Yesterday I installed my pre-keys (with slightly more than stock crank) and shackles (1.5 inch, bottom most hole) with the help of my buddy and brother in law. Here are some pics. I don't have measurements or a before picture but for anyone who has seen a before picture of a 2008 FX4 then you'll see the difference in my after picture.

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Above, I have pictures of the side of the truck, shackles, what the leafs look like after the longer shackle is put on, my adjuster bolt, front end, and where the torsion bar slides in and out of. Note that where the torsion bar slides in and out of is a little different from both sides by how far they slide in. I don't know why this is but I have driven the truck lifted since yesterday and it drives great AND rides better than stock.

One VERY important thing to keep in mind is there is definitely a nut in the form of a little plate with a loop on it where the bolt threads through on the top of the shackle. Here is a pic with it installed.

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I didn't have my camera to take pictures of this thing when I was swapping my shackles out with he longer one but if any of you decide to do this mod, make sure this thing is in place when installing your longer shackles. The bolt does not thread into the frame!

Another thing to note is you cannot work on your shackles unless the truck is on jack stands. We tried jacking one side up and ran into all sorts of trouble trying to get the shackle off the leaf spring. Yeah that was fun!!

This was a very easy mod to do. One of the last things I did after taking the truck for a drive to settle the suspension I parked it back into the garage and checked to see where my adjuster bolts were. I probably cranked my bars a little past stock, somewhere around maybe 2 full rotations but I was aiming to level both sides of the front of the truck. The truck is noticeably higher, a little harder to get into but I love it, and most of all, it rides better!

I then took it to Sears auto center and for FREE they checked my alignment and put in 2007 FX4 specs and my right wheel was good but my left wheel was a hair off, everything was in green and did not require adjustment.

I plan on putting 285/75/16 General Grabber AT2's whenever I get the money and calculating the lift of larger tires, I will get around 1.3inches of lift, so total of lift will be about 3 inches all around the truck. Also, my truck was darn near level after torsion bar cranking and installation of shackles.

Here is where my parts came from.

Belltech 6400 shackles

Belltech 6400 - Belltech Rear Shackle Kits – SummitRacing.com

Ford Ranger 2007 torsion adjusters

Tasca Auto Group | Your Online Parts Dealer

Tools:

Spray paint (for adjuster bolts)

Autozone Duralast 4 ton bottle jack $22.00 (Perfect size for torsion key swap)

socket wrench and sockets (I forgot the size for the back but the front was 13mm)

PB blaster

Lock tite

Greasy Goop stuff for new torsion keys being installed on torsion bar

Hammer

Jack

2 Jack stands for shackle mod

Blocks of wood and a big block of wood for bottle jack torsion key swap

That's all I can think of! Sorry for the length but hope it is helpful for anyone considering doing the mod!

 

Pics. won't work with img. tags uploaded straight from the desktop. You need to upliad them from www.photobucket.com.

 

Its been awhile since I have posted pics, I will work on that right now! haha.

 

in for pics lol

 

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Alright guys, Here are the pics. Sorry about how they didn't work earlier.

 

looks good man! whats next? Superlift and 33"s?

 

Just so you know you can use the IMG tag from photobucket and just paste it in... don't need to use the picture button in the compisition box...

Truck looks good! You plan on tinting the front windows?

 

Looks good.

 

Haha, that's the reason i did this lift was to give me a little bit of lift for cheap. The superlift is so darn pricey (not to mention the heavy duty drive shaft, larger rims, tires, and labor. The windows to bug me too much. I may do a tint and If I do I'll have it match the back window and back side windows. My next mods I am thinkin about are 285/75/16 General Grabber At2's on the stock wheels (I like the look of the stock wheels) and later on maybe a straight pipe, stock cat, dual exhaust straight out under the back bumper.

Thanks for all the compliments!

 

add another prekeyer to the list! awesome dude!!

 

lookin good!! cant wait to get mine done too!

defiantly go for the tint.. always makes black trucks stand out that much more... well any vehicle for that matter.. i love my tint, one of my first mods and i did!

do you find the truck rides any different?

 

looks sweet man

 

ooo... Your frame looks so.. shiny! :-D

Been a while since I've looked under a rig and saw anythign not covered by grime/muck/rust =)

 

I was just going to comment on this lol. I wish mine was this clean. Makes working on it alot nicer

 

Those grabber at2 are awesome, I love mine. 285/75/16

 

the nastiest thing on the bottom of my truck is the muffler, its turning redish...

 

what is this prekey mod i am hearing of?? is it just reindexing the bar in the arm?

 

The 08 and up rangers have a different torsion key. This makes it a little lower, even if you crank the bars. If you get an 07 and lower set of keys, it reverts it back to 98-07 ride height.

 

Thanks for the compliments on the cleanliness of my truck. Its barely a little over a year old and hasn't been taken off-road except for grass, gravel driveways, some muddy gravel driveways and thats about it.

As far as ride goes, it is better. I wasn't so happy with the stock ride. Seemed like every time I hit a bump, the truck shaked and felt like a very soft ride or something. Now that the truck sits around 1.5inch higher all around, the shocks absorb those bumps better. Its a slight difference. I only slightly cranked my bars past stock because I didn't want to crank them much.

Look on the top thread about 08 lower ride height, getting to the bottom of this. Page 6 has a lot of pictures and info about this pre-key mod.

 

Is it almost like doing a key lift for 98-07 trucks?

 

It is a true key lift using stock OEM parts from Ford. The different between 98-07 keys and 08-09 keys is they are clocked a tad bit differently where the torsion bar slides into, causing the change in ride height.

 

Anyone know the length of those belltech shackles?

 

For lift you gain 1.5inches bottom hole and 3/4inches 2nd to bottom hole.