Completed Project Kirby's 1991 Ranger Build Up

I haven't posted much here since I sold my 1993 Mazda Navajo around 2010 or 2011. It was 10 years in the making and finally to a solid, reliable state. I had some other priorities and decided to sell it and get something more versatile. I will include some pictures below of its developing states and final state when I sold it below. In the end, it had 37" MTRs, Arb front, detroit rear, 4.56 gears, D and D doubler and I built all the armor and the Dana 44 front Solid Axle Swap.

James duff 3.5" VR coil lift, 235" defender tires and a home made heavy ugly bumper (around 2000 when I bought it) :

2001 with 33x10.50s and James duff 4.5" lift with extended radius arms, manual hubs and new auto tranny:

Here it is just after the SAS with 34s and a swapped in manual tcase and tranny:

Winching out of Mikeys hot tub circa 2002 or so

Stuck on a tree just after 37s

37s, winch bumper rebuild etc

Final State Explorerforum moab trip 2010

Last Poser Shots

I hear it still gets around Colorado and Utah and I have had buddies call me with airings from time to time.

I have had a few rangers and one explorer since I sold my explorer.
Here are some pics of those:

Beat up 1994 Ranger 2.4l ($250)

Traded 1993 Ranger 4.0l and an abused auto tranny

1991 Manual Tcase and Tranny Explorer Sport

We have also had a ton of cool Jeeps. Here are a couple of pics, along with our current Jeep which we are hanging on to:

2005 unlimited Rubicon Sahara 5.7 L Hemi

2005 unlimited Rubicon 35s and 4" lift

Our Current 2005 Unlimited Rubicon 4" Lift 315 Kevlars

It does great grocery getter, family truckster, and occasional wekend wheeler, but I need a truck and I miss my exploder, so I decided to build a Ranger. However, I want to build it a little different this time.

I have always wanted to build a 1989-1992 ranger, so I spent a considerable amount of time looking for a low mile one with the right engine, tranny and tcase in good shape. 4.0l, m5od and 1354M stock. My explorer ended up with this combo, but started out as an auto tranny and tcase. This made for a ton of modifications and headaches with my explorer. Rangers can be had in many other undesirable configurations because they were available with 3 different v6s in 1989-92 and a 4cylinder. It proved to be a difficult task. Finally in the fall of 2012 I picked this one up. A 1991 4.0l manual tranny and transfer case 4x4 extended cab "mountain States Edition. It had 130k on it and ran great. The paint was toast, it had a rusty bed and (my biggest complaint) it had no factory air.

I drove it for a year until I was ready to have it painted. I fixed a bunch on it- thermostat, muffler, wheel bearings, brakes, had a new headliner installed, etc. When I got a quote for the paint (one solid color and fix the dings) it was 2k. So then I started thinking I better look for a different ranger to build! I settled on this one. It too is a 1991, it has air (huge plus after not having it in my other truck all summer), manual case and tranny and everything else and a 4.0. The body is really straight no rust and the interior is super nice. The odo read 83k and I believed it.

Since then I tracked down the original and only owner to find it has 183 k on it and they were all hwy miles. The only complaints I have is I wish it had the other mirrors and pop out extended cab windows. I can deal with those, though. This truck has been taken care of.

First order of business was a tune up, brakes and leaky valve cover gaskets.

The build plan is pretty simple: build it similar to how my explorer ended up, with out all the half builds in between. It took me a lot of work and money to get my explorer to preform well off-road and on the street and be reliable. On this one I want to skip all the poor performing, cheapskate half steps I took with the explorer.

My goal is to end up with a reliable, daily drive able, off-road capable ranger that will make a great driver, great work truck and great expo vehicle. I like the idea of a truck over a explorer sport because I need to haul dirt bikes and Sheetrock and plywood and all kinds of stuff all the time so I always needed a pickup when I had the explorer even though I wanted to drive the explorer all the time. Hopefully this will do both functions well.

So far, I have installed:

A blue tooth pioneer stereo (replacing the stock tape deck)

A optima yellow top

A Black grill and headlight bezels along with new headlights:

The only body work it needs is the topper it had on it was put on with a loose and poorly placed clamp that rubbed a hole in the bed cap. I will weld it up and hopefully add a LineX bedliner over the top

I purchased a Dana 44 out of a 76 f150 with no guts or outers for a $50 bill. I still have my spare warn premium hubs off my ex, and I plan to build this one stout before I put it in and leave it full width but move the c bushings in about 2" per side. I will likely then run stock style f150 wheels with stock backspacing and 35s or 37s as skinny as I can find. It will get a full rebuild and at least 4.88s, maybe 5.13s. I am not decided on radius arms yet. I suppose extended ones are on the bill instead of the stock wristed ones I had before, but I haven't sorted that out yet. The wrist traveled fine but it clunked and made a racket and it was also a pain to get out and pull the pin when it was time to wheel. Extended arms won't perform quite as well on the street as the stock length ones did with the pin in, but longer arms should stream line things.

