Desert Rides :: H&M Motorsports 98+ Ranger Performance Kit Install

H&M Motorsports 98+ Ranger Performance Kit Install

The year was 1998, marking the beginning of what would grow into a common trend. Ford introduced its improved version of the Ranger pickup, and H&M Motorsports of San Marcos, CA countered with the first kit designed to transform the asphalt-loving pickup into a desert-worthy machine. In the years that followed, the 2-WD a-arm Rangers earned quite a reputation in the prerunner community; the number of a-arm rangers now navigating the deserts of the Southwestern US and Baja California is impressive.

Naturally, a number of companies sought to capitalize on the blooming interest in these new trucks. Kits designed to improve Ford’s a-arm suspension now litter the market. They range from the mild (great in the kindergarten sandbox) to the wild (impressive through the roughest cross-grain whoops). After a short hiatus, H&M now returns to the market, introducing the most advanced Ranger suspension kit in its class.

Although this kit is not designed to be a long travel behemoth like its big brother, it does increase the vehicle's wheel travel to approximately 9". Do not be discouraged with this travel number, it is certainly a step up from the twiggy stock suspension, and provides much better offroad performance. It allows for larger wheels and tires, and will give your truck the aggressive look it deserves. The kit's use of spherical bearings on all of the boxed chromoly upper control arm pivot points ensures a smooth and fluid-like suspension cycle. The self-lubricating uniballs on the innermost pivot points eliminate the need for a set of greased polyurethane bushings, which will begin to squeak over time. The use of misalignment spacers also ensures that the arm mounts on the frame do not crush in when the bolts are tightened down to spec.

To complete the installation of this kit, you will also need to install fiberglass fenders. For instructions on how to install these, please read this article.


Kit	Before	After

Required/Recommended Tools:

• Heavy duty jack and (2) jackstands
• A good selection of sockets, wrenches, and hand tools. Both metric and standard.
• Tire iron
• C-clamps
• Haynes/Chilton manual if you are unfamiliar with brake/hub or suspension assembly.

Required/Recommended Parts:

• H&M Motorsports Performance kit
• Larger tires/wheels. 15x7 or 15x8 rims with 31-33" tires are recommended.
• 6 new cotter pins, 1.5-2" in length.
• Fiberglass front fenders. Around 4" flare recommended. Installation of fiberglass will be covered in a separate article which can be found here.

Difficulty Level: Intermediate

Step 1 : Removing the stock suspension

	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.
	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.
	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.
	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.
	5) Place jackstands securely beneath your framerails and lower the jack.
	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.
		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.
	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.
		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.
	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.
	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.
	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.
	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 transported. H&M supplies spindle shafts with their custom spindle, and you will need to return your stock set to them for the core exchange.
	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.
	15) Slowly lower the jack and let the lower arm drop out fully. The stock coil can now be removed.
	16) Remove the upper arm bolts with a 13/16" deep socket. After removing both bolts, the upper arm can be removed.

Step 2 : Preparation before the kit install

1) Take some time and set out and organize all the components. Familiairze yourself with the different parts. Luckily for you, all the prep was done by H&M. All that is required for assembly is the bolting on of the new components. Be sure to differentiate between the driver's and passenger side arms and spindles. These should be clearly marked.

Step 3 : Installing the kit

	1) Bolt on the upper control arm. Tighten the nuts until they are snug. Wait to torque it down until the entire suspension assembly is completed.
	2) Installing the coil spring. In order to align the coil so that it seats properly in the bucket, you'll want to 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. Pay special attention to the retaining lip on the inner side of the coil seat. The picture shows the correct orientation of the coil.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 lip of the spring seat on the lower control arm.
	3) In order to fit the coil over this lip, the spring will have to be slightly compressed. The easiest way to do this is with a long crowbar, since you'll only want to compress it enough to slide over the lip, and the bar will also help to guide it into place.
	4) Once the coil is inserted into the bucket and properly seated on the lower control arm, you will need to jack up the lower arm to compress the suspension. The easiest way to do this is by placing the cup of the floor jack just outside the lower balljoint, catching on the lip of the lower control arm. Stop jacking when you notice that the suspension stops compressing and the entire truck is lifting instead.
		5) Next install the shock. Once the shock is installed, the suspension will not be allowed to droop out enough to let the coil spring unseat itself. Doing this step now will later simplify the installation of the spindle. The installation of the new bilstein shock is exactly the reverse of the removal of the stock shock. Once it's in place, snug all the nuts. Wait to torque them down once the entire suspension assembly is completed.
	6) With the shock holding the lower arm and coil spring in place, you can remove the jack from the lower arm and attach the spindle. 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.
	7) Now you will want to attach the spindle to the upper control arm. Replace the jack beneath the lower balljoint, and begin jacking up on the lower control arm. Compressing the suspension will be necessary to insert the bolt through the arm and spindle with the coil spring installed. Once the bolt is inserted, tighten the nut until it is snug.
	8) At this point, you can attach the steering tie rod end to the spindle. Tighten the crown nut completely, and align the cotter pin hole. Again, wait to insert the cotter pin until the assembly of the entire suspension is completed.
	9) Preparation for the re-installation of the hub onto the new spindle: Apply a liberal coating of grease to the spindle shaft. This will be essential for proper lubrication of the wheel bearing. It is also an extremely good idea to re-pack your wheel bearings with fresh grease while you have them out and easily accessible. (note: you will want to use the same grease on both your wheel bearings and spindle shafts)
		10) Now go ahead and slide the hub assembly onto the spindle shaft. Slide the washer that retains the wheel bearing over the spindle shaft and into place. Then hand tighten the nut onto the threaded portion of the spindle shaft, until both it and the washer are snug against the wheel bearing. (note: it is extremely important that you do not over-tighten this nut. Over-tightening may cause the wheel bearing to seize.)
		11) With the nut secured, attach the cover over the nut and insert the cotter pin through the hole in the spindle shaft. Once this step is completed, you can replace the dust cap. You will need to tap the dust cover into place with a soft rubber mallet
	12) Before you re-install the brake caliper assembly, compress the brake cylinders with a c-clamp. You will need to do this for clearance between the brake shoes and the rotor. Re-insert the brake shoes, and place the caliper assembly onto the rotor.
	13) Before inserting the bolts that hold the caliper assembly in place, apply a liberal coat of Loctite onto the bolts. It is critical that Loctite is used on the bolts, as these bolts commonly vibrate loose. Torque these bolts to spec at this time.
		14) Now that the suspension assembly is completed, it should look like this (see photo to the left). Now is the time to go through and torque all bolts to spec.
		15) The final step is to ensure that the cotter pins are in place. There should be one in the lower balljoint, and one in the steering tie rod end. The photos to the left show the proper way to insert these cotter pins.
	Congratulations! Now it's time to put those new larger wheels on the truck, and take it for a spin around the block to ensure that everything is mechanically sound. Take the truck to a professional alignment shop as soon as possible, the ride will be noticeably improved and you will increase the life of those new tires. If you have any further questions or comments, please inquire at our forum. Look for our front fiberglass fender installation here.

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