Iron Weasel
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- March 22, 2010
- Messages
- 605
- Reaction score
- 3
- City, State
- Belen, New Mexico
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 1994 XLT 4x4
Being the cheap guy that I am, I originally opted to try and track down a set of F150 coil seats. They were discontinued by Ford and only existing stock is being sold, but at a greatly increased rate. Hitting up the junkyard wasn't really a viable option when I began contemplating how else to come up with a similar lift on the cheap.
I began researching by disassembling the front suspension of our (my wife and I) 94 Explorer and taking measurements of everything. After about an hour and a half I had the dozen or so measurements I needed and the vehicle was back together. I then contacted several machine shops around town for a quote on a custom designed coil spring spacer and I was greeted with prices ranging from $300 - $500. For that price, I could get a whole 4" kit - but that would defeat the purpose of a small lift built cheap so I continued my quest.
Armed with my measurements I scoured Google for hours looking at other ideas and considering other options. Ebay turned out to be a futile effort as most of the spacers I found were just the polyurethane units made by Daystar that were being sold at or slightly higher than retail. At this point, I figured I may as well make my own.
Several hours later, I had devised a plan and started further research. What I finally settled on was a series of washers that would eventually be welded and coated and would utilize the stock spring seat and isolator. The fun part was figuring out what kind of washers I would need since Home Depot / Lowes / etc. didn't carry anything I could use. Back to Google I went and I finally ran across something called a "dock washer". Being out in the desert, there aren't any marine supply houses or any place that carries such washers. Eventually, I found a nifty site right here that sells dock washers. I also ordered a pair of lift shackles from these guys.
Cost for ten 1-1/4" flat washers, ten 5/8" dock washers, and shipping from New Hampshire to New Mexico: $34.63
Cost of the shackles including shipping from Nevada to New Mexico: $59.
Total so far: $93.63
I know Fat Bob's Garage sells a 2" "kit" that includes the Daystar spacers and an Add-A-Leaf, but I've read many reports of the polyurethane squishing out over as little as 3 months, so I didn't really want to go that route. For comparison, the price on that kit is $94.95 with shipping costing $15.43 for a total of $110.38. So far, I'm up almost $17.
I fully plan on getting an alignment after I'm done, and I may or may not need new camber bushings, but I won't know for sure until I get the "lift" on and up on the alignment rack. I've already talked to a shop here that works with lifted trucks and they gave me a quote of $70 for an alignment if different bushings are needed and I supply them. If I do need some, Napa has up to 3° bushings for $30 / pair.
This is what it looks like right now on 31" BFG AT's.
Day 1 - Component Preparation
I finally had my hands on all the pieces that I need to construct my Frankenstein lift that I have affectionately dubbed "WeezLift".
In this picture, you can see the washers that I'm working with. On the left is the 1-1/4" USS grade 8 flat washer. It's 3" in diameter and about 0.165" tall. On the right is the 5/8" dock washer. It is also 3" in diameter and they range from 0.25" - 0.35" tall. The 3" diameter on the washers is important because the stock spring seat and isolator are also 3" in diameter, so these will take exactly as much room on the radius arm as the stock setup. The 1-1/4" washer will sit on the radius arm around the existing stud. It will provide a larger base to spread force out over the radius arm rather than being concentrated on the nut of the existing stud.
The shackles I ordered from Copperhead Fabrication. They're made from 1/4" flat stock and used 2" round stock for support. They're bare steel, so I may paint them before I put them on.
The dock washers are hot dip galvanized for corrosion resistance, so there were some "defects" from the dip and I had to remove those before they'll sit correctly. I used this handheld sander with 100 grit aluminum oxide sand paper.
First measurement while test fitting showed this combination to be a little too tall at 1.527".
After a few minutes sanding the 4 dock washers and trying different flat washers I managed to get it damn near perfect at 1.501".
