Midwest Long Travel Build

[lennywalkman]

Hi Guys,

So just picked this up on trade for an older harley. I posted in the intro section, but figured this may be a better place to start a build thread and ask some technical questions.

Regular cab short box. 4wd with a rancho 4" lift.
Mildly built 302:
Holley Systemax 2 with aluminum heads
70mm throttle body
Ford racing roller rockers
Lunati Cam
Hedman Headers & Holley aero chamber mufflers
4:10 gears front and rear with lockers

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Given that it already has the 4" lift, what is my best route to go if I'm wanting extended beams? Pull everything off and start from scratch, or is there anything that can be utilized? I would like to keep all rear suspension under the bed as well. Does anyone make a spring under kit for these trucks?

Really looking forward to building this truck, although it'll more than likely be a slow process!

Thanks for any info!
-Jeremy

[ChaseTruck754]

Welcome. Cool truck!

For the suspension, all of the rancho stuff will unbolt and can be replaced with the new parts from the long travel suspension. The only caveat here is the rancho drop brackets replace the factory beam hangers so you'll have to find those.

[nubreed71]

Looks like a great start to a build! Like mentioned above, the Rancho stuff will all unbolt, which is kinda great since it saves you from having to pound out rivets. Get yourself some stock position beam pivots and a long travel front suspension kit and you're looking good.

I had a spring under kit from Richer Racing on my '94, but it's intended for a Bronco, so they had to do some figuring on where to place the spring hangers and weld them to the frame rather than the standard bolt on install.

[lennywalkman]

Nubreed your 94' build thread is actually what inspired me to start my search for TTB truck to build and 2 weeks later, here we are! Planning on taking a lot of the ideas from your build and using them on my own. Did you think the spring under kit was necessary on that truck? How did it perform with just the deavers and bilsteins out back?

[nubreed71]

That's awesome! Glad to hear you enjoyed the build. That was a super fun truck. The spring under definitely was a noticeable improvement over the spring over setup, but the spring over F53's and revised upper shock mounts did great paired with a coilover front end.

The end goal for the rear suspension on my new crewcab build is a set of spring over Deavers and revised upper mounts. As far as bang for the buck, it's hard to argue with. Certainly a lot simpler with bolt on stuff available for spring over as well. slap on a spring pack, set of shackles and an upper shock mount (only bummer is nobody makes a bolt on option for the trucks, unlike the Broncos) and you'll be good to go.

[lennywalkman]

Ill have to go back and reference your 94' thread for the revised upper shock mounts. I'm waiting to hear back from deaver at the moment. Mind me asking what shackles you ended up going with? I see that autofab and desolate both have kits.

[lennywalkman]

Also, are making those little dash switch plates yourself, or does someone sell them?

[nubreed71]

I was running Deaver F53 springs, which not sure would work for your since they're 2.5" wide, and I think yours are 3" wide, but maybe some J40's? That's what I'm getting ready to install on my crewcab. Will be interesting to see what the ride height is like with those. I was running a set of Southwest Performance shackles with my spring over setup, but you can run just about anything. Desolate, Autofab, whatever looks best to you.

Switch panels came from here:

https://www.wiringproducts.com/4-positi ... panel.html

[lennywalkman]

You're the man! Thanks a ton for the info!

[nubreed71]

Glad to help!

[hobbyturnedobsession]

Welcome. Cool truck!

For the suspension, all of the rancho stuff will unbolt and can be replaced with the new parts from the long travel suspension. The only caveat here is the rancho drop brackets replace the factory beam hangers so you'll have to find those.

Hey Steve doesn't the kit he has use the og mounts and not the drop brackets for the radius arms?

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[hobbyturnedobsession]

You can run either spring however as mentioned the f53 are for 2wd so the spring is 2.5" vs the 3" 4wd spring. You'd have to change the spring perches on the rear end but the shackles you can have spacers cut to take out the difference.

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[ChaseTruck754]

Welcome. Cool truck!

For the suspension, all of the rancho stuff will unbolt and can be replaced with the new parts from the long travel suspension. The only caveat here is the rancho drop brackets replace the factory beam hangers so you'll have to find those.

Hey Steve doesn't the kit he has use the og mounts and not the drop brackets for the radius arms?

Kit he has I THINK has custom brackets for the radius arms although radius arms may be drop brackets too. Either way the only real "concern" (if you want to call it that) is finding replacements for the beam brackets as most long travel kits use cut / turned beams vs. drop brackets. All the long travel kit radius arms are heimed and have their own brackets.

[lennywalkman]

Excuse my ignorance here but can anyone tell me what these brackets are? There is one on each frame rail. I pulled off my front bumper to start fabbing up a new one and saw them, just want to confirm what they are before i go ahead and chop them off.

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Thanks!

[nubreed71]

Pretty sure they're either brackets for the front swaybar to bolt to, or for an OEM skidplate to bolt to depending on the vehicle. I think Solo's pre-fab bumper uses them as mounting points, but you're look a little bent, so probably best to just lop em off.

[lennywalkman]

Does anyone know of a good option to replace bed bolts? I've heard the OEM carriage bolts are a PITA and i have a feeling this bed may be getting pulled more than once! Thanks in advance!

[nubreed71]

Check out the Dorman 924-311 bed bolts. They're intended for '99 - '16 super duty trucks, but work great with minimal bolt hole modifications (I had to open up the square shaped middle holes to get them to fit on mine) to the bed.

[S00TLYFE]

Pretty sure they're either brackets for the front swaybar to bolt to, or for an OEM skidplate to bolt to depending on the vehicle. I think Solo's pre-fab bumper uses them as mounting points, but you're look a little bent, so probably best to just lop em off.

correct theyre sway bar bracket bolt

[lennywalkman]

Finally made a little progress, got front and rear bumpers tacked up and should be powder coated soon. Pretty much my first time fabricating anything and definitely first time making bumpers. Was pretty fun but very frustrating at the same time! Still have to add a skid plate to the front bumper as well






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[ChaseTruck754]

Those look much better than my 1st bumper that's for sure! I get the fun/frustrating factor. It always seems that way. The more you make the better you get at it though, and the best way to learn is trying it out 7 see what you can do. Good job!