Glocker
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- John
- Joined
- Feb 11, 2020
- Threads
- 97
- Messages
- 2,701
- Reaction score
- 8,432
- Location
- Boca Raton
- Vehicle(s)
- 2019 Ford Ranger XLT FX4, 2014 Mustang GT
- Vehicle Showcase
- 1
- Thread starter
- #1
I started Friday morning by loading up tons of parts and some tools. I filled up a cooler with Gatorade, water, and ice, and went over to a friend's house to work in his back yard garage with four post lift to do some stuff to my truck!
I was working on the truck by noon Friday, and got the stuck front bumper off before another good friend of mine came over after taking a half day at work to help me. I switched from the front bumper and we tackled installing Eibach struts, springs, and shocks.
We had some issues! First; the spring compressor I got from Autozone's loan-a-tool program wouldn't safely fit the stock FX springs and didn't come close to working with the Eibach springs. We had to haul the stuff over to a totally slammed 4Wheel Parts store, wait 40 minutes for them to figure out if they were going to be able to help up, and then another hour and a half wait to get the springs removed and strut hardware swapped over to the new Eibach stuff. It wasn't cheap but it was worth the money to get it done and get it done safely. We accidentally popped the shafts out of the front end, on each side. It was nerve racking but didn't tear the CV boots and got them in with about 5 minutes of fiddling around with it on each side. Then we had issues with the rear shocks because Ebach doesn't ship them compressed and we could only lift the truck so high on the four-post lift.
Oh, and Eibach has crap instructions.
Once we buttoned up the suspension, we straightened up the garage a touch and I caught a ride home from my buddy.
Saturday morning, my buddy picked me up and we went back to our other friend's garage to install the ARB Summit bumper. My gosh it was a PITA! It's heavy, there is a never ending pile of parts and hardware, and some of the instructions are absolutely worthless. The winch install, for instance, took a few hours because of the complete lack of usable installation instructions. A huge help was a third friend showed up with his son and they helped a bunch!
Did I mention the ARB bumper is heavy? It's ridiculous! We used a cart to hold it at a level we could work with it and used the lift to position the truck and get everything lined up. This part was very nerve racking but wasn't difficult. To cap it off, we installed an Australian license plate from New South Wales on my Aussie inspired Ranger.
?
Overall, I am completely thrilled with the stance and appearance of the truck! The front is slightly higher than the rear right now, but it settled a little bit with the addition of the bumper and winch. I'm really, really hoping it settles after being driven for a little. I really don't want to install blocks in the rear.
It's not finished yet. I still need to wire the winch, wire the off-road lights, install a light bar, and figure out why one of the fog lights isn't working. But, we didn't finish until 11 pm Saturday and we're saving the rest of the stuff for another weekend.
Ughhhhhhhh. I'm exhausted.
I was working on the truck by noon Friday, and got the stuck front bumper off before another good friend of mine came over after taking a half day at work to help me. I switched from the front bumper and we tackled installing Eibach struts, springs, and shocks.
We had some issues! First; the spring compressor I got from Autozone's loan-a-tool program wouldn't safely fit the stock FX springs and didn't come close to working with the Eibach springs. We had to haul the stuff over to a totally slammed 4Wheel Parts store, wait 40 minutes for them to figure out if they were going to be able to help up, and then another hour and a half wait to get the springs removed and strut hardware swapped over to the new Eibach stuff. It wasn't cheap but it was worth the money to get it done and get it done safely. We accidentally popped the shafts out of the front end, on each side. It was nerve racking but didn't tear the CV boots and got them in with about 5 minutes of fiddling around with it on each side. Then we had issues with the rear shocks because Ebach doesn't ship them compressed and we could only lift the truck so high on the four-post lift.
Oh, and Eibach has crap instructions.
Once we buttoned up the suspension, we straightened up the garage a touch and I caught a ride home from my buddy.
Saturday morning, my buddy picked me up and we went back to our other friend's garage to install the ARB Summit bumper. My gosh it was a PITA! It's heavy, there is a never ending pile of parts and hardware, and some of the instructions are absolutely worthless. The winch install, for instance, took a few hours because of the complete lack of usable installation instructions. A huge help was a third friend showed up with his son and they helped a bunch!
Did I mention the ARB bumper is heavy? It's ridiculous! We used a cart to hold it at a level we could work with it and used the lift to position the truck and get everything lined up. This part was very nerve racking but wasn't difficult. To cap it off, we installed an Australian license plate from New South Wales on my Aussie inspired Ranger.
?
Overall, I am completely thrilled with the stance and appearance of the truck! The front is slightly higher than the rear right now, but it settled a little bit with the addition of the bumper and winch. I'm really, really hoping it settles after being driven for a little. I really don't want to install blocks in the rear.
It's not finished yet. I still need to wire the winch, wire the off-road lights, install a light bar, and figure out why one of the fog lights isn't working. But, we didn't finish until 11 pm Saturday and we're saving the rest of the stuff for another weekend.
Ughhhhhhhh. I'm exhausted.
Sponsored
Last edited:
