Leveling Lift

[Doc68W]

The next project for my truck is putting a leveling lift on it. I am driving a 2003 Ranger, standard model (it was used by a business as a work truck prior to my purchasing it), and I only want to lift the front 2 - 3 inches. My first step, which I have decided after looking at kits to figure out what type of suspension I have. Judging from what I have read, I don't think I have torsion bars, but I only have two years of a shitty autoshop class under my belt, so I couldn't begin to tell the difference by looking at it. If someone could tell me how to tell if I have torsion bars or not that would awesome. Also, I've found lots of leveling kits for torsion bar suspension, however, what are some options for leveing coil suspension?

Thanks, any help will be greatly appreciated.

 

[RangerRocker]

You would know if you had torsion bars...There are bars that look like radius arms that run through the lower control arm to a box on the frame right below the doors. There are bolts inside this that you can loosen or tighten to lift or lower the truck. If your truck isn't an edge or 4x4 model then you don't have torsion bars.

 

[Doc68W]

Ok thank you, now what can I do to lift the front end without torsion bars?

 

[fordboi415]

Lift coils will do the trick if you only want to go a couple inches that's the best way, 2" lift coils will work

 

[Doc68W]

I've been looking around and I can't seem to find lift coils for models older than 1997. I can find Body lift kits, which would be an option, but I will just want to lift the front end and make it level with the rear.

 

[irishblessing]

if you go to high with just coil springs your alignment will be thrown off and you camber will be off and youll wear your tires alot quicker and unevenly

 

[RangerRocker]

You can get the alignment and camber reset...no worries I would go coil spring lift. I wish I had them, haha.

 

[Doc68W]

Do they make the coil kits for an '03 2WD XL, I can only find them for the Edge and 4WD.

 

[fordboi415]

Do they make the coil kits for an '03 2WD XL, I can only find them for the Edge and 4WD.

The edge and 4x4 models don't have coil springs, they have torsion bars so I don't know where you found coil lifts for them, as for your truck yes they have coil lifts for it check out fabtech, camburg, suspension max and so on, they are pretty common, just google what your looking for and go from there

 

[Doc68W]

Ok, I am going to buy some 2.5 inch Coils from Fabtech, Shocks, and Alignment Bolt kit that all come with the Fabtech 2.5" Performance Lift Kit. What is the process to install these items? About how long would it take two guys to do? Would I need any special tools or equipment?

 

[fordboi415]

Your also going to need the upper control arms as well, the best and easy way to install coils is to unbolt the lower control arms from they are bolted on the chassis of the truck this allows you to slide out the old and slide in the new the only special tool you will need is a coil spring compressor which you can rent at any local auto parts store it took me and my cousin 2 hours all together but we lift and drop trucks weekly so its second nature by now, we ran into a small snag on the right side due to the Y pipe and where its positioned, we couldn't get the back control arm bolt out we had to get creative

 

[Doc68W]

For the cost of all the parts it almost sounds like it would be more cost effective just to buy the 3" spindle lift. How would that look with 29" tires?

 

[shyster666]

You can pick up up 3" inch lift spindles from Duecthe for about $300 bucks, it will look pretty good with 29" tires. that would be the best way to go, I have those spindles and 2" inch coils and my camber so F****D up the only way to fix it is to get new upper control arms. Not to mention I had to add limit straps, because my ball joint kepts bottoming out "thanks Canyoncritter".

 

[MikeInIdaho]

You can fit 29" tires on a stock-height truck, so I think they would look kind of funny w/ a 3" lift. If you're set on the 3" lift, I would go with some 31x10.5r15 or even 32x10.5-11.5r15 to fill your fenders up a little more.

You can also contact a spring shop (Valley Spring Works, Deaver, National, etc.) and they will custom-make a leveling spring for your truck in any height (1" for example) for about $150.

 

[Doc68W]

I really just want to lift my truck 2 to 3 inches. My tires are brand new, but I will probably go bigger as they ware down. I will also see about getting a custom spring made.