Here are the partially complete spacers. There is a little bit of a gap between a couple of the dock washers on each spacer, but I took measurements with a 6" C-clamp compressing the washers and the spacer on the left is 1.501" tall and the spacer on the right is 1.504" tall. They will be fully compressed and re-measured before they are welded together and possibly coated.
I began researching by disassembling the front suspension of our (my wife and I) 94 Explorer and taking measurements of everything. After about an hour and a half I had the dozen or so measurements I needed and the vehicle was back together. I then contacted several machine shops around town for a quote on a custom designed coil spring spacer and I was greeted with prices ranging from $300 - $500. For that price, I could get a whole 4" kit - but that would defeat the purpose of a small lift built cheap so I continued my quest.
Armed with my measurements I scoured Google for hours looking at other ideas and considering other options. Ebay turned out to be a futile effort as most of the spacers I found were just the polyurethane units made by Daystar that were being sold at or slightly higher than retail. At this point, I figured I may as well make my own.
Several hours later, I had devised a plan and started further research. What I finally settled on was a series of washers that would eventually be welded and coated and would utilize the stock spring seat and isolator. The fun part was figuring out what kind of washers I would need since Home Depot / Lowes / etc. didn't carry anything I could use. Back to Google I went and I finally ran across something called a "dock washer". Being out in the desert, there aren't any marine supply houses or any place that carries such washers. Eventually, I found a nifty site right here that sells dock washers. I also ordered a pair of lift shackles from these guys.
Cost for ten 1-1/4" flat washers, ten 5/8" dock washers, and shipping from New Hampshire to New Mexico: $34.63
Cost of the shackles including shipping from Nevada to New Mexico: $59.
Total so far: $93.63
I know Fat Bob's Garage sells a 2" "kit" that includes the Daystar spacers and an Add-A-Leaf, but I've read many reports of the polyurethane squishing out over as little as 3 months, so I didn't really want to go that route. For comparison, the price on that kit is $94.95 with shipping costing $15.43 for a total of $110.38. So far, I'm up almost $17.
I fully plan on getting an alignment after I'm done, and I may or may not need new camber bushings, but I won't know for sure until I get the "lift" on and up on the alignment rack. I've already talked to a shop here that works with lifted trucks and they gave me a quote of $70 for an alignment if different bushings are needed and I supply them. If I do need some, Napa has up to 3° bushings for $30 / pair.
This is what it looks like right now on 31" BFG AT's.
Day 1 - Component Preparation
I finally had my hands on all the pieces that I need to construct my Frankenstein lift that I have affectionately dubbed "WeezLift".
In this picture, you can see the washers that I'm working with. On the left is the 1-1/4" USS grade 8 flat washer. It's 3" in diameter and about 0.165" tall. On the right is the 5/8" dock washer. It is also 3" in diameter and they range from 0.25" - 0.35" tall. The 3" diameter on the washers is important because the stock spring seat and isolator are also 3" in diameter, so these will take exactly as much room on the radius arm as the stock setup. The 1-1/4" washer will sit on the radius arm around the existing stud. It will provide a larger base to spread force out over the radius arm rather than being concentrated on the nut of the existing stud.
The shackles I ordered from Copperhead Fabrication. They're made from 1/4" flat stock and used 2" round stock for support. They're bare steel, so I may paint them before I put them on.
The dock washers are hot dip galvanized for corrosion resistance, so there were some "defects" from the dip and I had to remove those before they'll sit correctly. I used this handheld sander with 100 grit aluminum oxide sand paper.
First measurement while test fitting showed this combination to be a little too tall at 1.527".
After a few minutes sanding the 4 dock washers and trying different flat washers I managed to get it damn near perfect at 1.501".
Here are the partially complete spacers. There is a little bit of a gap between a couple of the dock washers on each spacer, but I took measurements with a 6" C-clamp compressing the washers and the spacer on the left is 1.501" tall and the spacer on the right is 1.504" tall. They will be fully compressed and re-measured before they are welded together and possibly coated.
There's an F250 and a Bronco II behind me.
