dropping a ranger? Help

[icy650r]

A buddy of mine is wanting to bag the front of his ranger so it will lay frame. Does any1 in here have any pics of there ranger laying frame or know how to do it? Keeping in mind that he has I-beam front suspension. I seen in a place on here where some1 was talking about flipping there I-beams any ideas on that. any help would be appreciated.

 

[Monzilla]

I think flipping the I-beams will raise it. Never heard of that before. I got over 6" of drop with drop beams and coils. There are a few posts on here with bagged Ranger I-beam suspension. Installing pads/brackets and bags.

 

[bluovaldude]

Best way of laying frame and just about any truck you are going to have to Z the frame to get the frame on the ground. You are also going to need radius arm relocators and a tranny crossmemeber that sists above the lowwer frame rail lip. Some torsion bar bag mounts, the universal one from Suicidedoors.com is a decent set, but I would research more if I were just to be sure you get the best stuff for your Ranger.

Now depending on how much you want to go into this project I would probably recomened clipping the front end, with either a Yota clip, a newer 98-up Ranger, or a Mustang II clip.

 

[ZMan]

Best way of laying frame and just about any truck you are going to have to Z the frame to get the frame on the ground. You are also going to need radius arm relocators and a tranny crossmemeber that sists above the lowwer frame rail lip. Some torsion bar bag mounts, the universal one from Suicidedoors.com is a decent set, but I would research more if I were just to be sure you get the best stuff for your Ranger.

Now depending on how much you want to go into this project I would probably recomened clipping the front end, with either a Yota clip, a newer 98-up Ranger, or a Mustang II clip.

umm, not quite.



Your buddy will need drop I-beams, DJM Dream Beams work the best for bagging and are the cheapest.

To lay out with an I-beam truck you DO NOT need to Z the frame, thats just 98+ rangers so just forget that anyone said that.

You will need bag mounts and brackets for the beams.

Heres the ones Suicide Doors makes: http://suicidedoors.com/RangerI-BeamFrontBagBrackets.php
It takes a bit of tinkering to get them exactly right, they have a tendency to rub if you're not carefull.

Heres a picture of them installed on my friends '94.


You will need to notch the engine crossmember for the i-beams to clear, and notch the frame for the tie-rods. This all depends on what size wheels/tires you run also, we pretty much set my friends up for 20" wheels. If you set it up for 17s and small tires there would be a bit less cutting.

You will need these two things also to lay flat out...
http://suicidedoors.com/FordRangerRadius.php
http://suicidedoors.com/FordRangerTransmission.php

We also did a 4-link in the rear..


final result at a carshow a month after getting it driveable (still looks basically the same over a year later)

 

[bluovaldude]

Heres a picture of them installed on my friends '94.


Now I see why nobody like the mounts from SD.

 

[ZMan]

Heres a picture of them installed on my friends '94.
http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/4877/reardone009fr2.jpg[/I MG][/URL]
[/QUOTE]
Now I see why nobody like the mounts from SD. :sad:[/quote]

ya, there are far better ones available, or you can make your own with some tubing and some universal cups, you need to box the frame also.

 

[bluovaldude]

Yeah I would say I have seen WAY better front setups than that. It almost looks un safe.

 

[Monzilla]

Im confused. Is that a cast iron beam with a mild steel bracket welded to it? Im not saying thats impossible. Welding cast iron alone takes a hot arc welder and some big dollar nickle rod. And pre-heating the iron along with slow cooldown.

 

[bluovaldude]

No I do believe it is drop beams which are steel, I do believe welding on them would be just like welding on anything else.

 

[icy650r]

Thanks for the help guys i heard it was so much harder than that to bag the front of a ranger every1 i talk to tell me it isnt worth it but that looks like less work than bagging my 00 extreme on 20's. Now that is almost not worth it. I did say almost its still worth it tho

 

[icy650r]

Oh and ZMAN do you have a pic of that of the bag and bracket at full lift?