Ranger Sport Honduras official build thread

[Ranger Sport Honduras]

moving to coils in 2'' will most likely make it flex a little better but be a little less stable on the road. and if your using the factory trac-bar i would use caution that you dont overextend the ballstud. repeated overextending will likely lead to ill handling and death wobble.

with pics of some of the built trucks down there if overextending becomes an issue it shouldnt be that hard to whip somthing together that wont bind.

Even at close to stock heights?
I really have no choice than using factory stuff.

Ive been thinking what 4.0B2 told me, make it work with factory stuff, and if something gives issues, then build my own parts.

You think i could reinforce the stuff? at least the arms, since they are stamped steel.

 

[kroussinoffroad]

??? you kinda lost me.

but moving your springs twords the inside of the vehicle will make it more flexy= less stable at speed.

as far as reinforcing factory parts (tracbar) the ball stud only allows limited movement in the factory position and over flexing the suspension will cause it to bind and oblong the hole overtime. as far as factory heights its hard to say how everything is gonna work. its been a long while since ive been under a truck like yours and as stated before your kinda in uncharted territory. especially since you are now going to have to figure out alot of geometry to get the factory contorl arms to work. alof of people have thought of reusing them but it seems in the end they allways seem to go with a radius arms style for simplicity. I'm not saying that it cant be done but i'm saying care has to be taken to make sure everything is going to be happy in the front end. an I HATE MATH!!!

that the only reasone i recomended leaf springs cuz they are SIMPLE. and then it is not 100% necisarry to run a trac bar. you just build a couple crossmembers. find some suitable leaf springs, make sure pinion angle and caster angles are happy. burn it home and bolt everything together and taadaaa. solid axle. now dont get me wrong you can get prety indepth with leafsprings as well but in general they are slightly easier with limited aftermarket available and time you have to get it back together leafs seem to be the way to go. just my opinion
and
opinions are like assholes everyone has one and they all stink

 

[4.0B2]

I don't think there is a way to stiffen the stock arms.

And let me clarify what I mean in my statement:
Since you cant get your hands on stuff to do long arms and you're not making a major flex monster.... Use what you have. IF you can find a way for y-link style long arms.

One things for sure... You'll be the only person in ranger history to do a sas with stock jeep control arms.

And if you end up upgrading later; you're doing work twice... But you do what you gotta do.

 

[4.0B2]

But Kevin brings a valid point... Can you get the alignment right with the stock stuff

 

[kroussinoffroad]

One things for sure... You'll be the only person in ranger history to do a sas with stock jeep control arms.

And if you end up upgrading later; you're doing work twice... But you do what you gotta do.

just seems like an excessive amount of work to reatain the factory controll arms. when i believe leafs will likely give him the same if not better results. only issue would be finding leafs with the lowest amount of arch to beable to keep it on 31's otherwise "typical" factory arch springs will likely put it on 35's or larger

however if he does decide to do the "y-link" in the future he could build them himself and reuse his lower link mount if it is all planed out ahead of time. wont work with manufactured arms tho.

 

[kroussinoffroad]

and not to throw a wrench in the whole thing but i know my diff comes awfully close to the engine crossmember at full stuff. is yours gonna clear with minimal lift?

I think on ttb trucks its recomended to go with atleast 6" of lift (over factory) to keep the pumpkin away from the crossmember?

 

[4.0B2]

4" lift is what keeps being said. I dont know what it looks like under a ifs ranger...
You can trim the crossmember some.
I'm thinking about making one for mine for more clearance.

You might have to go with a little more lift than you wanted.

But then again.. He's not gonna have a Ton of flex.. So maybe you can get by with less. Just make sure to bumpstop it

 

[Ranger Sport Honduras]

??? you kinda lost me.

but moving your springs twords the inside of the vehicle will make it more flexy= less stable at speed.

as far as reinforcing factory parts (tracbar) the ball stud only allows limited movement in the factory position and over flexing the suspension will cause it to bind and oblong the hole overtime. as far as factory heights its hard to say how everything is gonna work. its been a long while since ive been under a truck like yours and as stated before your kinda in uncharted territory. especially since you are now going to have to figure out alot of geometry to get the factory contorl arms to work. alof of people have thought of reusing them but it seems in the end they allways seem to go with a radius arms style for simplicity. I'm not saying that it cant be done but i'm saying care has to be taken to make sure everything is going to be happy in the front end. an I HATE MATH!!!

that the only reasone i recomended leaf springs cuz they are SIMPLE. and then it is not 100% necisarry to run a trac bar. you just build a couple crossmembers. find some suitable leaf springs, make sure pinion angle and caster angles are happy. burn it home and bolt everything together and taadaaa. solid axle. now dont get me wrong you can get prety indepth with leafsprings as well but in general they are slightly easier with limited aftermarket available and time you have to get it back together leafs seem to be the way to go. just my opinion
and
opinions are like assholes everyone has one and they all stink

Ohh i got it now, and i got what u mean with the ball stud.
i know this will be tricky and will require lots of thinking and rethinking, and then think about it a bit more.

I don't think there is a way to stiffen the stock arms.

And let me clarify what I mean in my statement:
Since you cant get your hands on stuff to do long arms and you're not making a major flex monster.... Use what you have. IF you can find a way for y-link style long arms.

One things for sure... You'll be the only person in ranger history to do a sas with stock jeep control arms.

And if you end up upgrading later; you're doing work twice... But you do what you gotta do.

And i guess the first one with the 98+ coil sprung frame too.

Ohh God, i hope it works

 

[Ranger Sport Honduras]

Ill cut all i can of the crossmember, and make another 2 in case we need. one in front and one behind the stock one.

we had it planned for leafs, but the ones we had in mind arent in good shape. and gettin leafs involves more $$.
on the other side the price im paying for the parts axle includes coils and arms.

 

[4.0B2]

Trail and error man. Set the axle under there and see if you can make it work.

 

[kroussinoffroad]

damn leafs up here are cheap to free from the right people. we keep a whole slew of them in out makeshift "warehouse".

the other issue that comes up with leafsprings is that you would likely have to find steering from a YJ since the inverted y from the coilspring rig would likely occupy the same area that the leaf would pass thru. at least that the ONLY reasone there isnt leaf springs on MY truck right now.

 

[kroussinoffroad]

Trail and error man. Set the axle under there and see if you can make it work.

x2

easier to visualize the imagine

 

[Ranger Sport Honduras]

Trail and error man. Set the axle under there and see if you can make it work.

x2

easier to visualize the imagine

True.

+ raped both, thanks for the advice, Ill need u guys to be around A LOT on this.

I was planning to go spring under axle to avoid steering issues with leafs.

once i have the axle with all the parts and the tires put in, ill start thinking on how to solve this out.

Tomorrow ill sell the ifs stuff and see how much i can collect for the parts axle.
ill keep u guys updated.

 

[kroussinoffroad]

as soon as you get the axle slide it under and connect the steering for mock up should give you a general idea of location front to back. then start looking at options for control arms. check out the leaf spring brackets on the Dirty white boy project in my sig they are VERY easy to make and you can make them to the width needed for your control arms. should hold up just fine for daily duties.

I would wait to start hacking the engine crossmember until you know if and where its gonna hit. take out as little as possiable to make proper clearances. bumpstops and limit straps seem like they are going to be VERY VERY important on this rig. technically they are important on all trucks but my springs limit my travel before anything is close to being overextended and i havent had any issues yet with bump.

 

[Ranger Sport Honduras]

And i thought steering would be the last thing i should do.