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.

 

[Kirby N.]

Thanks Brian. That makes me feel better. The duff arms came with some really poor instructions. It seems like that would be the easy part of offering a product. Guess not. There are 4 steel brackets (maybe even 6) that came with them and I have no idea what they are for.

I don't think the frame is double walled. It doesn't look like it. On my explorer it seems like it was on one side for a bolt or two, but I think I just muscled them down and they worked fine. It's not like double walls that are 1" apart on yours is it? They are close, so when you crank them down they touch. So no sleeve needed. I like them bolt on. I am pretty good at sharpening 1/2" drill bits anyway. The driver bucket will be notched for the steering box hump and welded. I am already at 125" wheel base or something, so I really don't need more but for fender clearance the buckets will be 2" fwd and the axle/ radius arms will be 2.5-3" fwd.

I took out the radius arm crossmember tonight and tossed it. Since I removed the carrier bearing crossmember there isn't many crossmembers left. I have to pull out the tcase skid. So I am really waivering on cutting up the engine crossmember. It would be nice (and easy) to change the oil pan gasket, but I just don't know if it's a good idea to remove that crossmember and build another.

On a side note, I am also trying to decide if I should replace the steering gear box wile I have it out. It's covered in oil, but I am not sure where the oil is coming from.

I need to do a clutch slave and fix the notorious tranny leak too. So I probably ought to do a master and a clutch and a flywheel. It all looks easy right now but I don't know. I will probably wait.

 

[Kirby N.]

I got the drivers bucket layed out where I want it and began modding it to mount up nicely to the buldge in the drivers side frame.

I know this is where a lot of guys get out the plumb bobs and stuff. First I got the truck level. This required jacking up the rear of the truck a little. Then I started with the stock buckets. The upper rivet hole is consistent on each side. The center of the stock coils is about 11/16" forward from the center of that hole. So I measured 11/16" forward of that hole and made a vertical line with a torpedo level. I want the coil buckets to be 2" forward from stock. So I measured the center line on the new buckets. It just so happens that the holes in the new buckets are 2" off center. So I was able to make the line run through the middle of the rear most holes in the buckets. Then I level the top of the buckets.

Here is the beginning of the modified driver bucket that will be welded on.

It still needs some fine tuning, but it was getting to late to be rocking it with the grinder.

Here is the passenger side clamped in place. I drilled it out easily with a little pressure, some time and lots of cutting oil. When I did my explorer I went through $20 bits like tic tacs until I learned how to use them. Now, if I get them too hot I just use my grinder to put a new edge on them and keep trucking.

I almost looks like it belongs in there.

Tomorrow I hope to get the drivers side fitted and the trackbar frame mount reinforcement finished. Maybe even weld them on. We will see.

 

[Kirby N.]

Well I got the drivers side bucket done first thing. Probably another 2 hours of grinding.

Here is how it turned out.

It will be bolted on with one 1/2" bolt just for peace of mind. I drilled it out and prepped it. It is the only hole left. All ready to be welded on:

However, I want to get the track bar mount all ready to be welded on first. So I started on that.

I began with a 6"x3" piece of angle iron I had laying around. It is 3/8" thick. Then I cut a 6" section out of it. Then I clamped it in place and marked the areas I wanted to trim. This will act as a reinforcement for the steering box, as well as the Track Bar. It will also give me an excellent square location to mount the tracbar mount. I did a similar setup on my explorer, but this one will be nicer I hope.

Also, when it was clamped in place and while I had the steering box off, I shot some spray paint down the steering box holes to mark them on the angle iron.

I decided to get a new steering box from Ford. It was a big chunk of money, but something is leaking in this system and the box was completely covered in nastiness. So I don't want to pull it out twice. Thats for sure.

I drilled the holes out large enough so they wouldn't interfere with the steering bolts and washers using a cheap step bit from Harbor Freight. IT even beveled the hole so it looks like I used a mill or something. I put the thing in my mini drill press. Then I tacked on the ballistic mount.

