Sup fellas, well here i am, i have a SAs parts deal at the reach of my fingers. Im really positive i can get the money so ill get the parts.
Its a 87 XJ Dana 30 High Pinion, with coils, control arms and steering links.

Ill go with the Xj suspension stock parts, because i dont plan to build an extreme wheeling machine that needs crazy ground clearance and flexing capacities.

Dont talk me into a better axle, thats what i can get, and that fits my needs, and suits my engine capacities. 4 banger 2.5, 4.10 gears with 31"s and 33"s as a top tire size in the future. I wont go hardcore wheeling, i just wanna improve from 1WD to 4x4. Please dont tell me to sell my truck and go buy a factory 4WD either.

I won't do the complete work right now, since i will need to save some more to do the transmission part.

Now here comes the issue.
The 98+ 2wd Ranger has the A arm setup with coils.
And the coil buckets are built in in the frame. the inside wall of the frame works as part of the crossmember.

I was thinking about cutting the buckets, cutting the crossmember along, re-boxing the frame with 1/4" steel, make it a "straight" frame basically, and then work my way into making a crossmember thats strong enough(actually thinking about making 2 cossmembers) and that will let me have a fairly low height. Then ill mount some older Ranger coil buckets.

Option number 2:
Cut the inner wall of the frame/ crossmember, reinforce and make the mount for the steering box, make the crossmembers, and go with leaf spring setup.
Maybe a spring under axle setup to mantain a lower height.

Seems like going leafs would involve less work.

Here are some pictures of what my frame looks like.
Ill get better pictures tomorrow.




the crossmember holds the steering rack, right where the steering rack tie rod comes out in the pic, u can notice that the inner frame wall works as part of the crossmember




So i need your advice on which route i should take.
Do all thats required to mount the XJ coils, or go with leafs.

I would like to hear pro's and cons of each setup.

Thanks in advance, RSH.
:icon_thumby:

 

some pictures i took today.
you can see how the frame seems to be part of the crossmember.
I was thinking, since i have a 2" bodylift, and ill be making new crossmembers, could i lift the whole drivetrain 2" too?

 

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