So i'm looking into the ranch IFS setup. I'm wondering what the advantages to the different a-arms are? Looking through the "IFS Flex Pics" the guy with the rancho setup is having AWESOME flex. And he is just running this setup wit BJ spacers. I'm wondering what does this rancho kit change to get the IFS working.

 

There is a reason that the Rancho IFS setup is no longer made......

back in the day when it came out circa 1990 - it was one of the "better" IFS lifts.

Then came WCOR and the "extended A arm" concept (i.e. Total Chaos, JD and others such as ATS).

The Rancho attempted to address the "cost versus lift" issue by only adding an upper A arm and dropping the diff to deal with the CV angles.

To drop the upper ball joint location with out either a spindle spacer (trail Master) or a custom spindle (no one made this becuase of the cost) or some sort of lowered A arm mounting location (Super Lift and their interesting rod actuated T bar setup) meant that they
-- moved the upper A arm mount point IN via aa bracket
-- had a pseudo J bend to the upper A arm

The consequences are
-- headers will not likely work at all
-- IMHO the T bar is now following a "funky" arc instead of a rotational twist.

It was a NEAT idea at the time.

These days if you want "TRAVEL" (not flex per se) and you want IFS the options are
-- BJ spacer (Im not I fan, but I understand their popularity)
-- spindle spacer (IMHO over leverages brackets)
-- LT (total chaos etc)

[false rumor statement deleted]

 

Ewong, the picture you describe is actually of a Total CHaos equipped truck with a broken socket. I tried to hunt the guy down to find out what he did to get such great flex. I eventually spoke to him, and he told me of what went down.

 

Thanks Deathrunner...

edited my post.

The short answer is that the Rancho setup made sense in 1990 but less so in 2007.

BJ spacer for mild lift
LT for real IFS lift

 

Ok, awesome info guys. Thanks a lot. I was wondering about just extending the top a-arm and how that would be affecting things.

 

If you just extend the upper A arm "straight" and used the existing piviot points, you'll never be able to get the camber adjusted correctly.

You "could" make an upper A arm that has a "BJ spacer " built in - i.e an Upper A arm that lowered the upper BJ position.

It would cost ALOT MORE than a BJ spacer and would do... exactly what a BJ spacer does... although you would not have to make the cuts in the stock arm..

If you extended BOTH the upper and lower A arm - you get a LT kit (3" per side for Total Chaos and others - 2" for Downey)

The reason most LT kits go 3" per side? - Its becase STOCK T100 axles are 3" longer per side. This makes the kits effective price ALOT lower than a differnt lenght (say 2") that requires custom axles.

 

what is a bj spacer?

 

I dont know what bj stands for in your country, but here in Canada it's ball joint.

 

ok well bj stands for blow job here lol not somthing i like to say wen im working with cars/trucks haha thanx