Anybody planning to lower their 2019 Ranger?

[Mirage775]

I ran into an issue with my Control Freak front drop, which I hope will be sorted out within the next few weeks. But basically, what's happened is, I won't be able to use their adjustable control arms..., at least not right now...

So, I assume I can use their coilovers and drop the front of my truck at least 3", without it messing too much OEM geometry up?

If I do a 3" drop up front, would it be better to do a 5" drop in the rear with Belltechs' flip kit?

Al @ Control Freaks recommended the front have a gap of 3" anyway and that would be a 3" drop. I could possibly live with a 3"/5" drop, over my original plans of a 4"/6" drop?

I can always drop another inch, once I get the control arms from Al, but with my 6 day weekend starting Wednesday morning, I wanted to get the drop done...

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[gpsdualsport]

@Mirage775 you haven't said what your issue is with Al's upper control arms. I have a set of the UCA's in a box waiting until after the holidays to install.
I have a 2 inch front drop with my BellTech lowering kit and have burned the inner edges off the front tires because of the lack of camber adjustment.
Your attempt to drop 3 inches in the front will end up with a even greater camber error and destroy your front tires in short order.
Some more details about your issue with the Control Freak UCA's would be appreciated.
@Doc you haven't mentioned any issues with your front UCA's from Al at Control Freak.
Should I be worried about using these new UCA's?

 

[Doc]

@Mirage775 you haven't said what your issue is with Al's upper control arms. I have a set of the UCA's in a box waiting until after the holidays to install.
I have a 2 inch front drop with my BellTech lowering kit and have burned the inner edges off the front tires because of the lack of camber adjustment.
Your attempt to drop 3 inches in the front will end up with a even greater camber error and destroy your front tires in short order.
Some more details about your issue with the Control Freak UCA's would be appreciated.
@Doc you haven't mentioned any issues with your front UCA's from Al at Control Freak.
Should I be worried about using these new UCA's?

No issues, mine was done at a suspension shop and then aligned at a race performance shop.

 

[BassRanger]

@Mirage775...
I have a 2 inch front drop with my BellTech lowering kit and have burned the inner edges off the front tires because of the lack of camber adjustment.

Toe is what eats up your edges of your tires. I was able to get toe and camber back in spec with the 2" drop on stock control arms, but my tie rods and control arms were about maxed in. I have almost 8000 miles on my drop with 1 tire rotation and noticed no abnormal tire wear. You should probably get your alignment checked out.

 

[Mirage775]

@Mirage775 you haven't said what your issue is with Al's upper control arms. I have a set of the UCA's in a box waiting until after the holidays to install.
I have a 2 inch front drop with my BellTech lowering kit and have burned the inner edges off the front tires because of the lack of camber adjustment.
Your attempt to drop 3 inches in the front will end up with a even greater camber error and destroy your front tires in short order.
Some more details about your issue with the Control Freak UCA's would be appreciated.
@Doc you haven't mentioned any issues with your front UCA's from Al at Control Freak.
Should I be worried about using these new UCA's?

I posted what happened on my build thread.

I barely drive 6 miles a day, LOL! I think I'll be good until my new control arms arrive on the 4th

 

[Mirage775]

@Mirage775 you haven't said what your issue is with Al's upper control arms. I have a set of the UCA's in a box waiting until after the holidays to install.
I have a 2 inch front drop with my BellTech lowering kit and have burned the inner edges off the front tires because of the lack of camber adjustment.
Your attempt to drop 3 inches in the front will end up with a even greater camber error and destroy your front tires in short order.
Some more details about your issue with the Control Freak UCA's would be appreciated.

Just FYI for your information sir, since I was at work this morning and it was too difficult to reply back the way I wanted too, I do understand not to ride around on an unaligned vehicle. I'm not planning on driving anywhere until next Tuesday-Thursday and that should be no more than 18 miles in 3 days, LOL!

There's nothing wrong with Control Freaks control arms, I just got a pair from a bad batch and I have to wait on a new pair... Coilovers were fine though and I installed as much as I could tonight. He forgot to include the hardware to mount the upper shock mounts, so I'll have to go get them tomorrow and get this thing lowered about 2", until I can get the new arms, then I'm going to 3".

I installed the Belltech rear flip kit after work, only the 4" now, but I think the 5" will be better when I drop the front 3"?

