suspension options

[ranger8u]

hi all i have just signed up to this forum noticing that there are alot of knowledgeable people here and i have been looking through the threads for a while now..... anyways i have just purchased a 2003 2wd, v6, Manuel ford ranger ( sry can get pictures up right now) and i am new to the hole ranger scene but i have decent knowledge of prerunners. me and my cousins usaully do alot of really hard offroading and jumping in the desert and in the dunes. but because this is my dd and im only 17 it is not practical for me to build an all out prerunner for many reasons, cost definitely being one of them. so here is what i have in mine so far from the reading ive done and correct me if im wrong about any of this:

front:

coil-overs? i know that u have to get the shock mount welded up higher and a new upper control arm but could i run coil-overs?

besides that 3" flares should be plenty and still look very clean on the street.

back:

i was thinking of going with a very mild bed cage with the shock mounts without giving up to much bed space and still looking practical for the street. and then having piggybacks and i don't know about the leaf springs?

and for the fender i think im going to just pull it about 2"


i could be very wrong about a lot of this and that is why i am asking for your guys help on this i want a setup that i can run in the street, look clean, be able to upgrade later down the road, and to not break my bank i have a low budget and will most likely be piecing together as much as i can.


thankyou for your time.

 

[subydrift]

Well if you want to run coilovers in the front your going to need alot more than just upper control arms. You are going to need to cut out the upper spring perch and box in the frame where it was and build a hoop for the coilover. Then you will need both upper and lower control arms because I don't think a coilover is going to fit in the opening of an upper control arm that isn't extended out. If your going to be using the coilovers to the point where having them is worth while then your going to need upgraded spindles so you don't destroy the stock ones. And if your not then I wouldn't go the coilover route until your ready to do everything that needs to be done. There is a lot of custom fab work that needs to be done to fit coilovers on these trucks. Especially if your on tighter budget I would look at other options like the Camburg mid travel kit (~1800) or the H&M mid travel (about the same) or look into piecing your own front end seperately (ie: you could do 3" lift spindles, 2.5" Camburg springs, BTF upper arms, and some Bilstein 5100s). Each of these options will give you plenty of travel and ride quality for a DD and be able to hold up under some off-road abuse. The Camburg kits have been pushed to the limits plenty of times and hold up great! So that's a start for the front.

For the rear I would look into Deaver springs with longer shackles and a small bed cage with some 14" or 16" shocks. That setup has been tested millions of times on Rangers with great success. Or if your looking for something a little bit more you can do the Chevy 64" spring swap with inverted and longer shackles. That's also a good and worthy rear setup.

Here are some links to manufacturers and threads that may help you out:

http://www.camburg.com/?page_id=138

http://www.hnmmotorsports.com/ford.shtml

http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/64-inch_leaf.html

http://www.therangerstation.com/Magazine/May06/chevy_springs.htm

http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/2wdlifts.html

 

[ranger8u]

thank you alot for the reply, this clears up alot for me and your right yesterday i took a good look at the front end and there would be alot of fab work to be done so i think im going to go with the camburg setup with the bilstien 5100 then later i could upgrade to different shocks up front? fox? king?
and for the rear thats exactly what i have in mind and do you know of a company that make sa smal bed cage or should i just find someone to fab one? and what shocks for the rear would u recomend? thank again

 

[subydrift]

The Camburg is a great kit! And is super tough also! You can piece together all the components to give you a similar mid-travel kit to Camburg but for quite a bit less if your really on a budget. The spindle won't be a fabbed race spindle but the BTF upper arms will still give you the uni-ball upper joint. You could probably get by this route for around 1200. Cheaper if you by used parts. This is the route I'm taking on my 04'.

Camburg also sells a 2.0 shock upgrade kit that you weld to the bottom of your lower control arm and to the top of the upper spring perch, and cut the holes out bigger of course, that will allow you to run a 2.0 resi shock like the Fox or SAW or F.O.A. If you scroll down on their link above you can see it at the bottom.

As for bed cages, check out Dixon Bros. Racing. They sell a bolt-in bed cage for super cheap. For rear shocks look into F.O.A. They sell rebuildable smooth body and threaded body shocks for much cheaper than Fox or King or SAW.

http://f-o-a.com/shop/index.php

http://www.dixonbrosracing.com/content/blogsection/2/6/

They sell a sick front bumper too if your not able to fab your own.

 

[fordboi415]

should really start with a budget first, you don't want to be halfway through a build and run out of money, fwi there's a lot of little odds and ends most people dont think of when building something like this so whatever you figure on spending add 500-1000 more to the total... just a heads up dude