Picture diary of a 4X4 RCD to Dixon Brothers LT Conversion

[Quasi242]

Just a quick update. Bed swap, Fiberwerx 6" flair bedsides and 35" BFG KO's on 17" wheels.

Up next, Ford F150 9.75 Axle with 4:88 gears, posi and disk brakes; Giant 64" spring kit.

 

[victory80]

quasi,

truck looks good! how's the dixon kit holding up? i'm waiting to see what camburg is cooking up, but most likely i will go with dixon. the regular bed looks 100x better!

 

[Quasi242]

quasi,

truck looks good! how's the dixon kit holding up? i'm waiting to see what camburg is cooking up, but most likely i will go with dixon. the regular bed looks 100x better!

Agreed on the regular bed. The Dixon kit seems to be doing great. I need the get the back built so that I can really test it out. New axle and leaf springs should be in by the beginning on next week. 16" shocks and bed cage will happen somewhere in the future when funds permit.

 

[Davis]

How much travel are you able to get in the rear, and how did you set up the shocks? I want to eventually do a 64" leaf swap, but I don't want to lose my bed.

 

[Quasi242]

How much travel are you able to get in the rear, and how did you set up the shocks? I want to eventually do a 64" leaf swap, but I don't want to lose my bed.

64" are not installed yet. It should pull 19"-21". As I understand it, the preferred shock setup is generally a 16" stroke smooth body or bypass (link killer preferred for the Giant kit) set between a 0 to 20 degree angle from vertical. Shocks will need to come through the bed, but a cage can be designed to maximize bed space. Mine will be setup with run of the mill factory (stock) shocks for a while until I can purchase race shocks and have my cage built.

 

[Ranger#1]

digging the exhaust =]

 

[Quasi242]

digging the exhaust =]

Yeah, just one more thing on the to do list. I am planning on dumping it right after the muffler, but wanted to get the new axle and springs on first to make sure that it won't cause any problems.

 

[dezertnut]

Are you still running 3.73 gears, how is it. Are you worried about the front diff on 35's?

 

[RangerRocker]

Truck looks great. I think you oughta flip the rear shackle so you can lower the back of the truck down a bit. Just my .02

 

[Quasi242]

Are you still running 3.73 gears, how is it. Are you worried about the front diff on 35's?

I am running stock 4:10 gears right now. It is not as bad as I would have imagined but a regear is definitely in order. Speaking of which, my front CV axles are currently removed because I will be installing a Ford 9.75 F150 axle with 4:88 gears within the next couple of weeks. I will not reinstall the front CV axles until I can afford to regear the front differential to match.

Truck looks great. I think you oughta flip the rear shackle so you can lower the back of the truck down a bit. Just my .02

I agree 100%. When I install the new axle, I will be installing the Giant 64" kit. That kit includes new front and rear (flipped & drop) hangers with custom 8" shackles. I am hoping that the back of the truck will be lowered by at least 3". I will see when it is all installed. I will be waiting on a bed cage and long travel shocks until funds are replenished. Everything in this sport costs too much money!

 

[RangerRocker]

Haha. I completely agree. I am in the process of getting my build started. Luckily I am going low budget mid travel, fabtech spindle with upgraded snouts and btf upper arms. Its supposed to pull 10" of travel with and 8" shock(which I have). 435 shipped.

 

[Quasi242]

Haha. I completely agree. I am in the process of getting my build started. Luckily I am going low budget mid travel, fabtech spindle with upgraded snouts and btf upper arms. Its supposed to pull 10" of travel with and 8" shock(which I have). 435 shipped.

Even with the budget build, the ride quality should be much better with the FOA coil overs vs. stock torsion bars. Good luck. How have you liked your Magnaflow with the 3.0 engine? How is the sound? Any noticeable increase in power or gas mileage?

 

[RangerRocker]

It sounds really good. Its a 7" round muffler with 2.5" i/o on 2" stock pipe. I need to get it upgraded to 2.5" from the cats. I noticed a little bit of an increase in power. Mileage jumped up though. I can get 22mpg if I baby it. Should get better once I get the bigger pipe on. IMO it sounds the best under normal acceleration at 2500 rpm, and it sounds quite beastly with the pedal mashed and you hit about 3000 rpm +.

 

[dezertnut]

Hey, for the rear you could take out the factory lift block, or put the factory shackle back in. Either would lower the truck for now, and it is free.

 

[Quasi242]

Hey, for the rear you could take out the factory lift block, or put the factory shackle back in. Either would lower the truck for now, and it is free.

I considered that originally, but since I was running extended Bilstien 5100's (Back of the truck is still running the RCD lift equipment) I did not want the shocks to reach bump before the axle did. At this point, I already have all of the parts to do the axle/spring swap, I am just waiting on the gear installer to finish the rebuild. If you know of anyone looking for an add a leaf lift, let me know.