Tremor 2” level from ford ranger lifts.

[Gr8Hortoni]

How does the drive with this setup? Any off-road articulation yet? Looks good!

Since I tow I initially was thinking about just the 1" front, but lately been thinking about 2" front with 1" spacer in the rear (along with 1" wheel spacers). Just don't want to mess with how good she tows our travel trailer.....so I am on the fence.

Haven’t had it on the trail since installed, will update once I get some feedback.
on road wise, perfect. I love the stance and the height, I’m hoping with pulling crash bars I can run a 285/75 (33.8”x11.2”, basically a small 34”), but I’m gonna run out the 265’s for a while yet, just spent a chunk of change on my next add on (589Fab mid rack). Make sure you get an alignment afterwards, but we were fairly close,they just had to adjust the toe a little bit. As long as you get it aligned you shouldn’t notice any difference really.

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[RBTremor]

Anyone talking about trying to skip removing the axle nut and pushing out the axle. Don't. Just get a 35mm socket and take the extra 45 seconds to remove the axle nut and push out the axle.

So many horror stories about people popping their cv joints on the rangers doing the install the way Stage 3 does where they just pry down on the control arm. I did a bilstein 2.5" lift a week ago and removing the axle nut and pushing it out was one of the easiest parts of the job. Way easier than separating the ball joints ect. This is one of those times it's not worth taking a short cut as replacing the cv's after just trying to do a level kit would be such a kick in the nuts.

Note, I really like stage 3's videos and I have bought a couple things from them- but I do not like how they skip that step and don't warn people in the video.

From my understanding the axle nut is a one time use part and you need to replace it if you remove it. Can anyone verify this? I hear alot of guys taking the nut off to remove the axle but would hate to see damage down the road from the axle nut working loose.

 

[codestp202]

From my understanding the axle nut is a one time use part and you need to replace it if you remove it. Can anyone verify this? I hear alot of guys taking the nut off to remove the axle but would hate to see damage down the road from the axle nut working loose.

I put some loctite on the nut. Found plenty of examples of folks reusing the axle nut. I torqued, loctited, and paint penned it. I wouldn't worry about it too much.

 

[Dgc333]

I would have expected it to be a 1 time use only lock nut but as soon as I cracked it loose it spun off with my fingers. If it had been a lock nut it would have had a fair amount of drag until it was past the locking feature.

I put locktite on mine when I put it back together.

 

[awd.nv]

Haven’t had it on the trail since installed, will update once I get some feedback.
on road wise, perfect. I love the stance and the height, I’m hoping with pulling crash bars I can run a 285/75 (33.8”x11.2”, basically a small 34”), but I’m gonna run out the 265’s for a while yet, just spent a chunk of change on my next add on (589Fab mid rack). Make sure you get an alignment afterwards, but we were fairly close,they just had to adjust the toe a little bit. As long as you get it aligned you shouldn’t notice any difference really.

For sure on the alignment. Good to hear. Have you posted more pics in another forum post? Curious on some other angles. Nice that it is a Tremor, eliminates the guess work comparing with FX4 pics.

 

[Gr8Hortoni]

For sure on the alignment. Good to hear. Have you posted more pics in another forum post? Curious on some other angles. Nice that it is a Tremor, eliminates the guess work comparing with FX4 pics.

I haven’t. What are you looking for, I can get them. I took before & after of wheel wells just for comps.

 

[awd.nv]

I haven’t. What are you looking for, I can get them. I took before & after of wheel wells just for comps.

Was curious how the front and rear from an angle looked like. I want to run the stock tires for a bit too and curious how it will look.

Appreciate any pics you can post.

 

[gwhalin]

So I have seen three ways people are doing this install. One is the Stage3/FRR way where you don't loosen the axle nut and you damaging your CV. One is to loosen the axle nut. The third seems to be the approach listed earlier in this thread that removes the lower control arms. That seems the least difficult (at least from watching videos), but seems like most don't go that route. What am I missing?

 

[Dgc333]

So I have seen three ways people are doing this install. One is the Stage3/FRR way where you don't loosen the axle nut and you damaging your CV. One is to loosen the axle nut. The third seems to be the approach listed earlier in this thread that removes the lower control arms. That seems the least difficult (at least from watching videos), but seems like most don't go that route. What am I missing?