For the rear I will rebuild a full width late model 31 spline 8.8 put of a bronco or f150 and install explorer disk brakes. I will likely need to have the axle flanges turned down and drill the rotors for the new bolt pattern.

I will extend the wheel base around 3" by moving the front axle forward and leave the rear axle centered in the wheel well. I plan to leave the bed size stock as I need the truck to haul stuff all the time. I will build bumpers and sliders before I beat it up this time.

Stay Tuned, I am picking up the front axle tomorrow.

 

[RockRanger]

Yep, the deeper ratio gears are a direct swap according to four wheeler, as that's exactly what they did in that write up.

Their article did the 3.0 gears into a 4.0 case. But they also listed the gears from an f150 trans as well. Do the f150 gears work in a ranger case? Then you get a 4 something first gear.....

 

[Stic-o]

There was talk about doing something like this with the 5R55E and 5R55W Autos years ago (2.47 vs 3.22 1st gear), but I don't think anyone ever went through with it. Have to do computer changes too, so at least you don't have to worry about that.

 

[Kirby N.]

So according to what I am finding the f150 tranny is:

3.90
2.25
1.50
1.00
0.80

Not quite 4 something first gear, but close.

 

[Kirby N.]

3.40 : 1
2.05 : 1
1.31 : 1
1.00 : 1
0.79 : 1

Is what I have now. What I love about these ideas is that they don’t affect my final gear ratio so I can cruise down the highway at 85 still.

 

[Kirby N.]

The r2 gears would be awesome- that's the same jump on first gear it was from 4.56s to 5.13s in the diffs- which was gigantic.

Sounds like it isn't possible though, according to PlumCrazy who sounds like he has a lot of experience with it.

2.5/4.0 M50D Hybrid

 

[Kirby N.]

I made some different mounts for the sides of the bed sides. The ones I had just weren't tough enough. liked what @410Fortune recommended from auto fab.

With the new side mounted, they both look pretty close and they are with a tape too.

Here are some more shots of my highlift mount. I have been running it for the past couple weeks. No problems. I think it will be good for the long haul:

I am really happy with it. I have had the highlift floating around in the extended cab for too long. Its a pain to move around. Now it can stay right there until I need it. Also glad I got it done before paint.

Which is whats next...

Paint! I started tearing out all the interior and the windows and stripping the doors because paint is next. It goes in on July 5 for paint.

I decided not to repaint it the stock color. I have a color in mind- but what color would you paint it if you were painting it?

 

[Kirby N.]

I am thinking something non metallic...

 

[gmanpaint]

Reds, greens, yellows, bright blues, catches photo journalist eyes for magazines, if your into that.

I like the opposite side of that spectrum myself. Dark colors like black, midnight blue, and gun metal gray are favs. Camouflage schemes are always cool too, like snow camo.

Dig the high lift mount. I did the same thing pretty much, but used some big 1/2" x 13 spinner nuts to clamp it down with. Amazon has them.

 

[Kirby N.]

Ah, I don't care too much about being in a magazine. It was cool when my buddy bobs full size blazer was in petersens though.

I like the non metallic gray and the non metallic tan- but in this case I can paint it whatever I want, so I think there is colors I like better.

Good news is that I got the entire interior stripped today. Ready for paint.

The bad news is- when I took off the grille and headlights and winch I noticed the core support is pretty rusty. Like almost all the way through at the front body mounts. GRR. I wasn't planning on replacing that, but right now would be the correct time to do it. I got just under 2 weeks.

I am also trying to decide if I should use the autofab grommets on the front fenders and put a couple mounts on them. I would rather not, but I hacked the stock mounts in place and I don't love the way they turned out. One of the front fenders is about 3/4" out of fitment too, so I need to figure out what to do with that.

 

[410Fortune]

It took me 3-5 tries over the years to get my autofab front glass to fit right. Using lots of shims and washers, shaving some material here and there....finally they fit pretty well as far as fiberglass goes

Change the rad support now! You can do it! I removed one during superbowl half time show one year and that was with a drill/ hammer and chisel! Those were my first DIY welds, ever!!
Now I have power tools it would go much faster, worth it.........
Keep the same color, this way the engine bay door jambs etc will look proper

I really like the look of the little urethane pucks mounting my fiberglass panels, like matching my hood pins but on the rear bedsides. Someday I may hack the whole front of the BII off and just run support bars to nag a full fiberglass front clip... but I have bigger fish to fry first, like make it drive able so I can use it!! LOL LOL we are going on two years since I have daily driven the BII...time to finish up the current projects so she can go back on the road.

Cant wait to see how the ranger turns out!

 

[Kirby N.]

