As they become more available, the 1998+ 2wd a-arm Ranger is making
a strong presence in the desert scene. From pavement pounders to dedicated
race course prerunners, they can be seen everywhere. With the proven
durability and past of the classic Ford Ranger, and the new a-arm
suspension which allows better suspension cycling geometry than it's
twin i-beam predecessor, this is a great base vehicle for building.
Below is the installation process of the Camburg uniball kit for 98+
2wd Rangers. This kit is well built (if not overbuilt), allows room
for 31-33" tires, and has a great spring/shock combo which will
have you dancing across the whoops with an equally built rear suspension.
You can rest assured it is worth the money for the peace of mind of
not breaking an upper balljoint or any of the twiggy stock suspension
components. It is said that wheel travel figures will vary from truck
to truck, your results may vary. Fiberglass is required for this kit,
but installation will be discussed in this
article.
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1) Unbolt the inner fender. This plastic guard will
be in the way of removing the suspension and will be easier to install
the kit with it removed. There will be several bolts placed near
the edge of the fender and inside the wheel well. There will be
two different size bolts. Use 5/16" and 5.5mm
sockets or wrenches to remove them. |
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2) Once the inner fender bolts are gone, pull the
inner fender out. This can be done with the stock exterior fender
still bolted on. We removed the outer fender for ease of installation
and preparation for the fiberglass install.
The vacuum ball is highlighted in this photo. Remove this with a
10mm socket and mount it securely in another area that is
clear of the cycling suspension or tire. A common place is next
to your fluids box or inside the fender near the front headlight. |
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3) Chock your rear wheels with a large, heavy block.
This will prevent the truck from rolling forward while jacking in
the case of forgetting to set the e-brake or failure. |
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4) Loosen the wheel lugs and jack your truck from
a solid point on the frame. Continue jacking until your front tires
are a good 6"+ from the ground. |
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5) Place jackstands securely beneath your framerails
and lower the jack. |
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6) Remove tires/wheels. Take a good look at your
suspension. It is important to become familiar with it and understand
the mechanics of how it works. |
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7) Remove anti-sway bar. You will need to hold a 5/8"
wrench on the bolt head highlighted in photo A, and a 5/8"
socket on the nut from underneath the lower a-arm. Repeat on
opposite side. Now unbolt the sway bar brackets underneath each
frame rail shown in photo B by using a 1/2" socket.
The bar is now free, remove and set it aside. |
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8) Remove tie rod. First unbend the cotter pin holding
the nut in place and pushing it through the hole. If the pin is
severely damaged, you may need to cut the ends with wire cutters
or break them off by repeatedly bending them back and forth. Now
that the nut is free, use a 13/16" socket and remove
it from the tie rod. With the nut removed, a quick upward hit from
a hammer will send the tie rod up and out of the spindle steering
link. |
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9) Remove caliper. There are two bolts holding this assembly together,
and another two attaching it to the spindle. Remove all four, as
you will have to repress the cylinder later. Use a 9/16"
socket on the caliper bolts, and a 15mm socket on the bolts
holding the caliper on the spindle. Once the caliper is off, you
will need to set it on top of something because you do not
want the caliper dangling from the brakeline. In our case, we chose
the almighty bucket. |
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10) Place jack in a secure spot underneath the lower
a-arm and begin jacking to put pressure under the arm. This will
prevent the suspension from unloading when you remove the upper
a-arm from the spindle. Using a 15mm socket, remove the
bolt holding the upper arm balljoint pin in the spindle as shown
in the photo. Make sure to fully remove the bolt, and the balljoint
should should come right out. |
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11) Remove the hub's dust cap. You will find a cotter
pin holding the hub nut on. Remove the cover, pin and nut, and set
in a clean area. The rotor assembly will now slide off the spindle
shaft. Do not hold the rotor with the wheel studs toward the ground,
as your wheel bearing will fall out. Keep the wheel stud side up
and place the hub nut and dust cap loosely on. Set this aside for
later. |
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12) Remove the cotter pin and nut from the lower balljoint
as shown at the bottom of the photo. The lower balljoint usually
gets stuck and takes some work to remove from the spindle. We found
that by hitting the top of the spindle's tie rod mount, it comes
out rather easily. You may want to rent a pickle fork/balljoint
remover from your local auto parts store. Hold the top of the spindle
as you do this, it will drop to the ground when the balljoint breaks
loose. |
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13) Set the spindles aside, and wrap duct tape around
the shaft threads. You do not want these threads ruined while the
shafts are being pressed or transported. |
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14) Remove shock. While keeping pressure on the lower
arm, unbolt the shock from the bottom first, then the top. Unbolt
the lower mount of the shock with a 13mm socket from underneath
the lower arm. Use a 19/32" or metric equivalent wrench
on the top nut. Note that the bolt will spin indefinitely if you
do not use a wrench on the tapered top of the bolt. Spin the nut
counterclockwise and hold the bolt in place with another wrench.
Once both shock mounts are removed, the shock should drop to the
floor through the lower arm. |
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15) Slowly lower the jack and let the lower arm drop
out fully. The stock coil can now be removed. |
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16) Remove the upper arm bolts with a 13/16"
deep socket. After removing both bolts, the upper arm can be removed. |
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1) Now would be a good time to head over to the auto/machine
shop and have your stock shafts pressed into your new spindles.
