Lowering my '02 XLT

[It's eyegore!]

Greetings all! Long time lurker first time poster here. I am interested in lowering my '02 XLT 2WD and after sifting through the many posts and tech articles regarding this I'm pretty confused but I have a plan so hear me out please. I'm thinking I will flip the rear axle using the DJM kit and flip the rear spring shackles (if necessary) to get about a 5" drop. Next step is to cut down the stock front coil springs to get the truck level. Then I will install the Bilstein lowered shocks front and rear and shorter bump stops. Hopefully that will give the truck a nice softer ride. Does this sound reasonable to those of you with experience with lowering these trucks or is there a better plan? TIA!

 

[superj]

i think your rear axle plan is going to lower a ton. and the front will require more than cut springs to be the same.

check out www.ricksrangerz.com for some inspiration and parts

 

[Ranger850]

Greetings all! Long time lurker first time poster here. I am interested in lowering my '02 XLT 2WD and after sifting through the many posts and tech articles regarding this I'm pretty confused but I have a plan so hear me out please. I'm thinking I will flip the rear axle using the DJM kit and flip the rear spring shackles (if necessary) to get about a 5" drop. Next step is to cut down the stock front coil springs to get the truck level. Then I will install the Bilstein lowered shocks front and rear and shorter bump stops. Hopefully that will give the truck a nice softer ride. Does this sound reasonable to those of you with experience with lowering these trucks or is there a better plan? TIA!

Explorer axles have the leaf springs UNDEr the axl, swapping one out will drop your rear about 4 inches. plug and play, no cutting/welding. with 1" blocks, you should be right at 5"
Cutting Ranger springs is about the worst idea for these trucks. i would spend the money on Drop spindles for the front, If you have torsion bars, you can crank them down a little to get moar "low"

Check out @stmitch's truck. He has a beutiful Lowered Ranger

 

[It's eyegore!]

I ordered the DJM kit from Ricks, thanks!

i think your rear axle plan is going to lower a ton. and the front will require more than cut springs to be the same.

check out www.ricksrangerz.com for some inspiration and parts

 

[superj]

Nice!!


Be sure to take before and after pics

 

[It's eyegore!]

Will do!

Nice!!


Be sure to take before and after pics

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Explorer axles have the leaf springs UNDEr the axl, swapping one out will drop your rear about 4 inches. plug and play, no cutting/welding. with 1" blocks, you should be right at 5"
Cutting Ranger springs is about the worst idea for these trucks. i would spend the money on Drop spindles for the front, If you have torsion bars, you can crank them down a little to get moar "low"

Check out @stmitch's truck. He has a beutiful Lowered Ranger

Yes, you get 4-5” using the Explorer axle. With the axle flip you will be into frame notch territory. You may or may not have to cut the spring pads off, rotate the axle, and re-weld the pads to line up the pinion and driveshaft. I had to. I also had to put a 2” lift shackle and build heavier leaf packs to try to get back out of frame notch. It’s still not enough, but it’s close. A coil sprung 2wd can be lowered more than a torsion bar 4x4.

 

[stmitch]

The flip kit will probably drop you closer to 5" in the rear. Because these trucks tend to have some rake to them, I'd suggest the DJM 4" front drop kit (2" drop coils + 2" drop control arms) if you want it to sit fairly level. A 4/5 drop is about as low as you can easily go before you have to start cutting things.

As a general note, anything more than 2" of drop from front springs only can be difficult to impossible to properly align, and gets you too much negative camber for street applications. For this reason, I never suggest 3" drop springs, or cutting stock springs too much.

Flipping the rear spring hangers will lower the back of the truck 2" whether you've got a flip kit or not. So if you install the flip kit, or do the Explorer axle swap (5" drop), and then flip the spring hangers as well (2" drop) you get a back end that's been lowered ~7", and then you have to start notching the frame, etc. And getting the front low enough to match gets you into more notching and custom control arms, etc up front.

If 4-5" of drop is more than you're looking for, or more than your budget can handle at the moment, then you can cut the front springs a bit and flip the rear spring hangers for a 2" drop all around. This will be the cheapest drop you're going to get (costs whatever you spend for Grade 8 hardware for your spring hangers + some cutting blades/wheels). Stock shocks are probably fine with 2" of drop.

 

[AHenry014]

The DJM 4/5 kit is what I was going to come in here to suggest (purchased through ricksrangerz). Regardless of whether you do the 3 or 4in front drop, install adjustable upper control arm bolts. In the case of my '98 XLT, three of the four bolts had fixed keys and the fourth was fully adjustable. I installed the passenger lower control arm rear adjuster in the same location as factory and set the new upper bolts at/near the neutral position. I tossed a string down the side of the truck and got the toe close so its drivable. From my eyeball, the camber is close but not matching, so I went hunting for an alignment. I was unfortunately turned away from my go to shop. They said "there isnt enough room to get to the upper control arm adjusters". I just don't think they wanted to do the job as its certainly more involved than a "standard" alignment. I plan to drive around to a couple shops in town and show them the truck to find someone willing to do it. I dont suspect it will be difficult.

 

[superj]

see if a local 4x4 shop has its own alignment machine. i am lucky that we have one in our town that actually spent the money to buy their own and train their guys. so thats who i would go to for all my autocross cars and lowered vehicles because they said they will do lowered vehicles too