Advanced Fiberglass and Bakakits Long Travel (Mid Travel) Suspension Install/Build

[natefiggs]

Update: I put the limit strap where the bypass mount is suppose to go. The reasoning is that the tie-rods are very close to where the strap would be. The bypass mount works perfect for now, but I will install 2.5 bypass once I finish the rear of the truck, so it's fine for now. Next order of business is finding a shop that'll do a bypass cage for the rear of the truck. So far I havent been lucky in that findings. Most likely going to have to find a shop that'll works with this kind of modification outside of Utah. It doesn't seem like any shops here want to do it which is a bit frustrating.
I have my paint for the fiberglass schedules for the first week of September which is great.

I also recently drove to southern Utah Brain Head (about 450 miles) for the weekend to make sure everything is holding up. My only worry was making sure the new boots on the rebuilt axles dont slip off. I hate the crimp style cv boot clamps. I couldn't find something before the trip so I just make sure the clamps were seated correctly and crimped them tight. All is good and I probably dont have anything to worry about since I used all new parts to rebuild my axles.

I will say the truck drive great especially hitting big bumps. The suspension just soaks it all up and drives smooth. I know people that drive with no sway bar say it's dangerous. I didnt have any issue driving on the freeway. Truck handles like a champ even with the 6" of extra width. It is something you have to adjust to but it's not an issue. The alignment shop I took it too did a great job and will go back there for re-adjustment when necessary.

Overall I am happy with the Bajakit. Some people say their parts are notoriously bad... not sure where that is coming from because it seems all high quality to me. Welds are good, drives great, everything is high quality and I am happy with the end result.

Since I think I am the only one here that has actually built the axle with the extended shaft
I'll keep making update on this thread as I progress in my build. If anyone has question feel free to DM me and I can help in any way possible.

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[Doc]

Update: I put the limit strap where the bypass mount is suppose to go. The reasoning is that the tie-rods are very close to where the strap would be. The bypass mount works perfect for now, but I will install 2.5 bypass once I finish the rear of the truck, so it's fine for now. Next order of business is finding a shop that'll do a bypass cage for the rear of the truck. So far I havent been lucky in that findings. Most likely going to have to find a shop that'll works with this kind of modification outside of Utah. It doesn't seem like any shops here want to do it which is a bit frustrating.
I have my paint for the fiberglass schedules for the first week of September which is great.

I also recently drove to southern Utah Brain Head (about 450 miles) for the weekend to make sure everything is holding up. My only worry was making sure the new boots on the rebuilt axles dont slip off. I hate the crimp style cv boot clamps. I couldn't find something before the trip so I just make sure the clamps were seated correctly and crimped them tight. All is good and I probably dont have anything to worry about since I used all new parts to rebuild my axles.

I will say the truck drive great especially hitting big bumps. The suspension just soaks it all up and drives smooth. I know people that drive with no sway bar say it's dangerous. I didnt have any issue driving on the freeway. Truck handles like a champ even with the 6" of extra width. It is something you have to adjust to but it's not an issue. The alignment shop I took it too did a great job and will go back there for re-adjustment when necessary.

Overall I am happy with the Bajakit. Some people say their parts are notoriously bad... not sure where that is coming from because it seems all high quality to me. Welds are good, drives great, everything is high quality and I am happy with the end result.

Since I think I am the only one here that has actually built the axle with the extended shaft
I'll keep making update on this thread as I progress in my build. If anyone has question feel free to DM me and I can help in any way possible.

Nice Truck !

 

[natefiggs]

Nice Truck !

Work in progress! Thank you!

 

[20XLRangerFraptor]

Nice looking truck. How long did you have to wait for the fiberglass? I've been wanting to get ADV glass but with all the stuff going on with them right now I'm a little hesitant. I've got a 5.5" over front end on my truck. Just did a bronco rear axle swap with 4.70 gears on 35s. I like the new ratio a lot better but plan on going to 37s after these tires wear out. May go up to a 5.13 ratio after that.

 

[natefiggs]

Nice looking truck. How long did you have to wait for the fiberglass? I've been wanting to get ADV glass but with all the stuff going on with them right now I'm a little hesitant. I've got a 5.5" over front end on my truck. Just did a bronco rear axle swap with 4.70 gears on 35s. I like the new ratio a lot better but plan on going to 37s after these tires wear out. May go up to a 5.13 ratio after that.

