Lowered Center of Gravity - 2012 Ford F-150

Notes still pop up on our digital media spaces questioning why we would ever lower any truck. That is an easy question to answer. We respond that it produces great looks, better aerodynamics, improved fuel economy, and not to mention upgraded on-road handling for the twists and turns of your favorite canyon road. We can also go on by saying the truck is left undamaged and still has its full trailer and weight carrying capacity in most cases so it’s still a functional truck. If you add up all those answers, then it begs the question, Why wouldn’t we want to lower trucks?

Having been in the industry since darn near the beginning of time, Belltech performance suspension has been a long time leader in truck lowering technology. When we had the opportunity to install a lowering kit on a 2012 Ford F-150, we jumped at the chance to use Belltech’s latest lift/lower front strut system. For trucks like our F-150 that have a front strut, Belltech supplies the kit with coil seat spacers that will allow nearly everything from two inches of lift to three inches of lowering in half-inch increments. Should you want to get down farther, you can always add in one of Belltech’s performance lowering coils. For our application we were going to do a full 4-inch front and 6-inch rear drop, but after some measuring for the planned tire size, we decided to stop at three inches up front and five inches out back.

Follow along as we chase the Custom Truck Shop of San Dimas, California, around the underside of a new Ford F-150.

1. Belltech sent us the parts necessary to do a full 4/6 drop, but our choice to retain some thicker sidewall tires made us change to a 3/5 lowering instead. Only the coils pictured will get set aside.
1. Belltech sent us the parts necessary to do a full 4/6 drop, but our choice to retain so
2. New trucks are much easier to lower in comparison to previous models. To get the strut out, we only needed to pull the brakes, unbolt the sway bar, pop the upper ball joint free, and unbolt the strut.
2. New trucks are much easier to lower in comparison to previous models. To get the strut
3. Using a strut compressor, the top hat was removed and the stock coil pulled from the original strut. We then set the Belltech seat spacers to the lowest setting and added the coil seat, stock coil, and top hat.
3. Using a strut compressor, the top hat was removed and the stock coil pulled from the or

4. With the assembly ready to roll, you can see the coil is well down the strut body and the front lowering required nothing more than reassembly into the truck.
4. With the assembly ready to roll, you can see the coil is well down the strut body and t
5. Belltech's parts bolted directly into place with all of the original hardware.
6. Once the upper ball joint was cinched tight, we reinstalled the sway bar end links, bolted the brakes back on, and called it ready to roll.
6. Once the upper ball joint was cinched tight, we reinstalled the sway bar end links, bol

7. Minus the silver paint on the Belltech strut, you would be hard pressed to tell anything has been modified. We liked that aspect.
7. Minus the silver paint on the Belltech strut, you would be hard pressed to tell anythin
8. The rear of the Ford required much more work than the front. We supported the rear axle and pulled the leaf springs from the F-150. Since we were doing a flip kit, the original U-bolt guides needed to be removed, and the two locating pins unbolted and replaced through the top of the leaves.
8. The rear of the Ford required much more work than the front. We supported the rear axle
9. A flip kit on this truck would normally allow six inches of lowering. This Belltech lift shackle gave us 1-inch back for a total of a 5-inch drop.
9. A flip kit on this truck would normally allow six inches of lowering. This Belltech lif

10. Back up in the truck with the leaf springs now under the axle, the new axle saddles were placed between the spring pads and the leaf springs.
10. Back up in the truck with the leaf springs now under the axle, the new axle saddles we
11. A new U-bolt guide was placed on top of the axle's spring pad and…
12. … the included Belltech U-bolts were tightened to hold it all together.

13. Swapping out the spongy original shocks for Belltech's Street Performance shock absorbers will allow us much better handling and load control.
13. Swapping out the spongy original shocks for Belltech's Street Performance shock absorb
14. Ford chose to weld its carrier-bearing drop in place on the new F-150 truck line. Our lowering system required that we raise the carrier bearing to account for proper driveline angles. Following the kit's instructions, we cut and welded the bracket back as needed.
14. Ford chose to weld its carrier-bearing drop in place on the new F-150 truck line. Our
15. Some black spray paint made it all safe from the elements, and the original hardware was bolted into place to hold the factory carrier bearing in its new position.
15. Some black spray paint made it all safe from the elements, and the original hardware w

SOURCE
Yokohama Tire Corporation 601 S. Acacia Avenue Fullerton CA 92831 800-722-9888 www.yokohamatire.com	Belltech 1075 North Avenue Sanger CA 93657 800-445-3767 www.belltech.com
Custom Truck Shop 846 W. Cienega Avenue San Dimas CA 91773 909-599-2228 www.customtruckshop.com