WAY OT-- 79 F150

well i bought a 79 f150 4w. how high can i lift it without doing any driveshaft modication?

(quoted from post at 03:39:24 08/16/12) well i bought a 79 f150 4w. how high can i lift it without doing any driveshaft modication?

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My first pickup was a 79 f150 4x4. I never lifted it but looked into it. I'm thinking 3-1/2" but don't hold me to that.

3 1/2 is right otherwise your going to be doing u-joints every other weekend, this assumes your using a spring type lift kit, which changes the driveline angle, do not rotate the axle tubes to reduce u-joint angle or you'll be running the pinion bearings dry! you can gain additional clearance by using a body lift kit which raises the body off of the frame, as well as using bigger tires, remember though the higher you go, the less stable and worse handling the truck will be at speed on road, there is a point at which you will have to dedicate the truck to either on road, or off road use, i made that trip myself as a youngster, bob chandler had just rolled out the first bigfoot, and we all wanted to be him lol i had a 75 ford , wound up with 6 inches of total lift, with a body and spring lift installed, this was about as big as you could go back in the day had a set of 36" supper swampers in it, the truck was cool, and a chick magnet, off road it was a lot of fun, on the hiway OMG! this thing was a nightmare at anything over 45 mph, it was all over the place,had to take a corner like a cj-5 jeep would have to, and hiway speed wore those 36 inchers out quick, plus it felt like driving a backhoe down the road with the bucking sensation it had, there has been a lot of improvement thru the years in lift kits compared to what we had back then, but if your going to head the truck up in the air, think it out, and plan carefully

i am planning a bit. thats why i asked. thanks guys.

I agree with them on the 1/2 ton as I recall. The 3/4 had the seperate transfer case that hung the shafts a little lower and more parrellel to the ground in the first place and were allready in the air more but would take even more and be safe. Can't believe this fad has lasted this long!