lifted lincoln

[01Townie]

so guys, i finally got leroy runnin the way he should (except the slowly failing torque converter) so i have decided on my next project...a lift. basically i want to be able to fit a set of 30" all terrain tires on but not sure where (or how) to start. adding wheel spacers and cutting fenders are not huge worries for me since ive done all that before, but i want to find a good way to do a suspension lift while keeping it cheap and street legal. of course changing the gearing and throwing a 5 speed in will come at some point, but thatll be later on down the road once i have money to spend and time to do it. any suggestions?

[sly]

the rear uses a watts link to center the axle. not sure if it has a limit of travel, but anything over about a 4 inch lift would probably require custom fabbed brackets and adjustable or custom control arms. For the front... probably the same story. Once you get out of DONK territory, you're going to need to fab stuff. You may also need to relocate the steering box (weld a plate to the frame with appropriate brackets to keep it from flexing to drop the box to level the tie rods) depending on how far down the spindles get.


All that said... I do think that just 30 inch tires will fit as is, but a 2 inch lift would probably help clear the front fenders on no more than 8 inch wide wheels/tires. Unless you really wanna gain ground clearance... then you'll probably need more lift than that. Stock tires are 26.6 or 27 inch tall.

[01Townie]

the rear uses a watts link to center the axle. not sure if it has a limit of travel, but anything over about a 4 inch lift would probably require custom fabbed brackets and adjustable or custom control arms. For the front... probably the same story. Once you get out of DONK territory, you're going to need to fab stuff. You may also need to relocate the steering box (weld a plate to the frame with appropriate brackets to keep it from flexing to drop the box to level the tie rods) depending on how far down the spindles get.


All that said... I do think that just 30 inch tires will fit as is, but a 2 inch lift would probably help clear the front fenders on no more than 8 inch wide wheels/tires. Unless you really wanna gain ground clearance... then you'll probably need more lift than that. Stock tires are 26.6 or 27 inch tall.

so if i did a 4 inch lift, would it require any custom fabbing? also, the tires i found were 30x10s so i know i would ned wheel spacers and more than likely some offset wheels, possible with a little fender cutting just to make em fit a little better. more ground clearence would be nice but i think a 4 inch lift and the extra height from the tires would give me what im looking for.

also...DONK terirory? what do you mean by that?

[sly]

4 inch is the limit of quick spacers and what I think is on goodsam's wagon. I'm not sure if it'll work on a watts link the same way though. Donk territory would be that area where you need even more lift to fit the wheels and special control arms (which may be needed with a 4 inch lift). see http://www.donkkings.com/index.php

lots of hardware there for lifting everything from boxes to whales.

10 inch wide wheels will require spacers (or some pretty good backspacing) and maybe a little fender flare up front to clear the wheels on full lock. 10 inch will fit in the rear with just a fender lip tuck.

[01Townie]

4 inch is the limit of quick spacers and what I think is on goodsam's wagon. I'm not sure if it'll work on a watts link the same way though. Donk territory would be that area where you need even more lift to fit the wheels and special control arms (which may be needed with a 4 inch lift). see http://www.donkkings.com/index.php

lots of hardware there for lifting everything from boxes to whales.

10 inch wide wheels will require spacers (or some pretty good backspacing) and maybe a little fender flare up front to clear the wheels on full lock. 10 inch will fit in the rear with just a fender lip tuck.

thanks a ton! i think im gonna just cut both front and rear fenders just so they look the same (sorta) and add fender flares. wheel spacers are no issue since i know a guy who can get em for me pretty cheap.

also, if the watts link wont work, couldnt i make some brackets so the stock one would mount up?

[01Townie]

4 inch is the limit of quick spacers and what I think is on goodsam's wagon. I'm not sure if it'll work on a watts link the same way though. Donk territory would be that area where you need even more lift to fit the wheels and special control arms (which may be needed with a 4 inch lift). see http://www.donkkings.com/index.php

lots of hardware there for lifting everything from boxes to whales.

10 inch wide wheels will require spacers (or some pretty good backspacing) and maybe a little fender flare up front to clear the wheels on full lock. 10 inch will fit in the rear with just a fender lip tuck.

also, ive heard of guys using f150 suspensions to lift their CVs, would that be a basic drop in or would it require alot of fabrication? (just tryin to keep it as cheap as possible)

[79lincolnlover]

Buy a truck...

[sly]

it would require a lot of welding and fabrication because the F150 frame rails are narrower than the panther. I know nothing about the watts link... So I dunno. I would think at the worst, just fabbing up some drop brackets for the frame mounts would sort it.

[LimitedStreet]

also, ive heard of guys using f150 suspensions to lift their CVs, would that be a basic drop in or would it require alot of fabrication? (just tryin to keep it as cheap as possible)

I can promise you it wont be cheap.

Maybe F150 coils in the front, but F150's run leaf springs in the rear. Nothing is going to drop in since there are no lifts specifically made for these cars. You will have to custom fab A lot.

[sly]

I can promise you it wont be cheap.

Maybe F150 coils in the front, but F150's run leaf springs in the rear. Nothing is going to drop in since there are no lifts specifically made for these cars. You will have to custom fab A lot.

there are lifts made for these cars... check the site I posted earlier. They have control arms with added drop reach to compensate for pretty good lifts.