Allaround4x4

Alrighty folks. I have resolved my issues previously stated in another thread. Now that I have a fantastic pickup, it is time to do some upgrades. I have not been able find much on the upgrade I want to do so any help is greatly appreciated.

I am wanting to do a rear spring conversion from leafs to coil springs with a 4 link. Has anyone done this on a 4wd with a lift? I see a lot of 2wd with lowering done, but not a 4wd. I am not looking to get a ridiculous amount of articulation or anything like that. Simply a smoother ride with a bit of flex. I'd like to simply fab up some brackets and mount coils off of a later model F150 instead of buying a conversion kit if thats even possible.

ScrewThat

Seems like a lot of work for a smoother ride and some flex. If you wanted that, I'd recommend a set of Deaver springs. They sell them in options for 3" lift and 6" lift. They are a lot smoother riding. Pair them with some good shocks and you'd be set. All for less than 1200 bucks

Allaround4x4

My issue with leaf springs is that they typically wear out quickly due to the use of my pick ups. I tow a camper into the mountains very frequently and with that much weight on the rear end and mountain roads, they seem to flatten out and not hold their "spring" as much. I am trying to stay away from taking my 2014 into the mountains as to prolong its life much longer than I normally do.

I know Deaver is one of top manufacturers of leafs and they make a high quality product. But if I can get away from having to replace the springs every couple of years I would like to. Hence the reason why I am looking at the conversion.

ScrewThat

Most conversions you are going to find will be oriented towards off roading, specifically desert racing where long travel is needed. I would venture to say that a 4 link setup would sag more over time than a good leaf spring setup would. If you want towing capacity, the 7700 leaf springs would be the direction I would go. If you want a plush smooth ride with meh towing capacity id go with deaver springs. I would not go 4 link if you want to tow. But that's just me. I'm not saying it's not possible, just something that I wouldn't do. There's a reason most trucks use leaf springs, and most have for ages. Yeah they can sag but they're easy to replace. Re-arching is also a possibility.

Allaround4x4

So where would I be able to find some info on 7700 springs? I haven't heard of them before.

ScrewThat

There's probably several threads on them around here. just search on Google. They are leaf springs off of the 7700gvw f150 which is like a heavy duty f150 or a light duty f250.

Wolvee

The link here is where I bought my 7700/F250 springs. You do have the choice of spring rates. I went with 2200 as even the lightest trailer I pulled sagged the rear with stock springs. I tow a boat, a camper as well as a car/trailer and the low sag is completely gone. It also increases my unofficial payload capacity.

When I Hunt, camp or Overland I take a lot of gear and with the new springs, my truck doesn't feel like a big fat SUV anymore.

They are much stiffer than stock which is ideal for towing and stability but also makes the ride slightly harder. They don't have the down travel of Deavers but that's not something I was looking for. It's not a rock crawler.

The rear does sit about an inch higher in the rear than in the front now but it levels out and looks even when I add a trailer. I've thought about replacing the stock bump stop block with a shorter one to level it out completely but I doubt I'll do it. I like the slight rake.

I can post pictures if you need but I've speared this site with them so they're pretty easy to find. (Also in my build thread linked in my signature line.)

Along with changing the springs, I used longer U-bolts and my shackle bushings were pretty bad so I bought replacements.

Springs $310 shipped
Shackles $60 ($30 ea x 2)
U-bolts $20 (ish)