Thanks for the encouragement. I have the whole front off anyway, I think I have to change the core support. I’ll talk to my body guy and see if he can get on for me ASAP. I need to fix the rubber on some body mounts too. Might as well go to the Littleton pull and pay and steal some of a newer truck. They are too expensive new and probably crap quality.

I really like the idea of mounting inner fender liners to the tubing that attaches the Autofab mounts- which is the plan for the rear. Thinking of putting one down low behind the wheel and one behind the light on the front and making an inner fender to hoop between them.

To correct the bad fit of the one fender- the only way I can see is to cut out 3/4” of glass. Idk if my body guy will love that. It’s down at the very bottom behind the wheel. It sticks out 3/4” too far.

Sorry Jaime- it is definitely getting a different color. The wife already ok’d it and I got it completely torn down so it shouldn’t be too ugly. He is going to fix the jams and everything. I even took out all the windows.

 

[410Fortune]

nice!!
Hey My BII was blue I did the full color change too I removed everything, even the windshield
When I installed my duff rear bumper I learned that my bii body is off to one side in the rear, about 3/8".......fun fun!! It is always something.
I need to loosen all of my body mounts and shift her over a little

 

[Kirby N.]

Those body mounts suck. I went to the pull and pay today and it took me 3 tries, but I finally got off a set of front core support body mounts that were in good shape.

I spent the rest of the day fine tuning my passenger side front fender. I got a good reveal that I am happy with. Only took a long time.

I initially utilized the stock fender mounts hacked off the original fenders. That wasn't really strong and was hard to get the gaps fine tuned.

Also, this fender had 3/4" too much material in the bottom area before the lowest mount making it stick out at the bottom. To resolve that, I cut the fender, overlapped it and screwed it together. I hope my body guy can smooth it out and make it look right.

Then, I had some extra tabs from Ballistic I bought- so I made some better fender mounts using the autofab grommets and the tabs that were supplied on the backside of the fenders. I like that they are hidden this way. I also put one behind the light on the front for a little more strength. Here they are tacked in

And welded up: (if you look close you can see the front mount too)

I was able to get the door reveal almost perfect this way- and I am satisfied. A little work with the flap disc and it was dialed.

I am going to do the same to the passenger fender next, then after I get it done and removed for welding, it will be time to start cutting out the core support. My body guy ordered me a core support- should be here soon.

 

[Kirby N.]

I got it all finished up. Replaced the core support and got the truck completely stripped down. When removing the core support I realized that my radiator had a small crack. I also replaced my ac compressor, line and drier that I had been procrastinating about replacing.

Pulled the windshield and dropped the truck off at the painter. Hoping it will be done and looking good soon!

 

[410Fortune]

wicked cool! you know when its time for paint the project is really coming together

 

[Kirby N.]

Got a picture from the painter to confirm the color mixed up and I went to visit the ranger yesterday.

If you look close you can see the hood and doors all painted.

 

[BKennedy]

It will be nice to actually see fiberglass fenders and bedsides painted. Seems like no one does that in Southern California. Maybe you could start a new trend..

This is one of my favorite Rangers.

 

[Kirby N.]

Thank you- I couldn't stand the colors not matching. Neither could my wife. Something about me looking like a red neck. My body guy is doing a ton of work to the fenders and he is definitely not loving the lines of them.

Ill be honest, its my favorite ranger.

I haven't been able to find a good replacement tailgate. My existing gate is beat up and it had the chrome panel in it- which I removed and it left 1/2" holes all over the place. The aftermarket gates have been really tough to find the higher grade ones. The cheaper lower grade ones are out there but my body guy isn't stoked on them for quality. Also, the after market ones don't have FORD embossed in the middle which is a little bit of a bummer.

So today I started looking for some used tailgates and I found one a few hours away that didn't have the chrome (so no holes) and was supposedly in good shape from a junk yard. The delivery lady just happened to be coming to Colorado Springs today- so I asked her to bring it along.

Its a little surface rusty and it has a couple dingers- but for the most part it is straight. No big dingers. ITs off a 1983 or 1985.

Surprised the heck out of me to find one in good shape. Definitely a blessing from God.

A couple holes for a dealer badge or maybe the old overdrive or 4x4 badge that came on these. I will weld them up tomorrow.

And I also need to trim the overall width down a little due to the wider bedsides.

More updates soon I hope- I am getting ready to put this thing back together soon!

 

[RockRanger]

That color should look good on there. No more White Fender Mafia for you. Awesome you found a tailgate. I want to get another first gen ranger someday. I know the chances of finding a nice one are getting harder and harder as time goes by.

 

[410Fortune]

There are still nice old rangers up here in North Idaho....people keep their trucks a long time up here and take good care of them (Barn finds)
Its like Ford truck Nirvana up here shhhhhhh................its a secret