I got the fenders awhile back around winter but was waiting until summer to start the project. From the time I ordered is only took about a month. Bakakits was a totally different story lol. I do see the hesitation on ordering especially with the lawsuit going on with APG. Crazy story and feel bad for the people who ordered the Bronco hardtops. Im curious to see how that plays out.
Youre definitely going to have to go fiberglass if you plan on fitting 37's. I think it's crazy to even fit 35's on the stock fenders. The headache having to cut and fab things to get it to not rub haha.
I would definitely contact ADV and see if the lead time if 4-6 weeks as normal. Bad ass truck by the way!

 

[natefiggs]

Nice looking truck. How long did you have to wait for the fiberglass? I've been wanting to get ADV glass but with all the stuff going on with them right now I'm a little hesitant. I've got a 5.5" over front end on my truck. Just did a bronco rear axle swap with 4.70 gears on 35s. I like the new ratio a lot better but plan on going to 37s after these tires wear out. May go up to a 5.13 ratio after that.

How was the rear axle swap? Does it have normal functions?

 

[20XLRangerFraptor]

How was the rear axle swap? Does it have normal functions?

Yea my fenders have been trimmed about 2” or so so I have no rubbing issues with the 35s. Thanks man! Been working on the truck a lot. I’ve got new coilovers and hyd bumps to try to install this weekend. Hoping to be able to squeeze out close to 16” of travel out of the front.

as for the rear axle everything functions as it should like stock. No lights or anything. The wheel sensors are the same as the bronco setup so it worked out.

 

[natefiggs]

Yea my fenders have been trimmed about 2” or so so I have no rubbing issues with the 35s. Thanks man! Been working on the truck a lot. I’ve got new coilovers and hyd bumps to try to install this weekend. Hoping to be able to squeeze out close to 16” of travel out of the front.

as for the rear axle everything functions as it should like stock. No lights or anything. The wheel sensors are the same as the bronco setup so it worked out.

AHHH yes I think you are the Ranger with the Wicked long travel right? Ive been following your build for sometime on the Facebook pages. That front end is crazy! I definitely want to change ratio gears soon.
I just ordered last week fox 2.5 triple bypass shocks for my front and rear. There is a 12 weeks lead time right now so it gives me time to find a fabricator to do my bypass cage for the bed. Here in Utah is been difficult but I did reach out to Metalheadsfab to get a quote. Hoping to hear back soon.

 

[gryder]

Hey natefiggs, first off nice looking truck and build! I know you asked anyone about the brake lines a couple post back and I noticed the same thing, the braided lines were only about half inch to 3/4 inch longer and they where a pain for me to install. I’ve had my Bajakits on since January 2023 with no issues so far with brake lines or any of the parts.

As for the axle, I tried doing it myself until I ran into the same problem as you. It’s impossible to remove. I ended up taking it to my local off-road warehouse (ORW) shop where they cut the shaft to remove the c-clip.

For the limiting strap what length did you go with? And did you just install the top bolt to the shock tower? Did you have to weld or drill any holes?

 

[20XLRangerFraptor]

AHHH yes I think you are the Ranger with the Wicked long travel right? Ive been following your build for sometime on the Facebook pages. That front end is crazy! I definitely want to change ratio gears soon.
I just ordered last week fox 2.5 triple bypass shocks for my front and rear. There is a 12 weeks lead time right now so it gives me time to find a fabricator to do my bypass cage for the bed. Here in Utah is been difficult but I did reach out to Metalheadsfab to get a quote. Hoping to hear back soon.

Yea that’s me. It is wide! Lol thanks man. Yea my build been a slow one but it’s getting there. Going to try to start on the back soon. Planning a 4 link with coilover and bypasses and fuel cell out back. We will see how that goes.

 

[natefiggs]

Hey natefiggs, first off nice looking truck and build! I know you asked anyone about the brake lines a couple post back and I noticed the same thing, the braided lines were only about half inch to 3/4 inch longer and they where a pain for me to install. I’ve had my Bajakits on since January 2023 with no issues so far with brake lines or any of the parts.

