RockRangerII the build up.

Kirby N. said:

I built a diff gaurd like that and sold it when I did the SAS. Didn't really come out on top since I spent6 a huge amount of time making it (No plasma cutter here either). Nice project. You need to cut out the ole half doors on this one too, though!

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I got a package of dewalt cutting wheels and it seems like they cut much better and faster then the hilti or other brand home depot sells. Hopefully i can find some more when i use up the ones i have now. I have a few ideas on ways to cut the time to make them i might try it and see if i can sell some but we will see.

As far as half doors those will have to wait till i have a tube bender. No more wood ones like before I also dont live in the same area as I use to so security is a bit more of an issue then it was. Plus there are too many cats around here to spray the seats.

progress has been slow. picking up some 63" chevy springs for the rear tonight. also heading to fresno tonight for the cal 4wheel convention and tracys brother is getting married moday so off to the wedding. Should be home tuesday and maybe get some visual progress done.

Alright Matt, did you remember the camera on your way back from Fresno this time?

I remembered the camera this time It started raining today here so I have had to come in and stop working on the truck. Hopefully it will dry up so I can go back out and continue working on it.

Here is a picture of the 63" chevy springs along with a stock ranger spring. The center pin is roughly lined up so you can see the difference in length.

As from the picture above you can see the front hanger will need to be moved forward 6" to make the axle stay in the same place. Here is where the stock hanger is:

To make it easier to do the work I decided to pull the bed off and get it out of the way. The lower rivet holes happen to be 6" apart just the amount that the new spring is longer then the stock spring. So you have to do a bit of grinding cutting etc to get the rivets out. Here is the hanger off with the bare frame.

I had to contimue and get the rest of the rivets out of the frame. Between a hameer with a screwdriver, an airhammer and a drill I managed to get all four of them out. The bottom two also support a cross memeber so they need bolts put in them. The lower front rivet hole is where the rear lower hole of the hanger will get rebolted on.

Here is a picture with the sring somewhat installed. Still need to drill the holes in the frame and tighten all the bolts but it gets you an idea of where everything fits. I am going to try using the stock shackle and see how it does. I will probably end up ordering a longer chevy shackle from summit but we will see how it works for now. My rear shocks are WAY to short and are going to need to be changed to get all the flex that will be available from this setup. I may add an add aleaf or some springs out of my stock pack depending on how it works when I get it all back together. I also pulled off the rear swaybar as well.

EDIT: I am also going to have to reroute part of the exhaust as the newsprings will hit the exhaust on down travel. This is not a stock exhaust so Im not sure if you will have the same problems with a stock system or not.

Here is a quickpicture of my girlfrinds jeep from when we went wheeling with it a few weeks ago in the sierra nevada mountains. It is an 84cj7 2.5" lift on 33"s with a 1998 4.0 tj efi smoglegal swap to a NV4500 tranny (6.34 first gear) to a dana 300 with a 4 to 1 kit. She has the stock dana 30 front axle with a limited slip and the rear is AMC 20 with one piece axleshaftsand a detroit locker. She also has the winch and on board air. We will probably hook up an on board shower as well before we go do the dusy this summer. Who says girls dont like to go wheeling

I have driven my ranger now about 800 miles with the rear axle welded up. It is noise pulling in and around tight parking lots and making sharp turns. Maybe just a little noiser then my old lockright or detroit I had before. I havent had to drive in snow ice or rain with it so no experiance with it there yet. On the highway I can't even tell its there. You dont get the clunking or kicking like I did with the lockright or detroit.

Nice, keep it up. I've seen the 63" chevy springs used on Toyotas and was amazed by the extra flex they got. I hope it doesn't rain here. I'm only 1.5 hours north (well 1.5 hours on the 5 freeway through San Clemente north) of you so we'll see.

Lookin real good Matt, If you do go with the Chevy shackles you might have to go forward 1" or 1.5" on the rearmost hanger because it may throw off your
pinion angle, thats something you'd have to play around with to get it dialed in. If things work out with the way you are doing it then I wouldn't bother with the Chevy shackles. Good luck with the build up
Bumper looks good too by the way

I need about 3" of lift in the rear suspension right now to level the truck up. So hopefully how I have it now will keep the truck pretty much leveled off. I figure between maybe the chevy shackle and maybe some ranger leafs or an add aleaf I should have enough lift in the rear to match the front when I put the 44 in. I have a few more pictures Ill post up after dinner. Driverside was a PIA cause of the gas tank in the way. Tommorow I hope to have the driverside all mounted but but Im not sure how much time I will have to work on it.

