Coilovers and UCA with 0" of lift?

[t4thfavor]

I want to retain the stock ride height (a tiny bit of leveling would be OK). I'm hoping to improve the ride, and travel.

Does anybody know if I could run one of the 40 shock kits (Icon, King, Fox, etc) with the upgraded UCA's and not run them with lift?

Would that improve ride and travel? How would it impact towing?

I want to get as much information as I can before I even think of proposing spending 3K on suspension for my brand new truck.

Reasoning:
My wife tends to get very carsick, so improved roll control and reduced bounce/jounce would be a big factor.

I do some slow/medium speed trail driving, and I want to reduce the 4-5 bounce rebound of the stock suspension to maybe 1-2 bounces, and I like to have as much wheel travel as possible since it keeps me on the trail and not laying sideways next to it.

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[dano0726]

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[jhndeergrn]

Also curious about this. Will UCA’s help improve ride quality? I’m considering leveling at 2” and not sure if I want to spend the coin on UCA’s if they’re not going to do anything.

 

[t4thfavor]

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[CompDude]

Watching.....

 

[_Ian_]

Interested as well

 

[RoadBoss]

I don't have any personal experience, but from what I've seen, aftermarket UCA's for the ranger won't do anything to improve wheel travel or ride quality. All they do is make the ball joint not reach its limit once you get a lot extra wheel extension, like at 3.5" lift. They are also probably a bit stronger than stock, and offer a bit of alignment correction.

coilovers on the other hand... I believe Fox has two different models advertised as increasing wheel travel.
Also I was told the Eibach shocks are a bit longer than stock and allow an additional 1" of wheel travel as well (in front).
not sure about any other brands currently,
but the shocks are the limiting factor on the front suspension, so that will be the start to getting more wheel travel on the front of these trucks.

 

[FULLSCALE]

I don't have any personal experience, but from what I've seen, aftermarket UCA's for the ranger won't do anything to improve wheel travel or ride quality. All they do is make the ball joint not reach its limit once you get a lot extra wheel extension, like at 3.5" lift. They are also probably a bit stronger than stock, and offer a bit of alignment correction.

coilovers on the other hand... I believe Fox has two different models advertised as increasing wheel travel.
Also I was told the Eibach shocks are a bit longer than stock and allow an additional 1" of wheel travel as well (in front).
not sure about any other brands currently,
but the shocks are the limiting factor on the front suspension, so that will be the start to getting more wheel travel on the front of these trucks.

I wonder at what point that the CV joint will reach its limit.

 

[t4thfavor]

I don't have any personal experience, but from what I've seen, aftermarket UCA's for the ranger won't do anything to improve wheel travel or ride quality. All they do is make the ball joint not reach its limit once you get a lot extra wheel extension, like at 3.5" lift. They are also probably a bit stronger than stock, and offer a bit of alignment correction.

coilovers on the other hand... I believe Fox has two different models advertised as increasing wheel travel.
Also I was told the Eibach shocks are a bit longer than stock and allow an additional 1" of wheel travel as well (in front).
not sure about any other brands currently,
but the shocks are the limiting factor on the front suspension, so that will be the start to getting more wheel travel on the front of these trucks.

So if the balljoint doesn't reach it's limit until further, then the downward travel is improved over stock. Mind you it won't go to full droop without a swaybar disconnect, but if both fronts are drooping (like in whoops) the shock has more travel (time) to damper the impact. I can see this as an improvement.

I'm looking at King or Icon, but Fox isn't out of the question.

 

[Rviator]

Reasoning:
My wife tends to get very carsick, so improved roll control and reduced bounce/jounce would be a big factor.

I do some slow/medium speed trail driving, and I want to reduce the 4-5 bounce rebound of the stock suspension to maybe 1-2 bounces, and I like to have as much wheel travel as possible since it keeps me on the trail and not laying sideways next to it.

I believe the solution to reduce the bounce cycles are shocks with increased damping. Rancho (which at one time was a top brand) makes an adjustable series, the RS9000. I'm hoping they get their act together and make a set for our Rangers so we can tune them to preference. Most of what they sell now are for older vehicles, unless one can matchup a length and top/bottom mount style to one of their universal fit models.

 

[RoadBoss]

So if the balljoint doesn't reach it's limit until further, then the downward travel is improved over stock. Mind you it won't go to full droop without a swaybar disconnect, but if both fronts are drooping (like in whoops) the shock has more travel (time) to damper the impact. I can see this as an improvement.

I'm looking at King or Icon, but Fox isn't out of the question.

if you're shocks are long enough, then yes eventually the control arm will help with downward travel, also you'll need to look at your CV angles at that point.
when installing the 2.5" level kit on the front of mine, it was pretty easy to see where the downward travel limit is. the 2.5 to 3" extra extension you get with a spacer level kit is about the max the CV and stock UCA can go down. but if you have longer shocks with a mild lift rather than spacer lift, you're not gonna have that same amount the same extension travel as with the spacer lift.... but you will also keep some compression travel as well that you'll lose with the spacer lift. So overall you'll have more travel, but the wheels won't actually drop as far as with the spacers.

what I'm trying to say is, I don't think UCA will help until you get at least 3" of extra droop in your front suspension, and then I'm pretty sure you're gonna need to look into a diff drop or something as well.

I wonder at what point that the CV joint will reach its limit.

from what I could see, it seemed to be at its limit about 2.5" to 3" past stock full extension.

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