Rear Suspension Tricks For
Ford Ranger Pickups Rear suspension on the Ford Ranger is relatively easy to make work. Stock from the factory with no changes except a good spring you can count on 13 to 14 inches of rear wheel travel. Or you can make some small changes and get a little over 18 inches of travel. In this information I will try to explain how to make it work the way you want it to. In all of this I assume you are smart enough to go and buy a good "racing" style leaf spring. Without this the travel and ride will be poor at best. Just the change of the spring and shock makes a huge difference in the ride of the vehicle on road or Off-Road.

The shackle on the Ford Ranger comes delivered so that the shackle pivots down from the mount. This is fine for the everyday deal, but for wheel travel and a lower center of gravity you want something different. By removing the shackle hanger from the frame and turning it over so the shackle stands above it rather than hanging down from it you get several advantages. Here they are:

• It lowers the center of gravity of the vehicle by lowering the functional pivot point of the shackle and sprint

• It allows you to enhance the wheel travel by using a longer shackle without raising the height of the truck.

• It also gives you a better ride in the small bumps ( less than 8-10")

• It will allow you to let the bump stop be higher in the wheel travel due to the fact that when the spring is fully compressed in the rear end, the mounting point where the shackle pivots is higher in the relationship to the frame. The spring is less likely to break due to not forcing it past is Zero point. This is when the spring is lost all arch in the normal direction to hold the truck up and starts in the negative arch. This is the major factor in spring breakage.

• By changing the perch and building the longer shackle you can get about 18" of rear wheel travel with the proper shock. Sway-Away has just lowered their prices on the 3" body shocks they sell. This is the best deal on the planet. I am a believer in their product and they will sell you a shock that is longer than the normal 14" travel. They sell shocks all the way up to 20" of travel.

You will have to remove the rivets so you can remove the bracket. I normally use a cutting torch with a scarfing tip. You can get this type of cutting tip at any welding supply house. Be smart about what you are doing most trucks have oil and grease all over the frames from the factory to inhibit rusting. Also some Rangers have the fuel lines and tank back by the shackles. Try not to be an idiot and burn you ride to the ground by getting in a hurry. Always get a fire extinguisher and hose ready before you start the torch up.

Use the torch to heat and remove the head of the rivet on the perch side of the mount. In most cases you will want to put new perches on the frame after you have cut the rivets. The heat will prove to bite you in the butt the first time you really hammer on them. The part from your Ford dealer will cost you all of about $20.00 or a bit more. When it comes time to re-attach the perch use a good Grade 8 bolt and metal lock nut. Don’t forget to use the washers on both sides of the perch and the frame it will allow you to get it tight enough and not scar the surface. You will want to chase all of the holes in the frame with a drill bit. Some frames will have a hole that is close to a ½ inch and some will be closer to a 7/16 inch hole. Use your head and chase them out to the closest size and then get the proper size bolts on.

Once you have bolted them on the frame you are ready to figure out your shackle. You should always install a limit strap after making any changes to the rear suspension. I would recommend you welding on a strap mount. Most trucks don’t have a spot that you can bolt to on both sides of the frame for the limit strap. Just figure on welding tabs on the rear end housing tubes to mount the strap to. Some times you can get away with drilling a hole in the outer frame rail and running the strap to that hole by the tire, but remember where the tire spins the limit strap will get worn out faster. If you can mount it on in the inside of the frame rail away from the tire you will be happier.

Use jack stands and floor jack to figure out how far you want the truck to droop now that you have changed this stuff. The shackle can hit the perch when it is flipped over at full extension. Also make sure to check all of the brake lines and breathers and what ever else you have going down to the housing. The change in suspension could tear them out without you changing some of the mounts for them. The brake line should be changed to a stainless braided line at this time. Don’t be a tight ass and skimp on the brakes it is not worth it. The whole line kit is only about $35.00 from Earls.

If you have elected to try and get the wheel travel out of it and still think you want to run a bed on the truck you will have to modify the floor a bit over the shackle area. If you are serious about a pre runner you will most likely be cutting many holes in the floor of the bed during this project. Again the biggest reason for lengthening the shackles are to enhance wheel travel. If you are not willing to buy a longer travel shock and spend some money don’t even bother with the lengthened shackle. You will have to get about a 16"-18" travel shock to make it all work right. If you are not going to do that then use the stock shackle and just re-install it after you have mounted the perch. Just make sure that you take the time to un-bolt the spring from the shackle and get new grade 8 bolts and metal lock nuts for these.

If you don’t use the lock nut you will be sorry. The twisting of the spring bushing will surely remove the bolt for you at a very un-opportune time. I think you should always use the hardened washer and metal lock nuts on these critical pivot points. I have a hard time with the Nylock nuts. I had some of them get hot and the nylon melted out of the lock area and then no more lock nut. You get the picture....

Once you have all of the bolts in then set the truck on its own weight before you tighten all of the bushing bolts. This helps the life of the bushing allot. It allows the bushing to be at a no twist state at ride height, hence longer life. The front spring perches on the Ranger are tough enough that you will never need to worry about them unless you are stupid enough to let the bolts loosen up and ruin the holes.

Like I mentioned earlier in the article you will enhance the wheel travel tremendously from this shackle change. You can get about 18" without ever breaking any components. Most companies that sell shocks now only sell a shock up to 14" of travel. You will want longer than that, about 16" to 18" and I prefer the 18" travel. You can find a few vendors that will sell you an 18" shock but you will have to settle for the larger 3" diameter shock. In most cases some will sell you a 2.5" but I think the Sway-Away 3" new shock is great you can get one for about the same price as 2 smaller shocks now. They are blowing prices away to get more market share, and I think we should all take advantage of that (ha ha ha I love the competitive nature of our sport)

When thinking of how to mount the shocks and suspension I think that the closer to the tire you can get the shock the better off you are. On the Rangers that I build I always try to mount the shock above the spring perch on top of the leaf spring. You have plenty of room in the middle of the perch to weld shock mounts and a tab for the limit strap. This is also the closest place you can get to the tire and never hit the spinning mass. Check this out on the same trucks I mentioned earlier. I have found that with this mounting location you can get away with not running a swaybar in most vehicles. It helps the body roll allot and you have less parts to worry about. It also makes the truck easier to set up and drive.

By using this mounting location and if you elect the Sway-Away shock that I spoke about you can center the one shock mount over the middle and make it easy to work on. One 3" shock per wheel on a Ranger should be plenty. If you can afford to use a By-Pass shock you will also dramatically increase the handling of the truck. That was the configuration we used on the Stock Mini race truck for the last few years and it worked great. Mount the shock slightly forward of straight up and down. You can guess that about 5-10 degrees of angle is a good place to start. When building the shock mount you should get a set of springs to use for a set up. You can cheat if you want by taking a set of normal "race" springs and remove all of the leafs except for the main leaf. Don’t forget to put a block under the main leaf to make up the difference in the ones that you took out. This will give you a spring that you can go from full extended to full compressed with a floor jack and get the angles and set up just right. Or better yet you can send your truck to a qualified fab shop like ours and get all of this done for you for about $2,000.00 or more.