Rear lift, blocks or shackles?

treimche

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When lifting/leveling the Ranger, speaking about the rear suspension, what is preferred? I think a typical 1" block and longer U-bolts are pretty cheap and easy to do, and I have done that on other trucks in the past. However, I see that BDS sells a 1" lift for the rear that is a shackle type of lift. I haven't used this type before, but their description sounds pretty good. It just uses shackles to lift the back 1" while also correcting the rear pinion angle, which would be nice.

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Marshal.

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I don’t know why anyone would choose a block over a shackle lift. I’ve seen way too many blocks come loose, not to mention the added leverage they add to the leaf spring, leading to the increase change of wheel hop in high power applications. When lift my front, I’ll be adding a shackle in the rear to match.
 

I_smell_like_diesel

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I have Eibach 1inch blocks in the rear and I like them a lot. No noticeable axle wrap. 1 inch is fine in my opinion. It's when to start getting into those goofy tall 4 inch blocks is when you start having issues. The trucks rides quite a bit better with a slight lift in the rear, after leveling.
 

Andy

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I have the BDS shackles installed on my truck. They do a pretty awesome job in helping the rear flex on terrain.
 
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treimche

treimche

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I have the BDS shackles installed on my truck. They do a pretty awesome job in helping the rear flex on terrain.
Where did you buy the BDS shackles from?
 


Andy

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Where did you buy the BDS shackles from?
I bought them from off-road alliance who had them drop shipped from BDS. Took about a week to get here.
 

ISUACE

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I have Eibach 1inch blocks in the rear and I like them a lot. No noticeable axle wrap. 1 inch is fine in my opinion. It's when to start getting into those goofy tall 4 inch blocks is when you start having issues. The trucks rides quite a bit better with a slight lift in the rear, after leveling.
I also have the 1'' Eibach blocks that I'm going to install hopefully soon. Any issues? I had lift blocks on my old 2011 Ranger and they worked great.
 

I_smell_like_diesel

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I also have the 1'' Eibach blocks that I'm going to install hopefully soon. Any issues? I had lift blocks on my old 2011 Ranger and they worked great.

No issues at all. They seems to be really well built. I've been really happy with them. Easiest way to do a minor lift in the rear.... no hassle of accounting for any change in pinion angle. I did shim the drive shaft carrier bearing down a tad, to keep all of the U-joint angles in check.
 

Chrisr24

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I have the lift blocks on order. Paid 81 bucks on sale.
 

P. A. Schilke

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When lifting/leveling the Ranger, speaking about the rear suspension, what is preferred? I think a typical 1" block and longer U-bolts are pretty cheap and easy to do, and I have done that on other trucks in the past. However, I see that BDS sells a 1" lift for the rear that is a shackle type of lift. I haven't used this type before, but their description sounds pretty good. It just uses shackles to lift the back 1" while also correcting the rear pinion angle, which would be nice.
Hi Troy,

The old saying is "When God wants to punish you, he will make you a shackle bracket" Shackle brackets have a real hard life, I vote for lifting blocks if desired.

So another back story,

I managed Ford Off road Racing for 25 years as a second job to my real job. We supported the Best In The Desert racing sanctioning body, after I had a acrimonious relationship with SCORE. We put emphasis on Stock Classes in Desert Racing. Our House Team, in Class 7300 Ranger was the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Team. They entered each race with almost always 4 to 6 pair of shackle brackets. So being Ranger Vehicle Engineering, I decided to try to fix this issue of the frame bracket failing two to three times during a race. So got the CAE people to analyze the bracket. Now this bracket was just fine for the customer but had no robustness for the extreme Off Roader. I felt this was unacceptable. CAE proposed a exceptionally heavy casting and we had some of these made. I felt this was unsatisfactory as the tooling cost was way beyond my budget. So to the Materials folks that worked for me...The suggestion was HSLA steel (High Strength Low Alloy) but of a slightly thicker gauge. I met with the current frame bracket supplier and inquired if the stamping dies would handle HSLA and in an increased gauge. The answer was no problem and only a few pennies. So I said go for it. Fast forward to the next race and I handed the team the HSLA brackets. They completed the race without the expected failure. Next race was the same with new HSLA brackets, so for the third Race we raced the same brackets, not replacing them....they still worked...One more race and these poor brackets failed, but we knew that these brackets worked.... I was able to accelerate the testing through off road racing to make this change possible in short order for the production Ranger. So two things....Racing can and does improve the breed. It also shows the effectiveness of a design change such that you do not need a year and half of testing in order to prove out the material and thickness change.

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired
 

Jpeterson

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New to forums. Hope it's okay I add my issue to this.
I have a 2019 ranger FX4 I have had a 21/2" rough country level kit in the front for a couple months with no issues. I wanted to lift the rear up a touch so it didnt ride low if I put weight in the rear. I ordered the BDS 1" rear shackle kit and eiEibach Pro-Truck Sport shocks. I installed the shocks and loved the ride those alone lifted the rear 1/2". Then the shackles came and I installed them. It went very good no troubles. Followed the instructions to a T. looked perfect. Went for the first drive and had a terrible pinion wobble. I purchased them because the said it corrected pinion angle. I called BDS and they said they have not had any issue on the ranger. They dont even have a hanger bearing drop kit for the new Ranger. I decided to shim it my self. BDS said its usually 1/4" per inch of lift. So I did it in 1/4" increments and ended not getting rid of the wobble until I hit 1 1/4" worth of spacers. Does any body have any thoughts on this. I dont like the fact that I needed to do that. Now the front section is really angled off the transfer case.
 

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New to forums. Hope it's okay I add my issue to this.
I have a 2019 ranger FX4 I have had a 21/2" rough country level kit in the front for a couple months with no issues. I wanted to lift the rear up a touch so it didnt ride low if I put weight in the rear. I ordered the BDS 1" rear shackle kit and eiEibach Pro-Truck Sport shocks. I installed the shocks and loved the ride those alone lifted the rear 1/2". Then the shackles came and I installed them. It went very good no troubles. Followed the instructions to a T. looked perfect. Went for the first drive and had a terrible pinion wobble. I purchased them because the said it corrected pinion angle. I called BDS and they said they have not had any issue on the ranger. They dont even have a hanger bearing drop kit for the new Ranger. I decided to shim it my self. BDS said its usually 1/4" per inch of lift. So I did it in 1/4" increments and ended not getting rid of the wobble until I hit 1 1/4" worth of spacers. Does any body have any thoughts on this. I dont like the fact that I needed to do that. Now the front section is really angled off the transfer case.
In my opinion if you want overall lift then get rid of what you have and go with Old Man EMU by ARB. I have it and it is wonderful!! You get all shocks front coils and rear leafs!! The front goes up by 2.4ish and the rear by about 1.5!! The ride is nice on the street as it has cleaned up the feel and the offroad experience is awesome!! No i wont hot the Baja with it but im still able to enjoy it!! Here are some pictures.

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