Anybody planning to lower their 2019 Ranger?

[Loweredon33s]

Well, friend, I could sure use some of that expertise of yours. I had the Belltech kit installed to achieve a 2/4 drop back in November of '21. At that time, I don't recall anyone on this thread mentioning not being able to achieve an alignment that wasn't within factory spec. Fast forward to this past March when I had a rotate & balance done (about 10k miles after the lowering & alignment) and imagine my surprise when I was informed that my front tires showed significant wear on the inside edge of each tire. Because the shop that did the Belltech install subbed the alignment out, I have no idea of what degree of caster/camber they were able to achieve.

In any event, while appearance is important to me, the primary reason I had the lowering done was to make ingress/egress easier (I'm a paraplegic). So, what I'm looking for now is an out-of-the-box solution for this alignment issue. Any ideas or am I just out of luck? Thanks a bunch in advance for your insight.

I didn’t always have control arms. I originally had more than -2 degrees of camber, lots of people told me my tires would wear prematurely but like 20k later they were still wearing great (rotated twice)
My point here is that toe and caster play a role in tire life too.
At 2/4” I was able to achieve a great alignment with good handling and tire wear but it takes someone who knows what they’re doing to make it good.
The entire reason we bought an alignment machine is because we were tired of being embarrassed by the crappy work we got when we farmed it out.

What year is your truck?

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[My12SecRanger]

Mike did the belltech arms help with the alignment?

 

[CJohnStanchina]

I didn’t always have control arms. I originally had more than -2 degrees of camber, lots of people told me my tires would wear prematurely but like 20k later they were still wearing great (rotated twice)
My point here is that toe and caster play a role in tire life too.
At 2/4” I was able to achieve a great alignment with good handling and tire wear but it takes someone who knows what they’re doing to make it good.
The entire reason we bought an alignment machine is because we were tired of being embarrassed by the crappy work we got when we farmed it out.

What year is your truck?

2019

 

[Loweredon33s]

2019

You can use the Belltech control arms, they fit your truck fine, just not mine and should make things easier but it’s quite possible that they just didn’t align it very well in the first place.

 

[CJohnStanchina]

You can use the Belltech control arms, they fit your truck fine, just not mine and should make things easier but it’s quite possible that they just didn’t align it very well in the first place.

Forgive me if I blow the terminology, but didn't I read something earlier in this thread about Belltech's control arms being aluminum and that they don't play nicely with steel knuckles?

As for the alignment, I do have to say, the vehicle tracks just fine (hands off). But as many pictures on this thread have shown, and as you can see when you take a head on look at my truck, the visible camber would tend to cause excessive wear on the inside edge of the front tires. Are you saying it's possible, with a proper alignment, to achieve a flat contact profile for the front tires after installing the Belltech lowering kit with no other aftermarket parts (like control arms)? Just tryin' to figure out how best to proceed.

 

[Loweredon33s]

Forgive me if I blow the terminology, but didn't I read something earlier in this thread about Belltech's control arms being aluminum and that they don't play nicely with steel knuckles?

As for the alignment, I do have to say, the vehicle tracks just fine (hands off). But as many pictures on this thread have shown, and as you can see when you take a head on look at my truck, the visible camber would tend to cause excessive wear on the inside edge of the front tires. Are you saying it's possible, with a proper alignment, to achieve a flat contact profile for the front tires after installing the Belltech lowering kit with no other aftermarket parts (like control arms)? Just tryin' to figure out how best to proceed.

Their control arm kit only fits aluminum knuckles, that’s basically 19-20. After that they came with steel knuckles which are not compatible with their kit. My truck has steel knuckles but I modified the control arms to fit mine.
No, you cannot achieve a “factory spec” alignment without them but what you can achieve is a better alignment than one that kills tires in 10k. Like I said, I got great tire wear with the alignment I did without arms. It’s going to be better with arms but it won’t make much difference if the alignment is still shit. Unfortunately, just because it tracks straight doesn’t mean it’s going to wear tires properly.

 

[CJohnStanchina]

Their control arm kit only fits aluminum knuckles, that’s basically 19-20. After that they came with steel knuckles which are not compatible with their kit. My truck has steel knuckles but I modified the control arms to fit mine.
No, you cannot achieve a “factory spec” alignment without them but what you can achieve is a better alignment than one that kills tires in 10k. Like I said, I got great tire wear with the alignment I did without arms. It’s going to be better with arms but it won’t make much difference if the alignment is still shit. Unfortunately, just because it tracks straight doesn’t mean it’s going to wear tires properly.

Gotcha. Thanks for your insight.

 

[Loweredon33s]

Gotcha. Thanks for your insight.

Good luck man, if you were closer I would take care of it for you.

 

[CJohnStanchina]

Good luck man, if you were closer I would take care of it for you.

Thanks, man. If only I still called southeastern PA home...

 

[RedRanger2020]

Well, friend, I could sure use some of that expertise of yours. I had the Belltech kit installed to achieve a 2/4 drop back in November of '21. At that time, I don't recall anyone on this thread mentioning not being able to achieve an alignment that wasn't within factory spec. Fast forward to this past March when I had a rotate & balance done (about 10k miles after the lowering & alignment) and imagine my surprise when I was informed that my front tires showed significant wear on the inside edge of each tire. Because the shop that did the Belltech install subbed the alignment out, I have no idea of what degree of caster/camber they were able to achieve.

In any event, while appearance is important to me, the primary reason I had the lowering done was to make ingress/egress easier (I'm a paraplegic). So, what I'm looking for now is an out-of-the-box solution for this alignment issue. Any ideas or am I just out of luck? Thanks a bunch in advance for your insight.

if your Ranger has aluminum knuckles and you can use the Belltech control arms to improve your suspension geometry if you have steel knuckles you are out of luck. I contacted the Belltech Brand Manager by e-mail when I discovered that the arms that were being advertised did not work with steel knuckles.

 

[CJohnStanchina]

if your Ranger has aluminum knuckles and you can use the Belltech control arms to improve your suspension geometry if you have steel knuckles you are out of luck. I contacted the Belltech Brand Manager by e-mail when I discovered that the arms that were being advertised did not work with steel knuckles.

Thank you, Mike.

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