I've recently acquired a bone stock '79 F-150 Custom Short Bed, 351M/C4/NP205 and would like some ideas on where to start.

The drivetrain is in great shape. The engine and transmission were recently rebuilt. The front suspension and steering feels pretty loose. I guess new radius arm bushings are in order?

This is my first Ford 4WD - I've built a few Toyota pickups and Land Cruisers - But I don't really know what's good and what's bad in the Ford department.

From what I can tell, this truck has a D44 up front and a 9" in back. The data plate indicates that it has 3.55 gearing.

Ideally, I'd like to run 35" tires. A quick search turned up Rocky Mountian Suspensions. Can anyone comment on the Superlift 4" kit w/ springs? For simplicity, I'd like to keep the coils up front as opposed to swapping in leafs.

Once the suspension/steering/gears/lockers are sorted out, I may explore some transfer case options at a later date.

Any ideas welcome...Thanks! :D

If you want more of hard-core trail rig, lose the bed, doors and hood. Throw Detroits in the front and rear and go beat on it!

If the steering's loose, it could be radius arm bushings but I'd check tie rods, trac bar bushing, steering box and rag joint.

No reason to swap in leaves up front!

I even knew a guy who ran a 4" lift and never bothered to install the dropped pitman arm, said it drove great and no bumpsteer.

Wrist one of the radius arms.

As for the t-case, you've got plenty of rear d/s to do an ORD doubler.

C6 tranny

I would opt not for the Superlift. I had a 6" Superlift and it sucked ass. Do shackle flip in the rear, then get some early bronco coils, pivots and extended radius arms for the front. This is what I just did and I'll find out by this weekend if it was worth it. Superlift stuff sucks. Mine had stock clearance(drop brackets) no flex and the springs were way too stiff to flex well. Plus that kit came with 6" blocks for the rear. Doing it right is actually cheaper thangoing with a kit like that. Look up Wild Horses, James Duff, or call Bent and Twisted 4 wheel drive for the good shit.

Good luck, keep us posted.

Oh yeah replace the trac bar bushings first to fix the front end shimmy, mine go out on a monthly basis.

4"Skyjacker lift, the springs are soft for decent articulation and they don't seem to sag over time like a few others. I know my Rancho's don't sag....
but these are not designed for nice articulation either. just high speed impacts off road. Don't do the shackle flip if you plan on towing though... otherwise it's a good option. I have the 6" Skyjacker rear leafs directly on my new angled spring perches. No axle wrap to speak of now and decent articulation in the rear.
I don't recommend Superlift to Ford owners... seen too many problems.:eek:

I am running the Superlift 4 inch and love it, its been on my wife's 78 Bronco for two years now with no sagging or any other problems clears the 35's. I did a lot of web research before buying my lift and found oout Superlift has the softest sprong rates for the 70's Ford's. But I would do the shakle flip in the rear. As far as towing goes plenty of trucks comme from the factory with the shackles flipped so it can't be a bad thing. Make sure you check the track bar bolt at the axle housing they are almost allways wollowed out. If it is ther is a replacement bolt that will fix it. Had to do that on mine along with everything else on the frontend.

I agree with bigsquirt..SKyjacker makes the best lift for the older Fords...

so a question I didn't see asked is what are you going to use it for? Rocks, mud, sand? Train only or DD? This will be the key factor on what you want to do.

Stonyford's right about the coils, go with 4" Wild Horse progressive rate coils, 3" body lift. The shackle flip is a good call on the rear also. But loose that 351. Get yerself a 390 or 460. No replacement for displacement.

Depending on what you use it for, that's a nice setup. The drivetrain can easily handle the 35's. I'm guessing it already has PS, PB, and front discs so all you need is some Early Bronco coils from www.bcbroncos.com and some National leafs. I agree about switching out the M but I would just get a 351W instead. Nice rig...I'd like to find a cheap one here in Texas with a 351W, NP435, NP205, disc 44, and 31 spline 9" and swap everything into one of my EB's.