Redthies' '97 F350 Thread

[poriggity]

Glad to hear they are 16's. If they were 16.5's I'd tell ya to ditch them. Loving the truck!

 

[Shiryas]

On my 92 (white truck in first post) the shackle was sitting almost vertical. Not what I want this time. The ride was still much improved, but this time around I am going to just bolt the front up with the factory hole, then I'll install the shackle and be able to roll the new front x-member to the rear if the angles don't look good. Sky says the Ford leafs come in slightly varied lengths throughout the obs years. Shorter spring sets will give the steeper angle. I hope mine are longer this time

James,

Just a couple of ideas for you with regards to shackle angle.

Sky's 'new' RSK kit for the SD springs (Bear with me, I know this is not the direction you are going) come with a new rear shackle bracket.

http://www.sky-manufacturing.com/new/images/products/327_1327004686.jpg

They also sell this bracket separately

http://www.sky-manufacturing.com/new/detaproduct.php?id=318

Sooooo .... IF your shackle angle is poor after you do the swap, you could go with these. They bolt into the factory hole locations. Keep reading, its not quite that easy Hombre'

I am converting my truck to 05+ axles with coils up front and removed a lot of rivets from the frame for all the brackets I need, and I am not going to lie to you, it was a daunting task. I tried;

- Grinding an X with a cutoff wheel and chiseling the end of the rivet off. This worked like the bee's knee's for the rivet head.

- Where I could not get the grinder onto the rivet head I used an Acy/O2 torch. This worked OK, on the other side of the rivet, opposite the torch tip, it gouged into the frame. Initially a lot, then someone set me up with a tip bent at about a 35 angle. This worked better but still not great.

- This still left the rivet in the frame and bracket. Pneumatic air hammer worked on 3/20 or so. An 8lb hand sledge with punch worked on another 4/20. The others 13/20 had to be drilled with pilot hole, and then stepped up in drill bit size, then wail away with the sledge and chisel to clear them out.

If you "roll" the RSK bracket backwards, you will also shift the axle center line to the stern. (Notice nautical term, this applies to old crew cab long bed vehicles) AND if you are going with a slightly larger tire, I think your tire rub will be exacerbated, further cutting down on turning radius. THIRDLY, with the shackle in the rear, the spring will lengthen towards the back when it travels up, and again this may not be the best due to wheel well and other interference points.

Do not get me wrong, I think the RSK improves the ride quality on these old trucks immensely, I am just thinking a out loud a little tonight.

I hope my 97 has flexed a little through her life and loosened up these brackets on my truck, because I need to remove them in order to install the radius arm brackets. I know, its only 8 little rivets, but man, I am done.

If I am wrong on my thought process, please post up. Knowledge is best shared.

Cheers, Chris

 

[redthies]

What you are saying makes sense. I think if I end up with a vertical shackle after the reversal on this truck too, I will look at doing something to correct it. It must be harder on the spring to have the shackle vertical, no? If I do have to mess with the shackle mount, I will probably do something custom. The reason Sky's new mount is so much work is the reason it works for the average guy. It is bolt on. But in order to bolt it up, you gotta get the rivets out of the holes. I will likely just grind and cut and weld new hangers as I have the equipment and skills to do it that way. Time and shop space are the next things to find!

The coils would be awesome, but I need my truck daily for work, so that is not going to happen for me any time soon. I am going to gather up a set of F250 factory 2" blocks to combine with the Sky 4.5" rear shackle flip brackets. I should net 3" in the front from your kit, and 3.5" in the rear. Looks like I'll be bucking rivets after all... Dang!

I guess I should post some more pics soon or we'll get in trouble with Chili. I am putting an extension on my deck (nautical term) tomorrow, but maybe after lunch I'll take the rig and dogs out and shoot some pics.

 

[bftank]

if you are going to weld in new hangers, you might check these out. i got them from diy4x. this is what i am doing for my spring hangers so it is easy to change springs if necessary. heh heh, didn't realize i had spring commitment issues.

