really have any idea what the front 2wd susp. looks like on a first generation......... but I'll try figure something out.

 

[danlong]

I did a little searching and got a better idea of what the 4wd front axles look like. From the drawings I found, it looks like the radius arm spans the top and bottom of the axle arm, and is held in place by 2 separate bolts, one top and one bottom, with the top also holding the spring plate in place? Is this correct?

The 2wd i-beam has a single bolt about 1" in diameter that comes up from the bottom, passes through the bottom radius arm tab, the beam, the top radius arm tab, and then holds the spring plate in place.

 

[yosh18981898]

sounds right to me.

 

[danlong]

Here's how I solved the problem for anyone who is searching for this in the future.
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=118437