A Little History....
It was always my dream to have a Ranger, especially one like my neighbors (91 Ranger, 4" suspension lift, 2" body lift, 33s). I bought my 94 Ranger in November of 1999 with 58k miles on it. After owning if for almost exactly one year it was time to make some changes, big changes. I had always wanted a lift, and January of 2001 was the time to start.
I researched a little bit (but NOT enough) on The Ranger Station - TRS about what lift to buy (never hit the forums till it was to late). I ended up going with Rough Country, had I actually researched my choices I would have chose skyjacker. I've always been the type of person to really research something before I buy it, and this big purchase was not one of those things I researched. While the truck was getting the suspension and body lift done we took the time to do a lot of other things, mainly replacing any and everything we could while things were pulled apart. Almost everything that we could think of within reason was replaced.
The worst part about starting this project was going into it not knowing whats good, whats bad, as well as what should be done now. It took a lot longer to do than it should have for a few reasons. The first is lack of time, the second is lack of parts. My Dad and my Brother were the brains behind installing every and anything I bought. When we started I had originally only planned on installing a suspension lift, body lift and a new clutch. Well it turned into adding a whole lot more (I didnt realized it, but I think this is when the mod bug got me). When we started I had both lifts at hand ready to go in, but then we decided on a Borg Warner Manual Transfer case, that took a little over a month to get the right one (first one was for a AWD vehicle, second one I dont remember, and the third one was right, all special orders from other junk yards). Then I ended up ordering new leaf springs from Ford (would have been a great deal to go to a skyjacker class 2 or so) as well as getting a tranny rebuild, those were the major things, many smaller items were taken care of as well. This list seemed to grow each and every day.
Finally, in the end the truck was "finished", but the mod bug still has me and I'm continuing to get new items for my truck. Eventually I'm going to buy a second truck just for off-roading, but that day is far off in the future.
Before
After