 

[Mirage775]

Did anyone else have this little 1/4" spacer on the drivers side, rear suspension, when they did the Belltech rear flip kit? I didn't stick it back in, but I can if need be?

There was only this one on the drivers side, none at all on the passengers side. I also believe the drivers side was 1/4" higher than the passengers side.

Anyway, please tell me what all of yall did with this spacer?

Thanks!

 

[Mirage775]

I'm in a bit of a pickle currently...?

I have a question about my drop, but I may have it answered today, when I go out back to work on it again. But, starting Tuesday afternoon 3pm all the way to midnight, I got the Belltech rear flip kit installed, but I put it at the 4" for now. Also Tuesday, I removed as much of the front end suspension as possible.

Yesterday, I had to go to Lowe's and get some hardware to mount the Control Freaks upper coilover mounts to the frame. Once I got those installed, I finished installing the coilovers and adjusted them, per Al's recommendation of showing 2"-2.5" of threads between the bottom of the coilover threads to the bottom of lock ring. I cranked it until about 2.1" and it started to get tight AF!

I had to use my OEM upper control arms, since both of the adjustable ones from Control Freaks stripped out on me and I have to wait a couple of weeks for new ones I'm most likely going to drive my stepfathers big ole 3/4ton Diesel Ram for the next couple of weeks :'( I'm not a fan of big trucks..., but at least I won't mess up the Ranger.

So, anyway, back to yesterday. I mocked up the Air Design fender flares and mounted the new wheels and drove it out of the garage and took some pics, like this one:

and this one:

Now, there's about a 5" gap in the rear between the fender and top of the tire. However at the front, there's about a gap of 2.5" gap between the fender and top of the tire! Al recommended there needs to be a 3" up front, to allow for tire travel without smashing the fender, but man, cranking on the coilover adjustment ring seems like it was getting super tight, so I quit turning it and threw everything back on, so I could check fitment.

Everything was fine, until I turned the wheels left and right and hit all the crash bars, LOL!

Camber is sticking inward up top slightly, but that will be corrected with the new upper control arms. I have a set of Ready Lift Intrusion Bars, that I think I'll throw on today! I talked to one of the engineers about the SCT SEMA truck and he said they had to remove the rear crash bars completely, but this was also in mid 2019, when there wasn't a lot available for the Rangers, so I'm unsure if the aftermarket intrusion bars were even available? Anyway, I'm going to remove both of them and install the Ready Lift ones and go from there

I'm also going to attempt to raise the front end up another 1", per Al's comment of saying a 1/2" adjustment equals a 1" raise/lower overall. And he said to raise it a 1/2" higher, because it'll settle down 1/2" after 10-15 miles. So, per his recommendations, I should have about a 3.5" gap between the tire and fender lip, once I'm done, before the test drive? There are also compression and rebound adjustment knobs on the coilovers and I've sat them per Al's specs, which aren't in front of me at the moment, but I'll post them later.

So, my major question is after all this research, work and money was put into this truck, is it going to turn lock to lock, once I take care of the front end?

 

[66F100]

It is your negative offset causing your tires to rub the crash bars. My truck does the same thing - going to fix it at the next oil change. Shouldn't be a problem once you get the aftermarket intrusion beams installed.

 

[Mirage775]

It is your negative offset causing your tires to rub the crash bars. My truck does the same thing - going to fix it at the next oil change. Shouldn't be a problem once you get the aftermarket intrusion beams installed.

Thanks Justin! I asked SCT that multiple times and they said they didn't have to remove the OEM bars, but with -24mm offset, I didn't see how they didn't honestly....?

Last night, Jonathan Kitchens, one of the SCT SEMA Ranger engineers said they did remove the rears, but then he added this morning, that to get full lock to lock, they removed the fronts too, LOL!

So, you're thinking that the narrower Ready Lift bars will work for me? I'm waiting for it to warm up a little bit, it's damn cold here, at least for us it is, LOL!

 

[Mirage775]

@66F100 Justin, I put the Ready Lift Intrusion Bars on earlier today and lifted the coilovers up another 1". Then, I put everything back on and dropped her on the ground. Lock to lock works now, with about a finger width (1/2" or so) between the tire and bars on both front and rear.

After I can the control arms installed and take it out for a test drive, I hope it doesn't settle so much, where they'll hit the bars again. If that happens, I don't want too, but I'll have to remove the crash bars, just like SCT did.... :/

Oh, I was able to remove the OEM bars without cutting them, like everyone on this forum said they had to do, LOL!