As for the axle, I tried doing it myself until I ran into the same problem as you. It’s impossible to remove. I ended up taking it to my local off-road warehouse (ORW) shop where they cut the shaft to remove the c-clip.

For the limiting strap what length did you go with? And did you just install the top bolt to the shock tower? Did you have to weld or drill any holes?
[/QUOTE

Thank you! The brakes lines were definitely a pain to install... I almost ran out of fluid in the reservoir LOL I quickly started filling before it got too low. I went through 5 motortcraft bottles of dot5 from Ford (it's not cheap). My problem was on the passenger side. When I went to attach the new brake lines it would not thread correctly so I used blade to fix the threads which worked!! Funny thing is that a friend of mine was getting his BK kit installed by his friend and ran into the same issue.

The amount of things I had to do to get that snap ring off was crazy. After completely cutting the shaft in half to move the star cage around, I had to carefully grind off the other side as close to the cage as possible to weaken the shaft. Once I got it thin enough near the snap ring I put it in a metal tube and slugged it out with a few swings. It broke the weaken shaft and the cage was free! Ford made it impossible to take the axle apart so I had to get creative lol.

For the limiting straps I went with 14". I measured the length before hand on those existing holes (bottom elongated hole) on the shock bucket. It is perfect length when the front droops to prevent bottoming out the shock or pulling the break lines. Eventually Im going to have to weld a mount when the bypass shocks get installed but for now it's prefect. No drilling no welding in the location its at now!

 

[natefiggs]

Yea that’s me. It is wide! Lol thanks man. Yea my build been a slow one but it’s getting there. Going to try to start on the back soon. Planning a 4 link with coilover and bypasses and fuel cell out back. We will see how that goes.

Right on man! I contemplated 4-linking it but damn that is a process ? For now the pre runner deavers work and when the bypass shocks/cage gets installed I'll see how it rides. Definitely going to have to tune the shocks but hoping that is all I'll need for my fun! I'll be following your build for sure on all the platforms. Im curious about the 4-link set up and who can do one for desert racing on our Rangers.

 

[20XLRangerFraptor]

Right on man! I contemplated 4-linking it but damn that is a process ? For now the pre runner deavers work and when the bypass shocks/cage gets installed I'll see how it rides. Definitely going to have to tune the shocks but hoping that is all I'll need for my fun! I'll be following your build for sure on all the platforms. Im curious about the 4-link set up and who can do one for desert racing on our Rangers.

Yea I’m not real happy with my deavers. Don’t get the travel I want out of them and the shocks are fairly harsh on the street anymore. They feel pretty good offroad but I want a better ride on road. I’ve pieced together all the parts for the 4 link and going to cut it all out on a buddies laser. Possibly the cheapest 4 link out there lol ? shocks are gonna be what cost the most on it. Plan on Jaz 32g cell behind axle on an Izzyfab cradle and top plate for Ford. Hoping it will work with the ranger fuel pump.

 

[gryder]

I think I’ll pick up the same size strap your running.

Also 20XLrangerfraptor, how can I follow your build? I’m interested in the whole rear axle swap and the overall build too, I eventually want to get ride if my 2” spacers in the rear.

 

[natefiggs]

Yea I’m not real happy with my deavers. Don’t get the travel I want out of them and the shocks are fairly harsh on the street anymore. They feel pretty good offroad but I want a better ride on road. I’ve pieced together all the parts for the 4 link and going to cut it all out on a buddies laser. Possibly the cheapest 4 link out there lol ? shocks are gonna be what cost the most on it. Plan on Jaz 32g cell behind axle on an Izzyfab cradle and top plate for Ford. Hoping it will work with the ranger fuel pump.

Did you get shackles custom made or are you using the OEM shackles? Im having the guy that does my Bypass cage do custom shackles for added travel. Im interested in seeing the custom 4 link. If it's good maybe you can sell me the set up ???.
I got in contact with metalheadsfabs for the rear yesterday, so I'm going to go with him for the fabrication. He is booked until dec-jan... that works perfect with the lead time of the bypass shocks I ordered. His price seems fair so I'm stoked to work with him.

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