Topic: Front suspension/steering questions

[-Jake-]

Ok I got my F150s swapped in my 81 saturday.  Now for the front I am going to do RUFs off of an 87 maybe with some 81s thrown in.  I am planning on doing cross over steering at this time as well.  I'll tell you guys my plan and you can critique and tell me any problems you guys see.  RUFs with stock front hanger with some boomerang shackles around 6" long with a FLAT pitman arm for crossover steering.  I guess my question is can I use the stock hanger with boomerang shackles and from what I have gathered I need to run a flat pitman arm.  Sound good?  Thanks guys!

[79coyotefrg]

can I use the stock hanger with boomerang shackles

that is what they were designed for

[Travis H]

should work just fine, try for a 6 leaf pack in the front.

[89sastoyo]

just throwin it out there since you kept mentioning the pitman arm, Are you aware that you have to buy an ifs steering box and a mounting kit for it and mount it? If so make sure you move it as far forwards as possible even If its not needed I would incase you want to move your axle further forwards inthe future.

[4x4yota]

I am running stock 82 rears with 4th leaf from a 3" rancho pack and sky shackle did the flat pitman arm so I could keep my truck as low as possible

here is how the truck is now my final setup... I still have room to move my axle forward if I ever do a drop hanger or different springs

[-Jake- [OP]]

just throwin it out there since you kept mentioning the pitman arm, Are you aware that you have to buy an ifs steering box and a mounting kit for it and mount it?

Yeah I knew that.  I've got a box of my junk 87 that I am planning on using.  I was checking out some build threads and it looks like with RUFs people were having better luck with the flat pitman arm as opposed to the stock dropped one.  Whats the deal with boomerang shackles being $60   not gonna pay that.  I think I'll just make some straight ones and notch my body mounts and save $60.

[4x4yota]

agreed even with the sky shackle I still have to notch my body mount... it hits at drop since it has to much curve

[germ85]

how long would the front shackles need to be to do the ruf?

[twistedtoy92]

You must be runnin the 48'' rears then..... With the 3rd gen rears you have to move the front hanger forward a bit..... I'd just notch my BM's run straight shackles and call it good... I bought a set of boomerangs and only ran them for a week...... they are now just sitting in my tool box at work.... I switched back to 5.5'' straight shackles... And yes I would recommend running a flat pitman arm if you arent using a front drop hanger 

[-Jake- [OP]]

Yes I'll be running the 48 inchers from an 87 with some leaves from my 81 pack tossed in.  I'm probably going to start with some homemade 5.5" shackles and go from there.  Thanks for the help guys!

[twistedtoy92]

sounds like a plan!

[4x4yota]

I redrill my boomerang shackle to 4.5 and it works great but it does have to be the L shape but a straight 5.5" is good or evena 5"