too low?

[Lift]

Uhhhh yeah so i got a 2wd 83 longbed ranger. pulled the tanks running a fuel cell in the back.

so i purchased so cheap 3" lowering blocks, yeah they will probably break but its just for now. I bought some 3/16" thick steel by 2" wide and made a u and put that under the original leaf plate. so my problem is its way to damn low its sitting on the bump stops.

Why is it that low? i only have one side on right now so maybe all the weight is going to that leaf? there isnt a leaf on the other side. Are my leafs shot? idk lol heres some crappy pics.

before

After

My shit haha

 

[Chevelle Kid]

Yeah you're at approx 7" of drop, you need to add a notch to the frame. My 4" in the rear is as low as I would go without notching it, I bottom out on good enough dips in the road.

 

[Lift]

how would i go about notching the frame is that difficult?

 

[Lift]

btw what do i do about leveling out the front with the rear? i heard theres an adjustment on the torsion bars. i dont want to spend any money i can cut and weld

 

[stmitch]

To get the front down, you'd need to buy or make lowering i-beams (3 inch drop), and then buy lowering springs or cut your factory coils (1-3 inch drop depending which route you choose). That still might not be low enough to match the rear, and it would be near impossible to get properly aligned. You need drop beams to go any lower than 3 inches in the front, and still keep it align-able.

Your truck has no torsion bars, so that doesn't apply to you.

Honestly, I'd just ditch the blocks in the rear and leave the axle flip kit you made. You'd get 4-5 inches of drop in the rear, and wouldn't have to notch the frame. Plus it would be easier to get the front level with the rear, and still keep it align-able. If you pull the blocks out, you could probably make the front level with the rear by just cutting a round or two out of your coil springs.

 

[Lift]

how would i go about making i beams? or customizing the ones i have?

 

[wr250rdr]

You don't unless you have a mechanical engineering degree, lots of fab work, and lots of suspension work under your belt.

There are too many thing that can and will go wrong if you attempts to make them your self. To give you an idea of the stress your suspension components go thorough, when you hit a pothole at 60 mph the impact on your suspension components is roughly 20 G's and unless you can calculate for things like this avoid the work. Also drop beams are usually machine welded for perfect or near perfect welds placed at precision spots. If you even off 1/64" on one side you can cause at minimum bad tire wear and at most make your truck undrivable.

 

[doorgunner]

What he said.......take the blocks out...leave the axle on top of the springs....you'll have a lowered rear end with a better ride on ruff roads....

then lower the front end to match the rear................

 

[JoshT]

I think this is the first time I've seen someone start with the rear and take it that far down. An said a few times you are at about a 7" drop now. To get the front leveled you will need about 5 or 6 inches, depending on how much your leafs have sagged over time. To get this you will need a combination of beams and springs. The beams will get you 3" without affecting your camber much, then you will need two or three inch drop springs to get the rest of the way. Using springs on top of beams can quickly lead to an uncorrectable camber issue, 5" drop is usually align-able (IIRC), 6" is borderline and depends on the truck, while anything more will usually not be align-able. You mentioned in another thread that you would like to bag this truck eventually. Drop beams will be necessary for that to work the way you want.

As stmitch recommended I'd remove that block, that'll put you back up to about 4". Get some beams to drop the front down. If you want lower (and you probably will) get some 2" drop springs for the front, which will net you about 5" suspension drop. If you need to bring the rear down more try the shackle flip, it's good for about 1.5-2". At this point you'd be at about 5" front and 6" rear.

...........................................................................................................................

To give you an idea of potential drops to be had from suspension mods.

Modification: drop in inches

Front:
lowering or cut springs: 1-3 depending on how much you cut
Drop beams: 3

Rear:
Shackle & Hangar flip: 1.5 to 2 (depends on truck)
Extended (chevy) Shackles: 1-2 (lift with stock Hangar, lower with flipped)
Axle flip: 4
Block: varies (lifts or lowers depending on position of axle)

Front and rear can be mixed in almost any combination.

........................................................................................................................

Just some eye candy, might help you pick a goal for static drop:

^^ 3/4 ( front drop / rear drop )

^^ 5/7

^^ 6/8

EDIT: Sorry I know this post was already long enough but I wanted to add this. Before buying beams you might also want to think about your front brakes. IIRC this truck was also a V8 swap, and some people like better brakes that what a first gen had. It is possible to install the dual piston calipers from a 95-97 Ranger, but doing so also requires swapping spindles to 95-97 and installing 89-97 I-beams. If you think this is in your future now is the time to do it so you don't have to buy beams again.

 

[slammedxonair]

First off you need to either cap the sides and make it wrap under the axle fr that flip kit or ditch it and make it out of some thicker material such as 3/8" I have even seen the DJM flip kits 3/8" bend under stress, There is no doubt in my mind that 3/16 is not going to last.

The flip kit will yield about a 4" drop, you can flip your rear hangers and shackles for 2" drop. In order to get the front suspension any lower than 2" you will need Drop Ibeams, DJM are the best and have the best price. Then you can add some 2" drop coils for a total of 5" front drop which is the max that is able to be realigned. I highly recommend not cutting coils, it rides like crap and is not very safe.

 

[Rose2300]

nice "fuel cell" haha

 

[ZMan]

You notch with either this:
http://shop.illusivefabrications.com/notches/ford-ranger-bolt-in-notch/
or this:
http://shop.illusivefabrications.com/notches/universal-c-notch-bolt-in-2.25/

And you can lower the front end 3" with this:
http://shop.illusivefabrications.com/i-beams/83-88-ford-ranger-drop-i-beams/

Add these to make it 5":
http://shop.illusivefabrications.com/coil-springs/belltech-i-beam-ranger-2-lowering-coils/

 

[Broncoman1532]

you can can flip the rear leafs over (back on top of the axel) add the block in there and see how low that will take it with out doin the notch. for the front you can get a drop spindel. i have done it on 1 of my old rangers.

 

[Broncoman1532]

or just go ahead and bag it yeah bag it and then when it aint low enough then body drop it

 

[ZMan]

you can can flip the rear leafs over (back on top of the axel) add the block in there and see how low that will take it with out doin the notch. for the front you can get a drop spindel. i have done it on 1 of my old rangers.

Putting it back to stock and adding a block will LIFT it, and theres no such thing as drop spindles for a ranger, are you sure that wasnt an s10 you had?