Ranger lift install questions

[TroyM]

87 ranger 4x4 supercab stock

-installed 4'' ttb lift in front with 4'' lift coils
-1.75'' coil spacers under the springs
-drop pitman arm installed as well. supposedly good for 2-5'' lift.

put the tires on and the camber is terrible. at first i thought i dont need the spacers there is too much lift in it. but after looking at a few lift install pictures on here i noticed others trucks had similar looking camber angle after being lifted as well.

do they make balljoint sleeves with that much angle built in or should i pull the coil spacers out? and is it somewhat alignable ?

also, the draglink doesn't want to reach up high enough to bolt onto the pitman arm. i didn't think i would need anything other than a drop pitman arm for a true 4'' lift. just trying to keep this thing cheap and mild, don't want to have to start building custom junk for it and get carried away

 

[junkb2000]

basically u got almost 6" of lift anything over 4" u should run extended arms and they should have a camber bushing that will work for you

if you try to go cheap you will have problems

 

[TroyM]

basically u got almost 6" of lift anything over 4" u should run extended arms and they should have a camber bushing that will work for you

if you try to go cheap you will have problems

thats what i kind of figured

ill pull the spacers and post back

the tranny and tcase are pulled but i dont think it should make that much of a difference

 

[TroyM]

pulled the spacers and it looks way better, still gonna need some lower balljoint sleeves i think, and a alignment.

i gained about 5'' of lift because of how bagged the old front springs were

any of you guys with the sway bar inside the radius arms notice a difference in flex at all with it removed? it doesn't seem to work that great anyway ?

 

[junkb2000]

I pulled mine you just gotta realize it does effect the handling

 

[TroyM]

ok i bought some belltech 6400 shackles for the rear and hopefully getting some exploder springs as well.

what do you guys do to get the top shackle bolt loose? i cant fit a wrench between the back of the rear rear hanger and the box.... and takin the box off is going to be another pain in the ass becuase all the bolts are going to have to be replaced.

 

[junkb2000]

nothing, the nut on the back side that you can't get to has a keeper meaning put a socket on the bolt head and take it off the keeper will hold the nut for you now if the keeper is broken the only way to fix that is to pull the bed and get to it that way

 

[TroyM]

ok thats what i was hoping to hear, but hopefully it doesn't break off

couldnt feel around too much, its packed with mud and rust

i love working on old junk

 

[junkb2000]

good luck

 

[Sasquatch_Ryda]

basically u got almost 6" of lift anything over 4" u should run extended arms and they should have a camber bushing that will work for you

if you try to go cheap you will have problems

Extended arms won't do anything for camber, they will affect Caster tho.

You can get an adjustable upper camber/caster eccentric and you don't need extended radius arms to use them.

Oh, and for the upper shackle hanger nut, I have an open end wrench that I bent at 90* angle to get those loose as the tab has a tendency to break off on the older trucks.

 

[TroyM]

Extended arms won't do anything for camber, they will affect Caster tho.

You can get an adjustable upper camber/caster eccentric and you don't need extended radius arms to use them.

Oh, and for the upper shackle hanger nut, I have an open end wrench that I bent at 90* angle to get those loose as the tab has a tendency to break off on the older trucks.

oh ya those ridiculous tabs all broke off, every single one on the truck so far has.

shackles are in, gave me about 2'' lift

working on putting the exploder springs in but ran out of oxygen so i can't torch the old springs out just yet.

is there CHEAP extended shocks... any good part #'s?

 

[Evan]

You made the right decision Troy by removing some spacers, and getting some more extreme camber bushings.

Once the TTB gets lifted above 5", things start to get a little dicey. So if you want 6" lift or so, it would be best to do a body lift.

 

[TroyM]

You made the right decision Troy by removing some spacers, and getting some more extreme camber bushings.

Once the TTB gets lifted above 5", things start to get a little dicey. So if you want 6" lift or so, it would be best to do a body lift.

ya the camber actually looks fine now after im been driving it and smashin into snow piles and settling everything in

i dont do body lifts, unless i have to for clearance issues for tranny swaps,tcases etc

i used one of the ranger leaves and added it under the exploder main leaf and kept the factory leaf spacers. total pack is 2 1/4'' thick. leveled the truck out nicely. with about 1'' higher in the rear. right where it should be and the stock length u bolts are still long enough.

gotta figure out shocks now my old ones are almost maxed out

 

[94EXPLODER]

you can also get larger alignment bushings Napa carries them...try to get the largest one like 3 or 4 degrees...this should help eliminate the camber issue...