help lifting 89 bronco 2

[luke89b2]

Hello everyone, I recently decided to revive my 89 b2 that's been sitting the past 20 years. My grandfather owned a dealership as a hobby, and when he stopped selling vehicles, it was on the lot, so he kept it in the building, along with a few of his other cars he collected and some other left overs. He recently passed, and handed off the garage and all vehicles off to me and my father, who sold the majority of the others for his mother, because we didn't need anymore projects at the farm. Kind of sad, Pepe would have been very angry, but they are all at good homes now being restored. Anyways, Me and my father decided to keep the 89 bronco 2 for a project. My dad owns a 89 ranger that he bought brand new and still has to this day. I would like to show him up and make my bronco kick some serious ass. I would like to get a 4" suspension lift kit and throw it on the bronco, with at least some 10 wide 33s. Its a 4x4 89 b2 that's bone stock with the 5 speed. Could someone maybe link a few BUDGET FRIENDLY options to get me in the right direction. Pretty new to the broncos, as my project over the years has been by 87 chevy k10.I know cheap and cool aren't very compatible, but I just don't want cream of the crop everything, just what can get it to what I want it to be I'll throw a picture below of kind of the look I'm going for. Also, it will be my daily, considering the k10 gets 3-5mpg. Not even joking......so any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[bobbywalter]

Not sure what's available junkyard wise near you.

There are a few budget junkyard part swaps possibilities I use with these.

Do you know whether it is a d35 or d28 front axle?

This would affect my choices.

Duff and skyjacker are really good systems that are bolt on.

A duff 3 in is a great place to start along with cut out fenders like you pictured.

 

[luke89b2]

I'm not sure wether its the dana 35 or 28, I'll have to look next time I run down. I was looking into skyjackers, because that's what I have on my chevy and Its been great. I'll try to figure it out which axle it is soon.

 

[tw205]

You will have a hard time clearing 33s on a 4” lift without some fender trimming or a body lift. Here is a fitment guide. https://www.therangerstation.com/how-to_pages/ford_ranger_tire_fitment.shtml
Broncograveyard.com
Dufftuff.com
Summitracing.com

I went with a skyjacker 6” lift to clear my 33s.
I bought the lift from summit racing but there was nothing budget friendly.
The brackets on the skyjacker are friendly to the Dana 28 and 35. Some others like BDS can knock a hole in the diff of a Dana 35.

Body lifts are helpful but don’t include a means of raising the bumpers to match and they add some clearance issues with the shifters.
The picture you included looks like a 4” suspension lift with cut out fender flares. The flares are available at Broncograveyard.com. But at 500 a set plus paint, a 6” lift is less expensive.
Let us know which way you go and post us some pics. ( truck porn)

Ps. I’ve got a used set of 6” brackets that I would part with but don’t have springs or swaybar bracket.

 

[ecgreen]

Its funny, I think BIIs can vary from truck to truck. I have a 3 inch suspension lift and I fit 33s no problem. I will probably have to do a little trimming when I start wheeling harder terrain, but they fit just fine for medium duty use. I know guys that this hasn't worked for though, so who knows? Even if they didnt fit I would simply keep trimming and keep the lift low though. Thats just the style I like these days. Also keeps the center of gravity low on a truck that is tippy in stock form let a lone lifted.

 

[ecgreen]

The guys are right though, none of these options are budget friendly. I have a duff stage 1 and it was not cheap. The reason I went with duff instead of piecing together something cheaper is the drop brackets. Without proper drop brackets you will never get that thing in alignment. Duff and Skyjacker are the ONLY companies that make brackets worth a dang and fabbing them is not easy. You are looking at 1500 minimum and it will still drive like a crappy Ford (oh no he didn't!). Also you will need a new pitman arm, extended brakes lines, etc. to do things right.

If you want a real budget build, maybe think about scalling back your plan? You can do a skyjacker or rough country 1.5 inch lift and throw some 31x10.5s on there for a whole lot cheaper and you wont need brackets (but you will need camber bushings). I ran 31s this way and wheeled the snot out of it no problems with clearance.

 

[ecgreen]

Dude just saw you live in Maine. I am in NH. I have a 1.5 inch Rough Country lift I will sell you the front and rear shocks and front coils for $150 if you are interested (about 300 miles on it). Add a set of $40 drop shackles and you are all set. I paid 350ish, but I just don't need it anymore so I will sell cheap. Just a thought.

 

[Blmpkn]

Hey I'm in maine! Moved to Poland from gray about 6 months ago.

What in the world do you have done to the k10 where it only gets 5mpg? Lol. I just got a k10, id like to avoid whatever you did to achieve such horrendous "efficiency"

 

[dvdswan]

Welcome to the site. I'd be happy to take the K10 off your hands.

 

[gaz]

Luke,

If you aren't in a hurry, I've pulled 2 suspension lifts from the wrecking yard; a complete 89 Ranger Hi Ryder factory 2" suspension (on my 87 Ranger long bed) and a 4" Pro-Comp off an 88 super-cab Ranger (now on my 87 BII), both complete with front/rear springs, sways, all drop brackets and hardware. $50 and $75 perspectively, I pulled.

The tricky part about pulling a factory lift is getting past the rivits, whereas an after market, it's just bolted on ..)

The BII needed fender relief for 31's with the 4", installed Bushwacker cutouts, problem solved. Ranger also needed fender relief with the 2", a 4" body lift and Bushwacker cutouts solved it.