Hey guys! I just wanted to stop in a 'officially' introduce myself since I've been lurking around (and reading a ton) as a new member for the past week or so.

I'm not new to Rangers by any means, but I am relatively new to doing mods on them. There have been 10 Rangers in my family between my brothers, my dad and myself and any work we ever did to them was purely out of routine or necessary maintenance. That's changing with this truck!

My dad recently got a 2011 as his 'retirement' truck (as he likes to call it), so I got the 2000 and I'm eager to build it up. It's not my daily driver, so that's even better.

*I have learned via forum banter not to bump ridiculously old threads, but I do have a question if anybody is listening...*

My first 'mod' on the truck was new rear shocks (Bilstein's). It was a necessity and fun to do. In my garage I have upgrade leaf spring sets ready to go, but I am going to need new U-bolts. I am upgrading from the 3 leaf stock to the 5 leaf HD set. I occasionally pull a trailer, so I want to stiffen it up a bit.

Question is...what is the exact size of u-bolt I should order/have made? I've got a local guy that bends high-quality u-bolts, but rather than pulling one off the truck, I want to be able to give him the specs.

I've got axle code 97 on my sticker = 4.10 8.8 open (I believe)
I've read on one thread that I am going to need 5/8 x 2.75 x 10 and can cut of the excess. I don't want to cheat the inner diameter, but is that the correct dimension?
When I crawled under the truck, the spacing read more like 3" on the tape measure, but you guys know best! Essentially I'm adding two more leaves, so I want to make sure I have enough length and the correct inner spacing.

Any help is appreciated!

 

Welcome to R-F. I'm from Indiana originally.. out in California for the Navy.

You have a 28 spline axle.. I think they are 3" diameter where the 31 spline axles are 3 1/4" diameter. You can always cut the extra length of the bolt, so get whatever length you think would cover it plus a little extra. Get grade 8 or better stainless if you can.

 

Awesome! Thanks for the help! If I'm feeling brave tomorrow, I'll run out and take the digital caliper to it. That should give me a definite on the inside diameter. I'll do some measuring on the springs new vs. old and add the appropriate length. I just don't feel comfortable pulling one off to duplicate and not being able to leave it on jack stands in the garage for a day or so. Gotta make sure the family is taken care of first!