I want to lift my 03 Ranger Edge, It's a 4x4 with a 5 speed and ofcourse the 4 litre engine. I have been having trouble finding a suspension kit. If any one has any information it will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
RJ

 

Welcome to FTE!!!

I'm not familar with lifts but I'm sure someone will have some ideas.

 

I was thinking, even if i dont lift it a leveling kit would be nice in the front. Again somthing I dont know much about. I have dropped cars but usually leave trucks at a stock height but am enjoying the 4 wheel options alittle more now. Again any help would be greatly appreciated.

RJ

 

RCD makes a 5" lift kit that replaces the torsion bars with Coilovers, probably the best kit for these, but most expensive. Superlift and Trailmaster both make 3-4" suspension lifts, maybe around $1,300 (not installed). None of those kits really add suspension travel, just lift. If you don't want to spend too much money, or don't offroad too much, get a 3" bodylift from performance accessories, around $250 with gapguards and all. Either of these options will allow you to fit 33x12.50 tires with no problems.
If you wanted a leveling kit, you won't find one. But you can get the same effect for free, it's called adjusting the torsion bars. You can gain about 2" of lift, and all it requires is an alignment afterward. This will allow 33x10.50s, 32x11.50's, or similar sizes... Head over to www.offroadrangers.com/forum as they'll have a ton of info on lift kits over there... You can see some pics of my 98 with a 3" bodylift in my gallery. Good luck

 

not to hijack the thread or anything..just wondering..what kind of fuel mileage do you get 98xlt4x4?..thanks

 

Thanks, for the advice I am going to look into all of those. I drive the truck a lot and don't do extreme off roading but could use a little more grip at times.As for the milage, In my 02 4litre automatic 2x4 I got about 17 city 21 hwy with my 03 4litre standard 4x4 i get about 15 city 19 highway

 

I'm certainly no expert in this field but there are just as many arguments against cranking torsion bars as there are for cranking them for a front-end lift. After reading through them I decided for myself that it wasn't worth the possibility of accelerated wear on the front suspension. Just make sure you know the pro's and con's before you decided to take the free way out.

 

Fuel mileage since the lift, tires, bumpers, etc, is around 15mpg. I did see 17 mpg on one trip on the freeway though. My engine is pretty much completely stock, just keep up on maintenance, not too bad mileage either consider it has 107k miles on it. I figure if I get an intake, exhaust, electric fan it would help a little, but I didn't buy a truck for mileage ... Realisticly, I probably lost around 2mpg with the lift and stuff, which I could probably make some of it back if my truck was geared better. I'm running 33's with 3.73, and it really should have atleast 4.10's or so.
As for cranking the torsion bars, it really isn't going to hurt anything, as long as you don't go overboard. I personally wouldn't raise the front more than 1.5" or so. You are only going to cause problems if you don't have any downtravel left in the suspension. The stock shocks will stop downtravel before the balljoints start to bind anyway. In 01 and newer rangers, the CV joints up front always turn, but a little more angle isn't going to make a significant difference, they'll wear out eventually anyway.
Lets just think if it this way, a leveling kit is usually just a slightly longer spring, or a spring spacer, nothing else. When you tighten the torsion bars, it's just like a stiffer spring, won't do any more damage. You always hear 'dont do it, its bad for the truck!' but I haven't seen/heard of one problem from anyone... Just make sure it get's alignmed afterward.
RJRanger, I would suggest a body lift for your use, inexpensive and effective. You'll fit bigger tires and sit a little higher. You won't need a new front driveshaft like you will with a suspension lift, won't ride rough in the rear like a lift will with an extra spring, and won't have more axle wrap like you would with extra lift blocks in the rear. The suspension kits for the newer Rangers usually aren't worth the money anyway. Good luck with whatever you choose

 

Thanks for the advice, I will probably order a body lift kit the next time I am off. I was checking into the problems with the drive shafts with the mechanics at the dealer and he said the aftermarket ones were really no better than stock with a lift he said 20 to 30 thousand miles after lift with a stock shaft and 30 to 40 with the aftermarket.