’85 f150 suspension-> BII

[SeanWilson]

Okay this is all for my buddy. He has a stock BII i think its an ’87?.. We decided since he has the rig and i have the knowledge, that we are gunna tackle this together. We got a line on a ’85 F150, it has no engine but everything else is there. it has 4.11’s in both the 44 and 9’’.
We are looking at doing a complete suspension swap over and maybe doing it with some soft 63’’ chevy springs out back.

I am new to all things BII and ttb. ive always been ranger and straight axle.

so we are looking for some help for this swap.
1. What would you guys recommend for coil springs?, jeep xj’s or bronco graveyard soft ones? looking 3’’ lift range
2. Can someone lead me to the step by step on the way to cut and turn on the dana 44 ttb arms?
3. Will we have to out board the spring buckets from the frame?
4. Anything on the BII we should improve or upgrade on the frame or body while its in complete tear down mode?

The old 2.9 is blown, so we are doing the suspension swap and looking for a 4.0L at the same time. so we are gunna make a beast so that he can hopefully keep up with me off road.

We are located in South Eastern Iowa, so if anyone around the area has parts or is looking at wheeling together get in touch!

 

[SeanWilson]

oh and defiantly going to cut the fenders to clear.

would doing a body lift help in any way with the 4.0 swap, or is it un necessary and it would be easier just to order a 1’' or 2’’ longer coil

 

[RICO9]

This Has been discussed alot. From what I remember you'll need to fab up some custom pivot brackets to make it work. Also I would imagine you would have to outboad the coil buckets. All RBV coils are stiff as hell, I'd go with a 5.5"-6" xj coil to get your 3" of front lift. Sorry, I don't know much about the cut and turn, but the info is out there. You say you want to swap in a 4.0? Another option that would save you alot of work would be to find a 91-94 Explorer and use the axles out of that. (8.8 & D35 TTB) as well as the 4.0. I also hear a great upgrade for the D35 is swapping the knuckles from a D44 onto the D35. Just something to think about.

 

[SeanWilson]

yeah i was doing some more research on the cut and turn, but i have not found any one who explains it or remembers to snap the pictures lol which is completely understandable when your wrenching.

yeah we looked into the explorer but in terms of the f150 already having the taller gears and the fact we could get it for under $400 then make some back with scraping it

the only explorers for sale around here have blown engines or have been completely destroyed and rust is terrible, where as there are a couple 4.0’s running around for under $200-400 as well