Front Lift Ratio and Rear Lift Blocks

[ceraboy]

I have a 1987 Ranger Supercab 2WD that I recently swapped the 14" rims/wheels with 235/75-15. For the most part these fit just fine unless I hit a speed bump too hard and the front wheels rub in the well. I figured I would do just a 2" lift to bring the vehicle to the height of the 4WD factory units. I found a cheap pair of lift blocks at the wrecking yard and plan on installing them with spacers on the front end.

After looking in the tech library and browsing I have come up with two questions I cannot find a solid answer on. First of all with the rear lift blocks as shown in the tech library under lifting for cheap, what is the purpose of the angled lip that comes of the side of the block. I can see the alignment in the picture, but I cannot readily ascertain its purpose. Most aftermarket lift blocks are just a rectangular block.

Second, looking through this site I most commonly see that the lift ratio for the TTB suspension is about 1" spacer:1.5" lift, however, in my searches on this site and the web I have found some people state up to 1:3. I know with washers I could dial it in, but I have access to some scrap 3" round aluminum and a machine shop so I could punch these out myself, but I would like to get it close the first time. For people who have bought 2" lift/leveling spacers, how thick is the spacer not including the spring perch.

 

[Slim]

The protruding lip on the rear block is a bump stop. Since the entire rear axle assembly is moved in height by 2" it must be made up for and it is an easy an inexpensive way to do so. Ford doesn't make the 4x4 trucks 2" taller to provide more suspension travel (evidenced by the fact that the 2wd and 4x4 use the same front springs), they do it for more ground clearance.


I don't know the ratio for the beams, but it should be easy enough if you crawl under the truck and use a tape measure to measure the difference from the mount of the beam to the spring perch and compare it to the difference of the mount of the beam and the face of the hub. (more or less).

I suspect that a major reason you find such a wide range findings is due to many people taking measurements immediately following the lift, then not doing a follow up after the suspension has settled. This is also very common with people complaining that lowering springs didn't drop as much as advertised, then a month later they complain it's "too low". lol I noticed my suspension settle (lower) by about 1/2" after a week of regular driving - comparing these numbers would alter any ratio found by measurements before and after a lift/lowering.

 

[ceraboy]

Thanks for the info. about the rear blocks. It still strikes me odd that on every aftermarket lift kit I looked at to get an idea of what I wanted to do, that protruding lip is not present. Must not be that critical, but I will crawl under tomorrow and see the bigger picture.

I did think it was rather odd to see some many different cited lift ratios, and I am still curious to hear from anyone who has bought machined metal or polymer blocks just how thick they are in comparison to their cited lift height. Perhaps I will just machine them at close to 2" install and figure out how much has to come off on the lathe.