 

[66F100]

Belltech has removed their Ranger Upper Control Arms from their website. Did anyone ever use these? Haven't heard from anyone and just wondering what the story was on them.
I would like to purchase them and drop the front another inch.

 

[Msfitoy]

I'm in a bit of a pickle currently...?

I have a question about my drop, but I may have it answered today, when I go out back to work on it again. But, starting Tuesday afternoon 3pm all the way to midnight, I got the Belltech rear flip kit installed, but I put it at the 4" for now. Also Tuesday, I removed as much of the front end suspension as possible.

Yesterday, I had to go to Lowe's and get some hardware to mount the Control Freaks upper coilover mounts to the frame. Once I got those installed, I finished installing the coilovers and adjusted them, per Al's recommendation of showing 2"-2.5" of threads between the bottom of the coilover threads to the bottom of lock ring. I cranked it until about 2.1" and it started to get tight AF!

I had to use my OEM upper control arms, since both of the adjustable ones from Control Freaks stripped out on me and I have to wait a couple of weeks for new ones I'm most likely going to drive my stepfathers big ole 3/4ton Diesel Ram for the next couple of weeks :'( I'm not a fan of big trucks..., but at least I won't mess up the Ranger.

So, anyway, back to yesterday. I mocked up the Air Design fender flares and mounted the new wheels and drove it out of the garage and took some pics, like this one:

and this one:

Now, there's about a 5" gap in the rear between the fender and top of the tire. However at the front, there's about a gap of 2.5" gap between the fender and top of the tire! Al recommended there needs to be a 3" up front, to allow for tire travel without smashing the fender, but man, cranking on the coilover adjustment ring seems like it was getting super tight, so I quit turning it and threw everything back on, so I could check fitment.

Everything was fine, until I turned the wheels left and right and hit all the crash bars, LOL!

Camber is sticking inward up top slightly, but that will be corrected with the new upper control arms. I have a set of Ready Lift Intrusion Bars, that I think I'll throw on today! I talked to one of the engineers about the SCT SEMA truck and he said they had to remove the rear crash bars completely, but this was also in mid 2019, when there wasn't a lot available for the Rangers, so I'm unsure if the aftermarket intrusion bars were even available? Anyway, I'm going to remove both of them and install the Ready Lift ones and go from there

I'm also going to attempt to raise the front end up another 1", per Al's comment of saying a 1/2" adjustment equals a 1" raise/lower overall. And he said to raise it a 1/2" higher, because it'll settle down 1/2" after 10-15 miles. So, per his recommendations, I should have about a 3.5" gap between the tire and fender lip, once I'm done, before the test drive? There are also compression and rebound adjustment knobs on the coilovers and I've sat them per Al's specs, which aren't in front of me at the moment, but I'll post them later.

So, my major question is after all this research, work and money was put into this truck, is it going to turn lock to lock, once I take care of the front end?

How do you get the Air Design flares to stay on without the bolts?

 

[Mirage775]

How do you get the Air Design flares to stay on without the bolts?

They're mocked up with the plastic push "trees" in those pics. That's part of the set up to installed the super bolt sticky mounts. They're installed with the super bolts now.

 

[Mirage775]

Looks like this thread is slowly dying? Well, I just wanted to add, that I've got about 30-40 miles on the truck, since I've lowered it. I checked the suspension fender lip to top of tire gaps this morning and they're all slightly off from their opposite side...

Front Drivers Side: 3" gap
Front Pass Side: 3.25" gap (this can be fixed with a couple turns on the coilovers)

Rear Drivers Side: 4.25" gap (I guess I need to reinstall that little OEM spacer?)
Rear Pass Side: 4" gap

I'm getting an alignment Monday morning, (weather permitting), so I need to have everything settled about where it needs to be, I suppose? I assume a 1/4" difference isn't really noticeable, but I know it's there, that's why I need to fix it

So, my calculations of the Control Freaks front drop resulted in a 3" front drop. The Belltech rear flip kit was supposed to be a 4" drop, but the before and after gap differences resulted in a 5" rear drop, since there was a total of a 9" gap in the rear, before the drop?

Only issue I've experienced so far is, the pass front control arm will bottom out or up into the metal part of the wheel well on hard bumps/dips in the road? I think I've fixed this issue, but won't know until I drive over this one spot next week..?

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