Can't see how removing the lower control arm could be easier than taking the nut off the end of the axle. It literally takes one minute to spin the nut off and knock the axle loose with a mallet and one minute to spin it back on and torque it.

 

[gwhalin]

Can't see how removing the lower control arm could be easier than taking the nut off the end of the axle. It literally takes one minute to spin the nut off and knock the axle loose with a mallet and one minute to spin it back on and torque it.

Yes but you also need to disconnect the uca among other things. Just saying that watching the various videos it seems like less steps and less risk and not smacking my axle with a sledge hammer.

 

[Dgc333]

Yes but you also need to disconnect the uca among other things. Just saying that watching the various videos it seems like less steps and less risk and not smacking my axle with a sledge hammer.

I had given the front end a good once over to decide on the best way to approach this. The fasteners on the lower control arm at the frame are partially obscured and looked like they could be a pain to get out. The lower ball joint at the knuckle requires removing the upper control arm and axle to separate. While the upper ball joint nut, tie rod nut, sway bar end link nut and axle nut were all easily accessed and removed with an impact gun. That is why I went the way most folks do it.

And who said anything about hitting the axle with a sledge hammer? I said mallet and the one I used is plastic coated and filled with lead shot to provide a dead blow that doesn't damage the surface you are hitting.

I did use a sledge to pop the tapered shaft on the ball joint and tie rod by smacking the knuckle where they are inserted. This method has been standard practice for the 50+ years I have been working on vehicles. In an earlier post I mentioned and posted a picture of a tie rod end puller that would work and there is always the old standby pickle fork but I don't recommend them because they tear up the boot more often than not.

 

[gwhalin]

Gotcha. Was just curious as the video showing the lower control arm looked easier. But that guy had a bunch already removed so maybe that step just looked easier in his case.

 

[EAC83]

Installed my 1” level kit on my xlttremor today. I’ll list the steps in the order I took . This way seemed to be pretty easy and safe in my opinion.

Step 1 : jacked up and braced both sides of truck.
Step 2 : remove front tires and wheels.
Step 3 : loosen sway bar bolts at frame
(I did not remove them completely)
Step 4 : remove abs support bracket (8mm) and plastic mount from upper control arm. Make sure this line stays out of the way when removing shock.
Step 5 : Loosen the 3 upper shock nuts but do not remove yet
Step 6 : remove lower control arm mounting bolts
Step 7 : remove the 3 upper shock nuts
Step 8 : press down on lower control arm mounting arms while pulling the shock down and out on the front side of the spindle . (You may have to push the lower control arm in towards the engine as well) I managed to get the shock completely clear of the upper control arm and easily mounted the spacer and then reinstalled everything in reverse order.

I noticed no binding when using this method . Note I was only installing the 1” lift . So getting the 2” or 2.5” level kits installed this way may not work ( I would imagine getting the lower control arm bolts back in would be more difficult and there may not be enough downward movement to provide enough clearance for the larger spacers) . I didn’t need to loosen my lower shock mount on the driver side but I did on the passenger to allow the upper shock mount to line up easier when reinstalling. I did not remove the upper ball joint, tie rod, or axle nut using this method . I did use a jack for support under the lower control arm when reinstalling the lower control arm bolts . Took around 1.5 hrs start to finish.
. Note: When reinstalling I got the three upper shock nuts started and then installed the lower control arm bolts before tightening the upper shock nuts completely.
i hope this made some kind of sense. I actually watched a guy install a 3.5” lift on you tube and he used this method to remove his front shock assembly.I figured since I was only installing basically 1/2” spacers I could give this a try and it worked great.

 

[Dr3wDrop]

I finished my 2” FRL spacer on my tremor yesterday. Phew that was a job with the cast steel components. All the videos with aluminum made it look so easy haha. Took about 5.5 hours in total. Second half went easier after I knew what to do.

Thank you to whoever recommended taking the center caps off the wheels and torquing the hubs with the truck on the ground. That worked flawlessly.

At the same time I did do a diff drop kit. But you can see that on another thread if you want.

 

[Dgc333]

What happened that it took you so long?

When I did the level on my Tremor it took about 2 1/2 hours and that included running to the part store for a socket to fit the axle nut and a soda break between sides.

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