Hello Im the new guy. This is my first post and I don't even know how to explain what I'm about ask but I'm going to give it a try so don't make fun of me because I'm clueless and openly admit that I have no clue what I'm doing or how to do it, Just know I want it done and will get it done so if you all will please provide me with as much help as you all can it would be great.

My Ranger
1990 Ford ranger extended cab 4x4
2.9L V6
Reconstructed Title , Many junkyard parts. But it looks pretty much to be stock
hankook Winter IPike W409 235/75 R15 105S Tires


I got a sweet set of BFGoodrich Mud-Terrain T/A 31X10.5R15 at a real good price, But was told they would not fit my stock truck.

I was then told I could crank the t-bars in the front and put some bigger blocks and shackles in the back and would be good to go so long as I did not do anything crazy while offroading and they should not rub.


So first ? Is this info about the blocks and tbars correct ?

Second what the hell is a tbar and how do I crank it?

Seeing as how I payed $300.00 for the truck and $250.00 for the tire's on steel wagonwheels I sure would not want to kill the tire's sence I know with the 95% thread on the wheels and rims are worth more then the truck even thou I spent less for them.

The truck is a beater for playing in the woods and my bank roll can't cover a real lift for the truck right now.

So with all that said what should I do? How can I get the pretty new tire's on the truck and not have to worry about rubbing. I also read someplace that cranking the tbars only make's for broken front end parts and is not worth the trouble.

ALso someone on another forum told me that my 1990 ranger's tbars can't be cranked. I was not told why it can't be done, And well I was treated rather rudely on the other site I post theses ?'s

I do plan on doing alot of mod's to this truck when money alowes me to do so, But I really want to run theses tire's and not spend a ton of cash just to get them to not rub.

Thot's Idea's crosslinked forums posts on the subject, ANd most of all some pic's or video's of what to do and how to do it would be just wonderful.

Thank you all for reading my rambling

 

Yep, your a little confused and have been given some bad advice. Your truck does not have Tbars. You have a completely different front suspension called TTB (Twin Traction Beams). The front end of your truck is held up with coil springs. In order to run a 31" tire your going to need some sort of lift. Their are two main types, Body lift and suspension lift. A body lift raised the body of the truck higher off of the frame. It allows for more tire clearance but does not add any additional wheel travel. A suspension lift basically lowers your front suspension with drop brackets, new coils and shocks. It gives you more lift to fit larger tires and can increase available wheel travel. Personally I am a fan of suspension lifts, but I have both types on my 1990 ranger. I have 31" tires on my truck, which required about 6 inches of lift, but my truck is 2wd. If you check out the tech section of TheRangerStation.com they have a section on how much lift is required to fit a certain size tire.

If you have the intent to work on the truck in the future save your money and get a decent lift kit. They can be had for as low as 500 dollars, but remember you will need a front end alignment when its on as well as cam bushing to help correct the wheel angles.

If you are only looking to get 2 inches of lift out of the truck their are cheaper options. You can use coil spacers or lift coils. I suggest lift coils, but both will lift the front end 2 inches and will require cam bushing and an alignment. As for lifting the rear of the truck you can use a longer shackle, add a leaf to the spring pack, or use a larger lift block that goes between the leaf back and the axle (usually requires longer u-bolts).

I know I wrote out alot there but if you have specific questions about any of it post them.

 

welcome, i was gonna say the same thing about you not being a t-bars truck. t-bars happened after your model. i forget what year they dd away with TTB i wanna say 97 or 98 with the body change

there is alot of guys on here that have big brains' worth of info.

 

Welcome!!!

Like Rob said, you have a few options in the front and rear to lift them.

First and formost, you have a TTB front end, don't forget that.

Here are some pics of different lift types..

Front 2" Coil Spacer (lifts front by putting 2" space between the coil and the bucket)





Lift Coils (Taller coils, pictured are 6" lift coils)



With lift coils any large than 2" of lift, you need drop brackets (pictured here on the left near the passenger side coil, this allows the essentrics of your suspenspion to remain somewhat stock)


Body Lift, putting blocked between your frame and your cab/bed mounts (Typically 3")





REAR LIFT

You can either put larger blocks under your leaf springs where they sit on the axle



You can get LONGER drop shackles (Belltech 6400's)

 

That's a real nice photo tutorial to TTB lifts!

 

I would like to start off by saying WOW thanx guys. So much more help then the other ranger forum where people only seem to want to make fun of me because I don't know what I'm talking about and just kept saying buy a real lift and be done with it. Well I'm the lone parent of an 8 year old daughter and have very limited funds but they really don't seem to understand that fact.

