Cutting this type of spring...

[kaidotech]

Benz88: Dont Hydraulics inherently create a stiffer ride?

Ollie:







The exhaust is getting tucked so I'll have an extra 2" under it to work with, but there is a good amount of low to be had.

And before the front settled, shot of my camber:


This truck would be stanced on stretched tires by now and the ass-end level if I didnt run into this front end snag... I measured the front to go down another 1" and sit a lot lower then it did, but I guess my stock springs were sagging like mad.

[Ollie]

How tall is that Axe can? I'd like to see it come down another 2" or more. Do you have axle and frame clearance to go lower? I know you mentioned notching your frame before. Will that be an issue?

[kaidotech]

How tall is that Axe can? I'd like to see it come down another 2" or more. Do you have axle and frame clearance to go lower? I know you mentioned notching your frame before. Will that be an issue?

The axe can is about 4.2".

The back has to come down another 2" to be level with the front. I'm going to do that with a 1" shackle and 25" tire instead of 27". That will give me 3" to the frame in the rear but I'll probably notch that anyways, so I can go another 1" in the back if I need without a notch. With a notch, the sky is the limit with axle blocks. The front has 3" to the stock 3" bumpstop, so with the 1" bumpstop I'm putting in, I've got 5" of clearance. If I can get a buddy with a welding torch and cutting wheel to set aside some time, the frame above the ibeam is relatively thin so notching it shouldnt be hard.

I'm also crazy enough to want the truck to scrape the ground so I'll daily it 1.5-2" off the ground and remove the front lip. Getting that much low is going to require the coilover idea you suggested.

Before its all said and done I may sell this truck for a 95 Chevy 1500 Silverado, they SELL 9/10 drops for them and its easy to do with no cutting. Stupid Ford suspension design...

This is how low I want it to sit...


...except I will be on 18x9's with a 1" spacer on all four wheels, with 235/40/18's stretched on them. I'm also ordering a higher camber bushing to do -4" instead of the -3" I have now. I reeeeeally want to pull this off because no one is stancing fullsize trucks and I f*ning love stanced cars.

[Ollie]

What's your budget like? IMO you need new springs and coilover sleeves(300-400 bucks), notch the frame(if you do need to Im not sure), and some short konis up front(200-300). You might be able to get away with those shocks but theyll blow fast. If youre hitting the bumpstops as it is, that's 3" it's compressing. So you could go 2" with what you have now but it sounds like youd be smashing into the ground and bottoming out your shocks a lot at that rate. Stiffer springs might be worth getting as it will let you get much lower and get better fitment, allow you to avoid cutting these springs (maybe sell them?), allow the springs and sleeves to fit together properly/safely, and a lot of times springs and coilover sleeves come together.


It sounds like you're set on the 18x9s but imo you should go in a different direction. I know of some wheels that would put this truck on a totally different level and shouldnt cost all that much either. If youre intrigued by that Ill pm you what Im thinking.. I see a shit load of potential in this though

[kaidotech]

What's your budget like? IMO you need new springs and coilover sleeves(300-400 bucks), notch the frame(if you do need to Im not sure), and some short konis up front(200-300). You might be able to get away with those shocks but theyll blow fast. If youre hitting the bumpstops as it is, that's 3" it's compressing. So you could go 2" with what you have now but it sounds like youd be smashing into the ground and bottoming out your shocks a lot at that rate. Stiffer springs might be worth getting as it will let you get much lower and get better fitment, allow you to avoid cutting these springs (maybe sell them?), allow the springs and sleeves to fit together properly/safely, and a lot of times springs and coilover sleeves come together.


It sounds like you're set on the 18x9s but imo you should go in a different direction. I know of some wheels that would put this truck on a totally different level and shouldnt cost all that much either. If youre intrigued by that Ill pm you what Im thinking.. I see a shit load of potential in this though

So you dont think Enkei RT6's would be good? PM me your idea for wheels!

Also- for some odd reason my camera is making the truck look really tall and disproportionate compared to how it looks IRL. The body is a lot wider/shorter. I may have my camera set on a strange mode.

I just paid $200 for the front springs so I really dont want to sell them to redo the whole front end again. If that much work is needed to get it fitted right I may just sell the truck. I'm currently going to college on my own buck, paying for an apartment and doing it all off of my own computer consulting/building business so money is tight! Amusing enough I bought a set of C4 blades for it, but then found for the 2" spacer/lugadapter I needed would be $140 a piece so I sold them.

As far as the spring stiffness goes, I have rubber inserts I can put inside the spring to stiffen it up a bit, but thats kinda a ghetto fix.

[Ollie]

Ill PM you some wheel ideas and craiglist ads in your area when I get home. I hope it gives you some inspiration

btw whats the bolt pattern. I dont **** rt6s but idk about the application

[kaidotech]

Ill PM you some wheel ideas and craiglist ads in your area when I get home. I hope it gives you some inspiration

btw whats the bolt pattern. I dont **** rt6s but idk about the application

5x5.5 bolt pattern.

