I have a 1993 4l v6 ford ranger and am wanting to have as little wheel gap as possible. I would actually like to have the tires tucking. I am 16 with a job. So my money is limited but still can pay for affordable parts. I'm looking for a 8 inch front 10 in back lowering setup . Looking for cheap ideas. And I'm not going to heat the coils i would rather cut them.

 

Getting that low will not be cheap. A custom airbag setup is pretty much the only way to achieve the kind of drop that you're looking for.

They make bolt on kits to lower the truck 3 inches in front and 4 in the back, but its like $600 with lowering shocks, and you would need to upgrade the camber eccentrics to get the alignment back into spec. Getting real low is entirely doable, but you can't do it on the cheap if you intend to do it correctly.

 

im not too worried about doing it "right". im wanting it to be low enough to look good and not do damage to the truck. like an acceptable lowering job. something that i can upgrade in the future. Id like it to look something like this height wise.

 

That Ranger's owner put a lot of time and money into his truck in order to get it that low. Getting the rear end to sit low on a Ranger isn't too expensive, since its just a matter of flipping the axle, flipping the shackles, and notching the frame so the axle wont touch. Getting lower than that might require lowered leaf springs or airbags and a linked suspension setup. You'll also run into clearance issues with the bed and various suspension parts.

The front end is where it gets expensive. You can't go lower than 2 inches without aftermarket drop beams, otherwise you'll never get the alignment into spec. It might not seem like a big deal, but the truck won't steer correctly, it won't ride good, and it will wear the front tires out much faster than if the alignment was correct. You could chop the springs to get it really low, but its going to destroy the shocks and ruin the alignment. No way to fix that without replacing the beams.

It's just the nature of the front suspension design of our trucks. They won't drop without a bunch of money throw into them. Its pricy either way.... doing it right and spending the cash on aftermarket parts, or doing it cheap and spending money on replacement parts that are destroyed from driving it like that.

If i was you, i would get some drop springs for the front or cut a coil out of them, and flip the rear shackles. Thats good for 2 inches in the front and 2 in the rear. Put some bigger wheels on it and upgrade the shocks if they're worn out. Its a start, and it will look cool till you can put more into it.

 

Okay so what your saying is if I cut the front springs more than 2 inches I will end up with camber? And how much should it drop it if I flip the leafs in the back?

 

If you go 2 inches or less in the front, then you can correct the camber with a set of adjustable eccentrics. You can purchase them online or at Napa. Lower than 2 inches will make it impossible to correct the camber without installing a set of aftermarket beams intended for lower trucks.

The axle flip is good for about 4 inches of drop. Kit runs about $50 or so from DJM. One cool thing about going with a 2/4 drop is that the rear of the truck will sit level, since Rangers sit 2 inches higher in the rear to compensate for spring sag when carrying a load.

 

Alright and say I do decide to lower the front 4 or 5 inches by cutting the coils even though I will get negative camber. Just out of curiosity how much is a estimated amount of camber I will get from that?

 

Way too much. It would look like a large heavy animal was sitting on the front of the truck and crushed the suspension into the ground.

Camber would be the least of your problems if you cut that much out of the stock springs though. The ride will be dangerously bouncy, the shocks wont do anything, the beams will hit the frame and bottom out the suspension whenever you go over a bump, etc.

 

Soo it would be like this?
And of course the bouncy ride and shocks doing very little is almost a given when it comes to lowering anything! But hitting the frame? I think it would take a good amount of lowering to do that?