Front spring question?

[thorsranger91]

91 ranger Xtra cab 4x4. Bought from teen. It has a 2.3 or 3 inch block in rear bet the front he used the old twist in spring spacers from forever ago. Has anyone swapped in some jeep springs? I've heard they're close enough in diameter but I want a little more height to level the truck out safely as I have 3 pieces of precious cargo

 

[Hopefiend]

One thing you may encounter as ive heard is the stiffness of the springs are different.
I think... think being key word here... that the jeep springs may be alot softer than the ranger springs... are you 2x or 4x ?
Alot goes into raising these trucks with the independent suspension set up...
be sure to get it set up right or it will be super squirrelly... alignment issues etc...
Remember as the suspension flexes the caster and camber change on these and if its already sorta stretched to start with the least added stretch throw everything off even more... its a good idea to drop axle brackets and radius arm brackets to match the lift achieved a the spring... this brings all the original factory geometry back to suspension and alignment...

 

[Hopefiend]

You can get a 1.5" or 2" spring for it... that wont cause too awful much trouble... may want to at least change camber alignment cams in the knuckle because the tops of your tire will lean out and bottoms lean in...
2" is also enough to affect all that... i have had luck w 2" front lift where there was enough adjustment with the cams adjusted to pull top of knuckle all the way in...
Will for sure need alignment afterward...
I have used skyjacker 2" lift coils for this before... they are fairly cost friendly, they are only gonna give you about 1.5" of actual lift, and they are stiffer than factory...
You will have less shock down travel available...
If you add a 3" body lift which is cheap and easy to install and a set of 31/10.50 on 10x15 rims you will have a nice stance...
Hope all that helps

 

[Hopefiend]

I have 4" suspension lift with 4" rear blocks and i think 4" shackles in back with a 3" body lift and 33x12.50x15 on 15x10 rims on mine

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Look in the tech library for "washer" lift.

 

[Hopefiend]

As far as that goes i have used 5.0 fan pulleys on top of factory springs as a spacer... still have all the geometry issues to deal with though... if you are just gonna trailer to the trail and play in it its fine to just do whatever but if you wanna drive on tne road with your kids in it you may wanna go about it a little more safe like ya know what i mean...

 

[rumblecloud]

I did the washer lift with adjustable bushings. Was even able to align it within acceptable standards -- no pull to either side and no uneven tread wear yet.

 

[thorsranger91]

I'm not super worried about geometry currently. Just don't want that spacer shooting out when I'm out logging. Was thinking jeep springs as I can do a bit of swapping at the salvage yard and save a few bucks. Have a few issues to address as it wanders from a loose pitman. And it's a 4x4. A4od wit bw 1354 electronic shift behind a 2.9l. Mostly I have the kids when driving my touareg but my truck on occasion carries the fam

 

[scotts90ranger]

Stock jeep springs are going to be too short and or soft, there's some that work but I think they have to be aftermarket... there's the leverage factor on a TTB axle that needs stiffer springs than normal... You can gain a bit with stock '91-94 Explorer springs then tune with washers (get 1 1/4" washers, they'll have the 1 3/8" hole needed for the radius arm bolt head), looks like you can get 30 washers for $20 on Amazon. There's room for about an inch of washers that give just over an inch of lift, you'll likely need the fully adjustable upper balljoint sleeves to get it aligned.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

It's about a 1.5-1 ratio for lift to depth of washers. This is because of the cantilever effect. The wheel is about 1/3 beam length past the spring, which is where the washers go.