My 96 CCSB - Superduty Coil swap and other mods

[JayTee013]

Ordered all my brake parts from Napa this morning. They were pretty competitive to prices I was seeing online with the exception of the backer plates. Went with the Dorman kit that rusty recommended. Got them from amazon at half of what napa wanted.

With my new Rear leaf configuration (long '12 springs and sky shackle flip) I've been a bit worried about setting the height of the front to match the rear. Its kind of shooting from the hip at this point. On most conversions on OBS trucks that I have seen with the 2.5" lift they are a bit low to my liking in the front. So I just ordered a OUO adjustable kit to add a bit of height and adjustment (0-2.5") to the front end.

http://www.ouostore.com/Front_Suspension-Adjustable_2_5_Coil_Levelers_2005_Ford_SD.html

I have the radius drop brackets already to give the correct caster and am also installing the carli caster shims while I have the axle torn apart to give a bit extra in case I want to crank the front up further. Should allow me to change ride heights pretty easily later on in case I want to go up a tire size or something. In my experience, with lifted trucks there is really no such thing as too much caster....

 

[JayTee013]

Back on this project in full force now. We just sold our house and close in 3 weeks, so the truck MUST drive out of the garage under its own power by then. No buts about it.

After 6hrs more hours last night with a chipping hammer, 4" grinder, wire wheel, some degreaser, rust treatment and thinner I think I got those northern NH axles and coil buckets pretty much cleaned up and ready for paint.

They now have a coat of primer and will be getting a coat or two of rustoleum satin black tonight.

 

[JayTee013]

Made some headway this weekend. Both axles are painted. New lower spring perches installed on front axle. Coil buckets and radius arm brackets bolted up. New superduty steering box painted installed and plumbed. Front axle under truck.

Some pics:

Here's the coil buckets with my custom upper perch repairs installed

Coil buckets mounted

Superduty steering box painted up - just drilled out the frame holes to 5/8" and box bolted right in

New adjustable lower coil mounts

Axle is under truck!

 

[JayTee013]

The most difficult part of this so far is the trac bar mount. It is proving to be a bit of a pain. I'm in process of modifying the stock superduty unit. Doing some trimming and adding another mount farther forward on the frame. I'll have pictures soon.

I was also surprised how 'bolt-in' the steering box was. Bought the superduty pressure line from napa and everything else just went together.

 

[Addicted4]

I am using the stock track bar bracket with no issues and wasn't hard at all to get is and lined up. I can shoot you some pics, what yr line did you buy to swap the box?

 

[JayTee013]

2005 steering box and track bar mount. All swap parts are from an 05 except rear leafs. I had to hack up the front of the mount (front of truck) and weld on some angle iron to grab s new front hole. To get the bracket to sit properly against the crossmember the front hole was off the frame. I'll get some pictures of what I ended up with. If you have some pics I'd like to see it.

 

[JayTee013]

The power steering line was just from an 05 as well

 

[Krause]

Got a part number & or pic of the power steering line?

 

[JayTee013]

I'm out of town for work but when I get home on Friday I will. I think it's in this thread somewhere. Let me see if I can find it. I know NAPA had it in stock.

 

[JayTee013]

Looks like part no is NAPA 73559. Hope that helps!

 

[JayTee013]

Got ALOT done this weekend.

After alot of Hacking and wacking; this is what I ended up with for my trac bar mount, Also incorporates a Sway bar mount.

The sway bar was an utter Pain, I had to make some funky little brackets to mount that up. Lots of screwing with it to get everything to work just right and not bind or hit:

Drivers side mounted:

Passenger side bracket for sway:

Also did a superlift dual bilstein steering stabilizer kit.

Front is DONE, Finally sitting on her own weight again. The ride height is perfect and those 2017 FX4 wheels look awesome! super happy with it.

Onto the rear... Last night late I started Working on relocating the forward rear spring hangers for the longer 2015 F250 leafs and mounted the new Sky rear shackle flip.

 

[JayTee013]

Made more progress last night. Finished bolting up the forward rear spring mounts. Moved them 8" forward to accommodate the 2015 rear springs and drilled and bolted them up. Was thinking I would need to drop the front tank but there was no need.

Rear springs in place with Carli overloads installed. This thing should ride NICE!
Still need to pick up some 3/4" x 5" bolts for the rear of the springs as they are much larger diameter than the OBS. I'll also have to drill out the new sky shackles to 3/4"

 

[JayTee013]

I need the bottom ubolt plate for a 2011-2016 superduty because I'm going to have the nuts down on the u-bolt like a newer superduty since I'm running the 2011+ springs. Just ordered through my local ford dealer for $36 each. Thought that was reasonable.

In case anyone needs it:
Part# BC3Z5796C - same for left/right

 

[sdh1994]

Are the 2011+ rear springs different then the 08-10? The springs I'm using are from a 2010 and overloads are on top.

 

[sootie]

Are the 2011+ rear springs different then the 08-10? The springs I'm using are from a 2010 and overloads are on top.

yes they are different.
Not sure you are using the correct terminology. An overload is the fat leaf on the bottom of the pack that is usually straight. A helper spring is usually found on the top, separated from the rest of the pack with a spacer, and only contacts the frame tabs when the truck has enough weight in it.

 

[Addicted4]

Truck looks great keep up the good work. You running hydroboost yet? I just finished the rear axle and the vac brake system in my truck sucks.

 

[RBernardi]

Looks good so far

 

[JayTee013]

Not running hydroboost. Going to stick with the stock master cyl/brake setup and see if it fits my needs. If not, I'll worry about it then.

Ran into some issues when trying to mate up the front driveshaft. Apparently the driveshaft I was running was a 1330 u joint and the stock D60 (for a OBS F350) is 1350, at least that is what I got when i ordered the new yoke for the D60. Which is wierd because I was running a 1997 D60 prior to the conversion and it had a 1330. Anyway ordered a new Neapco conversion u joint for 1330-1350 so all should be good.

I got the rear in the truck last night, and go her sitting down on her own weight. The ride hieght is way too tall in the rear so I will be pulling out the stock F250 2" blocks which should get me right where I need to be. This is probably due to the 2" of lift from the sky shackle flip in the rear.

Lastly, Had some issues with the 2017 wheels going on the rear axle. It like the hub centric diameter is different from 2017 to 2005. Does anyone know if that is the case? Wierd as they mated to the front just fine. I'll have to take some measurements, it got too late last night and I needed some sleep, so maybe I was just imagining it.

 

[Addicted4]

Track bar

 

[JayTee013]

Track bar

Were you using the superduty steering box? I'm wondering if that extra few degrees of turn were screwing me?

Did you shim the crossmember bolts? I couldn't get mine to sit nice like that for the life of me. If I caught the front bolt near the center of the frame, it would tip the flange that sits on the crossmember to some funny angle. In order to sit on the crossmember I would have the front bolt 1/2" inward of the frame rail....
It also looks like yours did not need to be trimmed to clear the pitman arm like mine did. Your's looks much cleaner than mine...


Whatever, its on and functional, not crazy about it but its done and it works.... no binding and everything clears through the whole susp travel...