Rampy

Looking to lift the 2017 F150....but at the same time do not want to go more than 4" of lift, while getting the maximum amount of wheel travel in a lift kit that is superb quality and can take some serious abuse.

We live in Wyoming and go 4 wheeling up in the Mountains of WY and Colorado, love the San Juans, Black Bear Pass, all around the Alpine loop along with tons of other narrow mountain trails and deep into forests and woods...

Was on a very very rocky narrow mountain trail yesterday and needed more ground clearance and suspension travel...bottomed out quite often and the RCI metalwork's skid plates took a beating...

Want t keep the center of gravity as low as reasonably possible, while at the same time upgrading the suspension with a really beefy one that can take a ton of abuse.

Ideas and recommendations????

tareed94

Sounds like you're looking for either a 4" (BDS makes a good one, as does Rancho), or a coilover leveling kit (Fox, Rancho, Icon, King, Halolifts) with upgraded upper control arms (Chaos, DirtLogic) for more travel. If the trails weren't narrow I would say grab a midtravel or long travel kit. It will get some ground clearance and a LOT more travel.

Rampy

Just as a example, tis is a trail we took yesterday with the F150 and really needed more wheel travel & a little more ground clearance...

RajunKajun59

You want more wheel travel, you need a MT or LT setup, which will put you 3"-6" wider respectively on both sides.

Coilovers and a spacer lift won't do it. All you will do is maybe gain an inch of travel either way, and move the pivot point 4"s lower.

tareed94

This is correct. My bad, I was thinking solely in terms of wheel clearance.

Rampy

Don't want to go wider, almost to wide as it is, if we were a inch wider never would have mad it between a couple trees or the broken down truck....

So a BDS 4" lift won't do much eh....that's what a 4x4 shop recommended, said BDS kits are among the best & they have superb customer service.

Other way they recommended was a King 2.5 coil over remote reservoir with Total Chaos upper control arms but was saying this is more expensive.

Blownfour

Your best bet will be selling your truck and finding a smaller one if you want to do trails where you already almost do not fit. Next would be to put some quality coilovers up front with uniball UCA(this is what is going to give you more travel). Then practice your lines. Wheel travel is likely not your biggest issue, wheelbase length and width is limiting your options for where you can put your truck.

Pugga

iTrader: (1)

The only way to really increase your ground clearance is larger diameter tires. Lifting the suspension doesn't put the pumpkin any further away from the ground. Most of the inexpensive lift kits also do not increase suspension travel, you just trade down travel for up travel but the suspension still cycles within the same travel length as stock. Going with a beefier suspension kit still has it's perks, the shocks will have better dampening and the components will be stronger. As far as scraping your skids, that's what you bought them for, let them do their job. I'm not familiar with RCI skids but as long as they're beefy enough to protect the underside of the truck, let them do what they were intended to do and touch them up as necessary. Hopefully you have sliders on your truck also if the trails you're hitting are that narrow.

RajunKajun59

BDS is good, and with uniball upper control arms, and some good coilovers, you will gain maybe an extra inch or two of wheel travel, not much.

You will however increase your tire clearance, breakaway, approach, departure angles, and COG.

chimmike

The Raptor suspension has excellent wheel travel. I know what you're looking for because I'm all about lifts that maximize wheel travel, not just get stupid height.

I wonder if there are any 4-link kits for the '15+ F150, and then high-angle driveshafts with upgraded front suspension to allow for maximum travel up front.....

Convert to raptor suspension basics then upgrade components?