2000 F150 4x4 Long Travel ?

[JeffS]

Ok, I've done the searches and get nothing... maybe there is nothing, but does anyone make a Long Travel kit for the '96-'03 F150's that keeps the 4wd ? There are plenty of lifts out there and some that would be ok with the right shocks, but how about dropping the differential (or not) and including some longer A-arms and axles for extra travel.... and 37's. I think keeping the 4wd is a must on a good chase truck / prerunner. Any ideas... or even shops that have done prototypes ?

Thanks.

[John_Bitting]

H&M Motorsports. H&M Motorsports webpage (http://www.hnmmotorsports.com) http://www.hnmmotorsports.com/images/vesay21_big.jpg

[dunerking]

Is that truck 4wd?Looks pretty tight between that bypass and coilover. Beautiful work,wish I had the money for some goods like that.

[JeffS]

Wow, I saw that truck, but skipped it because I was looking for an axle ... sweet, but may be extreme for what I'm looking for ... but I'd bet it would live through a good prerun for sure. I'll have to call them and see if there's a 'kit'.
'Duner'.. it is 4wd, you can see the parts still there, and the pics of the hub on the website confirm that it is intended to be 4wd. Very Trick.

.
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[dadomin8r]

It's a kit and it's about $3500

[singlehanded]

+ shocks and bumpstops another $3500......

[oner355]

I work at a shop in reno called Twisted Metal Works. We are currently building my bosses 97 f150. It's going to be a daily driven prerunner. 4wd straight axle cycling 16". It will use the stock streeringbox. custom everything else. It it designed to have almost no bump steer though. We are doing the setup on his truck first to make sure it all works and we are building it all race strong because we intent to race it in a few mdr races. The best thing is it'll be all bolt on. So once we have all the kinks worked out you'll be able to buy the exact same setup. If you want to call the shop you can pm me and i'll give you the info so you can talk to my boss.

[motoxscott]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
We are currently building my bosses 97 f150. It's going to be a daily driven prerunner. 4wd straight axle cycling 16".

[/ QUOTE ]
Any specific reason why you are swapping in a straight axle ? It seems counter-productive to me.

-Scott

[JrSyko]

Since I'm in the same boat as you Jeff, I think your best bet is to put on 2.0 (2.5 if you can fit it) res, bumpstop and a straps and leave it at that. Otherwise, you are going to be looking in the 7K + range for something like the H&amp;M kit. 014x4baja on this board did the same thing and has been very stoked with it.

Past that I would look at Marc Stein's old stock full expedition race trucks. They all used two bypass shocks, one in the OEM location and one off the upper control arm. Pretty simple and they worked very well.

[Salvador]

This suspension its out off a 2001 4x4 Crew Cab from Los Cabos, that was build by Curry. It have modified stock spindles, new upper tube A arms and new plate lower A arms with Uniballs, extended stock steering, lenghthed stock A arms driveshafts (They have about 3500+ miles on Los Cabos Pre Running and not a single problem with them)
Also this were only 3.25" wider by side, and dont think that this suspension its so expensive.

[Salvador]

One more

[Salvador]

Last one

[JrSyko]

What kind of axles did they run? This isn't off that Sport Track someone posted pics of awhile back is it?

[Salvador]

The Axles are the originals, but they were custom lenghtend, Curyy have been done many axles like this ones. They have past more then 5,000 miles off Prerunning on them and with out a problem with them.
The Explorer axles photos I posted, have been around for a will in Curry's shop, if you have some question about his work you can contact him to his shop in Mexicali he always its in his shop (Tell them that Salvador send you). Or if you want You can post me and I can ask Curry.

Im in the process of put the new photos off a new 2-1600 for Ely Yee with some modification on the chassis. Also a 98 F150 that was build be WeldTec Designs, hes redoning the rear Suspension and the fron set up off the Front A arms and Spindles (The last owner try to sell it like it was build with 4130, but it was build off DOM with thin walls)

[01Baja4x4]

Yup, that's the same Sportrack with the welded axles.

