24 RCSB Lowering Info

[nameless]

Hey everyone, I am new to the f150 world. My prior car was a nitrous 17 s550. I have entered the dark side and the land of traction with the 4x4 single cab. I was originally going to jump right into the ridetech kit but wanted to see what was possible with a lower budget.

I did a lot of digging when it came to reducing the rake of my single cab. There is a good bit of conflicting information on shackles and blocks as well as pinion angle vibration issue. I just wanted to share with you all what I came across in my personal experience incase it can help someone else.

From the factory my truck came with a rake of 4.5 inches. My fender to wheel was 11.5 inches in the rear and 7 inches in the front. My stock pinion angle was 5.5 degrees, driveshaft of 8 degrees, transfer case of 5 degrees. I actually had a slight vibration issue around 80 miles per hour on my drive home from Alabama.

My stock blocks on the 4x4 were 1 and 1/4 inch in the rear and 1 and 1/8 inches in the front. Effectively a 1 and 1/4 inch block and a 1.25% pinion shim.

The stock shackles are 4.5 inches center eyelet to center eye. It takes approximately two inches in length increase to lower the ride height 1 inch with shackles as they pivot off the front mounting location. The ford “1.5” inch lowering shackle has a center eyelet of 6.625 inches which is the exact same as the max trac 413710 which is advertised as a 1-1.25 inch drop. Ford is being optimistic to say the least. The max trac 411420 is 7.625 inches from center to center, advertised as a 2 inch drop but ultimately being about 1.75 inches if pinion shims are not needed.

I am rather confident I could fit the 411420 on my specific truck without notching the bed-support so if anyone has a set I would be glad to cover shipping to give it a shot.

All that being said, with the block removed and the 413710 shackle installed I am now sitting at 9 inches fender to tire in the rear and 7.5 inches fender to tire in the front due to weight transfer. My rear pinion is now 3 degrees with the driveshaft being 8 and transfer case being 5. I have zero vibration with these numbers. This allows for pinion rise under acceleration without overshooting the transfer case angle.

While the 411420 shackle set would increase my rear drop by another .5 inches and I believe would clear no issue, it would further reduce my pinion angle requiring a shim in which 2.5 degrees are most readily available. The 2.5 degree shim is .25 inches in height so the actual increase in drop after adding them shim would only be .25 inches at the cost of 120$, the time to swap the shackle and the shim. If I had a vibration now this would be worth it but it rides very similar to stock except more planted. I do believe that with the 411420 shackle and 2.5 degree shim with the stock blocks removed that my pinion would be at 4.5 degrees more closely resembling the transfer case but for now I am happy with the set up unless someone is willing to send me the set to gueinea pig.
I look forward to learning and sharing more -Andrew

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[NavyChief]

Welcome to the forum and congrats on the truck. You seem to be doing it right by checking your angles and doing your homework and I believe you have it right if you want to lower further which is the Ridetech also the one I have now after first going cheap and doing the IHC ride kit.

The biggest thing I have against the IHC Ride kit is that they replace the lower control arms to get the drop and retain the factory strut but use older GM ball joints that don't quite fit without modding the factory spindle on the upper by drilling the hole larger to fit the larger GM ball joint and uses a very thin nut on the lower ball joint that you have to use red Loctite and hope it stays as you don't have the threads to put a castle nut on. When I installed the nut stripped when torqued to spec and when I called I was told I have to source the nut so I had to buy a 2000 Suburban ball joint to get the castle nut it came with to get it mounted so I had half the threads retaining the control arm. The rear flip is pretty standard across the kits but the quality isn't great with IHC as when I torqued the clamps to spec it bent the u bolts that hold the top plate and bent the lower plate corners. This was 2 years ago so maybe they are better now as there are a lot of people using them.

The performance kit seems really similar to Ridetech in that it uses coilovers and retains the factory lower control arms but I have no experience with it as I went Ridetech the second time.

I've heard good things about VAS as well. Good luck and post some pics as you go it's always good to see others installing mods as well.

 

[jasonkosi]

Off topic, but did you get the OEM aluminum wheels painted black? And how did you go about it, powder coat, DIY? They look really good!

 

[nameless]

Thank you for the welcome and for sharing your experience! Yes I have seen some crazy things with the IHC kit as you have stated. Broken cups on the upper control arm, leaf springs shifting and ruining driveshafts, as well as the stripping of the threads etc.

I appreciate the thoroughness of the installation manual with the Ridetech as well as the numerous positive reviews. I did call Ridetech Friday morning and I am yet to receive a call back, but I understand how Fridays can go.

I am not sure how quick the progress will be on this one. I talked myself into the purchase of this truck as a vehicle to reliably allow me transportation anywhere in the nation as I pursue my doctorate in anesthesia. Life has changed drastically for me in the last 5 years, habits of not being able to leave things alone die hard though. Maybe the 3/5 kit and 22x10 forgestar x14's with 305/40/22 toyo's fits into that and maybe it doesn't haha. They are in my cart.

Upon graduation it'll likely become a twin turbo truck.

Another option that could work well for 4x4 guys not looking to go super low would be the Maxtrac 4 inch flip kit and 2wd front Bilstein 4600 struts. The 4 inch flip uses a 1 inch lift shackle in the rear and a front mount similar to Ridetech although not as good looking. That would drop a stock 4x4 about 5 inches in the rear and 2 inches in the front to get it down and still have a little sport truck rake for about 750 bucks instead of 2500. Many different ways to pull it all together.

