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Ranger 2wd Wheel Travel Kits

    Ranger 2wd trucks with twin I beam front suspension are a good choice for building a pre-runner or race truck. With care and expertise we have achieved 16 inches of wheel travel using stock length beams! The first step of course is to choose Autofab bent beams to accomplish the  necessary lift of 4 inches. Then using radius arms from our middle of the road kit we can now reach 16 inches of travel. The problem is the stock coil bucket and shock mount restrict the wheel travel and the Ranger coil buckets are not strong enough for serious off road use. So the first step is to design a coil bucket that will allow room for installing longer travel shocks. We choose to use a coil bucket instead of coil over shocks, for some obvious reasons, by studying what you have to do to properly mount a coil over. If you are keeping the stock brake booster master cylinder along with your heater/air conditioning unit you will have much difficulty placing a coil over long enough to achieve 16 inches of wheel travel. If you are building a race truck and removing all of the above then by all means a coil over shock and bypass are the ultimate goal. Our purpose here is to make available a kit that the average person with good mechanical skills can install and enjoy.

    Here is the basic foundation of a Ranger wheel travel kit. The beams displayed are the 1989 to 1997 style cast  beams.  Forged beams from the earlier Ranger 2wd trucks differ in looks but the function is the same. This particular kit is setup for 2 Fox 2.0 reservoir racing shocks per wheel. This photo is the basic foundation for any Ranger 2wd truck for 16 inches of wheel travel. The U shaped brackets above left bolt on the front side of the beam radius arm. We do this instead of welding to the beam itself. That way if you ever knock a beam out or tweak it you can replace without redoing the lower shock mount. We try to design our product to be easy to work on. An off road toy requires maintenance which means someone will be working on it. Below the U mounts are the radius arm pivot brackets. There are 2 styles depending on customer request. One is for rubber bushing pivots and the other style for Rod End bearings. Too the right of these are the cross members we provide. One bolts into the same location your original one under the bell housing area. The other is the parts you need to construct one between the two radius arm pivot brackets. This must be done at the time of installation because of frame variations. I like to see a comfortable fit here. You can do this after it is on the road too, for convenience,  just make sure it is in place before blasting the truck off road. Plenty of Grade 8 mounting hardware is included to properly bolt your brackets to your Ranger frame.

    Now we are into the serious parts of our kit. Custom made coil buckets much stronger than stock. Tall hoop structure so the front shock can be a 14 inch travel shock. Here is the secret of the wheel travel. Get a long enough of a shock in there to stroke for all that travel. The rear shock mount is different because that shock is further back on the radius arm and does not stroke the same amount. This will fit below your master cylinder brake booster and on the right side next to the heater/ac box. Sometimes some maneuvering of the ac dryer is necessary as it is close. Our coil buckets are also offered with weight jacker coil spring adjusters. This allows adjustment of ride height and fine tuning from side to side. At the top of the shock mount hoops are some wing shaped brackets. These and 2 tabs are for the engine crossbar mounts. These need to be final fitted and the tube welded at the time of installation as well. This can be done when you do the radius arm cross member. It is ok to drive the truck without these in place but be sure to have that all buttoned up before any serious off road use. Autofab coil springs provide the 4 inch lift. Bump stops and limit straps are included with our kits. They will protect your shocks from bottoming out or stretching apart. Again plenty of grade 8 hardware to properly bolt on all your components.

    This is the radius arm kit with rod end bearings for pivots. Special mounting brackets complete with rod end spacers and through bolt. Note components for cross members included as well.

Send E-mail to john@autofab.com with questions or comments about this web site.
Last modified: April 28, 2008