Hello Everyone,

I just got my first Ranger. A 2005 4x4 4.0 5 speed XLT extended cab and I love the truck so far. It drives well, not too big to park around downtown when I do go down there, and overall seems to be reasonably fuel efficient given it has that large of a v6. I didn't buy it for fuel economy anyway but I think I get around 16 which looks about average from what I'm finding.

In the future I hope to get it painted and lift it, about 3 inches or so and find a good looking set of tires/wheels for it. It is my daily driver but I want to tackle some of the minor cosmetic issues that it has first and then get the lift and tires/wheels.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what lifts are the best value for the money and the parts that hold up offroad best? I've been looking at the superlift kits and they seem to be a pretty good value. Do they hold up?

 

Plenty of people run Superlifts without major issues.

Keep in mind though, that if you go with the Superlift, your stock driveshaft won't last. Superlift sells an upgraded driveshaft, but it's at least $300. And then there's all of the suspension parts that you might want to replace while you're tearing everything apart. It's not necessary, but it's good assurance.

Another alternative is the body lift. Many people are against them, so I won't go into detail. However, many people run these as well, without issue.

These topics have been covered numerous times, so do a little searching through the forum, especially the suspension section. You'll learn a lot more than what any one person can tell you.

 

Thank you sir. I appreciate the input. There is a huge amount of information on these trucks here. Glad I found the site and look forward to getting to know everyone. I'll look into the driveshaft situation. I do not want a body lift, not because of all the negative stigma(had a wrangler with a body lift) I just hate the way it makes the frame stick out below the cab, it doesn't have a clean appearance in my mind. If I did go with a body lift it would only be like a 1" to supplement a small suspension lift but I don't know that I would need to get too large a lift. I don't plan to do any crawling or anything. Offroad would be rough dirt road/logging roads and that would be limited. I like to fish at a pretty remote spot, but I took my subaru forester up there with no problems so I am sure the stock ranger would make it.