1987 Ford ranger Dana 44 solid axle swap

[Stowelltravis]

I removed all of the old front and and put James Duff coil towers on. Now the coil have a curve to the and was wondering if I need to fix it or if I should just drive it. Any help would be awesome.

 

[Bird76Mojo]

I assume you used an axle with the cast wedges. In that case, the only option I know of would be to narrow the axle until the springs line up, or space out your coil buckets.

If the wedges are welded on, then you could grind until they're loose, move them inward, and weld them in place.

 

[Dirtman]

I wouldn't drive it 10 feet like that... like the bird said, gotta move the lower spring mounts in or make custom upper towers.

 

[Shran]

Hey that's how mine looks... and I have a narrowed front axle too... It's been like that for 7 or 8 years now.

Lots of suggestions out there. You can try to redo your lower coil cups so that they are angled inwards - allegedly that has helped some. Marginal improvement on mine. I just gave up and have been living with it looking weird.

What coils are you running? I'd be talking to Duff for suggestions and will be curious what you end up with.

 

[Dirtman]

Is that a redneck limiting strap or a bad job hooking it to a trailer?

 

[Shran]

Ignore the strap, I was just using it to pull the body sideways so that the track bar could be hooked up (it's not in the pic.) I had ripped the track bar bracket off the frame prior to that picture being taken.

 

[Stowelltravis]

So I moved the lower coil bracket in. It looks better but not straight yet.

 

[Stowelltravis]

Also the coils a from a 1977 Ford F-150 stock coil and the axle is full length.

 

[bobbywalter]

It is a lineage issue. Canting the seats will help....or solve it. I do that with angled pipe seats using low ppi with ttb. I had 140 ppi springs at one point with air bags which allowed for Max articulation but would flip the spring without canting the seats.

With the straight axle it is simpler.... Move the bucket out or move the lower seat over. Simple as drilling two holes with an angle iron stand off.


70s 2wd buckets work perfect.