Okay so here's my deal.

I have a broken rear shackle on my truck right now and it needs replacing. As I like to say, having to repair something is always a good excuse to upgrade it. So, that being said, I am going to go ahead and get the GM 2.5" shackles. Easy enough.

But that poses me a problem with the front end. I don't have much money to spend and I would prefer not just cranking the torsion bars. I tried searching around for how to lift the front of a 4x4 without much luck (either I'm blind or lazy), so what's the cheapest and simplest alternative to just cranking the t-bars? It's a 2002 Mazda for reference.

And I am NOT interested in doing a body lift.

 

No other worthy alternative but cranking.

 

That is what I feared. But if I do that, them I'm just going to eat through ball joints and keep having to readjust my bars every once in a while from sagging, right?


Well,I guess for $150 or so, I can do shackles and an alignment...

 

dont crank them all the way. you can always back em back out

 

I'd HIGHLY suggest getting #1 torsion bars....

you've got some high miles(err...kilometers) on that baby. Those bars are tired i'm sure.

 

I already have #1 bars and I am not spending the money to buy new ones because simply, I do not have the money for it.

Every repair I do on my truck is cutting into my Moving Across The Country savings fund.

 

you could get the new shackles and pull your factory blocks that will keep it at the same height, help axle wrap and not cause any issues with your front end.

 

lets do some math....

2" chevy drops = 1.5" lift i got out of them

2.5" stock block....

so...if you replace your shackles with 2" chevy drops, and take out the stock block, you'll lose 1".



OR...just get replacement shackles. stock ones.

OR...

Belltech 6400's are 2" Chevy Drop Shackles

Belltech 6700's are 1" Chevy Drop Shackles

IF you got the 6700's, you'll gain about 3/4" lift compared to stock. I've not seen anyone run those shackles on their rangers yet...you should be our guina pig! lol.

 

After talking to my mechanic, he is highly advising against cranking my torsion bars just due to the fact I'm going to eat through ball joints.

 

2 turns you will not eat threw ball joints.. raising it 2"-3" you will...

 

I already have them cranked up 2 full turns to level the front out with the current stock rear suspension.

 

why not just put on another factory shackle?

once you get settled in alberta and have some disposable cash, you and mess around!

 

GM 2.5" shackles...is that the same as the chevy drops??? no right...Sorry for hyjacking the thread but I'm lifting my ranger and I'm used to coils in the rear not leafs.

 

i'm not sure i entirely understand the wording of your question but here goes:

yes i think what you have in mind is indeed the same. a drop shackle for a chevy or GM fullsize truck is longer than stock due to them using a tension style shackle, as opposed to the more common compression style shackle (what rangers have).

bare in mind that adding a 1" longer shackle will result in a 1/2" of lift.

 

i have 2 sets of stock shackles. PM me if your interested.

 

Your over thinking this bro. I just did the shackles the other day.

Just crank your tbars a few more turns. your only going to cause problems if you max them out.

 

I cranked my bars a good 4 or 5 times maybe more, can't remember. I did this bout 30k miles ago and my ball joints are still holding up fine. Course now that I say that they'll probably screw up today LOL I'm sure that if Ford didn't mean for them to be adjusted they wouldn't have installed adjusting bolts.

 

I cranked* my t bars around six months ago.. it did add about 1.5 inches of lift, but i noticed some problems
: the ride immediately got worse , handling was the same or better because of the tightness*
After i added my 32" tires the ride quality was back to stock.
3 days ago wail mounting my wheels the mechanic told me that my upper right ball joint had too much play in it and needed replacing. (i was thinking wtf that's bs , but i looked closely at my tire and the camber angle confirmed the need for replacement)
I don't recommend cranking the bars at all, the improved look is not worth the problems you may or may not encore.
Just my opinion , Its your truck and i think you should do anything you want no matter what people say including me! good luck!

 

make a decision yet mr. jimmeh_wannabe???? lol.


you could just get stock shackles used from a member here....

rollin' around on broke shackles isn't a good idea imo...

 

x2 ^

 

So a 2.5 chevy drop givew 1.5 lift in the rear? And they will fit on a 99 xlt with offroad package?

 

jus get the beltech 6400s. they will fit. the bushings are a bit thicker and that makes it a bit hard to put in but we got them in my friends truck no issue.

 

2" Chevy drop shackles gained 1.5" of lift on my ranger. They'll fit any ranger from the mid 80's up until current.

 

if i can i would like to add a ? cuz im thinking of doing this to, i just got a body lift and wanna level it, should i just crank it to get a full inch or a inch 1/2 and get the shackle? or just crank the bars a tad?

 

I'm going to wait til the weather warms up a little bit. I would definetly like to get it repaired before I drive 2000 miles across the country.