Here's a pic of my truck that JrSyco was talking about. It's not long travel but it works well for what it is. This pic is at full droop with the CV about to bind. This set-up has many miles on and off-road and I haven't has a problem yet, knock on wood.
http://www.offroadrangers.com/products/camburg/4xupgrade/limitstrap2.jpg

-Tim

[JeffS]

Nice, thanks for the good info and pics guys...

Tim, what shocks are being used, and why is the limiting strap important with the stock setup, were other stops removed ?

Thanks..

[01Baja4x4]

The shock is a Bilstein 7100 w/res. It is the Chalenger series shocks which means it has a pin top and heim bottom. Fox makes one also.
Limit straps are important because with out them, your CV's will bind and grenade and your shafts may pull completely out of their housing do to the increased travel allowed by the longer shock.

-Tim

[BigD]

could one of the CST kits be modified, or would it not be worth the trouble?

[yotatech]

It looks like the h&amp;m kit is goin to keep 4wd. The hub looks like the stock one that is held together by the end of the axle. Not like those fancy toyotas that you can pull the axles and run it. http://www.race-dezert.com/vb3/attachments/old/images/graemlins/wink.gif

[oner355]

We arer doing a straight axle setup because we're trying to get our name out there, and if we build something with a straight axle front end and make the whole setup work really good then people shoud get the message that we can build anything they want and it will be super high quality.

[silverstateracer]

This may be a bad place to start this question but couldn't find another thread to post the question..... Why would straight axle be couter productive? TT's still use them in the rear. Wouldn't approx 20" of 3 or 4 link, coil over, solid-axle travel be better in some ways to approx. 15" of maxed out CV A-arm travel ? Just a question for the fab shops at large, or anyone who has seen both sides tried.

[tedmales]

i am not sure but i thinksolid front end is limited by the steering, i would think that 20" of bump steer would not be that good.

[jeff]

I don't know how long you guys have been around the sport but the "old" 4wd LeDuc Jeep Cherokee used to do pretty well. It is by no means fancy but it seemed to get the job done. Check out that truck to see what a solid axle 4wd vehicle can do in the desert.

http://www.off-road.com/race/99v2r/leduc_600x400.jpg

It does seem to sort of be a step back into time though, especially for a company looking to attract new business. While some people might be hesitant to ditch the I-beam setup my guess is it'll be really tough to get someone to revert to a solid front axle setup. Sure, an inexpensive rock crawler might be interested in coverting his Toyota from IFS to a solid axle, but how many people are asking to convert their prerunners or race trucks to this setup?

If you could make a reliable and less expensive IFS rear drive system I bet you'd see very few solid axles used. The Dondel machine (when it's all sorted out) should be a hell of a truck. Ivan's old truck did pretty well (how many victories?) and that's probably the direction the big boys will take once driveline technology catches up with the engine and tire builders.

Aloha

[motoxscott]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
if we build something with a straight axle front end and make the whole setup work really good then people shoud get the message that we can build anything they want and it will be super high quality.

[/ QUOTE ]

Why would you think people would think you can build anything if you can setup a truck with a solid axle? It's doesnt take that much work to do. It takes alot more skills and knowledge to build up an a-arm design.

Converting a F-150 a-arm truck to a solid axle makes no sense to me if your intentions are to build an off-road truck with a lot of travel. Sure it could work, but if you put the same amount of time and testing into the a-arms, the solid axle will still be a step backwards.

A solid axle also adds a good amount of weight and you're not gonna have the amount of adjustments a-arms give you.

I always liked the Don-A-Vee Jeep.

Just thought I would throw those thoughts out ............

-Scott

[DougM]

All the Grand Cherokee are a 4 link with coils front and rear with solid axles for/aft.. Stock and even properly setup they can conquer quite a bit for a unibodied vehicle. 10" + travel is common.
Solid axles in the dez work quite well just see the above photos. LeDuc, Steve Kelly , and Mike Lesle ran the solid axle Jeeps until Curt bought the A-armed ex Maddox /Jack Johnson /Shell Cherokee and hung Grand Cherokee fiberglass on it..

[oner355]

It's true that a 4wd a arm in my opinion is better. but to design and build a fully race worthy a-arm setup would cost way too much to sell. I also never said all we're going to do is full axle stuff. this isn't directed at anyone i'm not trying to be a jerk