Just got my ranger

[Rusty_Ranger]

Hi, i just got a 1983 ranger today. its 4wd, 5spd, 2.8 carburated, and regular cab. the prev. owner has done some suspention and preformance mods to it already. it has headers and exhaust, aftermarket wheels and no name A/T tires, nerf bars, front brush gaurd, some no name "KC" style lights, and what looks like a 2 or 3 inch body lift. As you could prolly tell from my name that the body is a tad rough, but its going to be my winter/off road beater so i'm not worried about it looking nice that much.
my suspention qestion is that i want to get a 4" lift for it and 33" tires. I think that w/ the body lift and the suspention i should be able to clear 33's easy, but i would like to know what type of suspention i need. the styles of off roading i intend to do are mudding, duning, snow blasting, and trail blasting. I can sacrifice almost all ride quality for preformance, however this is going to be a daily for me in the winter so i need to know what kindof suspention would fit my needs best.
I would also like to keep this in a reasonible price range. I do have about 2800 bucks to spend on it, but i still have to do all the PM and figured on doing some upgrading/preventive drivetrain mods.

 

[4x4junkie]

The Skyjacker Class II kit is a well-made kit and would suit such use quite well. It's a bit pricey at around $1600 or so for a complete kit with rear springs last I checked though (the SJ Class 1 kits are about $400-500 less and are still a real good value for strength & durability... they reuse your stock radius arms)

Another one to consider is James Duff.

The Tuff Country kits are worth considering if you're on a tight budget. While not quite as durable as SJ or JD, they won't threaten damage to other parts on your truck because of poor design.

The ones really to flat-out avoid are any kits that use a drop plate extension to lift the bracket for the passengerside front axle (BDS, earlier Rough Country kits). While not a big deal with your stock D28 front diff, if you ever decide to upgrade to the better D35 frontend, that bracket can hit the larger diff housing and wipe it out.

I would probably get a set of decent gas-charged shocks to replace the ones that come with any of the above kits if you'll be blasting around at speed much (Bilstein is one you cannot go wrong with)

Hope that helps.

Welcome to the forum

 

[Rusty_Ranger]

thanks, i'm leaing to the rought contry kit because of price. how much do blistins run? would it be worth going to dual shocks??

 

[Rusty_Ranger]

i would also like to know if w/ a 4" lift if i would need high angle u joints? And i would also like to know if there is some way to modify the RC braket so that it will clear of the diff.

 

[wahlstrom1]

No need for any driveshaft mods, and IIRC the d28 doesn't have the clearance issue like the d35 does. But I'd just trim the extra lip off the bracket and either drill another hole for the bolt you cut off, or weld the factory piece to the plate.

-andrew

 

[Rusty_Ranger]

thanks for the advice so far, I was also thinking of taking some smaller square piping and re-enforcing the brakets so i dont have to worrie about them cracking.

 

[metalmacguyver]

pipe is not a good material to use. get some plain old steel plate and beef the shit out of it.

 

[Rusty_Ranger]

well i'm talking like a 2"x2", 1/8 inch thick wall piping, lol.