@n2xlr8n what spring rate did you go with?
@Yotaismygame There's so much to report that I'll likely miss something- I dumped the front AJE coil overs (junk, as you stated) for Vikings, and the rear suspension, well.....
Quicktime 9", 35 spline, 3.90 gears- I sold the Explorer 8.8 because I had already narrowed it and didn't realize the aftermarket doesn't make c-clip eliminators for the Explorer housing ends...so I said before I spend another dime on this housing, I'll go with something I'm familiar with- thus the 9".
I've driven her about 5 miles so far. Baby steps...
Here's what I've learned about the AJE kit. The recommended 175lb springs from AJE were way too soft. Truck bounced and bottomed out on every bump.
Now here comes a rant: The AJE kit for a ranger is not meant to be slammed to the ground.
Good to hear! I'm closing in on firing it- probably 3 weeks of wiring away.
Yes- mine, too. The spring length is such that you lose 75% of the adjustability of the shock.
I'll see your rant and raise it to "The AJE kit was not meant for a first gen Ranger, period".
The fabrication I've done to make this "kit" safe and functional is ridiculous.
Honestly if I could do it again I would look harder into using a mustang 2 front suspension. The amount of fab work I've done on this truck is crazy and when I bought the AJE kit that's not what I had planned.
Fully agree.
Here's where I'm at presently. I just finished setting the rear ride height- I'll call Viking with the particulars tomorrow and get them going on my fr / rr shocks. I'm using Calvert split leafs with sliders- I dropped the rear of the perch ~2" for additional leverage. It was work; the frame rails are really too narrow, so I boxed in the frame where the sliders weld to the frame (via 2x3 gusseted tubing). Disregard the tack welds- I was running out of gas.
A few tidbits: My friend owns a large chunk of the LS aftermarket head porting service (and has his own castings, as well). He has provided almost 100% of the machining servce (and many parts). Wilkes Performance, fwiw.
One of the "cool kids" trends is using King XP bearings. I tried it - suffice to say I went back to Clevite. The pic below is of my freshly line honed, brand new crankshaft measured with King XP (lower sharpie on main cap) versus Clevite P (upper number). The measurements were dead on +/- 0.0002.
Anyway, after all that drama- I assembled it and dropped the entire drivetrain in:
The only other thing I changed was I'm using E85. I prefer it over pump 93, and I'll probably run around on about 12-14 psi and run 18-20 during track passes.
Til next time!