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Thread: Back of '06 Harley F150 too High

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    Back of '06 Harley F150 too High

    This is my first truck ever. Believe it or not I traded a Mercedes Roadster on it and the dealer had to write me a check back, but thats another story.

    What bugs me is all the publicity photos of the truck from Ford show the truck sitting level. I plan to haul my Harley Electra Glide or heavier loads, so I don't want to compromise the suspension travel etc.

    A pretty smart sounding guy at the local truck accessory shop showed me the two inch spacers between the leaf springs and the axel that Ford uses to achieve the raised look in the back. He says they remove them all the time to level the truck. All you guys seem to talk about shackles as the solution, so what's the story.

    Help a new guy out here. It's odd that the spacers seem to be the exact heighth difference...are shackles just easier? Do they affect over suspension travel and load handling?

    Thanks in advance.

    Just want to sit level and still get the bike in the back for a trip to Sturgis.

    Ride the Glide!

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    Pull the spacers for that couple inch drop, nuff said. I dropped our 06 Harley 2" in the front, 5" in the rear to level and lower the truck to a reasonable "Harley" level... All with retaining the stock leaf's in the back...

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    congrats on the purchase and welcome to the club! now drop that azzzzzzz

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    Thanks Logan, I was hoping to find someone who had done job by removing the obvious (or at leas what I think) problem. It bugs me the publicity photos show the truck laser level and mine looks like a high school project from the '70's. I like the overall height coming from cars for now, so just getting it level in the back would be a great deal. Hoe would overall suspension travel and load be affected? I already see that the Harley trucks are rated at a lower payload than other models. Local guys seem to think its the alloy wheels not necessarily having the same weight bearing capacity etc. What's your thought? I still want to ramp my Electra Glide up into the bed for trips to wherever and carry some gear.

    Can't believe how much I love my truck after so many years in a car and foreign ones at that. Glad to be back in an American product that isn't finicky about which oil, gas etc.

    Again, thanks for your help. I'll find someone to pull those spacers...

    Ride on Glide!

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    Welcome!
    Im thinking the difference in the payload is due to the tires rather than the wheels. Ford usually over-engineers their wheels, thats why there so freakin' heavy!
    Check the load capacities on your sidewall and the sidewall of a stock F150.

    Enjoy that new truck!

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    Quote Originally Posted by Logan@Trilogy
    Pull the spacers for that couple inch drop, nuff said. I dropped our 06 Harley 2" in the front, 5" in the rear to level and lower the truck to a reasonable "Harley" level... All with retaining the stock leaf's in the back...
    Let's see some pics!!!

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    I'll try to take some pics this weekend and figure out how to post them. Maybe it is the tires with the lower profile side walls... The manual says to inflate them to inflate them to a max of41 pounds and no more inflation will help with the load carrying etc. It suggests 36 pounds for normal driving with the Pirrelli Scorpions. It's odd (or maybe normal!) that no one rally can come up with the definitive answer.

    During Bike Week here in Daytona, Ford had a big display of the Harley trucks and a promotion with prizes. I posed the question to them and they were unaware of any difference. So we broke out the owners manual and I showed them them the page and they scratched their collective heads. Well, they all broke the cell phones and called whoever and said "they'd get back to me", but I'm still waiting. Not that big a deal, more a curiosity, but it does figure in the whole lowering suspension thing.

    Anyway, thanks to all. I'm going to check with some of the local shops here and see if I can't get the back end lowered some afternoon. And I'll try to figure out that picture thing ASAP!

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    AWD Drop..

    This is a great site... Learning all sorts of stuff. My questionis regarding the AWD model. I want to do the 2/4 drop, but all the drop kits out there are for the 4X2 or 4X4 model. Is the AWD considered a 4x4? I love the truck, but hate the way it sits up so high. UKHARLEY has a sweet ride. Thats the look I want. And.. this spacer? can that be removed, and a shackle kit put on to get the 4 inch drop in the back? just curious. Hodgo,,, from Maui...

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    I just ordered the 2" drop shackles for the rear. In the relaese notes, it mentions that the shackles will drop the rear of an AWD only 1.5". I havent talked my wife into a complete lowering kit. She likes the way it rides. So I talked her into atleast leveling it, without sacrificing the ride. I opted for the Ground Force Suspension Shackles. They were $89 vs others as cheap as $49. I opted for the GFS because they come with carrier shims to allow for factory pinion angle. I will be installing this weekend. I will take before and after pictures and post.
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    OOOOOOHHHHH.....The wife's Ground Force Lowering Shackles came in today. I pulled'em out of the box greased all the urethane bushings & assembled'em. There they sit ready for Saturday morning. Ill post before & after pics.

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    Congrats on the truck...

    The reason that all the gouge you have seen so far on lowering via shackles is that the 00/01/02/03 Harleys dont have a two inch block bettween the rear leafs and the axles...so we use shackles to get her lower....

    just FYI

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    Just finished lowering the rear. It dropped almost 2" overall. There is one more hole in the new shackles. I may lower it all the way.
    Attached Images Attached Images

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    Quote Originally Posted by veronese1
    Just finished lowering the rear. It dropped almost 2" overall. There is one more hole in the new shackles. I may lower it all the way.
    This is the Ground Force 2"/5" kit...


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    That looks good! I may have to do the complete kit. Before that though, the hampsters under the hood are weak. Did I say weak, I meant WEAK! I need to spend some time & money there.

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    This fixes that...


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