Hello, I have an 03 f150 fx4 4.6 manual with a rough country 2.5 in. leveling kit, with 35x12.50 tires. I recently had my front left cv axle replaced and afterwards, the axle was binding. I called a 4x4 shop and they said it was the rough country lift, that their lifts set the angles to sharp. Has anyone had this problem and fixed it? I'm not looking to spend 2,000 on a new lift, but I need to get it figured out. I want to keep the lift a suspension lift under, but up to 4 inches. What lifts do you guys have that don't change the angles so severely? What would you recommend?

 

How is it binding after replacement and not before?

Cheap aftermarket $75 cv instead of oem?

You likely have torsion bars cranked too far....

 

The cv axles are oem and the t bars are not cranked at all. I was told that it was the rough country leveling kit but wasn't sure. The mechanic who replaced it said that it was not binding before because the axle was worn and now that the axle is brand new, it doesn't have enough wear to spin in that sharp of an angle

 

The leveling kit does the exact same as cranking the bars. Too much of an angle. Shop sounds like they know what they're talking about to me.

 

A levelling kit....IS....cranking.....the ....torsion bars....


Thats all it is, along with some rear blocks sometimes, sometimes not.
They supply new indexed keys , but lift is achieved by over-cranking the torsion bars to preload them more, which lifts the front higher due to suspension geometry, and increases the angles of the A-arms and Cv joints.

And you dont even need the keys, or kit, to do it....its just a ripoff. Unless you want to crank a lot farther than you can without new keys, which sounds like your problem. Torsion bars are cranked too much. The solution is to back them out and lower front end until the problem goes away.

If you search around on here, some people give a maximum safe distance from center of hub to fender for cranking t-bars. However, trucks with wheel well molding have a huge gap between the molding and fender of about 3/4-1" inch. Which throws some uncertainty into what is meant by that measurement.

 

24.75 inches from the center of your wheel to the fender with cranked torsion bars is the max you can go

 

24.25"s not 24.75

 

is that for trucks with wheel well molding, or without?

because it makes a difference.....

 

That's for trucks that came with wheel molding. Not many 4x4s came without it. Even the base model manual everything with no cruise control models had the black plastic molding.

source: my dad had one

 

The issue is I can promise you is the half shaft was replaced with any other aftermarket except FORD. The only axles that wont bind are OE Ford New units, or Rebuilt Ford half shafts from Napa. I;ve tried them all and ended up with a broken diff several times.