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Sludgy 09-30-2009 11:53 AM

Truck lowering scheme
 
My F350 sits high on its stock suspension. I'd like to lower it, but not so low as to make it a dog off road. My thought was to buy lowering shackles for the rear, but also add air shocks. It needs new shock since I have about 105000 miles on them.

The net effect would return the truck to normal height when off road, but gain the benefits of lowering on the highway where I do a lot of my driving.

Anybody hear of someone else doing this iewth good results?

dkjones96 09-30-2009 01:26 PM

What about the front? Lowering the front and back then using air shocks can work. Unless you have torsion bars then you just raise and lower the front all you want.

Seems like you are on the right track for the back tho. A buddy of mine used to have a normal ride height in town but would jack up the back of his car for drag racing that way. No experience with going off road with air shocks tho.

theholycow 09-30-2009 02:35 PM

I don't know about fuel economy results, but there's plenty of people bagging full size pickups. Check forums about F-series trucks, you'll find out how much it will cost and how to do it right. It will be quite expensive, I think.

GasSavers_BEEF 09-30-2009 06:25 PM

is that really that high of mileage on a 2004 vehicle?

my wife has a 2004 honda element and it is around 122k miles. she does drive some for her job.

that makes them just shy of 6 years old. I've always driven 15-20k miles a year so maybe I just get used to those kinds of numbers.

theholycow 10-01-2009 09:01 AM

If I drove less than 15,000 miles per year, I'd probably never have gotten into hypermiling...

My 2002 GMC has 185,000 miles on it and I haven't driven it much in the past couple years since I got the VW.

Jay2TheRescue 10-01-2009 01:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by theclencher (Post 142416)
WTH are you guys doing?

Driver's seats must have perfect *** shaped divots in 'em.

Until I moved to an urban area I regularly drove over 20,000 miles/yr. Where I used to live it was 5 miles one way just to get to 7-11. Work was about 25 miles away, and the rescue station I volunteered at was about 12 miles away. I was splitting my mileage between 2 vehicles though... Currently I think I'm driving about 8,000 miles/yr between the Hooptie and The Beast. Work is 3 miles from home, the grocery store is 3/4 mile, and I drive about 4 or 5 miles total on my daily errands. I believe "normal" usage is considered to be between 12,000 and 15,000 miles/yr.

theholycow 10-01-2009 02:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by theclencher (Post 142416)
WTH are you guys doing?

Driver's seats must have perfect *** shaped divots in 'em.

I used to do >30,000 miles per year because I liked it and because my girlfriend lived 25 miles away.

Then I did >30,000 miles per year because I drove for work (hence the truck). We often did projects 75 miles away or even more.

Now that I'm married, homeowner, and have a normal "commute to work and stay there all day"-job, I drive about 20,000 miles per year. My commute is 38 miles each way. I already owned my house; I can't and wouldn't want to sell it. I found the only decent job I could find, which I really like.

The commute isn't on some nasty backed up highway, though. It's 23 miles of lightly-trafficked rural/small town roads and 15 miles of lightly-trafficked freeway. It's really a nice ride, and I'd get to enjoy some alone time with my music if my wife didn't carpool with me because she goes to school where I work...

Yes, my truck's seat does have a perfect butt-shaped divot, except where I kneel on it when reaching across to the passenger side to grab something that I've left on the seat or whatever. There's a small rip with a metal seat support visible (and if I kneel on it just right I can feel it). :(

Sludgy 10-02-2009 12:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by theclencher (Post 142358)
:eek: How many miles do you put on in a year?!?

Maybe move to Maine?

Lesseee.......

I told you it has 105,000 miles..... It's a 2004 truck. It's 2009 now....

105,000 / (2009 - 2004) = 21,000 miles per year.

My commute is just 10 miles, butI put on a lot of miles, not just to Maine. My company's home office is about 100 miles, and one on the plants is about 50 miles.

theholycow 10-02-2009 01:47 PM

Lowering might make more difference on a truck with exposed solid axles than a Tempo whose stuff is already tucked in...

Jay2TheRescue 10-02-2009 02:13 PM

I think it depends on the 4x4. My 4x4 has factory skid plates in front of the underbody drivetrain components. It looks to me that these may act as air deflectors, and clean up the underbody airflow a bit (as compared to a 4x4 that didn't have the skid plates installed.) I agree though. I can get the same, or better mileage in my 4x4 than many get in an equivalent 4x2.

theholycow 10-02-2009 02:27 PM

I can get the same or better mileage in my V8 full size 4x4 pickup than many can get in a Subaru station wagon, but that doesn't mean my truck is equivalently efficient.

https://imgbit.com/images/8b039724071243028981.jpg

dkjones96 10-02-2009 03:00 PM

I've got factory skid plates as well and I'm sure they clean up aero under there.

