Good morning RME, this is my first real post after the "intro". I have built a few mustangs, and have been riding motorcycles all my life, but I am a NEWBE when it comes to suspension lifts, off road shocks, coil and leaf springs.
I guess my change over to 4x4 is because I recently moved from N.C. to Utah, and well I have a F-150 and a Jeep now, so why not right!
My wife bought me a 2009 Jeep Wrangler with a 3" Skyjacker lift, and the F-150 is my wife's. My final goal is to have this truck finished while I am gone, so she has a sweet truck.
I am currently in Afghanistan and have been researching and putting together a wish list on my first project, which will be my 2006 Ford F-150, 5.4 L, Super crew, short bed.
I started modding the truck last year, I was looking for a leveling kit and really didn't have the money to lift the truck yet. But found the Skyjacker 3" leveling / add a leaf kit, it was at a good price so I thought why not. I had the kit installed and finished it off with a set of Moto Metal 950 wheels (17x9) and wrapped them with 315x70x17.
The truck hasn't been abused, but the front shocks couldn't take the larger tires and lift, resulting in blown out front shocks rather quickly. As a quick fix I had a set of Bilstein 5100 adjustable shocks installed, but still required 2" suspension leveling pucks up front to get the truck to sit level and clear the rubber. This was a quick fix and want to have the truck fixed the correct way while I am gone.
Before I start with what I am looking at keep in mind this F-150 will still be my Grocery getter, main mode of transportation on road. Off road I only use the truck on the seasonal roads up in the mountains. But want a smooth suspension. The first thing of course is to fix the main problem, and lift the truck up to 6" the correct way. I have been looking at lift kits from Fabtech, Procomp, BDS, Rough Country, and RCD. I also would like to add a steering stabilizer kit to assist in handling and tire wear. Most of the components look to be about the same, the real difference comes in the shocks from what I have seen. With shocks I am leaning to a coil over system up front, and would like to also replace the rear leaf springs and shocks in the rear. With 54,000 miles on the truck I do not want to reuse the front coil, and the rear leaf springs creak and groan so, I want to do the lift right and just get rid of all the stock components. Suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Next I noticed that with moving to a higher elevation, and adding the bigger tires I lost alot of horsepower. So to start off I added a Borla cat back exhaust along with a K&N cold air intake. Still the truck picked up a little but it was still lacking. So my next step will be adding a set of headers, JBA, Banks or Gibson along with high flow cats to keep it legal. Finally to put some pep back into the truck I figure I will change the gearing, throwing in some 4.10 gears to compensate for the larger tires. When adding horsepower I still needed to think of stopping power, accomplish this Yellow Stuff brake pads combined with 3GD rotors were suggested.
Again from everyone's experience suggestions would be appreciated.
To finish off the truck, nerf step bars, fender flares, but I have not been able to find a heavy duty front or rear bumper for the F-150. Most are applications for the 250 series and larger.
Again from everyone's experience suggestions would be appreciated.
It was suggested for me to contact Rollover Motorsports. Being in Afghanistan this was a challenge, I called and ended up with a bad connection. However the gentlemen that answered the phone didn't hang up, he very politely said I had a bad connection and tried to make out what I was saying. I would really like to get in contact with the guys at rollover, so I can actually talk about possible parts for the truck. Everyone says they have great customer service and do awesome work. If anyone has their email address if you could pass it along that would be awesome.
Any suggestions for lift kits, shocks, coil overs, headers, brakes and off road shops to do the work would be great. email addresses for other off road shops that I can further discuss possible options. I am looking to have the truck completed before I get back from this deployment, which should be August or Early November.
Thanks for your help guys
I guess my change over to 4x4 is because I recently moved from N.C. to Utah, and well I have a F-150 and a Jeep now, so why not right!
My wife bought me a 2009 Jeep Wrangler with a 3" Skyjacker lift, and the F-150 is my wife's. My final goal is to have this truck finished while I am gone, so she has a sweet truck.
I am currently in Afghanistan and have been researching and putting together a wish list on my first project, which will be my 2006 Ford F-150, 5.4 L, Super crew, short bed.
I started modding the truck last year, I was looking for a leveling kit and really didn't have the money to lift the truck yet. But found the Skyjacker 3" leveling / add a leaf kit, it was at a good price so I thought why not. I had the kit installed and finished it off with a set of Moto Metal 950 wheels (17x9) and wrapped them with 315x70x17.
The truck hasn't been abused, but the front shocks couldn't take the larger tires and lift, resulting in blown out front shocks rather quickly. As a quick fix I had a set of Bilstein 5100 adjustable shocks installed, but still required 2" suspension leveling pucks up front to get the truck to sit level and clear the rubber. This was a quick fix and want to have the truck fixed the correct way while I am gone.
Before I start with what I am looking at keep in mind this F-150 will still be my Grocery getter, main mode of transportation on road. Off road I only use the truck on the seasonal roads up in the mountains. But want a smooth suspension. The first thing of course is to fix the main problem, and lift the truck up to 6" the correct way. I have been looking at lift kits from Fabtech, Procomp, BDS, Rough Country, and RCD. I also would like to add a steering stabilizer kit to assist in handling and tire wear. Most of the components look to be about the same, the real difference comes in the shocks from what I have seen. With shocks I am leaning to a coil over system up front, and would like to also replace the rear leaf springs and shocks in the rear. With 54,000 miles on the truck I do not want to reuse the front coil, and the rear leaf springs creak and groan so, I want to do the lift right and just get rid of all the stock components. Suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Next I noticed that with moving to a higher elevation, and adding the bigger tires I lost alot of horsepower. So to start off I added a Borla cat back exhaust along with a K&N cold air intake. Still the truck picked up a little but it was still lacking. So my next step will be adding a set of headers, JBA, Banks or Gibson along with high flow cats to keep it legal. Finally to put some pep back into the truck I figure I will change the gearing, throwing in some 4.10 gears to compensate for the larger tires. When adding horsepower I still needed to think of stopping power, accomplish this Yellow Stuff brake pads combined with 3GD rotors were suggested.
Again from everyone's experience suggestions would be appreciated.
To finish off the truck, nerf step bars, fender flares, but I have not been able to find a heavy duty front or rear bumper for the F-150. Most are applications for the 250 series and larger.
Again from everyone's experience suggestions would be appreciated.
It was suggested for me to contact Rollover Motorsports. Being in Afghanistan this was a challenge, I called and ended up with a bad connection. However the gentlemen that answered the phone didn't hang up, he very politely said I had a bad connection and tried to make out what I was saying. I would really like to get in contact with the guys at rollover, so I can actually talk about possible parts for the truck. Everyone says they have great customer service and do awesome work. If anyone has their email address if you could pass it along that would be awesome.
Any suggestions for lift kits, shocks, coil overs, headers, brakes and off road shops to do the work would be great. email addresses for other off road shops that I can further discuss possible options. I am looking to have the truck completed before I get back from this deployment, which should be August or Early November.
Thanks for your help guys
