How To Lower An 83 Ranger?

[sean9721]

My friend has an 83 Ranger and wants to lower it. Summit Racing doesnt have kits for 83s. Where would he be able to find one?

 

[constant_projecttruck]

Lowering beams for first gens are getting hard to find...and expensive. They have the balljoint in the axle as opposed to in the spindle like 89 - on. LMCtruck.com has beams for first gen Rangers and then get some coils too for about 5 inchs in the front. Then just flip the rear axle and flip the hangers for abour 7 in the back. A flip kit is pretty much universal for Rangers 83 to 97.

 

[sean9721]

Lowering beams for first gens are getting hard to find...and expensive. They have the balljoint in the axle as opposed to in the spindle like 89 - on. LMCtruck.com has beams for first gen Rangers and then get some coils too for about 5 inchs in the front. Then just flip the rear axle and flip the hangers for abour 7 in the back. A flip kit is pretty much universal for Rangers 83 to 97.

Thanks. I didnt even think about LMC.

 

[canyoncritter]

Lowering beams for first gens are getting hard to find...and expensive. They have the balljoint in the axle as opposed to in the spindle like 89 - on. LMCtruck.com has beams for first gen Rangers and then get some coils too for about 5 inchs in the front. Then just flip the rear axle and flip the hangers for abour 7 in the back. A flip kit is pretty much universal for Rangers 83 to 97.

thats very true about the spindles and beams.


something you could do, swap out to the newer beams and spindles. buy the beams for the 89-97 and get the spindlas from a 89-94, or you could even get the spindles and brake's from a 95-97 ranger and get the dual pistion bolt on cal's....just something to think about.

 

[Yvan]

Me i get my drop beams from "Stylin truck", for my 87 ford ranger and it cost 406$, it gives me a 3 inches drop, and they fits from 83 to 87.

 

[slammedxonair]

DJM makes the beams and flip kit you need

 

[insaneranger]

I ordered a set of lowered I-Beams from Chassis Tech and a rear flip kit for my '88 ext. cab. The Chassis tech beams are MUCH stronger than DJM and allow your truck to be realigned to factory specs. DJM beams are round and will bend...Chassis Techs are true I-Beams and will hold up to anything...even hopping!

 

[insaneranger]

Check AIM Industries (Chassis Tech) for easy bolt on kits for the front and rear. If he wants to go extreme, check out suicidedoors.com for their weld on kits. It all depends on how low you want to go.

 

[slammedxonair]

Chassis tech is way over priced and not to mention they take way more notching to lay out on, I have never heard of anybodys DJM beams bending other than in Chassis Techs ads. And sd's bag brackets are not that great of a design unless you are trying to lay on something smaller than a 17 and even then there not that good. I've been in this business for a while now and my life pretty much revolves around rangers and suspensions. But I wont go into it anymore before I talk to a mod about advertising. I signed up on here because I noticed alot of wrong facts floating around and thought I would try and help correct alot of the miss conceptions with ranger suspensions.

 

[ILLEGALCONCEPTS]

We've had the debate over DJM Dream Beams several times. There was only one guy, who knew a guy, who knew a guy that said they managed to bend their Dream Beams. So take that for whatever it is worth.

My advise to people is get what ever you can get a better price on. If you plan to bag the truck, DJM is for sure the way to go. If not, like me, don't worry about it. I have Chassis Tech's beams but I paid a fair price for them a LONG time ago. The only draw back I've ever heard about DJM is that they don't have a steering stop built in. The Chassis Tech beams have a large stop that limits turning. Wide rims with a lot of back spacing will rub on DJM while having a non-issue with Chassis Tech.

James

 

[JoshT]

Hey Sean, Don't believe I've noticed you around the forums before. From one georgia boy to another, here's a belated Welcome to the forums.

Summit Racing up there in McDonough should have the Dream Beams their part number listing is DJM-DB3002-3. They also have the rear flip brackets which is part number DJM-FK3001-4. Whether you need the rear or not deends on the stance wanted. If he likes rake he would probably be happy with the beams and a shackle flip, if he doesn't the beams and flip kit should put it level front to rear.

Please check summit again before buying from LMC. The ones LMC has are the DJM beams, and they have a tendency to overcharge.

As to what insaneranger said about the I-beams vs the Round beams. I have seen bent lowered I-beams, but can't recall if they were chassistech or belltech. They looked like somebody reached under them from behind and pulled back and up. On the other had this is the first time I've heard (aside from the competitors ad mentioned above) of a set of dream beams bending and it wasn't from someone with first hand knowledge.

 

[JoshT]

Slammed Good to see you over here. We needed someone like you to help us out.

There's a few of us around here that try to help questions asked. I must admit though on the few occasions that I have to read and respond I can only do so with the knowledge from reading, a lot of which has been over on RPS.

Say you do happen to remember the part number for the adjustable camber caster bushings that are used on the 1st gen rangers? Ya know the 3 or 3.5 +/- ones available from NAPA. The location I used to deal with knew the bushings I was talking about, but they closed so I'd rather go to another one with the number in hand.

 

[dj224ranger]

i had a set of djm beams on my truck and was in a head on collision with a 03 f150 and still used the beams on my new truck the beams werent bent at all so i beleive in them

 

[slammedxonair]

Ive heard of chassis tech beams bending in accidents and a couple of trucks with djm that survived and were proven on frame, and alignment rack to be in spec. Thanks for the comments JoshT. On the alignment eccentrics I'm not sure whats really available for the first gens but 89-97 you can get the +- 4 degree ones from NAPA I can go find the part number later if your still interested in that one.

 

[Yvan]

It's the same for first gen, a got some on my 87.