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BDS Suspension Helps Build a Search and Rescue Vehicle
Story and photos by Budd Stanley,
installation by Doug Stevenson.
The members of the NSR, or North Shore Rescue, are a busy
bunch. North Vancouver's mountains are one of the most popular
places in all of B.C. for outdoor and extreme sports. It is an area
that is world-renowned for its hiking, snowboarding, mountain biking,
snow shoeing, rock climbing, and cliff diving. Therefore, with its
popularity, it also has a high concentration of incidents, with people
getting injured or even going missing. As a former employee of one
of the local ski mountains, I know first-hand how busy the NSR can
be, even being called to help out in several searches.
With such varying terrain and any number of circumstances that the
NSR will be called upon to perform, they require specialty vehicles
of many different varieties. With the NSR taking ownership of a brand
spankin' new Ford F-350 Super Duty, we looked in on North Shore
Off-Road who was given the task of building the new truck, to see
what modifications go into building a Search and Rescue vehicle.
The new truck's primary purpose in the NSR fleet will be as a utility
vehicle and for transportation of team members, specifically the kayak
team. The truck will also be outfitted to carry the kayak team's gear,
several pieces of specialty equipment such as chain saws and first
response emergency equipment, and will also be able to tow trailers
loaded with either ATVs or snowmobiles. It will also need to have offroad
abilities as it will back up their dedicated off-road vehicle. The
vehicle that the new truck is replacing, an 89 Chevy 3/4-ton, has been
donated to the West Chilcotin Search and Rescue organization.
So, it was a bone-stock Ford F-350 Super Duty that showed up at
North Shore Off-Road, the shop charged with building the vehicle. Stage
one of the build-up would be getting the big 4x4 off-road ready. This
would include a BDS four-inch lift, new American Racing wheels with
a set of Pro Comp tires, some high-powered auxiliary lighting from KC
and PIAA as well as a heavy-duty Warn front bumper and winch kit.
We start with the lift kit. First things first, so we walk around
the vehicle getting ride height measurements from each corner.
This is done on a flat surface and measuring the distance
from the floor to the top of the wheel fender. Since we
need to get rid of the stock bumper anyways, we unbolt it
first to give good clearance for working on the front suspension.
Then it's a mass unbolting of the front axle. |
This is the fun part, always easy taking things off, just make sure you keep track of all your hardware and where it came from. With the front axle supported by a stand, we start by disconnecting the shocks and springs followed by the Pitman joint dropping the steering arm, steering stabilizer, Panhard bar and finally the sway bar, which is much easier with no bumper in the way.
With the steering arms free of the Pitman arm, we use a puller to disconnect it from the steering box. We can now install the new modified unit that provides a longer drop to the steering arm.
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 Next we disconnect the Panhard bracket on the truck's frame. This is another simple replacement with the custom bracket that comes in the kit. It's bolted into place where the stock unit resided and now offers a lower connecting point for the Panhard bar. These brackets are also very heavyduty, and will take any kind of punishment thrown at it. |
Next, we install some spacers for the bump stop and main control arms. First we unbolt both bump stop plates and install the spacer provided in the kit. This fits between the frame and the bump stop plate. Then we disconnect the main control arms from the chassis. The spacer provided in the kit bolts up to the standard bracket. The main control arm is then connected to the spacer to lower its mounting. |
With the axle fully lowered from the vehicle, we take this opportunity to install the brake line extensions. These are simply an extra four inches of hard brake line that extends the joint from hard line to rubber. With this done, we can now start to think about putting everything back together. We start by assembling the new front shocks. We press the new bushings in, then mount them to the axle and frame along with the much taller springs. The springs are fitted in with the stock bushings of the old units.
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Finally, we continue by bolting up the new steering stabilizers, Pitman arm, sway bar and the Panhard bar. This will have the axle reconnected to the truck. It's a simple little piece that could easily be forgotten about, but the kit-supplied bracket to hold the ABS wire is an extremely important one. It's just a small strip of metal that is bolted to the main control arm. The ABS wire can then be clipped to the top, providing a secure mount, lessening the chances of the wire getting pulled out. |
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| With the front done, we next move to the rear suspension of the vehicle. First we disconnect the mid mount for the driveshaft. We then bolt in spacers to lower the mount and ease the driveshaft's angle into the yoke with the trucks new ride height. With the Ford using leaf spring suspension, this is a much easier job of simply replacing the stock leaf springs with new high rise units. This is done by supporting the axle and disconnecting the "U" bolts to the axle, and the springs connecting bolts on the truck's frame. With slack taken off the axle we also swap the shock for the new BDS units. We then re-install the high rise springs, and torque everything up. With the suspension finished, we can now mount the new wheel and tire package, and lower the truck to the ground. Final measurements are taken to ensure the truck is level and raised to the proper height. |
Next we tackle the front bumper section. This consists of a heavy-duty Warn bumper with integrated winch installed inside. The bumper will also have PIAA auxiliary lamps fitted into light openings in the bumper, as well as a set of larger KCs mounted to the top of the bumper. |
We start by bolting the bumper mounting brackets to the frame. Some holes can be re-used; however, some extra drilling is required as these mounts will be supporting nearly 550 pounds of weight. To say the bumper is rugged is an understatement, as it requires a forklift to move the thing around. We then take the Warn 16.5 heavy duty winch and mount it into the bumper with the supplied hardware and mountings. A wire guide is then mounted to the outer side of the bumper to hold and direct the winch's wire and hook. PIAA lamps are also installed into the bumper with the supplied hardware and mountings. |
 With all the bumper equipment installed into the complete unit, we can now lift that unit up onto the mounts, supported by a forklift. Everything is bolted together loosely at first with the supplied heavy grade hardware. After everything is aligned the way we want it, we can torque everything down and mount the large KCs to the top of the bumper. We take special care to not pinch any of the wiring that is required for both the lights and the winch, during this process. |
 Finally, all the wiring can be connected to the appropriate harnesses, with all the supplied relays and switches. All these lines will be running a huge amount of current, so be sure all wiring is correct with the proper equipment, and seals.
With stage one completed, all there is left to do is check all the wiring is connected properly, align the lights, and take the big beast for a test drive to ensure all the alignments and suspension is working. However, we are not done yet. There is still much more to be done before this truck is ready for life as a Search and Rescue vehicle. Check back in the next issue when we will concentrate on the truck box and the specialty equipment needed.
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