1988 Ford Ranger STX High Rider 5 Speed Manual 4x4

[85_Ranger4x4]

What are "OWL" tires? Offroad White Letter?

BSW (Black Side Wall) what most Rangers received.

OWL (Outline White Letter)

RWL (Raised White Letter)

 

[dvdswan]

Everyday you should learn something. Thank you @85_Ranger4x4

 

[Snoranger]

SWL (Solid White Letter)

I thought that was RWL (Raised White Letter), not SWL.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I thought that was RWL (Raised White Letter), not SWL.

Whoops, got me on that one.

To be fair I don't think I have sold more than one or two sets of those.

So few tire companies make them anymore they are rare to come across.

 

[RobbieD]

yes, taller front coils, different radius arm brackets, not sure about the rear suspension, possibly taller than normal lift blocks & U-bolts.

If the springs are unique to the High Rider, then it seems that the Federal Compliance door sticker should also be able to be used to confirm that a truck is a factory-built High Rider.

The truck for sale now includes the compliance label in the eBay ad. It shows a front spring code R, and a rear spring code X:

The 1988 shop manual gives these part numbers:
Front code R E77A-5310-RA
Rear code X E77A-5560-XA

The "E7", I believe, denotes 1987 model year, which makes sense if the High Rider was first made in '87.

There are only 6 rear spring options shown in the shop manual, and there is only one "E7", the other 5 all being "E6".

But there's 21 codes for the front springs, running from "E2" through "E7".

I don't think that I have anything else in my lit collection to further confirm this. The Ford truck parts catalog might break down the part number suffixes (i.e.- RA, XA) into applications or specifications, but I don't have a complete copy.

 

[2011Supercab]

According to the 1988 sales brochure page 12

https://www.therangerstation.com/resources/pdf_documents/1988_ford_ranger_brochure.pdf

The "High Rider" package was standard on the STX Reg Cab 4x4

And on page 4
STX 4WD. The Regular Cab version is called the High Rider