F350..how much lift to clear high steer? Can I do it on RSK alone?

[Detroit80]

The shorter version - Truck is a 1990 F-350 CCLB 4x4, that really needs to have all the steering and suspension rebuilt on it...starting to get death wobble, and getting some bad tie rod roll.

If I put on just a 2.5" lift RSK, using new stock springs, will it be enough lift in the front to squeeze a full high steer kit in there? Or will I need more lift to clear it?

Longer more detailed version -
Currently stock suspension, with a bent front main leaf, still pondering all my options for replacements. While the wide eyed kid in me wants the stupid high stance truck with 44" TSLs under it (because man, these old crew cabs just look killer reaching for the sky like that), I know this won't be anywhere near practical as I also use this truck to haul my Lance truck camper, pull heavy trailers, and have plans to pickup a 30ft+ gooseneck soon..so I can't go super high on it. I also would like to maintain the DRW set up, without having to go with wheel spacers, so that's also going to limit how big of a tire I can run. Seems silly to put on a 4 or 6" lift while keeping small tires, lol.

While digging through the shop last night, I came across a virtually new NWF D60 high steer kit that I forgot I had, and was thinking "boom! There's most of my new steering bits right there, and gets rid of the tie rod roll issue!", but holding the steering arms up to the axle, I don't think there's any way I'm getting these in there on a stock height truck...looks like the drag link will be smacking the frame with any amount of suspension up travel.

I've been considering putting on a RSK, though I haven't yet decided if I'd do it with stock springs or SD springs. I think the truck rides just fine the way it is now, but I also found that I have the lightest available front springs on it - the 2200lbs rated ones. As I'll be adding a front winch bumper and Warn M12000 winch with steel rope, I'm also considering going up in spring capacity in the front. I like the idea of going RSK here so that I can run a stock spring with less arch, and thus not affecting ride quality as much.

 

[03wr250f]

Idk about a high steer kit
But iirc a sky mfg crossover steering kit requires 8" of lift to clear

I do recommend super duty springs as they are a progressive rate spring so the bottom couple inches of travel are very soft but get very stiff the more you work thru the suspension so you still have the hauling capacity

Look up obs solutions on YouTube and check out the cowboy truck or the family truckster and see if that's what your looking for

 

[Detroit80]

Jesus...8 inches? Even if I left it on stock size tires, that would still make pulling many goosenecks iffy without custom cut couplers, and would mean way more drop on a bumper pull trailer drawbar than I'd want to do.

High steer and crossover are still using the same type of bolt on steering arms on the top of the knuckle, so they're going to require similar lift/clearance.

Truth is that my _ideal_ situation would be to do this with zero lift. As a truck that I primarily use for heavy hauling and towing, as well as going off road with the camper, I don't really want to raise the center of gravity any more than it already is. Plus I already have the jacks on the camper maxed out, and can just barely get it high enough to get it on the truck now. I'd have to carry a bunch of cribbing materials with me on trips if I ever had a need to pull it off the truck in the middle of a trip if I went up higher on the truck.

I can deal with a couple of inches, maybe 4, 8 is just way too much, and that would complete negate any gain I would see from the better steering.

Though it hadn't occurred to me to look at places like Sky for information on their steering kits, lol. I was only looking at the suspension pages, as I was primarily looking at what to do about my bent leaf spring. Sky does list a 4-6" lift as the minimum order option for their high steer and crossover kits... Maybe I'll give them a ring today to see what they think about it working on the RSK alone.