Stand Tall

Our ’95 Ford F-350 Two-Wheel-Drive Dualie Gets Leveled and a Fresh Front End

- Bruce P. Smith

AGE TAKES its toll on every vehicle, and miles just speed up the aging process. That’s definitely the way it typically works for trucks that see regular duty on streets, highways, farms, and anywhere else they can be driven. Our ’95 Ford F-350, Big White, is a prime example of a rig that’s experiencing both.

The two-wheel-drive 7.3L-powered crew-cab dualie turns 25 years old in 2020, and by the time you read this, the odometer will have passed 170,000 miles. It has weathered the time well. But minor mechanical issues are starting to arise here and there, and they need addressing.

For this upgrade exercise, taking care of Big White’s aging front suspension is our top priority. Worn ball joints and tie-rod ends are contributing to accelerated tread wear on the inside of the Toyo Open Country H/T tires. And the attrition the twin I-beam steering components are experiencing has also brought about vibration in the steering wheel and a slight pull. Our dualie is also in need of new shocks, brakes, and lifting of the front end a couple of inches to get rid of the “stink bug” stance.

Unfortunately, because of its age, it’s not easy to find all the correct steering and suspension parts for old-body-style (OBS) Ford pickups at a Ford dealer’s service department. We gathered the ball joints, drag link, tie-rod ends, and brake components from AutoZone, choosing Duralast’s top-of-the-line “Gold Series” front-end hardware for our rebuild because they are equal to, or better quality than, the OEM parts.

For lifting/leveling the front of Big White to get rid of the raked stance, we turned to Complete Performance Products in Jasper, Texas. There are a lot of leveling kits for four-wheel-drive Super Duty rigs, but “CP Addict” produces the only one we know of designed exclusively for ’80-to-’97 OBS two-wheel-drive trucks.