dana 50 leafs to coils springs or coilovers

[Hrider]

I own a 1997 f250 4x4 with a leveling kit on it. I was wondering if anyone has heard of the dana 50 TTB converted to a coilspring or coiloversystem from the leaf springs. I have a buddy that does fabrication and can build radius arms and the shock hoops or coil buckets. does anyone know who can i talk to or have pictures of this being done. Wanting a smoother ride and more flex out of the truck. I'm in the desert quite a bit and i dont want to convert to the dana 60.

 

[Hrider]

its a diesel by the way.

 

[Ranger44]

Way to stick with the TTB.

But, a Ford High Pinion is basically a bolt in swap.

But, a D50 coil sprung would be pretty cool. Why ford ever put leafs on TTB is beyond me.....

You will have to worry about coil springs, coil buckets, modding the beams to accept the coil springs, RA's, a RA crossmember, and just getting the geometry right.

One big thing is coil springs. Getting springs that'd support the weight of the engine will take a little research.

 

[Ranger44]

http://fullsizebronco.com/forum/showthread.php?t=59365&highlight=beams

Think this truck has a D44, but it'd give you a little idea about what you're in for.

 

[Hrider]

thanks man. I know its going to be alot of work and im debaiting on doing this project. I haven't seen a truck like mine with suspension that actually is performance. All i have seen is the same lift kits, different companies, same rough ride with the same rough leaf springs and no performance. I know deaver and national make smooth riding leaf springs, but with TTB it makes no sence to spend the money on them when I could almost spend the same for coilovers. well $500 more.

 

[canyoncritter]

http://www.bajaf250.com/ (only works with microsoft explorer,wont work with firefox,cant click on the links)

http://www.bajaf250.com/coil_over.htm <----this seems to work alitlle better w/ fire fox..


geoff at giantmotorsports.com has done some f250 front ends also.

 

[AllanD]

Way to stick with the TTB.

Why ford ever put leafs on TTB is beyond me.....

It's because the TTB was about "road manners" and leaf-springs are about "rugged".

The F250 accomplished that goal

Why do you want coils?



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[4x4junkie]

The F250 accomplished that goal

But at the expense of nearly all of it's wheel travel.

I'm not sure how significant the benefits of converting the TTB to coils vs bolting a D60 straight axle in would be when you have a 1200lb engine sitting over it though.
If you just want the smooth ride of coils, I'd probably take a look at the '05up F-250/350 D60s which are already set up for coils & radius arms, and have 35 spline stub axles (you'll never even get close to it's strength with the D50 and it's necked-down 30 spline junk).
Grabbing the 10.5 rear at the same time is an easy way to match the lug pattern up with the '05up D60. This rear will have disc brakes as well.


If you're really set on converting the D50 to coils though, a good source for the coils and frame hardware might be from a F-250/350 2WD with the same engine as yours. Then you'll need to come up with a good sturdy way to attach a set of radius arms to it.
Having radius arms on it, you might also want to lengthen the driverside axle beam a few inches to reduce the amount of camber change on that side (the passengerside beam length should be OK however).

 

[Hrider]

your right i might me better going that route. you know any web sites that sell the 05 and up axles.

Thinking about it now, coilover that TTB dana 50 would be bitchin, but its going to be a lot of work vs bolting up a straight axle.

 

[4x4junkie]

The '05up axle I'm not sure if it would be completely "bolt-in", but it'd be MUCH less work than coiling the D50TTB.
For a bolt-in, you'd be looking at '87-'97 D60s, which are leaf sprung ('92-'97 are balljoint axles, which often can be had slightly cheaper than the earlier kingpin style ones).

I'd try on www.car-part.com. I've had pretty good luck locating stuff on that site.