I've scrolled through many threads, and I've read tech libraries pretty carefully, but I still have some unanswered questions about my Ranger:



I bought the truck Christmas 2018 with 193k on it. Now it's at about 205k. Previous owner put new KYB's front and rear in October 2018. The rear sags a tiny bit, and the ride is all around pretty rough (ESPECIALLY on trails/forest roads, which I drive on fairly often).



I want to do a couple inches of suspension lift for the looks and also because further down the road I may upgrade gears, go to 33's (running 31" BFG K0's), add lockers, etc. My plan is to crank the T bars with factory keys and do the Belltech shackle upgrade in the rear. My questions are:

- Should I replace the leaf springs? Upon inspection, they are obviously old (I'm assuming they're the factory set). They're not rusted, but the bushings look old and cracked, and like I said, the truck sags in the back a wee bit. I'm leaning toward yes, but also whether rock auto or autozone a set is almost $400. If I don't *need* to do it, then I won't.

- Once I install the belltech shackles and do a T bar crank, should I get the Rancho RS55374/RS55126 or am I OK with the factory height Ranchos/Bilsteins if I keep the front and rear lift heights under or at 2"?

- For those of you who have the T bar suspension and have cranked them, and done shackle lifts, what kind of shocks do you run??



Thanks!

Tom

 

I'm glad you posted this. I've done some Google searching and haven't run across any real info so far.
Just yesterday, I just did a 1.5 shackle lift on the rear and cranked the torsion bars five full turns on my 2001 4x4 XLT. I'm getting my alignment next Monday morning, then I'll be getting some A/T tires (265/75R16 which are about 32x10.5) I'd like to get some shocks after the tires but not sure if I should get longer shocks or not. I found the Rancho shocks you mentioned on Amazon and they specifically say for Ranger with 1-2" lift. Problem is....they're rather pricey.


I've been eyeballing some KYB's but I believe they are standard length.

 

I have an ‘03 ranger 4.0 4x4, I bought the replacement torsion bar keys a while back that have a more aggressive angle to them; however after driving it for a could weeks I’m finding that I’m going to either just back the screws all the way out or find stubby screws to replace them because I don’t need to extend out the front suspension as much. I would say I’m right at that 2” lift mark or maybe a little higher in the front and it seems to have stretched my suspension a little too far. Rides pretty rough and it seems like it’s stretching out my control arms and also putting a lot of pressure on the sway bar. As a sidenote you guys may have to get caster/camber bolt kit if you crank up the bolts on your t-bar because it will mess up the camber on your front end and they designed some of the Rangers with non-adjustable Camber (found that out when I went to get it aligned) At least that’s the way mine is. I did get the Rancho extended shocks you guys mentioned too. They were around $50 each on Sdtrucksprings.com with free shipping. Good luck!

 

Yeah... thanks for the responses. I think I'm going to just crank the bars, buy the ranchos, get an alignment, and call it a day. Cheers to you both