"New" '97 Ranger

[xsaylr]

Picked up a '97 recently to replace an old Nissan hardbody whose days are numbered. Pretty happy with it, the ole 2.3l appears to run fantastic, and besides the paint, truck's in good condition. Thinking about lowering at some point, but I have a hard time picturing things in my head. It's an extended cab flareside bed, and although there are some pics out there, there's not a whole lot. It has some 17" wheels currently with dry rotted thick sidewall tires. Can 17s fit with low profile tires under a lowered Ranger? Any thoughts on these wheels? Or thoughts on this truck lowered? Better yet does anyone have pics of their lowered flareside ext cab?

 

[Uncle Gump]

Have a look through the Tech Library... I think there is some lowered vehicle info there.

Also look through the Mini Truck forum and check out some of the members build threads.

I don't have any experience lowering these trucks... but many on here do. I'm sure someone will chime in and answer some of your questions.

 

[Busypees]

Cool decal on the door and what size wheel and tire you can fit will depend how much you want to lower it

 

[19Walt93]

This is my 93 Regular cab, lowered with 94-5 Mustang 16" wheels and 235/65r16 tires. You'll need real low profile 17's if you lower it much. You probably know that 93 to 97 are the same series. I bought the wheels used because I wanted something stock looking that would make cleaning easier then the Weld Draglites on my Mustang. Be careful about backspacing, I had to fabricate some steering stops to keep my wheels from grinding against the lower shock mounts. The truck was in a car trailer when I first looked at it and I didn't realize it was lowered until we pulled it out. It has dropped I Beams and the rear end is mounted above the springs like an Explorer or a passenger car. If you lower it much without changing the I Beams it will be difficult/impossible to set the camber properly.
You get points for saying "wheels" instead of rims and calling the body a flareside but it isn't an "ext cab", it's a Supercab.
Congratulations on buying a Ford truck, you will no longer have to carry a shoulder bag and will

now be allowed to wear men's clothing.

 

[xsaylr]

Ha, I saw those dreambeams, kinda costly but sounds like those are the way to go. That and flipping sumthin in the rear. Current tires are dry rotted pretty bad, so I gotta make a decision soon. Honestly prolly just replace the tires for now, and revisit lowering down the road. Is your hoodscoop functional? That's the other thing I wanna do. Recently swapped out my SVOs engine, and like to try rebuilding it, then dropping into the truck. Was reading a little about that last night. I was able to pull off doing it in the SVO but everything was generally a direct swap. I've had to do a little fabricating but I can't weld. This truck has working AC (unlike my old hardbody) and I'm damn sure gonna keep it. Sounds like keeping AC can be tricky when adding a turbo. Hope I can find someone on the forum to help me thru that part. Thanks for the info, your truck looks great, I like that red

 

[XLTsplash]

This is my 93 Regular cab, lowered with 94-5 Mustang 16" wheels and 235/65r16 tires. You'll need real low profile 17's if you lower it much. You probably know that 93 to 97 are the same series. I bought the wheels used because I wanted something stock looking that would make cleaning easier then the Weld Draglites on my Mustang. Be careful about backspacing, I had to fabricate some steering stops to keep my wheels from grinding against the lower shock mounts. The truck was in a car trailer when I first looked at it and I didn't realize it was lowered until we pulled it out. It has dropped I Beams and the rear end is mounted above the springs like an Explorer or a passenger car. If you lower it much without changing the I Beams it will be difficult/impossible to set the camber properly.
You get points for saying "wheels" instead of rims and calling the body a flareside but it isn't an "ext cab", it's a Supercab.
Congratulations on buying a Ford truck, you will no longer have to carry a shoulder bag and will View attachment 66853now be allowed to wear men's clothing.

I put a shaker hood scopp on my 97 Ranger too.

 

[Lefty]

I put a shaker hood scopp on my 97 Ranger too.

Nice Ranger