Early '99 4" Lift Install Pics

[BRS]

Well, tires were shot and I felt the suspension needed a little refreshing, so I decided on ProComp's Early '99 4" lift, mainly because of price and its good reports from other members. Their lift includes 4" front springs, add-a-leafs and 1" blocks for the rear, 4 shocks, drop pitman arm, track bar bracket, and all hardware. Before:


Front worked out fairly easy, had to remove the bumper and the bottom condenser mounts to ease installation. Ford's pal nut on the track bar bracket failed, which took a little while to remove; Ford had a new one for $20.

Unfortunately, after I tore into the rear, there were problems. I found out BOTH rear spring packs had at least one broken leaf. Passenger side had a broken flat leaf; drivers side had a broken leaf in the middle.


In addition, the shackle bushings had been beaten oblong, and even the air hammer wouldn't drive the bolts out, so out came the cutoff wheel and a lot of cursing


I ordered new shackles from Ford at $30 each which included bushings; shackle bolts were about $5 each. Interestingly, I only needed two bolts, but Ford had to order them in packs of four. And unless they sell the remaining two, they throw the leftovers from every hardware pack away at the end of the month!

After a little research I decided on 6" lift rear springs from Skyjacker (FR96S). Skyjacker's 4" kit for an Early '99 ditches the factory block and uses the springs from their 6" kit to sit level front to rear; their 4" kit for later models retains the short factory block and uses 4" lift springs. I tried it and wanted a little of the stock rake back, so I added the ProComp 1" blocks I already had. Also had to get shorter U-bolts for my new setup, so I picked up some Skyjacker 5/8"x3-5/8"x9-1/4" U-bolts.


Of course I lost my overload spring and bump stop on the rear, so I'll play with it some and see about adding bags, etc. Still need to shim carrier bearing as well. Lastly, I assume everyone saw my wheel saga. I finally got 4 correct pattern MT Classic II's and mounted 315/75/16 Kumho MTs. I'm pleased with the way it turned out. Death wobble gone

[S.S construction]

Looks way better nice truck. and we no these fords can be fun to put lifts due to that little thing called rusted

[Ryan Rønning]

I agree it looks much better.

[460+]

Looks good! I was looking at your rear block, if it was me id get a little wider block. It needs to be as wide and as long as the axle perch. Nice job though.

[S.S construction]

how much were you mt tires?

[BRS]

Yeah, I bought this truck out of PA, and I know it was a plow truck (probably salt too), so definitely rust.

Goodyear price matched tirerack, so I got the tires mounted for $270 each.

And yes, I'm not thrilled with that block. It seems to be a high quality piece, but I may try and find one a little longer. Although, it actually matches the shim on the spring pack very close. ProComp provides it with the anticipation of stacking it on top of the existing factory block, which didn't give me a good feeling either.