The diagram to the left shows where the spindle shaft presses into,
and is also a reference for re-assembly. This typically takes about
15-30 min depending on the shop's workflow. |
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2) Note the difference between the lower shock mount
of the stock shock vs. the new Bilstein 5100 mount. The Bilstein
will need to be modified to fit in the stock location |
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3) Clamp the the shock body securely to a bench or in a vise,
and cut slots to emulate the stock lower shock mount. You can use
either a sawzall or angle grinder. Photo B shows the finished version.
Compare that to the original 5100 shown in step 2. |
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4) Fasten droop stops to the rear of the Camburg upper
arms. These will cushion the droop of your suspension and prevent
your upper arm from hitting the coilbucket. |
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5) Press the bushings into the upper arms. After the bushings
are in place, press the sleeves through, and center them. |
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6) Put a healthy coat of the supplied silicone grease
on all the bushings. This will prevent premature wear and squeaking. |
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1) Temporarily bolt on the upper arm and spindle to
cycle for measuring limit strap location. The lower ball joint attaches
to the spindle in the same way the stock one did. Simply hand tighten
the lower balljoint nut. Put the supplied misalignment spacers in
the uniball on each side, and fit the uniball into the upper arm.
Put the bolt horizontally through it, and hand tighten the nut. |
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2) Measure the distance from the ground to the center
of the spindle shaft. Place jack under the lower arm and jack the
suspension 1/2" up past your shaft measurement. |
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3) Once the suspension is lifted up 1/2" from
full droop, you can mount your limit straps. Find a point on the
frame and lower arm which will provide enough clearance for a bolt
on both the top and bottom. Mark and centerpunch the point for the
limit strap bolt holes. Remember that you want the strap to be taut,
so mark these holes with the strap fully stretched out. |
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4) Begin drilling the limit strap bolt holes with
a 1/2" bit. Once the holes are drilled, remove the spindle.
You can leave the upper arm in place, but the spindle will need
to be removed in order to attach the lower balljoint when the suspension
is compressed. |
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5) Tighten the upper limit strap bolt now since you
will not be able to access the nut inside the coilbucket once the
coil is in. Once this is done, it is time to install the coil. (the
photo shown here and below is from the opposite side of the previous
pictures) |
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6) Align the coil so that it seats properly in the
bucket. Before doing so, look inside the bucket with a flashlight
and get a good look how it is laid out. Look at the contour of the
lower arm coil seat. You can see how the coil seats simply by looking
at it. The picture shows the correct orientation of the coil. |
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7) Pushing the lower arm downward and the coil inward
toward the center of the truck, try to snap the coil in place on
the retainer of the spring seat on the lower arm. (Note: this install
is using the newer, shorter, Camburg coil. Installation of a taller
lift coil may require a coil compressor or a different method of
seating the coil.) |
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8) Place jack beneath a secure point and begin compressing
the suspension. Stop jacking when you notice that the suspension
stops compressing and the entire truck is lifting instead. Attach
the spindle to the lower balljoint. You may fully tighten the nut
and align the cotter pin hole. Do not install the cotter pin in
case the spindle needs to be removed for any reason. |
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9) Attach upper arm to the uniball. Put bolt through
and tighten. Once this is done, you may slowly lower the jack. Relocate
the jack underneath the spindle, next to the balljoint. Reason being,
this will put more leverage on the spring and allow you to compress
the suspension further without the truck lifting from the jackstands. |
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10) Once the suspension is compressed
via jack, you should be able to insert the lower limiting strap
bolt. Push the bolt through and tighten it. At this point, attach
the tie rod to the spindle. Tighten the nut and wait until completion
to install the cotter pins. |
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11) Push shock through the lower arm until
the shaft sticks through the top of the coilbucket. Using an allen
wrench on the top of this shaft and a wrench on the nut, tighten
it slightly to keep it in place from falling back down. |
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12) Once the top is fastened, align the
bottom of the shock on the studs and tighten the nuts. After the
bottom is fully secured, you may tighten the top of the shock fully. |
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13) Compress both brake cylinders with
a c-clamp. Reinstall the brake assembly just as you disassembled
it. |
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14) Use loctite on the caliper/spindle
bolts. These commonly vibrate off and cause the caliper to loosen
and grind against the inside of your wheel. |
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15) Beware of the caliper rubbing on the
rotor due to variances in the kit. We had to use washers to center
the caliper on the rotor. Now reinstall the hub assembly. Hand tighten
the hub nut and reinstall a cotter pin. Place the dust cap on and
use a mallet until it is fully in place. |
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16) Look over the kit, torque all bolts
to spec, and make sure all cotter pins are in place. (picture does
not show hub/rotor/caliper installed) |
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If all appears to be done, then it looks
like the mission has been accomplished. Put your new larger tires
on the front and rear, and take a quick drive around the block to
make sure everything is mechanically ok. Take the truck to a professional
alignment shop the next chance you get, the ride will be noticeably
improved. If you have any further questions or comments, please
inquire at our forum. Look for
our front fiberglass fender installation here. |
