I have new torsion keys in the front of my truck that gave about 2.25" and I'm going to crank the tbars another .75" so its about 3" up front. I have heard that around 3" you run into driveshaft issues. What are my option to fix this, or do I even need to? thanks.

 

no.

 

Thanks, that was fast. Why are people saying it has to be done? Also I have no problem erring (if thats how its spelled) on the side of caution if there is the potential for damage.

 

nobody has ever said that. If you had a 4 inch superlift then yes you need a new driveshaft, after your stock one wears out (in the next 20k miles)

 

well, people have said that or I wouldnt ask :) anyways shouldn't mine last longer than another 20,000km?

 

ya with the ifs up front, you can more then likely get away with just the stock front shaft.....forever. lol

the 4inch lift that AK is talking about uses a new shaft but you can still get away with using the stock one, for quite a while...so thats not a big deal either.

 

yes

 

Yours will last as long as your truck runs. I personally guarantee it. Torsion cranks aren't really lifting your vehicle to be honest, you'll be fine.

 

I am thinking you are maybe thinking about CV shafts? Because lots of guys warn about over cranking t-bars causing CV shaft damage.

 

oh maybe, i dont know a lot about this kind of stuff. I agree with a prior comment that tbar stuff isnt a "real" lift in terms of needed a new driveshaft. what are the potential dangers with the CV shaft and how can this be countered? I am only cranking another 1" out of them and the new torsion key gave about 2.25".

 

well it puts a steep angle on the cv boots and the ball joints and unless you have open hubs then it'll be wearing really heavily every turn of the well. you're also preloading your down travel which causes tension on the boots... pretty much any angle other than perfectly horizontal with the ground is unideal, not necessarily horrible, but not really ideal.

 

with your truck being newer than 06, you can get away with some of that lift (which was addressed with the new keys vs the pre-06 key mod) but from everything i have seen in a few write ups the max you want to safely go (keep in mind this covers a wide range of driving; from lite wheeling, to more in-depth wheeling) is 1.5" inches over stock pre-06 height. More can be had, but from what i hear you start adding risk. Im sure there are guys who have run more crank with no issues...this is just the info that i have come across....take it with a grain of salt.

 

Yeah I question if my readylift keys even put me up where the pre 06's are to start, I'd say it still is about 1/2" below those guys. I was parked beside one the other day and it stood slightly higher but for all I know he had a lift or crank or something.

And what are open hubs?

 

Most every ranger pre 01 came with hubs which are used to allow the front drive train to dis-engage or engage the front axles when 4wd or 2wd is needed. a closed hub would provide a locked front drive-train (for 4wd use) and an open hub provides off duty (2wd) front end. The theory is that by not having the front drive-train move with every rotation of the tire, gas mileage would be spared by having less resistance on the drive line. following a series of issues with automatic hubs (especially the 1998-2000 era) ford revised the front drive line of the ranger, after discovering that using no hubs (a live axle setup) would account for less than a mile per gallon in economy, while providing much better dependability in the four wheel drive system.

 

Well here is the before and after with belltech 6400's and an inch out of my tbars on top of the 2.25" torion key.

 

Looks good.