Lift kit Shock Selection

[spaceranger]

Greetings y'all. Been reading up on different forums, our lift kit article, and shock selection article but still feeling confused about shock selection, especially with out ambiguous the options are in online stores.

1986 ext cab 4wd ranger,
Scored some skyjacker 4in rear lift leaf springs. Going to remove the 3" lift block, and was hoping to install 1.5-2" lift leveling coil springs for the front for a leveled look/ slight lift.

I was going to buy the matching skyjacker front/ rear shocks, but after reading apparently the quality is quite low.

Any recommendations for a 1.5-2" lifted 86' 4wd ranger? At the moment thinking Bilsteins.

 

[Shran]

Bilstein has a chart here that shows compressed and extended lengths, total travel and the mounting types:
https://www.shockwarehouse.com/pages/bilstein-b8-series-measurements

Speaking from experience with Bilstein, I would highly recommend them. I used these two shocks in particular for lifted trucks in the FRONT:

BILSTEIN 33230405 is a really good fit for 1.5-2.5" lifted trucks, they are almost identical in compressed & extended measurements to the STX High Rider front shocks (used these on my Explorer that has a STX lift installed in it.)

BILSTEIN 24185745 is a bit longer and worked great for a truck with a 3" James Duff Explorer lift but was installed on a Ranger with spacers so it was really more like 3.5"-4"

Not sure what to suggest on the rear, the Explorer has Monroe load leveller shocks in the rear and my Ranger has some cheapo Rancho shocks in the rear that I just happened to have on hand that fit somewhat well. If you want Bilsteins in the rear, measure what you have now and compare to that chart above to find one that's about 2-3" longer.

 

[spaceranger]

What a fantastic response. Thank you greatly for this little write-up. Much appreciated!

 

[scotts90ranger]

I bought Skyjacker shocks from the TRS store back in like 2010 and they're still on my '90, I have absolutely zero complaints on them, they all still have pressure in them and ride just fine, I know the quality of everything has gone downhill in the last few years...

I've heard the Bilstein quality has gone down too, my buddy talked me into KYB Monomax for my F350, no complaints there either, somehow I found a chart on those but couldn't find it again when I looked later...