‘84 F-250 leveling kit

hey guys, whats a reputable place to order a leveling kit from? i’m wanting to lift my 84 f250 (2wd) a couple inches, without spending thousands on a full off-roading suspension kit i’ll never use. i do want to keep the 3” rake difference in the back, so i was going to get a couple small ish blocks for the rear, and use a similar ish size front end lift kit too.

i’ve found a ton of leveling kits but of course, nobody specifies if they’ll fit an 80’s model or not, and i have no idea what exactly i’m looking for.

also, when doing a leveling kit, should the tie rods be upgraded, or are they fine if i get normal ones? i have to replace them anyway, but i’m not sure where to find stronger bigger tie rods.
i’m planning on a 2.5”-3” front level with 2” spacers. if that requires front end improvements, please let me know, and give me pointers on where to look. if not, then i think i’ve found a good set online already for the truck, but i know spacers add weight, and lifts add size differences.

thank you!  

Rough Country is one place that sells a leveling kit for our trucks, I think they sell them for the F250 as well.

Rough Country is a name brand that all people shoot for it seems when it comes to lifting their trucks.

Another option how ever is Eaton Detroit Spring, they make springs to OE specs using OE spec sheets that they have, you have the option to increase the height for front or rear.  This is the route I am going with the front being 1.5"+ on the front as I already planned on buying the leaf springs from this company to replace my worn out ones.

Either place would be a good option, Rough Country doesnt sell you a puck to place under your spring it is a taller spring to get the extra 1.5" lift that leveling kits provide.  Just what ever brand you go with avoid the one that uses the puck to raise your truck in the front.  The spacer puck I have seen make your truck ride rougher than it did before.  Taller springs to get the raise will make your truck ride softer than it did before the lift.

i’ve heard about rough country before. i’ve checked their site for a lot of different kits although they do not seem to like 2wd trucks lol a majority of their lifts were for 4wd.
i’ll definitely double check, since i have changed my lift plans, and see if there is an easier, more affordable option.
i’m not trying to lift my truck to fit 40’s, but i am just trying to go for a beefier, very slightly aggressive build.

if i lift the truck 3” ish, would that require new beefier tie rods, or would OEM sizes still be able to handle it? or should i get OEM and then the steering stabilizer from RC to help out?

Coco wrote

i’ve heard about rough country before. i’ve checked their site for a lot of different kits although they do not seem to like 2wd trucks lol a majority of their lifts were for 4wd.
i’ll definitely double check, since i have changed my lift plans, and see if there is an easier, more affordable option.
i’m not trying to lift my truck to fit 40’s, but i am just trying to go for a beefier, very slightly aggressive build.

if i lift the truck 3” ish, would that require new beefier tie rods, or would OEM sizes still be able to handle it? or should i get OEM and then the steering stabilizer from RC to help out?

Being that your truck is 2wd I assume you have a twin I beam front suspension.  In this case I honestly wouldn't try to lift the front more than 2".  Anything over 2" you will have a very hard time getting your cast/camber aligned properly.  If you have leaf springs with a solid front axle you can lift it easily as the whole solid axle is being moved evenly and not being pivoted like an I beam setup.

A 1.5" leveling kit for a F150/Bronco will allow the use of 32"x11.50" tires.  I currently have 31"x10.50" tires on my truck currently with no problems.  Only problem I do have is when I hit a bump at speed with a passenger the passenger side tire does scrub the heads of the bolts that hold the plastic fender apron to the fender itself.  This leveling kit would prevent that.

As far as tie rods goes, you don't need to upgrade the components.  The OE spec components are well over strong enough.  Case in point I hit a curb at an angle at 40 mph cause the road was being worked on and we had to switch from right side to the left side and the fools didn't cut the curb back far enough and I hit it at speed.  Bounced the front of the truck up and nearly lost control of the truck.  I thought there was no damage as the truck drove fine, but I was under it putting poly bushings in the I beams that were in need of replacement and saw the inner tie rod had a slight bend in it.  I ended up replacing it just because of that but if hitting a curb at 45 mph didn't do much to the tie rod, I wouldn't worry about upgrading your tie rods.  Just get good quality tie rods and run them.

It sounds like you have leveling & lift mixed up a little when you also say you want to keep the rake?
If you look at the side of your truck it has a rake, rear sits higher.
This is so when loaded the rear sags and ends up level.

Mow leveling kits drop the rear so it is level with no load.
Add a load and the rear now sags lower then the front.

Being that your truck is 2wd I assume you have a twin I beam front suspension.  In this case I honestly wouldn't try to lift the front more than 2".  Anything over 2" you will have a very hard time getting your cast/camber aligned properly.  If you have leaf springs with a solid front axle you can lift it easily as the whole solid axle is being moved evenly and not being pivoted like an I beam setup.

Because of the above is why leveling kits do not raise the front.
Also dose you 250 use kingpins or ball joints?
If kingpins then getting it back into factory spec will be even harder.

So now you know the difference of leveling and lifting.
So what is it you want to do level or lift?
Dave ----

okay, that makes sense. my main concern with the tie rods is the added weight of spacers. they’re only 12 lbs, but i don’t know enough about tie rods to know if that’s a size able change, or if the OE tie rods would even care about the weight, and would still function just like they do if the whole thing was stock.
if they’re gonna be able to handle it as normal, then i’ll just go with the set i’ve found on part finder, since they’re exact replacements.

as for the level vs lift, i want to lift the truck, but i’m not gonna be able to justify buying a super expensive lift kit, having to re-rebuild the front end, and then never really using the lift kit for anything like off roading or major major towing.

i know the rakes help with leveling out the truck when it’s under load; that’s why i wanted to keep the rear higher than the back. my idea for the lifting was use a small leveling kit, 2.5 or 3”, (i think the one i found for my truck was a 2.5”) and then use slightly larger lift blocks in the rear. i’m not gonna be towing any major major loads with the truck, it’s gonna be mostly hauling stuff in the bed for my mom’s property. i don’t want to lift the truck super high, like a show truck or 4x4, but just a little extra height would make it look a lot better, especially for the width/length ratio