swaybar sizes, front and rear.

[rab]

looking for a list of swaybar sizes for all rangers, and what years are interchangeable.

i have a 1st gen 83 2wd.

 

[JoshT]

Can't tell you about all sizes but I know the BIIs came with up to a 1" bar on the rear.

Not sure about the Explorer bars but Ranger and BII bars on the rear are interchangable on all of them.

For a front bar on a first gen unless it came with one (I haven't personally seen one yet) your only option bay be aftermarket. On my 84 a second gen bar could not be mounted because what would be the mounting points had non removable jack stand points.

Personally I went with the 1" BII bar on the rear and an aftermarket bar on the front of my first gen. On the aftermarket bar the end links are behind the shock mounts on the inside of the radius arm, and it crosses under the radius arm cross member.

 

[rab]

Can't tell you about all sizes but I know the BIIs came with up to a 1" bar on the rear.

Not sure about the Explorer bars but Ranger and BII bars on the rear are interchangable on all of them.

For a front bar on a first gen unless it came with one (I haven't personally seen one yet) your only option bay be aftermarket. On my 84 a second gen bar could not be mounted because what would be the mounting points had non removable jack stand points.

Personally I went with the 1" BII bar on the rear and an aftermarket bar on the front of my first gen. On the aftermarket bar the end links are behind the shock mounts on the inside of the radius arm, and it crosses under the radius arm cross member.

o.k. so there was not a front bar offered from ford?
what aftermarket companies sell bars?

 

[JoshT]

They probably did. As I said I have never seen one, that doesn't mean they didn't exist. Pretty certain that they did as the Ranger GT supposedly had them. Most likely had some on the BII as well, they wouldn't have had a rear ball without the front. Even if they were available then, you'd have to go to a junkyard to find one now.

As for what companies sell them now, you'd have to look around on line for that. I know summit has one, J.C Whitney probably sells one as well. Most likely others out there as well.

 

[rab]

bump for more info....

 

[rab]

bumping for more info...

 

[JoshT]

So what other info is it exactly that you are looking for?

If you're looking to put front and rear bars on your first gen you have three options that I'm aware of.

First go look at first gens in the junkyard and see if you can find a front bar, it has to be from a first gen because of a variation in the beams for the 92 model year. Most likely the beam will attach to the radius arm behind the shock mount (same place as an aftermarket bar) and cross under the radius arm cross member. I looked and couldn't find one, don't know if they exist or not. For the rear bar, go look at any Ranger or Bronco II, anything from 83-2011 will fit. I got a 90s BII 1" rear bar from the junkyard and installed on my 84 (soon to be installed on the 86).

Second is to shop around and buy an aftermarket bar. As I stated in my previous reply I know Summit Racing sells them, and I think J.C.Whitney does as well. They are available for both front and rear, in a few different sizes. Front might have to be specific to the 83-88 model year (they will say in the listing). Rear is same as factory bars, anything from 83-2011 will fit. I have a 1 1/4" after market bar on the front of my 84 (once again soon to be installed on the 86), I know I bought it as Summit don't remember the brand.

Your third option is to install newer beams. The same beams were used from 89 to 97 and they can be installed on the 83-88 Rangers, you'll have to look for more information on that though. I've done it, but not going to post the information because it's been posted numerous times and you can search for it. These newer beams will have a lot more sway bars available in the junkyard, as well as a larger variety of aftermarket sway bars available. I will say that by the time you buy the parts to swap out the beams just for this reason, you'd probably be cheaper to just spend the money on aftermarket bars.

Interchangability you should have already figured that out from this and my previous posts but here goes.

Front bars:
83-88 are interchangable,
89-97 are interchangable
98-2011 are interchangable
Bars can be swapped between BIIs, Explorers, and Rangers of the same year range. The exception is possibly the 96+ Explorers, I believe that is when they went to the SLA suspension and wider frame. The SLA Explorers will only interchange with SLA Rangers.

Rear:
83-2011 will interchange
Bars can be swapped between BIIs, Ranger and Explorers (at least up to SLA models). The exception here is once again the SLA Explorers. The bars will physically fit to the other axles, but due to the wider frame with on the Explorer the end links may not work.


As for sizes, I don't think anybody here has a list of all sizes available. Nobody is going to go out of their way to make a list for you, and I'd be surprised if many would go out and measure their bars to find out. I gave you the sizes of the ones I have above. If you want anything more than what's been posted so far, you'll probably have to do a little of your own leg work.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Some info, scroll to post 32
http://www.therangerstation.com/forums/showthread.php?t=79003&page=3

Richard

 

[JoshT]

But those are for a 4WD, not a 2WD. The 4WD beams will not bolt onto a first gen 2wd without swapping up to newer model beams.

On those 4WD bars the bar bolts to the frame foward of the front axle, and the end links go to these brackets (one with the bolt in it on left side of pic) on the axle. 89-97 2WDs had the same brackets on the axles.

Every first gen 2WD Ranger I've ever seen has had this "post" in the same location and it isn't removable.


As I said earlier the only way to mount one of those type bars to his Ranger is to also swap out the beams to later model stuff. Considering the cost of that later model stuff he'd probably pay less to just buy an aftermarket bar for the front.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Thanks for the info. I'll have to look at my 2wd again, its been awhile.

Richard

 

[rab]

thanks for the info, i come from the foxbody world, were alot of stock stuff as far as sizes,ect,ect of oem upgrades of all kinds is document very well.

i figured there might be a list of swaybars,brakes,susp. ect in the ranger world somewhere too. seeing as there are a lot of guys that seem to like the ranger and a lot of website dedicated to the ranger.

 

[JoshT]

Rab I haven't seen any of your other posts (outside this thread) but what are your plans for this Ranger?

 

[snoranger]

Every first gen 2WD Ranger I've ever seen has had this "post" in the same location and it isn't removable.

Why not?

 

[JoshT]

Why not?

"Removable" doesn't usually include things that can only be removed with cutting tools, especially not in the context of this thread. Cut it off you still don't have the threaded bolt hole that bracket bolts to on the front of the axle. The bracket on a 2wd is slightly different that the one on a 4WD and requires that bolt to mount it. I'll try to get a pic tomorrow to show what I mean.

In order to make it work you would have to cut that stud off flush with the front of the axle, bore out the remaining part of the stud in the beam(don't want to think of how hard metal that is), and then run a tap the proper size through hole. For the average home mechanic that process would not be possible. (Before you make a remark about that with your 4bt swap you can't be classified as average). Even if you could do all of that with it still on the truck, you still gotta disassemble half the front end to attach the brackets to the beam.

 

[snoranger]

"Removable" doesn't usually include things that can only be removed with cutting tools, especially not in the context of this thread. Cut it off you still don't have the threaded bolt hole that bracket bolts to on the front of the axle. The bracket on a 2wd is slightly different that the one on a 4WD and requires that bolt to mount it. I'll try to get a pic tomorrow to show what I mean.

In order to make it work you would have to cut that stud off flush with the front of the axle, bore out the remaining part of the stud in the beam(don't want to think of how hard metal that is), and then run a tap the proper size through hole. For the average home mechanic that process would not be possible. (Before you make a remark about that with your 4bt swap you can't be classified as average). Even if you could do all of that with it still on the truck, you still gotta disassemble half the front end to attach the brackets to the beam.

Or, we could just agree it was a joke.