After 2.5 years of abuse.. Some things started riding ' not nice ' and some corrections were needed. Eating balljoints ( 3 sets of uppers a year ) and lower control arms hitting the frame.

Face it.. Torsion bars just aren't a ' happening ' thing for lifts OR for drops.

I fabbed some uppers on my own, I'm re-doing the front brake system and working on lowers.

I'm not going to answer many questions, just post pics as it goes along. If your looking to ' drop ' and edge suspension, Take it from someone whom has been playing with this for 3 years.. Don't be an idiot and ' flip the keys '. Many people will flame and complain ' well I know someone who said it was alright.. ' blah blah blah.. Lets see them take a corner doing 55mph+. Nuff said.

//sarcasm on//
Its REAL simple process.., In fact Ford makes a factory part that makes dropping these trucks sooo easy.. Its called ' XLT '. Every dealership has them, usually many of them are in stock!
//sarcasm off//

I started stripping everything tonight after coming home from the fab shop. I had a caliper pin sieze ( JOY! ) and found out my rotors were hating life almost as much as my lower control arm where it smacks the frame and not the bumpstop.. Lotsa Joy in all of this.

Starting pic..


Frame smacking on the back part of the lower arm..

Nice dent there and some rust..

Where I ended tonight ( not too much progress.. )


I spent too much time dicking with that caliper pin trying to get it out of the bracket.. I finally did manage to get it out.. 2 hrs later..

Whats going on/being replaced..
Upper/lower arms.
Upper/lower balljoints
New -- >
T-bars
Rotors/pads/wheel berrings
Shocks ( same ones , Edelbrock IAS monotubes )
( possibly ) Braided lines..
Tie rod ends and maybe a rack. I want a manual rack.. Flaming River Manual Rack - 17:1 would be nice..

I plan on calling SSBC or stopping by and seeing if they might have something for bigger brakes up front as thats where I plan on buying teh braided lines from anyway..

I'm going to use factory keys this time around and do all the adjustments in the arms, thus keeping the proper tension on the torsion bars themselves. Everything is getting cleaned up and coated/painted.. Its amazing what snow and salt can do to the underside of a vehical.

I need to figure out how to get the abs sensor out of the spindle without breaking it so I can have FMD blast the damn things ( spindles ) and have them powder coated.

Speaking of that wench.. he never called me back today.. Hmm.. 4am.. I wonder if hes up..

 

Day2 -Mid day progress..

I fixed said caliper. It was a WENCH! I had to aquire a 7/16th bit and use the drill press. I also found the drivers side lower also hits the frame. I have a good feeling that due to the frame making contact with the lower, the lower bushings are streatched as the frame will make an adverse pivot-point of sorts and shift/scrunch the bushing in ways its not supposed to. I'll find out later tonight when I drop the lowers off the truck.

Some pics from earlier today..

Spindles out.. More grinding and cleaning to do on the drivers side..


Frame contact here BUT, the bump-stop IS making contact.


Parts anyone? LOL!


Those are DJM's for an XLT, PERFECT fit. Look at the balljoing angles. WAY different.


Off to the sandblaster and Powdercoater. I HOPE they can get those sensors out as I don;t know HOW they come out. I beat on them with a block of wood and a 16oz ball-hammer.. no-budgie..


How to fix a messed up caliper bracket.. Yep, good to have toys..


Riddle me this folks. I bought all new hardware for the brakes. Rotors, pads, pins.. these are 2 of the old pins.. One is half covered in a boot.. WTF?


I wonder ' why ' they might use 2 different pins? Haynes manual doesn't say a bloody thing about such..

Back to ripping more out..

 

I'm waiting on the new upper balljoints right now. I'm going to use Moogs ' servicable ' types ( PN#mog-80012 ). XLT Balljoint pins run 0.665" thick. An ' Edge ' spindle takes a 0.770" thick pin. The XLT pin is also a tad bit longer and the crimping bolt notch is TINY on the XLT.

Honestly.. From looking at DJM's balljoint.. Its a Piece of ****. TRW and Moog's seem MUCH better in the ' quality ' department. The DJM's have case burrs on them right out of the box and the boots are soft and thin.. They wouldn't last a single winter here in Buffalo ( being honest ).

I think DJM's stuff is designed for ' flash ' and not really items that can take punishment.

What I'm actually doing.. I'm using the DJM's as a ' template ' of sorts to building my own out of Cr-moly. Its the basic design and angle needed, but my arms will have a different plate on top ( dont need the ' coil spring room ' those arms are designed to clear ).

