This is not just a thread to simply ask questions, like "How do I lower my Edge 5" in the front?" It's a thread to discuss different concepts and maybe find some new information along the way. Alright, here's where we start...

1) Can an XLT 2wd spindle fit the edge upper/lower arms? Because if it could, then that would be like installing a lowering spindle, if it is smaller, right?

2) I think D said the 4x4 upper arm has a removable balljoint and he pressed in the Edge balljoint and bent the upper arm to decrease the angle of the balljoint, then couldn't that process be used to fit a 2wd XLT spindle?

That's all I can think of for now.

 

The stock 4x4 upper arms don't have removable balljoints. Only the lower ball joints can be removed seperately. Moog sells upper arms with removable ball joints. I wouldn't try bending the upper arms as that would put added stress on the arms and could make them more prone to failure.

I don't know anything about the 2wd XLT spindles, but it's likely that if it is shorter, you won't be able to get it in there properly without some extensive reworking of the front suspension. And if you could, I think you'd eat balljoints faster than you could replace them.

 

Well I went to O'Reilly and they said the item numbers didn't match up. I've been looking around at coilovers on-line and I've found some Bilsteins that would work nicely, but the only problem is that they have the "loop/loop" mounting setup and the ranger, obviously, have neither of those.

Has anyone called up RCD and asked about a price on a set of the lower arm mounts they have for the lift kit? I bet those would at least help me solve 1/2 of my problem. then I could probably get someone to weld in a couple shock mounts at the top of my shock towers and I could at least run the shock as a shock, until I have some custom upper arms made...

Sound like an alright idea?

 

You can make your own shock tabs easily enough. Or just buy some from a place like BTF or something.