The Superlift 5.5 coils will flex just fine, they are a bit stiff for the ranger, sport, BII but in a 4 door ex they are pretty close.
You can try softer coils like the Skyjacker 6" but expect more like 4.5" of lift when they break in.
The sky is the limit with the TTB given your ability and budget.
A 5.5 Superlift with extended radius arms, brake lines, rubber bushings, and no sway bar will be limited in flex by the coils and then just after that the factory inverted Y steering.
Your next step is extended arms, you can pick up a set of Skyjacker or Superlift extended radius arms used quite cheap, alot of people sell these kits when they get rid of their aging truck or move up to something better like a custom beam TTB setup or a solid axle.
20+" of USABLE wheel travel is possible with the TTB, even more with some of the wider setups (extended beams)
A simple drop bracket kit like you have it limited, you can get 12" or so from what I have seen with a kit like that, don't let that number fool you 12" is alot of wheel travel, 16"+ is extreme wheel travel. Custom modified beams are required for travel numbers like that, because there is only so much you can drop the pivot and correct the alignment
Custom beam kits can get expensive REAL fast, wheel travel + independant 4x4 supension = big $$$$$$$$$, even if you are building it yourself custom axle shafts, ball joints, pivot points, steering, etc gets expensive fast.
LT Kits and beams are available from several off road fabricators
Check out Mcneil, Autofab, Camburg and more
This explorer forum has ALOT of info on the TTB, this question has been asked many times. By searching for custom beams, cut and turn, ttb, etc you can read all day.
The setup I built years ago and run now on my BII (with some friends) is real similar to the Zimmerman mod listed above. We cut and turned the beam and extended the wheelbase 1"+ on each side, this required a custom axle shaft on the passenger slip yoke.
The factory steering was limiting my travel in this picture:
Modified beams come in a few stages:
-a simple cut and turn (so you cna use less drop bracket with more coil and still align camber)
-ball joint re-location (to use little/no drop bracket with 4-6" of lift coil and still be able to get aligned)
-a combo of both
- Then there is extending the beam
extending the beam is usually done after the radius arm mount, 4-5" is a good number, this will increase your front track width 8"+ and requires custom outer axleshaft for both beams $$$$$
-A combo of all of the above on extreme setups.
Beams are trussed/box, clearanced, for strength and travel
custom ball joints, uni-ball pivots and mounts, heim radius arms, coilovers (long travel sway bars, they have all been done with the Dana 35 and Dana 44 beams.
A basic understanding of the TTB and how it atricultes is the place to start when looking for wheel travel, watch it work on your/friends trucks, remove the coils and shocks and cycle your suspension, you can see what is limiting travel.
The stock TTB handles like crap compared to a well built long travel setup, I am talking NIGHT and DAY.
A drop bracket kit like your Superlift is only re-locating the stock geometry lower to fit bigger tires. Any improvment in ride comes from new bushings, coils, shocks upon install. As I said the next step is radius arms, they will make your truck feel like a different animal, a HUGE improvement. But then with your new travel the stock steering setup will exaggerate the bump steer = the TTB's biggest downfall.
You need to put the steering in phase with the beams to eliminate this 100%. check out Paul's Explorer on this forum, he has a front TTB setup that includes many of these things.
http://www.explorer4x4.com/explorer_video/paulraw_clip.mpg
Research is the key to building or maximizing travel
I like my TTB suspension because its different than the normal IFS or SAS. I Just want the most flex possible with my front end. I already have 5.5in superlift. I know I need extended radius arms, but what else can I do to get really flexed out.
