Postby canderso » Wed Jun 12, 2013 6:36 pm
Patomwazi- Oly has had his lift on much longer than I have. I would trust his opinion on e Ranchos front struts. I was told some negatives about the Ranchos rear shocks and w somewhat skeptical about how well the adjustment knobs would really work on the struts.
I had more experience with Bilstein and have my own opinion of them being more reputable. Plus I wanted my front struts to match the rear shocks. As it turns out the front Bilstein being height adjustable will come in handy down the road for me. I am considering getting a set of the long arm travel UCAs from 4x4parts and the 2" spacers for the front. I would then lower the height setting to stock or +0.5". I am told this will give me additional travel in the front suspension and added adjustments for front camber alignment.
Long story, there are several options. Not tons perhaps like a Jeep, but there are plenty of options to make things confusing.
As far as the rear, if you could get a set of OME lift springs for the rear, I think that would be preferable to spacers. Ultimately, I went with the spacers in the rear because they were available at the time and I could source them from e same company.
Can't really say whether the soft spring theory makes sense for sand/desert driving. I have no experience with it.