What I wanna do with my DD, whatcha think? Be gentle

[gjm4l]

Since mine's a DD I'd just like to make the suspension smoother and fit some bigger tires. So here's my idea/s please feel free to give opinions and advice as thats what I'm looking for. After another DD is obtained I'll be going at least to a mid travel kit but this will do for now I think/hope.

1)Body- I want to do 3" flare front and rear fenders to fit as big of a tire as possible with technically no lift (31x10.50x15's?) while not having the truck be wide as all get out.

2)Front suspension- I don't wanna lift it much/at all for now so find some 0-2" coils that are a little softer than stock (any ideas I hear skyjackers are a little stiff?) I've seen some stockers from Moog on summit racing that are progressive rate? Good, bad, ugly? Then install and brace the F-250 shock mounts for longer bilstein 5100's. Then I'm wondering if the rad arms will limit travel or will the travel be too limited on the shock still to make a difference?

3)Rear suspension- I want to do a chevy 63" leaf swap and remove the overload spring for more compliance then do a shackle flip to take away the lift plus more drop out if I can use it. I use my bed alot so no full on bed cage for me for now. Would the stock rear shock mounting locations give me enough room to gain some droop/travel from my spring mods? If not at all then I'd like to move the shock mounting locations out underneath the bedsides and build some custom hoops in the spare space if it doesn't interfere with my tires maybe put a removeable crossbrace between them in the bed if it seems to weak. If I had to I'd make a cage that stuck up maybe 4-5" and cover it with a removeable sheet metal panel and set the shock angle to 20 degrees to gain as much travel as possible while still having a functional bed if I gotta do it that way. Also another advantage of the chevy springs is when I do go for more front travel I can rearch those bad boys!

Like I said this is just my theoretical idea from a susp. travel newbie wanting to gain some on the cheap and I'm hoping it's a good setup but I'm also hoping some people with more experience will help me decide the good and the bad of it. I'm also posting this now so I can have my original idea written down somewhere before I have another memory lapse If it is a good idea what's a good theory on travel for the front and rear of this? Oh and should I do it it will get bumped and strapped. Thanks for reading

 

[CKRobin]

OK since no one else is jumping in here... Body lift is bad. Body lift does not in any way improve your articulation, travel or ground clearance. Instead what it does is raise your center of gravity. This is not a good thing if you are into any type of offroading where being off camber can happen. The only good thing about a body lift is that it allows bigger tires. You plan to do some suspension lift too, well that will make some room for tires. You also plan on using some fender flairs, well use a saws all before you put the flairs on and between the suspension lift and cut fenders you should be able to fit 35s with no problem.

Now for suspension lift I would go with a kit that includes some drop brackets for your TTB, some long radious arms and springs for up front. Your idea for the back should be fine.

 

[doyouquaxu]

its hard to get 35s to fit, not rub at full lock, and to not hit anything at full bump on rangers. i fit 32x11.5 muds on my truck with stock suspension, and the front springs were sagged to shit. they rubbed on the fender liners over big bumps, but besides that nothing too bad happened. sounds like a good start, it will still look somewhat goofy with no suspension mods and fiberglass fenders though.

 

[gjm4l]

body lift?? 35's? Thanks for replying guys but I never said anything about a body lift or 35's?????? I'm hoping to get some opinions on whether my planned setup in post #1 will yield a nice supple suspension on the cheap with some decent travel for what it is. I'm going with fiberglass panels(prerunner style fenders) front and rear(at least front to start to give as much room as possible for the tires to go through their travel and they look alot cleaner than cut fenders which is what I want for my truck. Body lifts and cut fenders do have their merits in certain situations just not in mine. In my mind my idea for my setup seems pretty good but I'm hoping some prerunner guys on here can chip in to back up my thoughts or improve upon my idea.

 

[gjm4l]

Oh and doyou, your probably right that it'll look weird with fiber before it's lifted but I'm hoping to gain more travel with this setup and the 14x6 wheels with 205/75 tires are already coming close when tucked so I'm figuring I'd need 'em if I upgrade to 15x7or8 wheels and bigger tires(30-32ish maybe?). Also I'm not planning on any wider than a 3" flare so it wouldn't be to awfully bad. I saw your thread earlier how do you like those 5100's?

