Way-off-topic lowering question

[someotherguy]

They still make a Twin I Beam???
I would of that that vehicles up in this weight class would be running solid beams.

Some people aren't aware. I'm sure the boss'll never notice a 1" drop.

Don't tell me how to do my job if you've never done my job.

How tall are the body mounts?
3" thick or thin little wafers?
If they have some meat to them, would removing 1/4, 1/3, maybe 1/2 of their height be possible?

Chopped some out for brevity, apologies in advance.

Yep, twin I beam on coils, it works OK I guess. With the constantly varying load (no load, to random weight of whatever vehicle is on the hook) the front tire wear is horrendous. You can't align for something like that. They wear the outside edges, mostly.

Boss (manager) doesn't care. He's on board. Big boss (owner) only cares about money spent and potential impact on the equipment's ability/liability, so his opinion matters only so far as it means I can't spend a bunch on the modifications.

Very good question on the body mounts! I haven't even looked. However, the underhood clearances are so tight I don't know if it would be a good idea to lower the body at all in relation to the frame. If these were simpler trucks in simpler times, probably more trivial of a move. You open the hood on one of these and it's the expected nightmare of harnesses, hoses, and stuff you can barely identify, other than the engine, batteries (yes 2, even though it's a 7.3 gas engine), and accessory drive.

Richard

 

[someotherguy]

It's funny how sometimes pictures that you take end up becoming an unexpected reference. People I know from another company got in a bad crash several years ago when a drunk ran a stoplight and crashed into the driver front wheel of their truck. It literally knocked the coil springs loose, leaving the truck sitting on the bump stops. Now that's low!

You must be registered for see images attach

Besides the piece of the drunk's car attached to the wheel studs, the interesting thing to me is noting that the end of the coil is simply cut from the circle without a "straight" or otherwise tapered portion that would difficult to replicate if I simply go after the coil with a death wheel - so no worries there.

You must be registered for see images attach

Tried looking up replacement coil springs by the way - Husky shows the same exact 4 choices of springs for F350SD, F450SD, F550SD - from "stock to 1" lift" and higher. Rockauto shows those same springs if I go back to 2021, but when looked up for 2023 they don't list anything yet; suspect it'd just be the same Dayton offerings. NO specs on spring rate, etc. on either site.

Still sold on the idea of just cutting the stockers a little bit. The bottom end is shaped specially (spring diameter gets smaller) to sit in the pocket on an insulator, and the top has an insulator as well but the spring diameter remains constant.

Richard

 

[454cid]

Did the car knock the truck off the road or where they able to pull over?

I expected a flattened/reshaped last coil. Since that's not the case, I think I agree with you that cutting a bit may be what you need to do. If things go wrong, what would it take to get a set of used Ford coils, to replace them?

 

[someotherguy]

Did the car knock the truck off the road or where they able to pull over?

I expected a flattened/reshaped last coil. Since that's not the case, I think I agree with you that cutting a bit may be what you need to do. If things go wrong, what would it take to get a set of used Ford coils, to replace them?

Hit them on driver front corner at speed, broke the ball joint on the passenger front lower somehow, they had a car on the hook and after the truck cleared the drunk, the drunk hit the car they had on the hook. It was an ugly scene. Both guys in the truck OK and the drunk was OK as is typical. They lost control of the truck a little bit since the front suspension got whacked so hard, and ran it up over the curb onto the grass.

Richard

 

[95burban]

How’s that 7.3 gas working for ya?

 

[RichLo]

Shouldn't be too difficult to locate a shackle that might work since there's offerings out there for other trucks, just gotta get the spring width, then start looking at measurements to find a shackle that's about 1"-1.5" longer than OEM. Cutting the front coils might take some convincing of the boss.

Just remember shackles need to be approx. twice as long as the desired ride height reduction. 2" shackles = 1" drop. And you'll be changing your pinion angle so you'll need tapered wedges between the springs and axle. Unless that truck has double u-joints on both ends?

 

[Pinger]

Besides the piece of the drunk's car attached to the wheel studs, the interesting thing to me is noting that the end of the coil is simply cut from the circle without a "straight" or otherwise tapered portion that would difficult to replicate if I simply go after the coil with a death wheel - so no worries there.

You must be registered for see images attach

For certain that coil is cut that way at the factory and not broken in the accident? I'm not seeing the rubbed paint on the end that I'd expect of a spring that bore weight on that surface.

 

[someotherguy]

For certain that coil is cut that way at the factory and not broken in the accident? I'm not seeing the rubbed paint on the end that I'd expect of a spring that bore weight on that surface.

Yep. It was practically a new truck (still had a temporary plate) and the springs sit in rubber isolators at each end.

Richard

 

[someotherguy]

How’s that 7.3 gas working for ya?

Ehhhh... they're better than the 6.2 and 6.8 gas, I guess. We've already had a few suffer main bearing failures, with very regular oil changes (our full-time maintenance guy has them all on schedule and stays on top of it.) When talking with other companies we've heard of a couple that failed when the trucks were still practically new. If we take it to Ford it sits there forever, so we just have our regular shop tear them down for the repair. They start out sounding a little like a lifter tick, then they get really loud. I want to say 3 of ours have crapped out over the past couple years.

Richard

 

[termite]

Ehhhh... they're better than the 6.2 and 6.8 gas, I guess. We've already had a few suffer main bearing failures, with very regular oil changes (our full-time maintenance guy has them all on schedule and stays on top of it.) When talking with other companies we've heard of a couple that failed when the trucks were still practically new. If we take it to Ford it sits there forever, so we just have our regular shop tear them down for the repair. They start out sounding a little like a lifter tick, then they get really loud. I want to say 3 of ours have crapped out over the past couple years.

Richard

What kind of mileage are ya'll getting out of them before failure? I know they get worked, but only a few years isn't confidence inspiring.