THE DJM FORD DREAM BEAM

Many model years ago, back when we were all younger, the "in" word was that Ford trucks were a serious pain to lower effectively. It was all about FoMoCo's "I" beam suspension. Undaunted, inventive manufacturers of aftermarket suspension components confronted the challenge. Like most suspension kit manufacturers engineering lowering components for Ford trucks, DJM Suspension of Gardena, CA, approached the challenge by creating a lowering beam to replace the stock Ford beam. According to DJM "Those old lowering beams we made seemed to be strong enough and they did lower those Ford trucks, but they had some major quality issues. No matter what we did in the manufacturing process, no two beams were exactly the same. Frankly, the tolerances weren't acceptable to us. The public called those pieces "I" beams because they looked like the stock Ford components. But they weren't anything like the original Ford beams. The stock Ford beam is forged in one piece with no welds. When we tried to copy the shape of Ford's beam by welding beam sections together, we created some serious problems. There was no way to control the warping of the flat pieces we used to make up the beam shape. "We even tried stitch welding," continues Jeff, "to keep the heat down, but it didn't help. We still had huge inconsistencies in the finished parts. The problem was so bad that we couldn't even check finished parts in our inspection fixture. Installers in those days had to tear a truck apart; hopefully get the "I" beam bolted in and then they didn't really know if the part was good until they got the truck to the alignment shop. After a short run of those parts, we scraped the design." After several DJM beams were installed and in service, additional flaws in those early beams were discovered. Although the design appeared to be strong, close examination indicated that DJM's fabricated "I" beam would twist and was far too flexible laterally. Obviously, that is why Ford's stock beam is forged. To work correctly, the beam must be rigid at the spindle for the vehicle to stay in alignment and drive properly. "We found the simple answer back at the drawing board," says Jeff, "tubing. We found that it won't twist like the old "I" beam and , with the right size and thickness, it proved to be plenty strong along its entire length. However, we questioned whether we could hold good enough tolerance for our ultimate goal, a part that fits every time. "Our first part through the manufacturing process with the new design," continues Jeff happily, "fit our inspection fixture perfectly. So did every subsequent part we manufactured from then on. Over time, we have continued development on our tubular beam to make it even more accurate and stronger. It has proven to truly be a 'Dream' Beam. We've had our Dream Beams in service for seven years now and we're proud to report that those who know the product-technicians, engineers, installers, consumers, and the auto press-- love it. They have proven to be strong, accurate, dependable and relatively easy to install." Below are some photos of a completed installation. The parts we installed on a 2000 F350 Super Duty. This installation was fairly simple. It basically involves removing the factory beam and installing the DJM dream beam. All factory parts are reused. DJM recommends the use of the factory coils on all their beams to retain factory ride and alignment. Installers should inspect the ball joints for wear and replace if necessary. After installation have the front end aligned to factory specs. Our F350 was very close, 1 degree negative on the driver and 1.5 degrees on the passenger. The alignment shop replaced the factory eccentrics in the upper ball joint receiver to correct the alignment.