Tuff Country 24862 - Ford 83-97 Ranger/Explorer 4 box kit (performance kit) - Manual (Page 14)

73. To begin installation, carefully block the front tires and
wheels so that the vehicle can not roll forward. Safely lift the
rear of the vehicle and support the vehicle with a pair of jack
stands. Place a jack stand on both the driver and the pas-
senger side. Next, remove the rear wheels and tires from
both sides.
74. Working on the driver side, remove the stock shock from
the stock location. The stock shock may be discarded but
save the stock upper and lower hardware. Repeat procedure
on the passenger side. New longer rear shocks are need-
ed after this suspension system has been installed and
the rear shocks need to be ordered as a separate part #.
If you have not already ordered your rear shocks, please
feel free to contact Tuff Country or your local Tuff
Country dealer and order your rear shocks. Tuff Country
recommends installing a 26” fully extended nitrogen
gas shock in the rear.
75. Working on the driver side, remove the stock u-bolts
from the stock location. The stock u-bolts and hardware may
be discarded. Save the stock lower u-bolt plate. Repeat pro-
cedure on the passenger side.
76. Carefully raise up on both hydraulic floor jacks at the
same time allowing enough room for the new rear add-a-
leafs to be installed. Repeat procedure on the passenger
side.
77. Working on the driver side and using a pair of “C” chan-
nel vise grips, clamp the stock rear springs together. Place
one towards the front of the stock centering bolt and one
towards the rear. Special note: Make sure not to clamp
the stock over load. Repeat procedure on the passenger
side.
78. Carefully remove the stock centering bolt from the stock
location and discard. Special note: Once the stock cen-
tering bolt has been removed, the stock over load will
fall out. Save the stock over load. Repeat procedure on
the passenger side.
79. Locate the new rear add-a-leafs and new 3/8” centering
bolts from box 24851. Working on the driver side, install the
new add-a-leafs into the stock spring in order from longest to
shortest. Secure using the new 3/8” centering bolt and nuts.
Tighten the new centering bolt until all the springs come
together and torque to 40 ft lbs. Special note: Make sure
to install the centering bolt with the head of the bolt on
top of the leaf spring and the nut on the bottom. Tuff
Country does not recommend using an air gun to tight-
en the nut all the way down. Once the springs are start-
ing to come together, Tuff Country recommends using a
hand wrench to finish tightening the nut. If an air gun is
used to tighten the centering bolt all the way down, the
centering bolt may strip causing the springs to come
apart. Repeat procedure on the passenger side.
80. Working on the driver side and using a die grinder, care-
fully cut off the excess thread from the new centering bolt.
Repeat procedure on the passenger side.
81. Carefully lower down on both hydraulic floor jacks that
are holding the rear axle until the axle make contact with the
modified stock springs.
82. Locate the correct new rear u-bolts that will fit around
your stock axle. Either (4) 1/2” x 2 3/4” x 10” round u-bolts
which were packaged in box kit part # 24862 or (4) 1/2” x 3
1/4” x 9 3/4” round u-bolts which were packaged in box kit
part # 24851. Also, Locate (8) 1/2” u-bolt high nuts and (8)
1/2” u-bolt harden washers from hardware bag 12NW.
Locate the stock lower u-bolt plate. Working on the driver
side, secure the axle to the stock spring using the correct
new u-bolts, u-bolt hardware and stock u-bolts plates.
Torque to 85 ft lbs. Repeat procedure on the passenger
side.
83. Locate the new rear shocks. New longer rear shocks
are needed after this suspension system has been
installed and the rear shocks need to be ordered as a
separate part #. If you have not already ordered your
rear shocks, please feel free to contact Tuff Country or
your local Tuff Country dealer and order your rear
shocks. Tuff Country recommends installing a 26” fully
extended nitrogen gas shock in the rear. Also, locate the
new clevis mounts that were packaged with the installer
copy of the installation manual. Working on the new shocks,
install the new bushings and proper sleeves that are pack-
aged with the new shocks into the lower eyelet of the new
shocks. And install the new clevis mount into the upper eye-
let of the new shocks. Special note: Make sure to use a
lithium or moly base grease prior to installing the new
bushings, sleeves and clevis mounts into the eyelets of
the new shocks. This will help with the life of the bush-
ings as well as prevent squeaking.
84. Locate the stock upper and lower shock mounting hard-
ware. Working on the driver side, install the new shocks into
the stock location using the stock upper and lower hardware.
Make sure to use thread locker or loctite and torque the
upper hardware to 15 ft lbs and lower hardware to 65 ft lbs.
Repeat procedure on the passenger side. Special note:
Tuff Country highly recommends installing shock boots
onto the new shocks. If shocks boots are not installed,
damage may occur to the piston of the new shock. If you
have not already ordered your new shocks boots,
please contact Tuff Country or your local Tuff Country
dealer and order some new shock boots. Tuff Country
offers, dark blue, light blue, gray, black, red or yellow
shock boots.
85. Remove both hydraulic floor jacks from under the vehi-
cle.
Special note: This kit comes with a front and rear brake
line relocation kit. Sometimes the brake line relocation
kit is not needed. Check the stock brake lines and if they
are too tight, then the new front and rear brake line relo-
cation kit will need to be installed. If the brake line relo-
cation kit does not need to be installed, please skip to
step # 89. Also, the following pictures are used from a
F150 which uses the same style brake line and brake