 

[nameless]

Off topic, but did you get the OEM aluminum wheels painted black? And how did you go about it, powder coat, DIY? They look really good!

Hey Jason, thank you! Truth be told it is Shadow Black Hyperdip I had laying around from another project. It took me about 3 hours in the garage all said and done, with many diet coke and dog entertainment breaks while the coats dried.

I'm in touch with a local paint/powder coat guy, i just wanted to see how it would look in the meantime and I am well pleased. There is a bit of a learning curve to the stuff and you want to wipe the wheels down with alcohol first. It's fully removeable incase things don't go well. Deep mud or driving through brush would probably do a number on it, but those are not a concern for me at this time.

So far it is looking like 105$ per wheel to have them "professionally" painted black and cleared with the tires on, and 150ish per wheel for powder coating (depending on the finish chosen and the cost per gram of powder) plus the cost to have the tires dismounted and remounted. I am currently undecided on what route to go, but these look decent enough for the time being.

 

[513Mugsy]

I choose the Ridetech for the quality and the way better bushings. None of those hard bushing in the kit. They appear to be like factory bushings. So the ride is no where near as harsh as people expect. My truck rides great, almost like factory, but lowered 3 1/2" front and the full 5" in the rear. I also put on the Ridetech airbags. Keeps the rear off the bump stops. I have about 1500 miles on my kit without issue. Also have towed a 4500lb trailer/mower setup a few times last fall without any issues. Just put more air in the bags to level out the ride.

Buy once, cry once!

 

[The_Auto_Tech]

I'll be straight honest - just buy the full Ridetech kit and don't look back. I fucked around too much at first with the IHC 4/6 kit which was terrible, went to the Ridetech kit and tried to modify a few things to get it lower but ran into a bunch of drawbacks, and now the truck sits with exactly how the Ridetech kit was originally installed, along with their rear sway bar, traction bars, load leveling kit, Hellwig front sway bar, Twisted Metalworks bumpsteer kit, and the SPC HD front cam bolt kits.

 

[1slo5oh]

+1 for Ridetech. Rides great, I couldn't be happier. I installed it in my driveway on my back and it really wasn't bad at all and the instructions were thorough. I didn't measure before the install so I'm not sure of the exact drop but I've got the rear set 1 up from the lowest setting. I drive it everyday and was worried about our shit roads with it on the lowest setting but after 6 months I haven't had a single issue so I may lower it the rest of the way. Either way these things are a blast. It's fun to drive and can still be used as a truck, it really is best of both worlds (at least for me lol).

 

[nameless]

Thank you all for the input. I am waiting for my old work truck to sell and will just jump straight to the full Ridetech kit. My old lady has stuck it out with me for a few years now and goes to the track with me so probably a ring for her too

 

[mdomicolo]

Just a quick FYI: IHC is trash.

&& yes; I have earned the right to say that.

 

[The_Auto_Tech]

Just a quick FYI: IHC is trash.

&& yes; I have earned the right to say that.

Definitely not the first time I've seen those issues, which is another reason I ditched my IHC kit.

 

[Davidwnuc]

Sounds like you have decided on Ridetech. Smart move. I went with maxtrac back in 2022 for my rear flip kit and it was fine but not great. I swapped over to ridetech back in November and I am impressed by the build quality.
below is a comparison of the lower brackets from maxtrac and ridetech. You can guess which one is which…

 

[The_Auto_Tech]

Sounds like you have decided on Ridetech. Smart move. I went with maxtrac back in 2022 for my rear flip kit and it was fine but not great. I swapped over to ridetech back in November and I am impressed by the build quality.
below is a comparison of the lower brackets from maxtrac and ridetech. You can guess which one is which…

I love when people say "a flip kit is just a flip kit." There's been multiple complaints (myself included) with the IHC flip kit and the u-bolt plate bending easily before even remotely reaching the torque spec for the bolts. I had actually seen one person post that the end of theirs even actually broke off.

 

[Marcsrx]

So is driveline vibration inevitable with a 3/5 Ridetech kit? I received mine and have yet to install it. I keep hearing how at highway speed there will be a vibration. I understand pinion angle etc. Is there a tried and true method of install or shimming which solves it? perhaps an aftermarket driveshaft? curious on others have managed to eliminate it or if its just inevitable on a lowered truck and something to learn to live with.

 

[513Mugsy]

So is driveline vibration inevitable with a 3/5 Ridetech kit? I received mine and have yet to install it. I keep hearing how at highway speed there will be a vibration. I understand pinion angle etc. Is there a tried and true method of install or shimming which solves it? perhaps an aftermarket driveshaft? curious on others have managed to eliminate it or if its just inevitable on a lowered truck and something to learn to live with.

I put the kit on about 800 miles ago. We put the kit together using the standard shim location and angle direction. Everything measured within .5 degrees of each other. When I got it aligned, I used a professional shop that aligns race cars locally. They measured the rear end and compared to the front crank pulley. They found .4 degrees of difference. They did find that the rear end was out of square to the front by 0.080" in each direction. So we fixed that by loosening the U bolts and strapping the rear end to get it a little bit in opposite direction. Tighten everything up and watched the alignment screen to see the number come right into 0.00.

I have no vibes, and no shaking. My front end is set at 3 1/2”, so I have some rake. Plus I have put on the rear Ridetech airbags. These may take up some unfelt vibes. But they can't be much it any at all. Everyone's truck is just a little bit different with all of the welding and machining tolerances. So you may have to play around with the shims, but I doubt it.

Oh and read and read those directions!

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