[benz88]

drop spindles help alot too

[kaidotech]

lol change of plans again Just got a deal offered to me for 4x 15x7 2" backspace (same wheel poke as I have now) Bart Circletrack steelies in silver (probably will paint bronze), wrapped in 205/55/15s Nankings. would drop me 1.5" all around and the rear would go down another 2" with my shackles. Would be a 8.5/9.5" drop total. Then I can get rivet on fender flares to fill in the wheel well space.

Nankings run at 50psi so they're be nice and stiff for being small.

[Bracknaphobia]

I like where this is headed. The color on this truck is awesome. Not too sure about nankang tires though...they are some seriously bad tires. I have personal experience. You'll be getting a new set of them about ever 7-10,000 miles. My alignment was off on my old car and I had one tire fail at 5800 miles. I'd save some money for a better wheel/tire combo.

[Ollie]

lol change of plans again Just got a deal offered to me for 4x 15x7 2" backspace (same wheel poke as I have now) Bart Circletrack steelies in silver (probably will paint bronze), wrapped in 205/55/15s Nankings. would drop me 1.5" all around and the rear would go down another 2" with my shackles. Would be a 8.5/9.5" drop total. Then I can get rivet on fender flares to fill in the wheel well space.

Nankings run at 50psi so they're be nice and stiff for being small.

7Js would never work on this truck....

I would go with 15Js.. pm sent=]

[kaidotech]

Haha.. didnt think people would be so enthusiastic about a fullsize truck, but I'm completely obsessed with stance and trying to do this all right.

I should probably move this to the builds section at this point but everyone is already commenting here so meh. I'm going to cut the springs and attempt to mod-in the coilover adjustment plates, should be interesting

Have to be a little fanboyish/typical and ordered some things for the truck that are well known in the stance community. I have a Yakima Rack but thats not going on until this truck is fitted and perfect otherwise it will look retarded. Also cutting a hole in my front valence and welding on a thick tow-hitch to the frame (which Ive actually had need for before, getting pulled out of the sand by my frame in the front), a set of -4 camber eccentric bushings for some more adjustment. Im currently trying to find a material to make my own front lip similar to the classic skyline lips



End of the month I'm getting 5% tint on it, and thanks to Ollie's advice I will be ordering a set Cragar super spokes. 15x8 in the front with 205/55/15 on them instead of the regular steelies (only $50 more total) Will find a diff tire instead of Nanking.



Keep the ideas coming!

[kaidotech]

Cross posting this from my truck club forum, but I had a great idea today to come down some more in the front. When I get the 24" tires on its going to drop me 1.5". This would almost completely fill in that gap that would open in the fender:

Here's what I have now:



This is how my spring/everything sits now. Almost everything in my suspension is brand new front and back, except the radius arm, but thats just a safety piece to keep the ibeams from moving front and back (did get a new bushing for it). The bottom of the spring has a \_/ cup in it with a bolt through it and nut holding it in. As far as I can tell the spring perch under it doesnt do anything but hold the spring up 1.2". Inside it is hollow, and under it is another bolt holding the ibeam to the radius arm.

My idea:



Remove the spring perch on bottom, install a washer under the ibeam/radius bolt, remove the top bolt completely and just mount the spring directly to the ibeam, put the \_/ cup back in and bolt back through the top, and tighten the fuck out of it with an impact. This should work shouldnt it? The perch isnt doing anything but holding it up 1.2" and providing a flat spot for the spring to sit on, but the ibeam/radius arm mount below is flat too. I dont see the point in two separate bolts except for the fat its raising it up 1.2".

If anyone could tell me why this would work or why not, or what I could do to modify this idea that would be awesome! It would lower me 1.2", which I will need since I'm about to get new front tires to drop me 1.5" and that is going to open up a 1.5" fender gap in my otherwise flush front stance.

[blue92]

you could remove it, but by the looks of your pic you better notch the frame before you start anything else. Your beams are going to be sitting on the frame there real quick. How are you making 340 hp 390 horse out of a 306 with that stock exhaust on there?

[kaidotech]

you could remove it, but by the looks of your pic you better notch the frame before you start anything else. Your beams are going to be sitting on the frame there real quick. How are you making 340 hp 390 horse out of a 306 with that stock exhaust on there?

lol what stock exhaust? I dont even have cats or mufflers. As for the beams, I put in 1" bumpstops and that got me a good 4.5" of space between the beams and frame.

Engine mods:

bored to 306, trickflow forged pistons, ford e303 cam, msd distro, ford racing aluminum z heads, edlebrock performer 5.0 intake, new f rails, 20lb injectors, summit shortie headers (for now), KN intake, BBK TB, ac compressor delete, BBK underdrive pulleys, compcam rollers, ford racing plug wires... cant think of anything else thats been done to it at the moment but Im sure Im leaving out something. This is power to the crank.

Do you have an F150 or something?