Looking at a true 2/4 drop (no lower) from Belltech for my 2019 screw, 5.5' box, 4wd. I've been hammering through these forums looking for answers to my questions and I've been successful more often than not. However, I stumbled across a few posts about someone with a 2/4 drop (same truck as mine) having issues with the driveshaft hitting the cross-member. With that said, can anyone with a 2/4 drop on a truck like mine chime in on whether or not you needed a c-notch for the cross member? I really have no interest in doing that, so I'd like to know before I spend the $ and learn the hard way.

Thanks!!

 

I don't think it's required, but it'd probably be helpful as there isn't much room for articulation after the drop. I'm in the middle of my frankin drop, and as it is now with very little in the bed and just driving on surface roads at slow to mid speeds, it nearly hits the bump stops. My rear drop is probably closer to 5 and 5 5 1/2 and I have air bags on. It's really too low, so I'm working with a custom spring shop to both increase the rear spring rate and add another inch, which would put it closer to the 4 you're shooting for. I suspect I could add more pressure and be better off too, but I really want the suspension to work when unloaded at the minimum bag pressure. This gives me the best ability to keep the same rear ride height when loaded so I don't run out of travel.

I'm with yo that a frame notch seems too extreme and I didn't want to go there either, but in some ways it would help greatly with rear travel.

I think much depends on how you're going to use the truck, and under what conditions. I think if I go up to GVWR and RAWR, the rear end goes down nearly 3 inches with the stock setup. With just the flip, I'd expect that to hit the bump stops just about any time the axle articulates.

I borrowed a Go-Pro and watched to see what happens, and it looks like without bigger bumps and very little load it nearly hits the stops with each bump. I'm still lower than you would be right now, but I suspect it could be a bit of an issue., and will probably be quite bad with significant loading even if it's only 4".

 

I appreciate the response. That would be pretty cool to watch that GoPro video to see how it works. My use of the truck would be the occasional lumber load, towing an 8x6 utility trailer, etc. Not much beyond that. I just would hate to snap a driveshaft because a 4" was too low. I haven't seen many people with a 2/4 talking about needing to notch, but one person did and it created enough concern to make me ask the question. If there was a way to do a 2/3, I would consider that.

 

There are multiple ways to go about it, either try to do the drop with just big shackles, or use an add a leaf / or custom springs for more lift and still do the flip.

With lower bag pressures than I'm running I can go even lower in the rear, and if I crank it up it lifts a good inch or two (when empty). I didn't measure, nor did I try to drive it that way, but with lower and I'd constantly hit the bump stops, and I'd guess that higher would not ride that well either. Those factors are why I'm going to go with some custom spring mods. I could just put in a 1" lift shackle and be better on static height and travel, but I'd like to be able to drop the bag pressure down to the minimum when unloaded. This has the benefit of allowing less total air in the bags when needed to compensate for cargo.

I was shooting in the 3-4 range", but it's closer to 5.5 now. My theory was to do it and then see how things ended up and go from there. I think with the air bag addition, I'll be fine with the 4 - 4.5" range as I'm quite confident I can maintain that same drop even when adding 1400 lbs to the bed by increasing bag pressure. The testing for that was amusing, should have taken a photo. It was a modification of the just use water idea.

 

I have zero experience with bags so I always wondered how the ride quality was. Sounds like you have a lot of trial and error.

 

Yeah , no need to worry about a notch in the rear as you will have decent amount of travel. I would suggest to install the helper bags in the rear as mentioned in a previous post. This will allow you to raise it when towing , carrying a heavy load or just applying for your for stance. We run the belltech kits along with these full bolt on helper bags for flip kit applications. If you have any questions regarding lowering kits , helper bags , vibration or alignments feel free to contact me. I specialize in these lowered F150s. Check out my IG page @dv8dz9. Here are some recent 2/4 drops we’ve done.

 

I second this, no notch needed for 4” drop. I have a 6” drop in rear, and was hitting shortened bump stops on large bumps, but helper bags with only ~20psi eliminated that. And btw- looks like you guys are doing awesome work at dv8dz9.

 

Greatly appreciated! We’ve done a lot of trial and error to dial these things in.

 

Appreciate the reply and pics. Those look awesome! How are you achieving a true 4” rear drop on 4wd without the aid of bags? Some kits utilize the factory lift block which ends up making it 5” drop, which is too low for me. I’m not sure if Belltech reuses the lift block or not.

 

[QUOTE=jbone36;6507518]Appreciate the reply and pics. Those look awesome! How are you achieving a true 4” rear drop on 4wd without the aid of bags? Some kits utilize the factory lift block which ends up making it 5” drop, which is too low for me. I’m not sure if Belltech reuses the lift block or not.[/QUOTE

yeah we’ve used the maxtrac hangers or the belltech hangers provided like in the 1001sp kits. Another alternative has been adding a leaf to the leaf pack as well. You can use the lift shackles provided on the kits or you can use your stock shackle to go a bit lower. I normally just drop them on the 5.5 and add air to the stance I want to achieve.