I Need Help!!!!

[87danger]

I want to lift my 87 ranger but dont know were to start.... i dont have alot of money and i would like to get atlease 6 inches of susp..... my friend said he can lift the rear easy with some chevy leafs.... i really dont know what to do with the front or the rear i am even thinking about doinr a sas but not sure if that would be so easy or cheap!!!!!!

Any help is good hepl thanx

 

[Mazd4x4ped]

Doing an SAS is never easy or cheap. Ive looked into it and Ive found the the major problem I would be facing is steering. Is your truck 2 wheel drive or 4 wheel drive? If you got 2 wheel I would go with a spindle lift and some bigger coils. that could get you close to 6 inches in the front.

 

[87danger]

it is 4 by 4 coil in front and leaf in rear but i think its also twin i beam with tochen bar

 

[BlackBII]

You dont know where to start? That's easy. Get some money.

All the info you'll ever need:
http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/index.php

For the front, your going to need axle pivot brackets, radius arm brackets/extended arms, coils, shocks, drop pitman arm, longer brake lines..etc

You could go with blocks in the rear to be on the cheap side, or get some springs with more arc

 

[87danger]

So is it worth it to just lift my truck the way it is now or should i go for the sas??? i want to go threw the rubacon and do some nice rock crawlin ...... i just dont know if my front end is going to be ok with that..... and i want atleast 6" of susp..... lift

 

[BlackBII]

I wouldn't lift it more than 4-5", simply because of the steering. See here:
http://www.therangerstation.com/Magazine/winter2008/steering_tech.htm

What size tires are you looking to run?
Are you wanting some good flex or will this be a mall crawler?

I would at least swap in a Dana 35, if your going to be doing more than trailriding.

 

[4x4junkie]

So is it worth it to just lift my truck the way it is now or should i go for the sas??? i want to go threw the rubacon and do some nice rock crawlin ...... i just dont know if my front end is going to be ok with that..... and i want atleast 6" of susp..... lift

Here's some info that might help...

Your stock front axle should be a Dana28. It is notoriously weak and would not stand up long on trails like Rubicon.
However the Dana35 axle from a later Ranger or Explorer is an easy direct bolt-in swap (outside of having to shorten the front driveshaft about an inch). The D35 has numerous parts in common with the Dana44 from a F-150 and is very close to it in strength (should handle 35" tires no problem).

No suspension lifts currently available for TTB suspensions are really geared for crawling out-of-the-box (the coils are all much too stiff to flex well), however the suspension design itself is certainly capable of it (just check out my Bronco II Cardomain page). Some figuring for the correct coil springs will be needed, and of course it's almost a guarantee that the steering will very likely need something beyond the too-short drop pitman arm that typically comes with a lift kit.
If you're good at figuring things out and don't mind tinkering with it a bit, you can really do some wonders with the TTB setup (I've taken mine through many of the trails in the Sierras (Rubicon included) and it's always performed just as well for me as anything else).

One thing in favor of the SAS though is that the steering geometry is not as cumbersome to deal with, and lends itself to taller lifts better. If you actually must have 6" lift in the suspension (along with enough flex for crawling), this might be something to consider. But also remember, the more lift you have, the higher your center of gravity will be. A 4" lift + trimmed fenders (and/or a short body lift) will easily let you get 35" tires under there, which for most uses should be plenty.

Hope that helps some.

 

[87danger]

4by4junkie yea you just helped alot and that seems like the way i should go for now.... I just want to know how you lifted yours 3" sus when you said they dont offer one i dont see a problem in lifting the rear easy!!!! The stance of you bii looks like some thing i would have alot of fun with.. And how much do you think it would take to get that far, i would probley pull the axels out of pick an pull like i said before i dont have alot of money because im finishing up my harley.....

 

[4x4junkie]

The suspension on mine I built a lot of it myself. The axle pivot brackets are from an old Rancho 2.5" lift that I reinforced some so they would have better durability. Total lift in the suspension is actually closer to 3.5".

Most of the details about what I've done to it are there if you haven't read the whole thing yet, but if you still have any specific questions, I can certainly help you with it.

I think I have a grand total of about $6000 into my BII for everything (that include the purchase of the truck itself). If you go with lower-cost items like Aussie Lockers over ARBs, of course you can probably knock well over a grand off the price of your build.

 

[87danger]

I wanted to know if i can lift my truck the way it is just for now i dont want to do any body lift thoe..... If so how high and how much and how hard?

 

[4x4junkie]

4" suspension lift is is probably a good all-around amount. This keeps the steering to a manageable level, and lets you get 35s under it with some trimming.

You could also go 6" if you don't mind giving up a bit of your flex to stiffer coils. I wouldn't recommend this if you want to run Rubicon though.

Just be sure to read the link that BlackBII posted a few posts up. It explains why too much lift isn't good on these things (and the flaws in the suspension industry's packaging of lift kit components you'll need to be aware of even at 4" lift).

 

[87danger]

ow i see ok..... But how would i go about lifting my stock front end to around 4"??? what would you recomend???

 

[4x4junkie]

If you're looking to make use of the most "bolt-on" parts possible, I'd probably start with a 4" Skyjacker Class II suspension kit with the rear leaf springs, but have them substitute the #FA600 pitman arm for the one that comes with the kit.
Then get a set of their #JC-60F front Cherokee coils (a little bit of fab work will still be needed on the coil mounts to fit them correctly).
This should make a pretty good starting point for use on a Bronco II or a Reg Cab Ranger (I assume that's a Reg Cab in your avatar?). Then it's just a matter of the smaller things like adding the F-250 extended shock mounts, checking your clearances so that there is no binding of the center u-joint or the right-side axle shaft within the housing, and so on.