I have a 2005 Ranger fx4 with a 3” torsion key lift in front, 2” blocks in rear, and a 3” body lift. It has about 80K miles. I have 35X12.5X15s on it now. It sometimes rubs if you hit a rough bump while turning hard, but otherwise, no rubbing at all. My mechanic doesn’t like the looks of the setup because of the angle of the front driveshafts, so far they are ok. The ball joints and control arms were replaced at about 70K miles, and they were pretty worn out. I am considering the Superlift kit, and their upgraded driveshafts. I think this kit might give me a little more clearance to be golden. Any thoughts? Is it worth the money? That kit used to be over 2K, and now you can get it for about 1400 dollars. Any of your comments/experiences would be appreciated.

 

Your mechanic is not happy with your front end because you installed torsion keys. They kill the front end components.

As for superlifts, I haven't seen anyone complain a out them in the two years I've been on ranger based forums.

 

For $1400 I say do it. It will give you better angles on your joints. Definitely get the driveshaft since you have the live axle. 35's, 3" body lift, and super lift looks good. But I would do shackles and an aal to lift the rear, or new leaf springs. Superlift is your best option if you are at the limits of a torsion bar crank.

 

Here is my truck with 3in BL and 4in SL on 33x12.5 tires.





I didnt like the harsh ride from cranking the t-bars so I took out the rear AALs and de-cranked the t-bars to match the front. It lowered the truck about 1.25in and took the stress off the front end. Pics after I lowered the truck.



IMO made it look a whole lot better. As you can see everything is strait with the front end, no more bad angle on CV shafts ect.



How she sits today.



Hopefully this gives you a idea of how you truck will look after its lifted. You will be a bit taller since you are on 35s.

 

keep in mind the superlift is only 3.5" higher than stock. the full 4" is with a tbar crank. mechanic is right though stock cvs hate those terrible angles tbar keys create

 

Thanks fellows for your replies. I think the Superlift kit is what I need. Even if it doesn't give me more lift, it will be better for the integrity of the front end. Here is what it looks liked now:



Thanks k.blakeley for your photos, particularly the close up of the front suspension. Here is what mine looks like:



Ugly! My mechanic had suggested I get a drop differential kit. It looks like the SL kit drops both the differential and the lower control arms if I am looking at the pictures right.

 

oops hopefully that works...

 

Yep, that it does.

 

you wont regret it, will ride 100x better as long as you can resist the urge to crank the bars again haha

 

Lol! Nobody can resist! It should be called a 6" lift! :)

 

I have ordered the Superlift kit. A great price on Summit Racing of $1399! I think my mechanic will like this setup better. After about 40K miles with the torsion keys in, the driveshafts seem to be fine still (?).

So question… It has a leveling kit on it now, 3” torsion keys in the front, and 2” AALs in the back. Is it okay to leave that stuff on with installation of the SL kit? I guess this would again put the driveshafts at somewhat of an angle. I plan on getting the upgraded Superlift driveshafts to install with the SL kit. I think that is what they are designed for (?). I will get them either way, which might delay the installation a month or two, those are $500 a piece. Would I need longer shocks than the ones supplied with the SL kit? What do you fellows think? I don’t mind at all how it rides right now, 35s with 15” rims has a lot of sidewall to cushion the ride. I had 33s with 16” rims on it previously, which was pretty damn rough!

 

Take the keys out

 

X2

 

x3 take those things out and never look back. You should be able to get it close to level by cranking the stock torsion bar set up a little.

You only need the front superlift driveshaft as well.

 

Okay, I am going to take the keys out. The Superlift kit will be here in a couple of days. But, I am going to wait till I can buy the Superlift drive shafts, probably next month. There's another grand... But probably worth it though. Want to do it right this time.

 

Again, its driveshaft, not driveshafts. Only need the front from Superlift.

 

Only one driveshaft is needed, the front. But I would say that it is worth it if you just want bigger tires and do light off-roading. Your front end components will thank you if you get a superlift and ditch the keys.

 

i think he is confusing the superlift shaft as replacing the cv shafts. +1 on removing the tbar keys and just running the superlift with the cvs at a fairly flat angle like K.blakely's truck

also no you would not need longer shocks to run a torsion key whether you are superlifted or not

 

Yes, I was a bit confused. I was thinking this product replaces the cv joint shafts:

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/sl...Feg-MgodkFAAdQ

But, now I know that is not correct. I think I will replace the front drive shaft with Superlifts upgrade and also replace the cv joint shafts if my mechanic thinks they are worn out, which I bet they are having the torsion keys on there for a while.

 

I have a 2000 ford ranger 4x4 with the SupperLift 4in suspension kit on it. My experience working with Supperlifts was a disaster. The kit came with the wrong parts the first time and I sent it back only to get the wrong parts again. After many weeks they finally got it right and I put the kit on. It was very complete once they got it all to me. The truck rides good for a lifted truck but its still rough. I like the lift but wish I would have went higher. Over all if you know you just want 4in and their costumer service don't screw you its a good kit.

 

I forgot about this thread. I got my Superlift kit installed on my Ranger a while back. I was a little nervous about working on a newer vehicle (I've mostly worked on 78-79 Ford fullsize), but now I am pretty comfortable doing anything on it. Superlift left some stuff out of my kit too, which was a pain. One of the brackets for the front diff was missing and a bunch of bolts. Where is their quality control? I could say they were easy to deal with though. It rides pretty decent. With a 3" body lift it clears 35s with a heavy front bumper and winch no problem.