2" drop rear shackles

XLTsplash · Dec 5, 2013

I've been thinking about lowering the back of my Ranger. I like the back of the truck to sit a little higher than the front, My Ranger just has too much gap above the rear tires. I have found three different brands of 2" lower shackles on ebay . I don't want the truck to look lower in the back than in the front. Has anyone used the 2'' drop shackles on an other wise stock ride height Ranger ? If so what brand did you use and how does you truck look ? Thanks

XLTsplash · Jan 19, 2014

I bought a pair of the 2'' lowering shackles sold on ebay. The are nice looking with a powder coat finish. They were easy to install. They only lowered my Ranger 1'' at the rear wheel wells. My truck was LF 30'' RF 30''
LR 32.5'' RR 32.5''
It's now LF 30'' RF 30''
LR 31.5'' RR 31.5"
It would have been nice if the shackles lower my truck 1.5'' . I didn't go with the shackle flip because I had read it would lower the truck between 2''& 3'' . I like my truck higher in the back than in the front. So the shackles are good if you just want your Ranger a little lower in the back.
Here are the ones I bought
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1989-1997-Ford-Ranger-2-REAR-Lowering-Shackles-SET-RB-Style-SILENT-Bushings-/261276091599?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&fits=Make:Ford|Model:Ranger&hash=item3cd544c4cf&vxp=mtr

Captain Ledd · Jan 19, 2014

Since your axle is approximately 1/2 way between the front of the spring and the shackle, whatever height you chop off the shackle, it'll lower the truck about half of that. So an inch sounds right.

to lower the truck 1.5" you need a 3" drop shackle. By this point, you're not running much shackle at all, and will probably have some ride issues.

On the flip side, you can flip your shackles (see what I did there?) and use the original lowering shackle as a lift shackle, as it would now bring the spring closer to the hangar. And will knock off about an inch of the standard flipped shackle height.

Modifying more, flip the shackle, use a universal lowering shackle (the ones with several holes for different heights) and use 4wd lift blocks to get back to a more standard height. But at this point it could get counter-productive quick.

Just other options.

XLTsplash · Jan 22, 2014

Good point, Thank you.

XLTsplash · Apr 3, 2015

Here are before and after pictures of my Ranger lowered with the shorter shackles.

scrapper · May 17, 2015

You could just put an explorer rear end on it but don't use a flip kit. Don't know how much lower that would be. Might be to much?

Captain Ledd · May 22, 2015

That will drop it waaaaay far. 6-7" range IIRC. Basically the top of the spring pad to the center of the axle tube multiplied by 2, plus the thickness of the leaf spring stack.

JoshT · May 25, 2015

Axle flip = ~5"

Stays close to the same with the Ex axle, unless you also use EX springs which give almost 2" of lift.

Wasn't thinking about that when I put the Explorer axle and springs under the 86 I'm building. Put in "universal lowering springs" to get the axle flip back to around 3", which would have been right with Ranger springs. Instead of a 3" drop, I've got about 1" drop with a flipped axle and 3" drop beams (+V8) on the front. Talk about a rake... Fortunately the bed isn't installed yet so it isn't painfully obvious.

2" drop rear shackles

XLTsplash

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XLTsplash

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Captain Ledd

Well-Known Member

XLTsplash

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XLTsplash

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scrapper

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Captain Ledd

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JoshT

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