solid axle and suspension

[black beauty]

hey bronco brainiacs, with a solid axle front end (ton axles of course) gow much lift will i need to run 39.5" tires? and i mean front and back suspension. for the back, how big of a leaf spring and (if any) what size lift block should i use? just whatever yall have used and more importantly what would work best? >

 

[Broncobill78]

It doesn't make any difference whether you have a solid axle or IFS. There are a number of ways to run 40's. Generally speaking you need at least 9" of susp lift to run them but if your suspension does a lot of flexing you'll still hit the sheetmetal. Some guys run a body lift for the additional clearance others trim the fenders. I've run 40's on an F-truck w/6" of lift but it was badly rusted so I cut about 6" out of the wheelwells and used Bushwacker cut-out flares. If it's something you're actually going to do then you pretty much find & install the tallest kit you can and then the trial-n-error part of the project begins. When I've run anything larger that 38's it's always a case of "fitting" the tires to the truck and that just means trying out different approaches until they fit well & don't hit or rub too badly.

 

[Justshootme84]

I got 4-5 inches of lift just from the 1-ton SAS, and can fit 36" tires. I plan to run 39.5-40" tires, and have a set of 4" lifted front springs. That would give about 8-9" total lift in front over stock like BB78 stated. For the rear, I did the shackle flip, which also gave me about 4" using the stock leaf springs. I plan to just trim the wheel opening to fit the larger tires if I have any tire contact with the rear quarter panels once I get the leaf springs to flex to their maximum. Also keep in mind that different brands of tires can be as much as 3" off from their stated size. AS an example, a 40x18" Ground Hawg might only be 38" tall when mounted on a 15x15 rim, and it might be 39" tall if mounted on a 12" rim. Best answer is to fit the tires and rims you want to use on the rig, then see where you get contact with the sheetmetal. I don't advise running blocks in the rear, since they tend to slide out from under the spring pack. Either use lifted springs or trim the body. For the front, you should NEVER use blocks. You can get 4" or 6" lifted spring packs to replace the factory one, or convert to a coil spring setup with taller coil springs. Generally, 6" is about as high as I'd go in front, due to the coils wanting to bow outward being they are so tall. JSM84