I am thinking of lowering my parts chaser, "Old Yeller". I don't want to do a bunch of cutting and fabbing (I'll save that for my other projects)so I have been looking at dropped axles on the sport truck sites. I know the twin I-beam set-up wasn't one of Fords better ideas but do you know anyone who has used them. Would you recomend one supplier over another. Looks like $450 a pair is about the going price. May have to C notch the frame on the rear but thats not a big deal. Any input?
I thought I read some place(mini truck I think)that all the I beams are made buy the same Co. then sold to the dealers who put their own tag on it. I imagin the quality is relativy the same with what ever brand you buy. -Jesse
I think you should paint "line supervisor" on the door and drive around the hiway projects writing people up for leaning on their shovels.
I went down this path (no purchase in the end $$) and came across two types, I beam style and tubular ... both claiming to be the best. By the time I added up.. -dropped Ibeams -springs -shocks -eccentric adjuster (required to properly align the front end) -rear flip kit -etc I ended up over $1000 ... my F150 isn't that nice I would still like to do this and look forward to any 'cheaper' alternatives.. later, papa al
I have heard of several people who cut the springs, then had the I beams cold-bent to get the Camber right again. Enjenjoe told me once that Heavy Truck shops are able to do this. Definitely have to do something though. I cut a coil and a half off my '65 last summer and although it only lowered it 2", it screwed up the alignment and is wearing the insides of the tires. Not real bad, but enough to notice. I had one guy tell me he cut the springs, then chained each beam to a plate he anchored to his shop floor. He then heated the I-Beams and used a Hydraulic Jack to bend them. Sounds a little primitive, but he did it several years ago and still drives the truck and the wear pattern looked pretty good to me.
[ QUOTE ] I have heard of several people who cut the springs, then had the I beams cold-bent to get the Camber right again. Enjenjoe told me once that Heavy Truck shops are able to do this. I had one guy tell me he cut the springs, then chained each beam to a plate he anchored to his shop floor. He then heated the I-Beams and used a Hydraulic Jack to bend them. Sounds a little primitive, but he did it several years ago and still drives the truck and the wear pattern looked pretty good to me. [/ QUOTE ] Sean, Cold bending with a beam, chains and a bottle jack used to be the prefered method for adjusting twin I beam camber, old service manuals had pics and descriptions of the process. Somewhere along the line (mid to late 70's?)ford started forging the "Do Not Heat or Bend" right on the beams. I don't know if the materials changed or what but most frame shops won't do anything other than adding spring shims or replacing springs to bring the alignment back to spec. Oldtin
I call my truck old yella too, the twin I-beam must have been ok they used for over 30 years. I've seen that writing about not bending the beams on many trucks and wondered about the liability that forced them to do that.
.........and now I think the Ford engineer that came up with this Twin I-beam idea should be shot! The tie rods swing in a different arc than the I-beams do, the caster is lost when the radius arm bushings wear out [a regular occurance] and the camber changes radically in the course of a front spring compression cycle. I.E. hitting a bump or hole. When weight is put on the truck, camber goes out the window too. When the front springs begin to sag with age, Bye-bye camber again! The same can be said for caster during up and down spring cycles. And if I never change another pair of radius arm bushings, it'll be too soon! Having said this and completely dissing ford's twin I beam system, I gotta say, I've owned a kick *** 79 F-150 and I loved it. It was subframed with a front-steer Camaro sub, ran a 400 Pontiac V/8 with 350 turbo and a 12 bolt Olds rear axle. The only ford moving parts left on it were the door and tailgate latches and hinges. The camaro sub cost a lot less than the twin I-beam axle modifications and didn't wear out tires like the ford setup does. I inheritated my dad's rust-free 73 ford f-150 with it's stock twin I-beam and I'm gonna sell it. I fix 'em at work all day and those things spook me... Bad design IMHO...
I just had a radius rod break on the POS Wonder Bread van at work. Still drove it though (it ain't mine ), but the steering wheel 'bought took my thumb off when I hit the hooks in reverse... Just another reason to buy a solid axle.....
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