 

[gjm4l]

anybody else got some input?

 

[fx2prerunner]

I started with coil spacers in front, blocks and flipped hangers in the rear, and some fiberglass fenders and bed sides, I ran 31's and it didnt look retarded but I had issues with the tires rubbing my radius arms

 

[gjm4l]

Did you gain any travel in the rear with stock shock locations? Thanks for the input, I've been watching your build too. I'm kinda a build stalker. I had the thought today to remove the overload and flip the shackle for now I figure that'll improve travel some until I come up with some chevy leaves. Oh and my truck sits really nose down so that ought to level it out too. Then fenders and bigger tires. Since you mentioned tire rub issues I'm thinking if it's an issue for me box the stock radius arms and cut and box a relief to allow the tires to turn fully without rubbing. Has anybody ever tried those progressive rate springs I mentioned?

 

[kris97ranger]

dunno about the rear but washers under the front coils are cheap and it should handle close to stock cause its the stock spring rate... its what i did but i also put replacment springs in at the same time to replace my sagged ones so i dunno how the washers affected it
________
Soshanna cam

 

[gjm4l]

can anyone answer any of the questions I asked?

 

[Ak_Ranger]

From what You said your wanting to do I would look into lifting first, unless you can find a good deal on fenders I dont think they are going to help you much especially if your only going to a 30-32 inch tire. I had a 95 X with a tt and shackle lift to get it up 2 inches (i measured when done it was a full 2 inches when i was done) and was running 31s and had no rub issues but then again i did get rid of the side plastics on the side and the plastic up on the bottem of the front bumper. You said you were a lil saggy in the front? You might want to get new shocks before you do any thing cause if they are shot that is going to hinder you.

Also, are you doing the fenders for clearence or for looks? if your keeping the stock suspension with a minor lift (1-2 inch) and your not going to be going with a really wide tire 3 inch flare is problubly going to be hanging a inch or so out over the edge of your tire. I was running 31x9.5s 15s BuckShot EXT Mudders on my X with stock Rims and the tires were hanging out a good inch out from the edge of my fender. I know yours is a ranger and not an X but im just telling you this to get an idea. So you may want to get your slight lift and tires before you get your fenders to see if you really want them to flare out that much unless your planning on using offset wheels with bigger tires, then I think your going to want that much flare. Any ways just my 2 cents.

 

[fx2prerunner]

I think there is some info in the tech library about using ex cab 4x4 coils, not softer but a little taller, add the f150 coil spacers or the stack of washers to gain the 2" of lift, also check the tech library for using f150 shocks for a little extra travel, this is basicly what I started with, 31" tires fit with little or no issue, you might need offset wheels or wheel spacers, look in the fabrication threads for extended RA's there is a guy on there making them and selling them. If your truck has sway bars remove them now, you wont notice a difference on the road (i didnt) but they limit your travel offroad. fiberglass isnt necessary at this point unless you want longer I-beams or 33's

http://www.therangerstation.com/forums/showthread.php?t=78143
http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/factoryspacer.htm
http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/WasherCoilSpacers.htm

 

[bcost882]

it sounds like you want a licoln ride with a ranger set-up. it won't happen. you can do a coil lift up front that will be cool, if you want a relatively supple ride go ahead and get some bilsteins. The 63" chevys are prolly gunna be too much lift for the 2" lift up front. flares and everything are good for bigger tires too, you gotta be patient and make stuff fit though. yes your radius arms will limit travel if you want good travel you gotta lenghthen you i-beams and radius arms. sorry kinda tired of typing hope this helps some questions

 

[adam17]

For the front lift you can go to a junk yard and get some F150 or bronco coils and that will give you a 2-3 inch lift. Your tires will rub against your radius arms unless you get 2 inch wheel spacers. The rear chevy leaf swap is a good idea but its still gonna give a lift even with flipped and extended shackles, so you might wanna put the rear axle on top of the leafs to keep the back down. Also for the front try ripping out your inner fender liner cuz that might be good enough for tire clearance. Really no need for flared fenders unless you have plans to do a bigger setup in the future. Good luck!