Should I ditch my leafs for a coil swap???

[Scotty83]

Alright guys, I Know there a ton of threads about swapping 05-07 axles on the 99-04 F250. I will try not to beat a dead horse.

Heres my situation. I have a 04 F250 with 8" icon springs with 2" shackles and dual 2.0 FOX res shocks up front. I am kicking around the idea of doing a 05 axle swap to get a better ride and turning radius. I dont want to go any lower than 10" but would ideally like to go up to 12". I am interested in doing a 4-link with the axle swap. What I am currently thinking is to get PMF 4-link arms with the clocking ring and transfer case bracket and Icon 7" coils with a 5" PMF spacer. And here is where my questions come in:

Has anyone performed anything close to what I want to achieve and if so please chime in. And if you did the swap, was it worth it??

Are the radius arm brackets off the donor truck bolted on or are they riveted on the frame like the coil buckets? The reason I ask is because I am thinking I will buy the coil buckets from Ford instead of having to fight the rivets and if the radius brackets are riveted I will buy new ones as well.

Also, I know OUO is the way to go but a young man in the military with wife and kids cant really justify spending 8-10K on a lift. I like the Full Traction kit because I can keep my current axle but wont get more than 10" out of it. Any thoughts, comments, ideas?

I have attached a pic of my current setup.

[ZMANN]

You will like the improvements

I can check the drop bracket mounting when the sun goes up LOL or ask Trevor if He can change up the mount for a retro fit ,, ???

you'll still have a stiff rear suspension ,, I have 6 inch coils with a 2.5" spacer and 8 inch superlift springs in the rear ,, I am considering a rear spring delete myself

[Scotty83]

ZMANN, thanks for your reply back. I appreciate you looking into the brackets for me. I would craw under one myself but Im currently in Afghanistan so that would be tough lol.

The rear dosent bug me too much because I tow my boat often durring the warm months in TX. But maybe I will be looking into some softer rear springs with air bags for towing.

[ZMANN]

the o8 springs with PMF blocks is what I should have done to soften up mine instead of lifted springs

I sold My OEM's to someone with a 7.3 so they could soften up their ride LOL

I'll post back in a bit

Be safe

[ol_Blue97]

the radius arm brackets are riveted on... the coil buckets cannot be purchased ford as you will have to purchase a whole frame to get them (as far as i know) so grinding the rivets off and punching them out is really your only option.. some guys use the super duper air hammer, mine didn't work.....it sucks, ive done it.. but its worth it in the end!

[ZMANN]

thx .......

[Scotty83]

Man, that is bad news! I was hoping to not to have to go though that PITA of taking the rivets off. I will keep trying to find a donor truck I guess. I would just go to a junk yard and pull what I need but I can just imagine how long it will take to get those off and as usual I can double that lol! I wouldnt want to spend that sort of time at the junk yard considering most dont allow power tools.

The Full Traction kit is looking better but dont want to be stuck with 10".

[Scotty83]

here is a part# I came up with for the coil bucket 3Z-5A306-CA

pretty sure this is the right part# can anyone confirm?

[Scotty83]

And I guess I didnt look very hard but here is the part # for the radius arm bracket i think 5c3z-3B095
Not sure I would pay $200 each though.

[ZMANN]

that does look like the pass side coil bucket