Florida_F150

Cool, awesome, thanks.. Yes, I'd think the Rough Country 6" "extended struts" with the existing coil springs should work just fine. They will replace your stock shock plus 6 1/2" strut spacer as you mentioned you wanted to do. I can't say either way if it will improve your ride, but as you had said, at least it would be one piece.

Other options, like you'd also mentioned, are keeping the existing strut spacer and replacing the stock shock with something better (like a Bilstein).

And lastly, going the full coilover route. In your original post you'd mentioned the Fox 2.0 for around $1700. What you're describing is actually even better. It's the Fox 2.5 full length 6" extended coilovers with Remote Reservoirs. That price (around $1700) is for the pair, and they're incredible (I have them myself), but obviously very, very expensive. Not particularly budget friendly, so one of the other options may be a better choice and still provide an improved ride.

So you have a few nice options to think about.

KingDeleted

Alright, thanks for all the help. I've decided to go with the Rough Country 6" lifted struts. I have some old truck springs laying around maybe i'll line some up and see how they look. I'll most likely end up using the stock spring though, I'm a bit worried the new RC's wont give me enough height but i guess i can always add a small spacer in there, or just do it at the same time to avoid having to take it all back apart. I wont have time to do this for a few weeks, so its gonna be a bit of time before i get them installed, which means ill have some time to think about it all before its done, and that's always a good thing.

Florida_F150

If your current strut spacers measured at 6.5" and the Rough Country struts are 6", you're only losing that 1/2", so hopefully shouldn't make that much of a difference to the overall setup...

Aaron Gibson

Being an offroad fabricator and install tech I highly suggest against any lift that retains the stock springs or places a spacer on top of the factory coilover, spring, strut, etc. It's very, very hard on your suspension and begs to blow out shocks, struts, ball joints, etc. Take a look at off_road.listings on Instagram it's Craigslist for new and used parts; I see 2.0-3.0 coilovers, bypass shocks and much more on there all the time at prices that can be hard to pass up if the seller is in need of quick cash. Another upgrade to look at down the road would be upper control arms with uniballs or icons delta joint to eliminate the weak factory parts and ball joints. Honestly if you can find a set of fox, king, or icon coilovers in good shape that fit your truck, but maybe need to be refreshed with new gaskets, valve packs, wear band, etc. consider it given a full rebuild kit is about $45-50 plus the shock oil.

KingDeleted

Thanks for the info Aaron. I have a question regarding the stock coils. This truck is primarily used to haul stuff and is not headed for the trails anytime soon, mostly because there arent any trails near me. It will spend 99% of its life on paved road. Having said that do you feel retaining the stock spring while upgrading to the Rough Country N3 struts will be ok in my situation?

Aaron Gibson

The biggest issue isn't just reusing your stock springs; it's more the stress of the increased suspension angle that is put on those components that is the issue. This can be corrected in a couple ways. Most expensive would obviously be a mid or long travel kit coupled with coilovers such as king, fox, or icon. The reason for that is the added width reduces the angle and stress on the components, but also replaces the weak factory components with one's designed for heavier duty. Next would be a mild 2.0 or 2.5 coilover coupled with aftermarket upper control arms; the coilovers would give you a spring rate better suited for lifted duty and the upper control arms are designed to be slightly wider to correct for the added angle caused by the lift. The next option that I'd recommend looking into if you're set on the rough country lift would be a spindle lift. This replaces you factory spindle uprights that your hubs are attached to with a taller heavier duty spindle uprights. What this does is correct the suspension geometry to retain factory geometry for your upper control arms. I'm not necessarily against your chosen path just don't highly recommend it due to the potential failure of parts that weren't designed for the stresses that lifting your truck adds to your suspension.

KingDeleted

Ive got the 7" readylift installed already, which dropped the diff and steering to correct the angles, as well as added the massive drop knuckles. The thing i dont like abput the lift is the massive 6inch strut spacers that readylift provides which is why im cosidering the Rough Country extended struts, hopefully this makes a little more sense now

jdunk54nl

Your best option would be to go to an off road shop and have something custom built for your precise length. It might sound a lot more challenging than it actually is and it really isn't that much more expensive than a "kit" coilover. It would be easy for a 6" lift since that is a "normal" size, but since you have a 7" lift, you have limited your kit options.

Call Alex at Halo Lifts (previously f150lifts), he really knows his stuff and can probably get you a good setup for a decent price.

Aaron Gibson

It's hard to say I stopped installing rough country products a while ago and have never installed those struts. By the looks of the images it doesn't look like the strut alone will eliminate the spacer. Even rough country's lift with those struts show spacer with the kit. A ride height adjustable bilstein 5100 may be a better option since the height adjustment isn't the strut itself, but the lower spring cup being adjusted up and down on the shock body.

Florida_F150

The Rough Country lift struts will work just fine. They eliminate the strut spacer. It says right in the description:

"These struts are engineered to fit perfectly on each intended application, and are designed to utilize the OEM coil while providing enough ride height to eliminate the need for strut spacers or other means of lifting. The result is an increased ride height that improves the ride-quality and handling of your lifted truck."

Also, the lift is not 7" (despite the name). That's why I asked OP about the diff drop measurement. Many of the kits come with a single size diff drop that is somewhere "in the middle" of all of their available lift sizes. For example, both the 4" BDS lift and the 6" BDS lift BOTH come with the same exact 5" diff drop. The primary difference in the actual final lift height is the length of the strut spacer. Same for this 7" Readylift. OP measured the diff drop at about 5.5". It's only a 7" lift if he uses the included 7" strut spacers (which would be equivalent to a 1.5" level as far as the suspension geometry is concerned (5.5" diff drop with 1.5" of extra height for a total of 7"). He can use the Rough Country 6" extended struts (without spacers) and be 1/2" higher than his diff drop, which will work perfectly.