can 2WD trucks get around in the sand very well? i am wondering because me and my dad are going to get a ranger and probobly put the fabtech performance suspention on it, but it is only for 2wd trucks. should i look for another lift for a 4wheel drive truck or can a 2wd get around well enough?

it would probobly just go to olds on the road and small dunes.

thanx

MAYBE WITH A LOCKING REAR DIFF.....

2wd trucks do just fine out in G...the key is tire pressure and driving skill...besides you'll spend almost 2 times as much money modifying the suspension on a 4wd as you will on a 2wd...

a two wheel drive with a good amount of hp can go anywhere in the dunes, a two wheel drive with very little power should stick close to the sand highways, the soft stuff will swallow it. i had a ford lightning with a camburg enginering kit on it. it had a posi with 4:11 gears and a fair amount of power so i had no trouble in most of the small dunes. the times i did get stuck cause i lost my momentum i was able to back out of it. 4wd just means you can stuck where two wheels drives can't get too.

kevin

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I love the smell of race gas in the morning

Alrite thanx you guys, i totally a gree with everthing you said, 4x4's are too xpensive to modify with long travel suspention. i am defenatly getting a v6 ranger, so i can get to most places i want to get in a truck. sooo, thanx for all your imput guys and gals,

kyle

I suggest you go with Camburg, www.camburg.com rather than Fabtech. Also if you are not going to use a locker try to set the rear suspension up on the soft side. If the rear is set up to stiff then you will be lifting wheels a lot, not three-feet-in-the-air rockcrawler style but enough to lose traction in one of the tires. Once that happens in the sand you are digging. Avoid sharp turns and using the brakes and you will be doing just fine. The best way to go is having a 4x4 in your group but if you stick to the main areas there is always some one willing to help.

We've taken 2wd trucks out all the time! There do alright, I do suggest paddles though! Like motoholics said, go with camburg rather then fabtech. fabtech is just flat out overrated!

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Andrew Warm
WAPAWEKKA

Yah...pretty much fabtech blows...(sry in advance to any fabtech fans)...but the **** is plug and play off the shelf so what can you really expect from it and basically if you want your truck to perform well you should go with a more custom approach...definatley check out Camburg like moto said...

EVERYTHING IS JUST A BOLT ON LIFT. MOST OF ALL THE MANUFACTURES OF LIFT KITS IS EXACTLY WHAT THEY SAY IT IS. A LIFT! A SPINDLE WONT GET YOU TRAVEL NOR WILL A SPRING. THE ONLY TRUE WAY TO GET TRAVEL IS WITH CUSTOM ARMS AND COIL OVERS. THIS WAY YOU CAN MAINTANE MOMENTUM WHEN COMMING INTO A BOWL AND YOU MUST GET OUT THE OTHER SIDE WITH 2WD. I BROKE TOO MANY BALL JOINTS WITH A SIX INCH LIFT ON A CHEVY TRYING TO KEEP MOMENTUM. THE BEST THING TO DO IS BUY A NEW 4WD RANGER THROW SOME FIBERGLASS FENDERS ON THE FRONT. BUILD A SHOCK HOOP WITH A FOX 2.0 W/RESIVOR AND LOWER THE BACK 2" AND YOU HAVE GOT A TRUCK THAT WILL CLIME ANYTHING AND STILL HAS STOCK SUSPENSION W/ WARRANTY AND ON 33'S

See...You knew...thats what i'm talkin bout...if you want it done right it aint coming off a shelf..

can you guys give me an estimate on how much it would cost to get about 12-15" of travel on the front of a 89-93 ranger? i saw i complete kit that gave you 15" for about 1800, is that a good deal?

The basic kit from camburg is $1200 for the parts. That includes bent beams, new radius arms, shocks and a host of other goodies. Plus you can always build it up peice by piece when funds become available (new beams, even coil-overs). You can get kits for cheaper but they are usually 'drop bracket kits' which just drop the suspension from the frame and do not increase travel.

how much travel does the camburg kit give you? then how much would it cost to upgrade?

Around 11-12". Checkout the site they tell you everything www.camburg.com
Here is what the basic kit is. It is a good starter kit

on my 93 lighting it gave me 12 inches of travel. i was able to cruise the whooped out trails away from camps and the sand highway at 85mph with the cruise control on. i used camburg bushing radius arms(the heim arms can net you some more travel, but expensive for what you get) bent i beams, and fabtech coil springs, with bilstein shocks. kinda wish id kept the truck now. i got all my parts from duffco in san dimas. it was 1300 for everything.

kevin

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I love the smell of race gas in the morning

only 12 inches of travel?

