Suspension Swap
 

Ok guys any help is appreciated.. I have the rare 7 lug ford, 05.. I have had a 3 inch body lift and an 8 inch BDS suspension lift done.. It is really hard to find decent rims (at a decent price) with the width and offset I want.. Fuel said they would make any style anyway I would like for 900.00 a rim approx. I started thinking if I would swap suspension to an 8 lug (for the solid axle) I could get better rims.. Does anybody know what would be involved or if its even possible? I figured I would swap front and rear just so lug pattern would match.. Here is a picture of her now

I had asked this same thing several years ago, and I got the impression it just wouldn't be worth it.

The rear axle is pretty easy, either swap with an F250 axle, or have some axle shafts made for you 10.25 sterling with 8 bolt hubs.

The front gets way more complicated without doing a SAS which would be ridiculously expensive, and that's the point that it would be cheaper to get another truck.

From a cost stand point doing some custom two piece wheel adapters 7 to 8 or 7 to 6 lug is probably the least expensive:

http://www.motorsport-tech.com/wheel_adapters.html

Reference information for bolt patterns and hub bores:
http://boltpattern.net/

I haven't researched the part numbers but you should be able to swap the front suspension from the knuckle out to the 6 lug F150 stuff and also swap the complete rear axle assembly (and possibly the drive shaft) to a 6 lug F150 setup.

Edit:

Adapters on Ebay
http://www.ebay.com/itm/4-USA-Made-7...-/261252540693

This is what I found to be the most feasible option. Replace the front hubs with 6-lug and then get custom axle-shafts made for the rear 10.25 axle with the same 6-lug pattern. Or swap in a 9.75 6-lug and do a gear swap.

Can you swap an HD and non HD hub bearing assembly? I've only worked on a few and always forget to look if the steering knuckle and everything looks the same.

Just talked to a shop.. They will make me 2 6 lug axles for that truck for about 270.00 plus shipping.. Then it's 180.00 locally for the front hubs (each). Then I could get any rim I really wanted..

Heck yes, that's what I would do.. $270 isn't that bad for axles. I think Rockauto has a cheaper price on hubs tho

If that's all it costs I might look into getting a 10.25 axle in the future.

If you're going to have axle shafts made for the rear, don't forget about the rear rotors. It looks like the 7 lug and 6 lug rotors are dimensionally the same with the exception of the number of lugs.

6 Lug
http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/more...247&cc=1433694

7 Lug
http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/more...347&cc=1433694