swapping coils- what should i buy?

[hockeyryan]

hey so i hate having the stiff ride and no flex in the front so i have decided in the new year to build some ext radius arms and buy softer/flexier coils. so i was wondering what ones i should buy. i have a ext cab 4L with a 4" rough country lift. its still my daily drive to so idk if that makes a difference.
so any input would be great. i dont really want to spend a ton of money either :S but i may if i have to.

thanks

 

[94 4.0 5-spd 4wd ranger]

theres a good bit involved with finding flexier coils for a ranger, the ttb is its own animal.... youll need to research coils that have a spring rate that will be in the ballpark for the weight of your front end (taking into acount motor and cab type mostly) and also the free length of the coil. after you get that figured out other problems may arise like how to secure the coils to the beam and coil buckets. im sure ttb gurus like 4x4 junkie and legoms will chime in on this, they're a wealth information, or atleast they have been for me. check out this article by 4x4 junkie http://www.therangerstation.com/forums/showthread.php?t=29 it should be a good deal of help for you. also you may want to look at this search, johnnyu really hits the nail on the head as far as finding spring rate and such http://www.therangerstation.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-91302.html
im currently running duff arms and coil buckets with sj drop brackets and 6"coils and measured for shock length today. im getting about 7" of travel at the shock mounts which translates roughly to 10" of wheel travel. i'm already running into passenger side beam window clearance issues so it looks like ill be clearancing and c clip eliminating not to mention u joint upgrading in the near future. I hope this doesnt discourage you at all, im really just trying to inform you with what is involved when getting real travel out of the ttb

 

[hockeyryan]

thanks. the one thing thats getting me is how do i figure out how much longer does the coil have to be so i sit at the same height. i have seen a photo where he got jeep coils and he lost a couple inches cuz of the weight.
i was thinking of some eb coils from bronco graveyard
these ones
http://broncograveyard.com/bronco/i-13208-super-flex-coil-springs-5-csh10.html
or http://broncograveyard.com/bronco/i-13207-super-flex-coil-springs-4-csh09.html

 

[4x4junkie]

You'll need to figure out where your at now by measuring the length of your current coils compressed (if you have spacers in there, you'll need to account for those at the same time). This will be the height you need to shoot for with the new coils (adding or subtracting whatever amount needed if you're also changing your lift height).
With a 4" lift, you're probably somewhere around 14.5-15" compressed length)

Figure out how much weight you have up front minus the axle & tires, divide that by 2 (two springs), multiply that by 1.5 (TTB leverage effect), and finally divide that by the PPI rating of the coil to get how much it will compress. Add that amount to the figure you got from your current setup to find the free length of the coils you should be looking for.

As an example:
For a Supercab weighing 2400lbs up front (subtracting 300 for the axle & tires) and using 300PPI coils on a 4" lift...

2100 ÷ 2 × 1.5 ÷ 300 = 5.25" the spring will compress.
5.25" + 14.5" = 19.75" free length 300PPI coils you'd need.

IIRC, the Superflex EARLY Bronco coils you linked are pretty soft, like 200PPI. I think something in the 275-325 PPI range would be better on a Supercab truck. F-150 Superflex coils are 300PPI and might be what you'd want to use. They're pretty long though so you might need to trim a winding or 2 off them to get it down to 4" lift on your Ranger (which will stiffen them a bit, though not by a lot).
The other option is early Bronco standard coils together with a spacer which might work better for you.

Hopefully that helps some.

 

[4.0B2]

Just some info... Rough country 4" lift kit has 445 ppi coils. Which is 10 ppi short of the f250 superduty lift kit...

Another tidbit; they are suppose to be making the new RC lifts at a 350 ppi which is more like stock.. Yeah, I got a buddy that works for RC since I'm not to far from Dyersburg.

 

[hockeyryan]

thanks 4x4junkie that helps alot. im gonna have to do some more research today
and 4.0B2 there should be coils like that already it would make the swapping alot easier do you know when they would be coming out with these new coils. if its some time soon i might wait a bit

 

[4.0B2]

thanks 4x4junkie that helps alot. im gonna have to do some more research today
and 4.0B2 there should be coils like that already it would make the swapping alot easier do you know when they would be coming out with these new coils. if its some time soon i might wait a bit

i sent a message to my friend up at Rough Country asking about it; just wanna get it verified that they are doing the softer coils (still not super flexy, more like stock..) and asked how we could tell the difference between the new kits and the old kits (if there is a backup inventory of the old kits)

 

[hockeyryan]

thanks man