And based on all the info I think I'm going to go with the drop shackles for the rear, are the (Belltech 6400's) the itemnumber that I would need to get the 2in to run 31's ?

As far as the front goes someone told me to hit a junk yard and get a set of f150 coilsprings and be done with it. Would the f150 springs work to get me on the 31's? If so what year f150 should I be looking for? Is there a walkthou floating around about how to remove and reinstall coilspings ? It looks like it would be a rather scary job, I keep picturing a giant sping shooting at my head. If the f150 springs would not work then Coil Spacer's it is.


Putting this one in red because this one maybe a red alert repair that I need to fix first. As I said I have an 8 year old thats my whole world and this truck is now my daily driver and my daughter is drove in the truck often. That being said looking around the truck underside today I happened to take note of the fact that the drivers side of the front is sitting about one inch lower then the passenger side. The truck was on level ground and the tires are all inflated to spec. Should I be worried about something being broken ? Is so what should I look for ? Or maybe one of the former owners was just really fat? .. I Looked around and could not find anything that stood out as broken or missing but I really don't know where or what I should be looking for.

Thanx again guys you all rule !

John

 

it sound like you driver side leaf spring is sagging it happens cause the added weight gas tank and the driver are on that side of the truck

 

That is just the "Ranger Lean" It sits lower a bit on the driver side due to, the weight of the battery, the driver, and the gas tank, and of course the steering wheel :P

As for removing the coil spring, it is very easy (if the bottom bolt comes out easy and isn't too seized)

All you need to do is jack the truck up, put jack stand under the front part of the frame so that the suspension can hang freely at feel droop... take a 1 1/8th wrench and a break bar to the bolt in the middle of the bottom of the coil spring.. if the susepsion is a full droop, there is NO POSSIBLE way for the spring to jump out, cuz it has no weight on it..

Once you get the bottle bolt out, just spin the coil (clockwise, I believe) while pushing down on the coil to remove it from the top bucket

 

yea, get under there and make sure that nothing is rotten or rusted away. you don't wanna have a lousy foundation to start from

 

Yeah I'm all over that. So far I found that my radiator bottom mount was totally gone, and the only thing that was holding it in place were the hose's and one plastic mount and bolt on the top. So I ripped out the old broken rusted knife like thing that was left and made a whole new mount from half inch steel also made a underplate from the same steel and welded it right to the frame at a little bit of an angle so water would not pool up and rust my radiator also drilled a few holes just to be sure. So that's one bullet proof radiator and plan to start going over everything else under the truck. And fix what I can, Fabricate what I can't. Pimp My Ride don't got **** compared to the machine shop and tools I have access to, I just don't know crap about fixxing beat to hell pickup trucks.
Thats why I'm starting to love you guys lol.

Thats also part of why I asked if Belltech 6400 is what I need for the back, was planing on buying one and making my own and sending it back for a refund


::EDIT::
I posted my truck as my avatar.
Also I uploaded some pic's to my user album. You will see the little fog lights I installed a few days ago. And soon will be uploading pic's of the new grill I'm making as soon as I get it done.
Planing on making a rollbar with spare tire mount when I'm sure that nutten else is going to fall apart.
If you all would like to see what I did to the radiator I can post some pic's tomarrow.

 

To your question about the f150 coils, I definately wouldn't suggest it. Yes it can be done, but is it really the way to go? Not for me. The F150 coils will be much stiffer and the ride quality will be rather poor. A brand new set of 2" lift coils from skyjacker run aroud 140. Pretty darn cheap to do the job right the first time.

As far as removing the coils it is pretty easy as mentioned above. Disconnect the sway bar and let the suspension fully drop. From their you should be able to pull the coil out of the top bucket so there is no tension on it. Then good luck with the retainer bolt! They can be a real pain to get off. Mine required a 1000+ Ft/lb impact gun, map gas and lots of pb blaster.

 

^x2 f150 coils will give you around 4 inches of lift which means you won't be able to get aligned without drop brackets. You can use the coil seat out of a 2wd f150 that will get you 1.5-2 inches of lift and you would still be able to align the front end,they are cheaper then 2 inch lift coils i got mine for $10 from a pick and pull. i ran 31s on my b2 with minimal rubbing with just the 2 inch lift i got from the coils. for the rear explorer leaf springs will get you 1.5-2 inches of lift i got 3 inches of lift by adding the bronco 2 main leaf. here is a link on the install of the f150 coil seats http://www.therangerstation.com/tech...toryspacer.htm

 

awesome help!

 

Dan, just remember that the front of your truck is completely different, and those pics/advice do not apply.