The biggest myth about building trucks: more travel is better. That is absolutely WRONG. For most trucks, having over 10" will be enough to have a good time. It is all in the set up. Ivan Stewart's truck had 21" front and rear and yet he would knock the socks off of some off the insain 35" travel trucks. There are a couple of strait axle chevy's that race class 8 and do fairly well, even with only 10-12" of travel. I have seen four-linked trucks that could not keep up with stock length leaf spring trucks. More travel is nice at times but not alway nessesary. Most of the time were people go wrong is in the rear. 20" with coil overs plus bypasses in the front is a waste of money if you are running blocks in the rear. The best results come from about 125%-150% of your front travel in the rear.

i would say about 12" is enough for what i would be doing in my truck, i mean it is my trasportaion to and from glamis, so im not gunna do crazy shiat in it cus i gotta get back to esco. so could i get the camburg kit with about 12" of travel for arounf 1000-1300 bucks right?

the parts i bought from Duffco in San Dimas was $1377.35. i got bent i beams, camburg radius arms, fabtech coils, fabtech camber adjusters, low dollar bilstein shocks and blocks for the rear(didn't have the cash for leafs at the time). i installed it all myself. keep in mind this was for an f150, but the price for ranger is probably very close if not the same. the only time i ever used the whole 12 inches at glamis was when i hit a small hill after getting crossed up off some whoops at 75mph. it handled great, but i could tell the stock leafs in the rear where not allowing full potential. the only reason i went to duffco for the parts was that they were closer to me that camburg. the truck was my daily driver too, it didn't do anything funny on the street at all.


kevin

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I love the smell of race gas in the morning

I bought a 4 inch lift for my 93 F-150 2wd.
It included bent beams, radius arms, front and rear bilstein shocks, poly. bushings, and bigger springs. It cost me about $1200, but I installed it myself. My truck is a longbed regular cab and this lift works great. I didn't even need extended brake lines. I've got 31 inch BFG's and I make it to Olds no problem. Other than that I stay around the sand highway when I'm driving my truck. I stick with my banshee when I want to do serious dune riding.

One guy says 85MPH w/ cruise on another says 75 mph down sand highway. Let me know when these hot laps are happening. I love sand highway in the mornings. It looks like that highway we bombed out in Desert Storm. 2wd trucks rolled, stuffed, cased,burnt,buried.
Just leave your hazards on so the guy doing 85+ wont take the whole crew out. Check out www.prerunners.com

hey sandrat get the camburg coil buckets that go with that lift ! You can use a 2.5 shock with the setup Jerry sells and it rides real good! A buddy of mine had that lift but sold it and had Donahoue build custom beams and raduis arm`s with 2 1/2 kings and nationals in the rear. Now his truck goes everywhere even up comp!but make sure u regear your truck and get a posi, newer v6 rangers come with it stock .

I Love my Fabtech Lift.... Other Lifts are too much $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

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1989 Toyota 2wd Truck- 6" total lift, intake, exhaust.
1986 Honda 250r 4trx- Complete FMF exhaust and K & N.

hey jbtrd89,
how much did your fabtech lift cost? and how much do you think the long travel lift(13" of travel) for a ford ranger would cost? thanx for any info.

kyle

ok, so i have a 97' Ford Ranger. It is my daily driver. its 2wd and has the big 4.0 liter engine in it. the motor has some good kick in it, but i have put alot(100k) of miles on it cause it has been my daily driver since 97'. what can i do to it? you guys are talking about adding this and that. so if i got the Camburg(?) kit it would cost me 1,300 and it would give me 12 inches of travel. what is that compared to the stock amount of suspension travel? what tires would i need to get for some good offroading(not just sand)? what size? and what size rim? would i need to get the wide fender kit too? and what tools would i need to get to install it besides the basic wrenches? and is it even worth doing to a truck with that many miles on it or could that be a good reason to do it? im probably going to get a new car soon, just not sure yet.

Yeah he said it all, don't go FABTECH their **** sucks ass. GO CAMBURG, they are much better. BUt if you have no lift , just let some air out of all your tires lol, I have a two wheel drive chevy nad we just let some air out and we cruised all last season , drags , comp ( kinda got stuck but we made it lol ) So go on get your ridegoing .....
See you in the dunes!!