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Ranger / Explorer question "suspension"

DaveEX93

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September 9, 2002
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City, State
Ontario
Year, Model & Trim Level
93EX
OK I know all the suspension lift kits for the rangers
will work on any Ranger 83-97 ( are all the same)

will a kit 83-97 Ranger 4" skyjacker kit

be a direct bolt up on say an 91-94 explorer?

Was looking at kits for the explorers and rangers and compareing
the prices why is the explorer kit more $$ then the Ranger suspension kit?

what i need to know is will a 4" suspension lift kit from a Ranger work
on an 91-94 ford explorer or whats different?

thanks Dave
 



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Welcome to the site!

I'll move this to the suspension forum so you might get some more interest.
 






Most of the time it is because the ranger will use block in the rear as it is spring over axle. The explorer kit is more because you will need to purchase 4" lift springs as you cant use blocks as you are spring under axle in the rear. If you go w/ the 5.5" or 6" lift then you can do a spring over swap to keep from having to buy the rear springs. Hope that helps a bit.
 






SO

Just to make sure i have things correct here

I can use a 4" lift kit off an Ranger ( front end)
radious arm drop brackets axle pivot drop brackets
dropped pitman arm and coils for the front end of
an 91-94 explorer and not run into any problems?

as for the back couldnt i buy new perches have them welded into the top of the 8.8" axle tube ( each side)
then just put the springs up and on top or would
this put the back WAY to high for the 4" lift up front?

or what all needs to be purchased for SPOA for the rear?
thanks

Or could I shackle lift the rear?
 






I put a 3 inch lift on my Ex off a ranger, and did a SOA on the rear. If I was you I would buy an addleaf and shackles and put them on the rear. That is what i did for a while, but the ride was harsh, so i put in f150 spring seats and did a Soa and took out the overload, sits a little higher in the rear, but the ride is sooo much softer. It works alot better flex wise also. Everything will work from the front end, unless there are anything to do with the sway bars, because early rangers had them behind the axle. You shouldn't need any extensions though, so you should be OK. Mine had Dual shocks and were effected by the swaybar, but you should be good.

All I bought for the SOA was Warrior perches and extended brake lines. Make the old and new ones parralel unless you run a CV shaft, which you don't.
 






kirby, how does your ex ride. any adverse affects of removing the overload spring.
 






The rear rides just like it did from the factory. It has better shocks, so it is probably actually better than factory, but as far as spring rate- the same. It is soo much nicer than the add-leaf. The addleaf was like a pogo stick. There are a few adverse effects to consider: Overload Spings are for towing, so it will not hold as much whieght while towing- you wouldn't want to frown your spings for a long haul. The other is axle wrap. I don't have any problems with it mostly because I have 33s and 3.73 gears. If I go lower I might get some axlewrap.

One more thing for the SOA- Shock Mounts. Most people mount them in the sway bar lower holes. I will go with some MORE mounts sometime in the future. I want my shocks longer and more up out of the way. 3" lift shock are barely short enough mounted in the sway bar holes.
 






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