Leveling Help Please!!

[DangerRanger3]

I'm looking for a way to level my Ranger, as it sits now its about 2" higher in the back, from what research I've done the easiest solution is putting spacers under the front coils, but the only type I can find online are poly and supposedly suck. I've heard that you can weld certain sized washers together and coat them in alloy paint, and they work good and last forever, but I'd rather just find some already made and sturdy spacers, since I don't know many welders. If anybody can help me out here I'd really appreciate it, or if you have any better ideas for getting that 2" of front lift, keep in mind I'm looking for a relatively cheap solution though heh.

Thanks

 

[DangerRanger3]

upon further examination

So I looked a little bit further into these forums, and it looks like there is a post roughly similar to this every 2 pages or so, but still no definitive answers with where to order a good metal spacer, which makes me believe the hardware store washers and some elbow grease might actually be the way to go....

 

[fordboi415]

Forget the spacers get some 2" lift coils, your ride will be nicer with the coils as well

 

[doorgunner]

I hate spending money, but that sounds like a win/win idea. A decent pair of 2" over coil springs wouldn't cost too much even if you had to hide 20 bucks every week from yourself til you could buy em...

 

[fordboi415]

I only paid about 100 bucks including shipping for mine

 

[ItsA5Spd]

I used the washers and they worked great and were cheap. I got 14 of em for $15. Look under the tech library and there's an article in there on how to do the washer leveling. It's very easy. 2-3 hours and you should be good. You don't have to weld them together. Just stack them up. I just painted mine with some black paint to slow the rusting and I love it. I only lifted mine an inch or so. 2" might be pushing it for having enough thread left to bolt the spring back down. I'd just use the washers though. Not saying the coils are a bad idea, but washers are a lot cheaper!

 

[doorgunner]

See! Coils for 2" lift--you don't want your rear end to pass up your front end because the nuts stripped off the bolts after hitting a hole (ain't these little critters great)

 

[DangerRanger3]

thanks for the tips, I'll definitely look into the coils, where did you get yours for 100 bucks?? and would i have to get my truck re-aligned right after like i would with the spacers to prevent the positive camber and whatnot?

 

[erik2282]

you can get polyurethane spacers from summitracing.com for not that much money... type in 'coil spring spacer' in their search box

 

[Bryan22]

i just got a set of poly spacers off ebay for 20 bux. and yes you need to get the camber adjusters and get it realighned(sp) for even just 2" of lift. gonna end up being the most expensive part of the whole process.

 

[DangerRanger3]

yeah i was gonna get poly spacers, but i heard that over time they start to give and sometimes crack, a lot of people say theirs don't last longer than a year, thats why i was just gonna stack some painted washers and maybe get a bolt extender, but I've been looking at suspension coils and for an extra 80 bucks I'd get the lift I want and a more comfortable ride, and I could still do the installation myself. Also, if anybody knows a good place to get some cheaper (but still quality) coils i'd appreciate that info.

I was also curious if it was possible to combine the washer spacer with the coils to get a 4" front lift then get some 2" leaf springs for the back to even it out, then you're lookin at a relatively cheap way to get a solid whole truck lift...and fit some bigger tires

 

[Bryan22]

someone on this site is selling 4" lift coils, but you'd have a real rough time getting an alignment.

 

[doorgunner]

Yea, you might not be able to get it aligned with a 4" lift. But I'm just guessing--I dropped my '89 XLT 3" and I barely had enough adjustment in camber bushings to re-align it, + I had just enough clearance above the tie-rods for the chassis to bottom out with-out bending the tie-rods..

 

[DangerRanger3]

Yeah that makes a lot of sense, I guess I'd have to add some after market camber bushings too, which might be tricky/expensive, don't really know anything about those

 

[DangerRanger3]

....will the stock camber bushings (on a 96 2WD 3.0 V6) have enough play to achieve a 2" lift? or would I be safer just doin a 1.5"?