Just waiting on those Moog balljoints and doing the sandblasting tomorrow.. Everything is cleaning up nicely. Should make this winters project a LOT easier.

If anyone needs a brand new set of DJM balljoints, PM me, I have a pair going pretty cheap..

 

You in Cleveland? How about meeting in Erie PA when my band plays there in a few weeks. You can HAVE those balljoints. Have the dustboots and everything.. ungreased, brand-new.

I have no use for them.

 

They were STUCK. I did manage to get them out. Theres a small photo-cell like device to them. The aluminum covers stayed in. I just duct-taped them when I blasted them at FMD's place today ( what an experience! )

If I trashed them.. no biggie.. I'll just go buy some new ones.. replacing everything else.. why not the sensors LOL!

 

Sensors came out. BFH tends to work wonders :)

Spindles came out good. Kudos to Dave/FMD foe use of his sand blasting facilities. His blaster resembles a firehose setup. Rund on a diesel/John Deer engine. Blasted teh spindles and caliper brackets in all of 5 minutes worth of work, down to VERY bare metal.

All done up..

 

Hmmm.. an xlt spindle and an xlt lower ball joint as well ( Their different sizes then a 4x4 or edge balljoint ). EXCELLENT Idea! Something I didn;t think of.. BUT.. The lower arm still looses mobility and strikes the frame..

You have me thinking about something though.. I need to hit a parts store tomorrow and check the angle on an xlt upper arm compared to an ' edge ' or 4x4 arm..

 

Rudy! You've been here mate! Door is ALWAYS open for you, Joe and luke

You want to disassemble it here or have Joe bring ya up with the parts in the bed? I'll have to ask Dave about using his facilities for the blasting part of it.

Your going to want to bring some form of paint with you or buy some here though as things oxadize REAL quick being right on the lake. Within 4 hours, things will start rusting all over again endless coated within 2-3 hours of being blasted.

 

THAT is what I'm trying to AVOID. That allows the torsion bars to twist beyond the limits of their design ( lower control arms travel has been extended ). One good pothole at say.. a ' good ' amount of forward travel speed ( evil grin ) and that torsion bar snaps.. ( I've snapped 2 in my time and seen one snap while others were ' offroading ' )

Not a good senario.

It might work for you, and I'm glad it has as your ride is one of the best on this site ( IMO ).

I'm doing this more for FUNCTION, not fashon. Most ' lowered trucks ' are built to look good.. I'd like to be able to pull a .85g on a pad or have good speed through turns.

Its kind of why I NEVER agreed with flipping things over or cutting off the bumpstops and just raising them.. Sure.. it will ' work ' , but for how long, with what else wearing out and what failing and possibly contributing to not only our own endangerment, but others. We don't have to be going that fast to hit a pothold and have our ' modified ' suspension break and hit another car driving right next to us.

We're all on that road together, none of us ' own ' it all for ourselves. It only takes one idiot having something go wrong to have a whole bunch of people ' pile up ' and have all their vehicals damaged.

*I* won't be *that guy*.


Can you snap a pic of your lower balljoint/arm. I'm wondering IF the setup is the same or simular. I WAS thinking *IF* the lower balljoints were the same, one could change to xlt uppers, xlt spindles, leave the torsion bars in and let off some pressure on them for a 2 inch drop and still have some torsional play. I dunno without taking a good look at it.

It would require using xlt rotors, wheel berrings, caliper/brake parts..

 

About 4 inches.

 

I just thought about something. I've been an idiot for quite a while..

Keys are for ' trailor queens '. After using mine for a daily driver for 2 years with ' keys '..

I wouldn't be shelling out all this time and money if those ' keys ' were worth it.

At 75$ each for upper arms.. 5 sets in 2 years.. Call it 650$ ( low-ball figure ). Alignments plus lower balljoints and also replacing the lower bushings once ( Those damn things are 36$ each from the dealership and theres 4 of em! ) and a camber kit ( 55$ ).. Its cost me roughly a grand over 2 years to do those keys plus maintenance.

For the machine work, materials and my time.. its going to run less then 700$ with new torsion arms, proper travel, no alignment or ball joint eating issues.. and it will have the same front torsional rate and perform better then stock in cornering with no tire rubbing on wider then factory tires/wheels.

 

Nope. Not at all. Its YOUR truck. Your not going to try and do 100+ anywhere.. It your choice. If you prefer ' fashon ', more power to ya.