Hey guys, 2001 4.0 XLT 4x4 here.

So I've been working on the ranger lately, and my most recent project has been the lift. I put 2.5" shackles on the rear, all good there. New keys on the front. When I did the new keys, I put them in with the same cranks as the stock had been taking out, +1. So both keys are cranked at 22 full turns. That's the number of full turns I took out the stock ones.

So I had noticed my front had gotten stiffer (read all about that being normal), but it also started acting a bit weird. The driver's side especially. It almost felt as if something was pushing down on the front end hard. If I went over a speed hump, the wheels seemed to not want to get off the ground, like they wanted to ground themselves much faster than normal. So I figured it was the front shocks, since I had lifted it and they weren't rated for a lift.

Yesterday I just put new Rancho shocks on the front, the ones rated for a 1-2.5" lift. Now while lifting the car, I also noticed the drivers side took much more to clear the ground, by at least 3 inches. So, I figured that was more confirmation that I had a bad shock in the front. Anyways.. I replaced them. I also cranked my Keys one more full turn on each side, thinking with the new shocks I could manage without damaging anything. After the new shocks and key crank, I took it for a spin. This is where it got worse. Only when turning left, it feels almost like I'm running over pavement markings every few revolutions of the wheels. Also, when going over a dip or small bump, like when the weight kind of gets off the front end, it again seemed to want to ground itself really fast, even worse than before.

What else would be causing this type of issue?

My Torsion Keys have at least a half inch of threads left, they have plenty of room for more lift. I'm not sure what "maxed out" really is with them, but it seems I can go much further if I wanted to.

 

Update:

I backed out the driver's side key a full turn, and the weird left turn bumping goes away. Still off, but that part goes away when I drop the lift about a half inch. Hopefully this further helps diagnosis.

 

You're mis-understanding the point of lift keys. Lift keys clock the torsion bar in a way that changes the angle of the lower control arm, effectively lifting the truck. You ran into problems as soon as you cranked the adjustment bolts to match the amount of turns on the factory keys. Since the aftermarket torsion keys already clocked the torsion bars at a different angle by design, you only needed to turn the bolts enough to lift the keys off the block. By cranking the bolts the same 22 turns as the stock keys, you've basically maxed the bar out, and it now has barely any travel. Since you dropped the adjustment bolt back down, that gave you some travel back, and that's why it rode better. If you crank the bolts back out to the point I mentioned earlier, then you should regain most of your travel and the ride should improve.

Torsion keys are basically a waste of money, as you could have maxed out your stock torsion keys and gained a similar amount of lift as you did with the lift keys. The torsion bars have an adjustment bolt purely to use for adjustment over the life of the vehicle. As the vehicle ages, the torsion bars will start to sag, so you adjust the bolt to correct for that sag over a long term period. There were three torsion bars used in Rangers, Code 1, Code B, and Code F. Code 1 bars are the strongest, and resist sagging better than the other two. Code F bars are the worst, and will sag the quickest. Many people including myself have swapped to the Code 1 bars to fix factory bars that have sagged. Aftermarket lift keys should only be used as a means to correct a set of sagging bars when replacing the bars is not an option, and with torsion keys you should never crank the adjustment bolts further than what is necessary to lift the keys off the block.

 

Right, I understand that I limited the travel having replaced the keys with a different angle, but this felt different than a "stiff" suspension (which it was). I also know this is not the suggested way to lift a vehicle, but every thread I had read about fitting 35's said to do it. So here I am..

However, I did figure out the problem an hour ago.. it was the damn sway bar links.. bushings were about gone on the underside of the lower arm. Hidden little buggers. But adjustments to the keys really brought out the symptoms of them having already been shot. And I'm sure I will run into many other issues as a result of this "lift." Issues that would have otherwise arisen due to wear, and the fact that these suspension parts haven't been touched since 2001, I'm just speeding up that process.

 

The anti sway bar will swing to an angle it was not designed to operate at with too much lift. There are many things in the suspension that goes beyond its designed limits with too much lift when cranking the torsion bars. As you found out with the shocks, they will hit their limits and not allow the front to go up any more. Yes, You can get longer shocks to help with that but there are other things that run at and beyond its design limits. You may have a better ride with longer shocks, but you will be replacing parts more often and can get expensive.

I cranked my torsion bars to get about 1.5" lift. This is right at the edge of ride Ford height spec limits. My truck rides well, has been very easy on suspension and front driveline parts with 255K miles on them. So, you can lift and not hurt things but you need to know the limit or be willing to replace parts more often.

 

So you're trying to run 35's, just by adding lift keys? I don't know what threads you found that info on, but if you think this is a good idea, you're in for a surprise. But hey, it's your truck, so do what makes you happy.