Improving ride quality and handling via lowering? '03 B3000, Std Cab+Short Bed.

[bhgl]

I'll have to grab a set of calipers to bring with me to the junk yard I suppose. No sense in me unbolting the whole thing and bringing it home only to find out it's the same size or smaller.

Did you grab your front sway bar from an 03 Explorer? Since the 04 Sport Trac is the only vehicle in the yard that's ranger based, I hope it'll be a solid replacement. I mean, aside from a myriad of other rangers from various years.

 

[superj]

my 04 edge had a good size front bar but the explorer bar, from an 04 explorer/mountaineer with torsion bars was 1/4 or 3/8 larger than my stock bar, i think. it was so much larger that i took it off and went back to the stock edge bar.

no idea on the sport trac stuff but find a regular ol v6 explorer/mountaineer with 4x4 and it will be a thicker front bar than you currently have. i guarantee

 

[bhgl]

my 04 edge had a good size front bar but the explorer bar, from an 04 explorer/mountaineer with torsion bars was 1/4 or 3/8 larger than my stock bar, i think. it was so much larger that i took it off and went back to the stock edge bar.

no idea on the sport trac stuff but find a regular ol v6 explorer/mountaineer with 4x4 and it will be a thicker front bar than you currently have. i guarantee

Finding em is the hard part, not only is there very little in the way of junkyards nearby, but given the 6 months of salted roads, cars from 2000-2011 are surprisingly hard to find, even more rare is anything that's year starts with a 19.

Hopefully the sport trac has a good bar that'll work.

 

[superj]

i wonder what it costs to ship one? it weighs a ton and is odd shaped so that might make it cost prohibitive

 

[Lefty]

I'll have to grab a set of calipers to bring with me to the junk yard I suppose. No sense in me unbolting the whole thing and bringing it home only to find out it's the same size or smaller.

Did you grab your front sway bar from an 03 Explorer? Since the 04 Sport Trac is the only vehicle in the yard that's ranger based, I hope it'll be a solid replacement. I mean, aside from a myriad of other rangers from various years.

You won't need a set of calipers. The bar in the picture might actually be 7/8". In either case it is much larger than the stock Ranger which is closer to 3/8".

I have a 2003 Edge, I ignored the Tech section advice and went with a 2002 Explorer. It worked out just fine.

 

[Lefty]

i wonder what it costs to ship one? it weighs a ton and is odd shaped so that might make it cost prohibitive

You could probably ship it okay. You don't have to box it up. Just make a cardboard shipping label and wind a lot of tape around the label part

 

[bhgl]

i wonder what it costs to ship one? it weighs a ton and is odd shaped so that might make it cost prohibitive

To ship one across the border from somewhere sunny and salt free would probably cost more than just ordering an aftermarket performance sway bar online to be honest.

 

[superj]

Thats what i am aftaid of

 

[sgtsandman]

For the rear sway bar, the one that fits the Bronco II also fits the Ranger. I believe there are 3 different sizes. The bar clamps with U-Bolts to the axle and uses existing holes in the Ranger frame for the end links The hard part is the driver's side since you have to move the fuel tank to get at the nut that mounts the end link to the frame.

From the limited exposure I've had to Explorers, I don't think the rear sway bar mounts up the same on any of them to work on a Ranger.

As far as the front sway bar, I THINK they are the same between the torsion bar trucks and the coil spring trucks but it has been a long time since I worked on the 1998 I had. As long as the bar on your truck has the straight bolt type end links and the donor has the same setup, you should be good.

 

[superj]

B2 rear bar from a 4x4

1/8th thicker than stock ranger rear bar.

its hard to show but its 3/4" thick

 

[Lefty]

B2 rear bar from a 4x4

1/8th thicker than stock ranger rear bar.

its hard to show but its 3/4" thickView attachment 109165View attachment 109166

Yup. Hardly worth the trouble, unless you have no bar at all. Might as well try the spring pack clamps. The other Bronco II sway bar is thicker, closer to 1"

 

[bhgl]

Well I suppose it's good I can't find a Bronco II up here with a sway bar available to yoink.

Here's hoping the Sport Tracs fit and are thicker.

 

[Lefty]

Well I suppose it's good I can't find a Bronco II up here with a sway bar available to yoink.

Here's hoping the Sport Tracs fit and are thicker.

And/or spring pack clamps....

 

[superj]

I will swap this one on as a test and use it for a week to see how it feels, just like i did with that explorer front bar

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

There are rubber bump stops, which I did trim down, but you need to make sure you don't go past the compression length of the shock, or else find a different shock.

You max out the upper ball joint before you hit the metal stops if you pull the front rubber bump stops and the shock compression length is not a problem either. Limiting factor is the upper A-arm ball joint on the torsion bar models.