 

[redthies]

Those are cool! I will check them out further if the need arises...

 

[Redline]

Love the tread, good motivation for me to get my F350 up and running.... Damn Tundra, what a distraction.

The Sky parts have me thinking. I'd like a better ride, but as currently set-up my ride is not bad, and really don't want/need lift. Three inches in the front would be my max and I'd want to raid the rear a little too. What I'd really like is better steering and tracking.

Thanks for the thread, I'll be watching your developments for ideas to spend even more money on my trucks.

 

[BCHauler]

I am going to gather up a set of F250 factory 2" blocks to combine with the Sky 4.5" rear shackle flip brackets.

I have a set gathering dirt in my shed. Yours if you want them.

 

[wonderfulremark]

awesome truck.
should you decide to part with it, please let me know!
hope to run into you on the road!

I am assuming you were charged for "over height" on the ferry in that picture??

 

[redthies]

Thanks WR. I am loving the truck too.

As for the ferry, they did not charge overheight! I guess they have the "Golden Parachute" for the past CEO covered now with the regular gouge and screw rate! I will always try to get out of paying overheight. It seems 9 out of 10 sailings they put you down below if you are in a fullsize truck anyway. If overheight is full, then charge the rate. It sure beats the heck out of the $205 they charged me for my truck and trailer combo!

 

[redthies]

Trial by campfire...

We took a long weekend, and drove about 700 miles to visit one of my good friends at his ranch. We camped the first night in the high alpine along a creek, then drove a mellow pace through the river valleys and over another big pass. A bit of time by the lake, laughing at a meathead, and his way over-done FJ, complete with bad pop music and pugs wear-ing life jackets. Then on to my friends place. Two years ago I turned his shop into a house, and built him a new 30x50 shop to house his late 60s and early 70s GMCs.

It was a great trip, and the truck and camper both worked beautifully. I will be happy to get the shackle reversal and new bushings and shocks in. There was a bit of clanging and banging on the rough mountain roads. Pics...

 

[redthies]

More pics... Some of the old chevs and what was once a shop, and is now his home. I did all the conversion work on the shop. Wish I could restore a truck as easily as I can a house. The faded green 4x4 I brought up from Oregon for him last summer and is used hard hauling hay and fencing. The fancy green two wheeler in the shop was his dads since new.

 

[Jimmeh]

Love the truck, sir! And beautiful work on that house. I know what you mean about restoring a house. I only worked in construction for the better part of my short life (my dad was a contractor prior to becoming a truck driver, and once again I am following in his footsteps now that I too drive trucks ) and find that working with materials other than vehicles comes so much easier.

 

[redthies]

I am finally in the process of gathering all the bits up for my shackle reversal now. I have Energy Suspension poly bushings, Sky kit in the world of Fed-Ex(Po), and Bilstein 5100s a day away.
I now am trying to sort out the rear. 5100s are the only known part at this point. I was going to use Sky's shackle flip for the rear as well, but have read many reports of lost towing and hauling capacity. Since I haul a 2500lb camper, I can't have an "issue" of this nature. I probably only need 1-2" to match the front height, and already have Firestone airbags to help with the weight. Any thoughts? A 4" block? Extra leaf or two?

I also replaced the "multi-function switch" on the column. This controls turn signals, hi/low beam and wipers. Finally everything works. I ordered a shifter and OD switch from a NOS vendor on Ebay. $250 from Ford, $85 of Ebay, and my local Ford parts dept verified all the part numbers for me. Might even be able to turn OD off on long downhills soon!

 

[redthies]

I found some 4" factory blocks with bump stops at my buddies off-road shop, so he is going to send me those and some new u-bolts. Hopefully the extra 1" in the rear, and the 3" or so from the shackle reversal work ok together. I would still like a bit of rake, but the real issue is not having the camper too high.

 

[DoMiNiC1]

That house is AWESOME!!!!:drool: