help lowering a lift

[jamieth29]

Hey everyone first post on here...great site. anyway recently bought a 70 f-100 4x4 and the truck has a 6" lift. I want to lower the truck back down to a 2-4" lift and just wondering what all has to move with the truck. The way it looks is that all that lifts the truck is springs and blocks also shocks. The torsion bars have some type of bracket on them but it looks like the origanal bracket is bolted to that. Do I just unbolt these two brackets and put the smaller back on the truck frame? What else on the front needs to be replaced/shortened or lengthend? driveshafts?

[jamieth29]

bracket that torsion bars go to

[jamieth29]

front end shots

[jamieth29]

back leafs

[jamieth29]

rear end is also tipped up...is this normal with a lift?

[jamieth29]

also forgot to mention the truck has a terrible shimme in the front end about half way through 3rd gear then goes away. It also shimmes real bad when I hit the breaks at about the same speed...feels like the front wheels are going to fall off. the guy I bought it from said it just needs an alignment he thought.... it has to be something else its really bad. Its not the brakes or a loose wheel...any thoughts?

[forrestbump]

First the front axle: The shimmy is probably due to incorrect caster. That should correct itself when you return the truck to it's correct ride height. The bracket that the strut arms (they're NOT torsion arms) are bolted into appear to be the O.E.M. brackets attached to a drop down bracket... remove the drop down brackets and re-attach the O.E.M. brackets to the frame and you should be good to go. The track rod (the rod that keeps the front axle centered to the frame) probably has a drop bracket attached to it too. Same deal as the strut arm brackets. Kinda hard to tell by the photos though.

The rear axle: Gross over kill (and potentially DEADLY) after market, read "home made", lift blocks. It appears that there's some degree of caster angle built-in to them. The ONLY blocks you want on top of your axle spring pads are, again, the O.E.M. Ford versions. The higher the blocks are, the more torque leverage there will be... NOT a good thing.

If you want some "lift" over the factory height, get quality components from a reputable manufacturer. Some of these lifts are an accident waiting to happen.