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2011 Ford F-250 Suspension Lift Kit - 4-Wheel & Off-Road Magazine

Fred Williams Brand Manager, Petersen’s 4Wheel & Off Road

The ’11 Ford Super Duty is an impressive truck with a quiet and strong diesel engine, supple suspension, and workhorse genetics, but we all know stock trucks don’t stay that way for long when the keys fall into the hands of four-wheelers. We just got back from the Rancho Suspension prototype shop, where we upped an F-250 with a 4-inch lift kit and were pleased to find the installation was quick and easy and the ride quality is just like a stock truck.

131 1106 Ford F250 Suspension Lift Kit front Three Quarter View Photo 30757112

Rancho, a division of Tenneco, has an advantage when developing its Super Duty suspension in that Tenneco is an original equipment supplier for Super Duty suspension components. In fact, the FX-4 Super Duty comes equipped with Rancho shocks and Tenneco radius arm bushings from the dealer floor, so when you’re looking for an increase in Blue Oval altitude, Rancho is an obvious choice.

The suspension install should take about a day depending on the condition of the truck and tools available. The lift is designed to clear a 37-inch tire, but depending on wheel backspacing and tire/wheel width, we feel you may be able to go even higher due to the Ford’s massive wheelwell openings.

PhotosView Slideshow The ’11 Ford Super Duty uses coil-spring front suspension with radius arms and leaf-sprung rear suspension hooked to solid axles front and rear. A very robust and simple suspension system! The 4-inch Rancho kit has taller coil springs, a drop pitman arm, geometrically corrected radius arms, new shocks, rear lift blocks, and various drop brackets.

The ’11 Ford Super Duty uses coil-spring front suspension with radius arms and leaf-sprung rear suspension hooked to solid axles front and rear. A very robust and simple suspension system! The 4-inch Rancho kit has taller coil springs, a drop pitman arm, geometrically corrected radius arms, new shocks, rear lift blocks, and various drop brackets.

Compared to the factory stamped-steel radius arms, the tubular Rancho arms correct the steering caster by rolling the axle backward to make up for the 4-inch lift. This also corrects the coil spring mount so it doesn’t bulge forward under compression.

The Rancho radius arms benefit from the same massive bushings that the factory radius arms use. These bushings are made by Tenneco for Ford and result in a factorylike ride from the lifted truck. (The weird tab on the side is a lifting point for use with the factory jack.)

The Super Duty has excellent steering partly due to the massive steering box. Rancho keeps the performance with a drop pitman arm to best match the draglink and track bar angles for correct steering geometry. To optimize the steering radius, the wheel backspacing may need to be reduced to keep the tires from rubbing the radius arms.

Rancho has a fabricated drop bracket for the track bar to help level the bar at ride height and recenter the axle after the truck has been raised. The track bar must be properly torqued to 406 lb-ft. One common cause of death wobble amongst lifted trucks is an undertorqued track bar. Rancho offers three steering stabilizers to help control larger tires.

The rear suspension replaces the factory lift block with a taller lift block. Like the front, there are drop brackets for brake lines or cables to keep them from binding or stretching under full droop. Rancho also includes longer U-bolts. Rancho RS9000 XL shocks control each corner with variable settings to tune in the softness of the ride. These 2 3/4-inch-bodied shocks offer nine positions for a variety of terrain or driving styles. The shocks are nitrogen-charged and have the ability to be adjusted remotely using the Rancho My-Ride wireless controller.

2011 Ford F-250 Suspension Lift Kit - 4-Wheel & Off-Road Magazine

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