Mileage also depends on the 4x4 system used. As THC pointed out a solid front axle tends to hang out there more than an IRS frontend would. Also, most 4x4 have the option of disconnecting the front axle from the wheels but systems like mine have no hubs so the front axle is always connected to the wheels. Nice for on-the-fly but a mileage sucker.

theholycow 10-02-2009 04:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by theclencher (Post 142481)
What is your suggestion for comparison then?

Your stock vs. lowered Tempo comparison would be great for Tempos or similar cars. A comparison between similar stock and lowered 4x4s might be useful.

dkjones96 10-02-2009 06:33 PM

I don't think gangbangers track mileage...

OldCorolla 10-02-2009 07:02 PM

Generally 4x4s arent lowered either so finding a comparison between a stock and lowered 4x4 will be difficult. The only real way I see this working is for you to lower your truck and see what you get , but do it as cheaply and safely as possible. That way if there isnt much of a difference you can always swap back with no problems and not spending any more money.

theholycow 10-03-2009 02:50 AM

On the truck forum I frequent, where there are lots of lowered trucks (and even some lowered 4x4s), fuel economy is almost taboo. As soon as anyone mentions it, he gets a flurry of replies saying "If you want to save gas get a Honda".

Occasionally a fuel economy discussion gets missed by the haters. Those threads tend to sound like an HHO thread made by a new user here...people claim a 30% increase in fuel economy from a new muffler, etc. NOBODY on the truck forum ever indicates that they've used a gaslog or accurate pumping habits, and half the time they speak of miles per tank, or just say that they think it's that much better but haven't actually paid attention.

OldCorolla 10-03-2009 03:52 AM

hahaha , sounds like fun.

theholycow 10-03-2009 12:49 PM

I would guess that lowering in a reasonable way would not pay for itself in fuel economy even over a whole lot of miles...except for a few cheap lowering tricks:
  • Removing blocks that hold the leaf springs above the axle(s).
  • De-cranking torsion bars, which I doubt the F350 has (it should have front leafs or coils).
  • As theclencher says, clamps. There are clamps made specifically for coil springs; I bought them at Pep Boys back in 1997. You could flip them inside-out to lift (by pushing coils apart) or lower (by clamping coils together).
Do check an F350 forum to make sure there aren't side-effects like bad U-joint angles or bottoming-out shocks before trying those ideas.

theholycow 10-03-2009 12:57 PM

Found a picture of the coil spring clamp/expander:
https://www.midwayautosupply.com/imag...e/MRG-1280.jpg

In that picture, the assembled unit is setup for lowering. Flip the brackets over and it would lift. I ran one per spring for at least 30,000 miles on a 4,000 pound Cadillac without a problem, just a little clanking if the spring compressed more than they already had it compressed, but a 6,000 pound truck might need two per spring (both compressing the same two coils to eachother) to avoid breaking them.

Edit:
That picture came from https://forums.vintage-mustang.com/sh...hp?tid/1501769
Quote:

Go to Autozone/Kragen whatever and buy a set of "Coil Spring Clamps" (I have Mr. Gasket #1280's like below) About $10.00-15.00

Sludgy 10-05-2009 06:38 AM

The truck has leaf spring front an rear.

With regard to the Ford Tempo stock vs. lowered FE: They are gasoline cars, and aero mods don't help FE much because gas engine efficiency gets worse (due to throttling losses) as the load is decreased.

My F350 is a diesel, and the efficiency shouldn't suffer as much as the aero drag is reduced. Still, it's hard to spend lowereing the truck without some guarantee of FE gains.

Jay2TheRescue 10-05-2009 08:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sludgy (Post 142592)
... it's hard to spend lowereing the truck without some guarantee of FE gains.

What I've learned that there is almost nothing that will guarantee results. Its usually a mix of experimentation that yields results. For that reason I try to keep all of my mods as cheap as possible. This helps in 2 ways:

1. Low cost means less $ lost if the mod doesn't work.

2. Lower cost will equal a higher payback ratio if it does work.

theholycow 10-05-2009 09:01 AM

Does it have blocks between the springs and axles?

trollbait 10-06-2009 01:31 PM

An idea that is low cost but a lot of work is one used on Rangers to lower the rear and improve stability. Remount the axles on top of the leaf springs, instead of under.

theholycow 10-06-2009 05:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by trollbait (Post 142645)
An idea that is low cost but a lot of work is one used on Rangers to lower the rear and improve stability. Remount the axles on top of the leaf springs, instead of under.

That's a good one. I didn't know it was possible on trucks. I did it on two trailers, lowering one and raising the other.

Sludgy 10-20-2009 12:14 PM

Well, I took everybody's advice and left the Superduty at the same height...... bought a pair of new Monroe shocks for the rear. Put them on myself too. I usually have the dealer do the work. It felt good getting my hands dirty again. And save a few bucks.


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