Did you fix the front brakeline situation yet?

I was thinking after looking at your hanger relocation that you could safely get another inch, possibly 2 if you drilled new holes in the hanger (and frame)
to drop it and then make some kind of gusset from the old holes to the underside of the frame and then run the Chevy shackles to level it out.
Make any sense?

The front brake line situation is being solved right now by the super short limit straps I will put longer brake lines on when I put the 44 in the front so I only have to buy them once instead of twice. Though I think I did here the the ranger brake lines will work on the 44 but Im not sure.

I thought about dropping the rear hanger. I am going to see what happens once i get the truck all back together and see where everything ends up. I am affraid if I drop the rear hanger and use the longer chevy shackle then I will create a rock anchor with my rearshackle. This would screw my pinion angle up but that could be fixed with new spring perches. Im not sure if I would want to drop the front hanger any loweras it already hangs a few inches below the frame and I wouldnt want to make it more of a rock hanger as well.

While I have the bed off I am going to add some plates to the frame for future sliders. That way I dont have to pull it again.

Wish I could be working on it today but it is raining like mad here.

I'm using the same brake lines on my 44 as I did with my TTB lift (Skyjacker lines) so they do work. Of course I'm using EB brakes and you said you had a waggy 44 so i don't know if their will be any issues there.
I don't see any issues with the front hanger dragging on anything if you dropped it an inch or so...your muffler would take the hit long before it reached the hanger. There's another mod...tuck the muffler outta the way, it never ends!

Well sence it is raining and I cant work outside on the truck I figure Ill post a few pictures from yesterday.

Here is what the drivers front hanger looks like. I will have to buils some kind of new bracket later to remount the ebrake cables off it. Not sure how I am going to do that yet. There is also a black plastic tab on the frame that holds some fuel lines that needs to be removed as to it is where the hanger will now be bolting on. The white one that holds the brake line is fine and does not interfere with the new hanger location.

I ended up dropping the gas tank out of the way so I could get behind the frame to put the nuts on. I dont think it was completely neccesary to drop it and with a little fighting you might beable to get back there and put the nuts on. You also have to be careful as to not drill into any gas lines or brake lines as they are in the framerail on the drivers side.

Here is a few pictures of how I have the rear bumper right now. It is pretty basic I might wrap it around the sides of the bed later. For the licence plate holder I use one of those spring loaded cubbord door hinges for your kitchen so I can fold it up out of the way when I go wheeling. I am still not sure if this is the best solution yet as I am going to try and make a few more mods to it. If it works out then cool if not then back to the drawing board.

DB_1 said:

I'm using the same brake lines on my 44 as I did with my TTB lift (Skyjacker lines) so they do work. Of course I'm using EB brakes and you said you had a waggy 44 so i don't know if their will be any issues there.
I don't see any issues with the front hanger dragging on anything if you dropped it an inch or so...your muffler would take the hit long before it reached the hanger. There's another mod...tuck the muffler outta the way, it never ends!

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Ill probably go pick up some brake lines then. The rear one wont be long enough when I get new shocks for the back. The hanger already hangs about 2-3" below the frame I think the pictures dont show how much extra it hangs down. Plus I would be afraid of extra leverage placed on the frame due to droping them down farther.

The exhaust does need alot of work. It will rub on the passanger spring as it is now. I think I ned to sneak up to bills house and look at his system I remember his was done pretty clean. Is there any reason I can't turn the muffler on its side. If i do that then I will have plenty of room to add a tractionbar to rear if I have to much axle wrap. I hope flux core welding works better on exhaust tubing then it did on sheetmetal

I know what you mean about it never ends. Once I get the springs and bed back on, then its time to move the lower shock mounts on the rear axle higher to get rid of those anchors. Hopefully I will get most of the rear taken care of before I dive into the front suspension. I am thinking a full 4link setup like rick and fakrwee have but using coils cause Im to poor for coilovers. I am trying to get everything done pretty much right the first time so I dont have to rework things and spend extra money.

I hate the rain I didnt know I moved from San Diego to Seattle with all this rain we have been getting.

I'd be careful on the brake lines - If your going to run Ford calipers on the d44, the TTB brake lines come across.

If it's Chevy caliper, it could be a different banjo fitting..