hi! i am thinking about lifting my ranger and am curious to hear from other people who have done it, how it worked out, whether or not they liked the result. i'm curious if people would recommend a body lift, a suspension lift or both, how much of a lift and what kind/size tire is recommended. any info would be appreciated. thanks!

 

Welcome to FTE cbr929girlie. Im glad you chose the best site on the net for Ford-Trucks! See you around the boards!!

Matt

 

I don't like body lifts myself, they leave a gap between the body, and frame, looks hoaky. the lift kits for the newer torsion bar suspinion rangers start at around 1,500.00, so I just cranked my torsion bars 2" to level the truck, threw on some BFG's, 265/75-16's, and a detroit tru-trac lsd, and called it a day. You didn't say what year, or 2 or 4 wheel drive, a little bit more info would be helpful. Waves, one of our members has quite a bit of experience with lift kits on rangers, hopefully he"ll see this, and chime in, in the mean time could you post us up alittle more info on your truck, and we'll go from there. Were glad to have you here, you'll find the site entertaining and helpfull, a great bunch of guy's.

 

You know when I got to my 4th ranger (am in my 5th one now), and suspension lift prices were so rediculously expensive, my attitude about body lifts changed. I have done both suspension and body lifts on my rangers. It's a Ranger, so I am assuming your not a F-350 turbo diesel budget if you get my drift. There is nothing wrong with body lift, if it's done right -and there is the catch phrase. The kits that come with all the brackets to lift your bumpers and then adding the gap gards that hide the gap between the frame and body, look at it like this, installed a body lift is less than half the price of just the parts for a suspension lift on the newer model rangers. You will still need to have your exhaust re-routed to tuck it back up under the truck so it's not hanging 3" below the body, but again if you do it all right, it's not a bad deal, hey my prefrence is suspension, but the budget plays a part, and if you really want a lift - a body lift is not a bad option if it's installed right.

 

I have to agree with Waves on this one. I have both a Body and suspension lift on my Ranger. It's not because one has a budget that they can't enjoy the added clearance and larger tires in the trails. I'm all for em. Suspension is still the best way to go.

Good luck.

Madmike33

 

First, welcome to FTE!!!!

Were you interested in something functional, or just something that "looks cool"?

 

Girlie, We need more info on your truck. There are many options in lifts. Body lifts give you nothing but tire clearance and they do look cheesy but they serve the purpose of fitting bigger tires. Suspension lifts come from mild to wild and they basically give you more suspension travel. Let us know more about your truck and I can give you most of the options. price, lift height and how they work. Ive been lifting trucks along time and am in the process of lifting my Ranger I just bought in Jan. The people on this forum are really helpful and some know their stuff. Stay tuned.

ondgas
Runnin AMucK Motorsports

 

^ great points, on the older TTB Rangers the cost for suspension and body lifts for 3" of lift is pretty much about the same, so suspension would be the way to go if you have a TTB ranger. One misconception though, if we are only talking about a small lift, like 3" or less, the suspension lifts are not really giving you a huge wheel travel difrence, you are still pretty much left with the same suspension travel you had at while stock, but when you go more than that - those are the lifts that really start to improve the wheel travel....like the kits made by dixon brothers for instance. I am still very skeptical of the fab tech 5 1/2" kit. If you do some reading on it, it mentions for use with 8" wheels and 33" tall tires, I have heard (from professionals) that with wider wheels it has a tendancy to spit out the ball joints. I don't agree with the comment about body lifts looking cheesy - not if they are done right, and the exhaust is relocated, tucked back up under the truck. The "cheesy" body lifts IMHO, are the ones you buy just the pucks, and try to fab the brackets for everything else, don't spend the money for the gap gards, and do not relocate the exhaust - thats I will agree look cheesy, looks like a body lifted truck - but if you do it right, it looks ok, and will serve the purpose of allowing you to go one step bigger with wheels and tires -

 

"Sorry' I'm late to the party guy's, big Tim Lamkin had me locked out all day for shorting japanese, trust me, big brother is watching . I guess a body lift done right the way that Waves described it might be ok, most of the ones around me look like hack jobs. I guess we still are looking for alittle more detail so we'll know how to proceed with this thing huh ?

 

That is true Waves, Body lifts can look ok with all the right prep done. But I think by the time you spend the time and money to make the body lift not look like a body lift and all you can do is fit bigger tires, than you may as well just buy the susp lift.

 

No not really, your talking about one costing about $700 to $750 for the lift and gap gards installed, another $100 to re-rout your tail pipe section, or around $1500 for parts alone(Fab Tech), don't know what the price of installation is, and we are still talking about only 3" of lift. Now I am talking about the newer model ranger suspension. Your not really gaining any or much wheel travel from that particular suspension lift, so what are you really getting out of the deal? Don't get me wrong, if cost was not an issue - I'd go suspension lift all day long, but there is nothing wrong with body lift if it's done right. No doubt a body life is a less expensive way to go, and if not done write it looks like crap. Now if we are talking the older, TTB rangers, by all means go suspension lift, the cost is so close to the same for the same amount of lift why bother with the body lift. But for the newer models, the price difrence is so great I wouldn't blame anyone for going that route. Now if you want to start talking systems like Dixon Brothers...whole other level of stuff there, added wheel travel, but check there prices, anything from them is extremely expensive.

 

I saw on e-bay that a company called total performance has a 2" lift for the newer 4x4 rangers for alittle over 200.00$. It has 2 forged torsion bar adjusting cams to allow up to a 3" torsion bar crank safely, with a set of 2" shackles for the rear, or you can just get the cams to level the truck for around a 100.00$. I'm thinking about getting the cams, I have my t-bars cranked, and I'm still a hair low in the front, the cams will do it. "O YEAH" that lift kit will allow up to 33" tires. There again it will not allow you more wheel travel, but it is an inexpensive alternative to a full suspension kit, or body lift to run larger tires.

 

Wendell - hey dude whats up? Please post up a link or pm me the info I am really intrested in fining out more about this.

 

The link was www.totalperformanceonline.com, but I couldn't get it to work, but it's also on e-bay, I found it under ford ranger lift kits.