Clamped in place and ready for welding (I will likely weld the ballistic mount to the angle before welding the angle on):

And that is where I quit. Before turning in for the night, I realized the coil bucket and trackbar mount interfere a little with each other. I will have to come up with a solution for that. I also discovered the track bar mount is a little tilted back from level, so there will be some grinding tomorrow to fix that.

 

[Kirby N.]

I got a few things done today. More work on the track bar mount.

I filled the corner that was open from the curve in the frame. I also trimmed the rear edge of the bracket about 1/4 of an inch. This angled the bracket a little and gave me more room for the pitman arm. It was angled forward slightly before.

I also added a beveled hole. Because I can and I thought it would look cool.

Real estate is getting so tight on the drivers side. I want to run a drop pitman arm to keep the draglink and therefore track bar flat, but I don't know of it's possible because it looks like it is going to contact the tierod on compression and it also just touches the trac bar mount. I may check and see if Ed has one that is a little longer. I measured out Phil's trucks coils loaded length. With the v8 they are at 19" loaded. His are 7" springs and mine are 6", so I am setting it up around 18" tall for ride height. I rolled the axle under and clamped the radius arm mounts at about 2" forward of stock. I had wanted to go further but with 1" lower ride height and the girth of the track bar mount- I don't think there is room. I do, however, have up to 3/4" adjustment in the heims so I can push it further if necessary. I put the tires on to check fender clearance. It should be pretty close to the height in pics. The tires will eat the stock front bumper so it has to go, even though I don't have a bumper build plan yet.

 

[jrgaylor]

Have you considered the offset tierod end which may gain you about a inch on the tie rod

 

[Kirby N.]

There is also 0 chance I can keep the tranny crossmember, so unfortunately I need to build a tranny crossmember too.

 

[Kirby N.]

Have you considered the offset tierod end which may gain you about a inch on the tie rod

On the pitman arm? Can you run them there? That would help. I didn't think of that.

 

[jrgaylor]

On the pitman arm? Can you run them there? That would help. I didn't think of that.

I was thinking on the tie rod, move the tie rod out a little further so it will not come in contact with the pitman arm.

 

[5spdman]

Subscribing...build is coming along nicely!

 

[Kirby N.]

I was thinking on the tie rod, move the tie rod out a little further so it will not come in contact with the pitman arm.

On the tierod it would actually make the problem worse. The pitman arm is out in front of the tierod, and the further forward I move the axle, the less space I have between the pitman arm and tierod. Off set ends would help of they offset toward the rear(put them on backwards), but I know the tierod would contact the diff cover in that case when I turn. I may put the spring in the passenger side and cycle the drivers to see what happens. The plus is that the tie rod gets sucked in toward the diff when I turn because the pitman arm does too.

 

[FR-425]

Maybe move the steering box?

 

[BKennedy]

I don't think the frame is double walled. It doesn't look like it. On my explorer it seems like it was on one side for a bolt or two, but I think I just muscled them down and they worked fine. It's not like double walls that are 1" apart on yours is it? They are close, so when you crank them down they touch.

On my Explorer the double walled portion was a thinner portion welded to the inside if the C channel. There was over a 1/2" gap between the walls.

 

[Kirby N.]

On my Explorer the double walled portion was a thinner portion welded to the inside if the C channel. There was over a 1/2" gap between the walls.

I drilled 2 holes per side on the radius arm mounts tonight. Single wall on both. Like I said, I am going to start at 2" forward from stock (directly below my coil buckets). Which is what you made yours Brian? I can always adjust the axle 3/4" further forward if I want.

I think one of the major differences I am wrestling with on my track bar, tie rod and pitman arm lengths is that the ballistic bushing I am using is 2.5" wide and on my explorer it was only a 3/4" heim joint. Also, the mount was entirely outside of the frame and higher. This one is under and lower. Here is a picture of what I am dealing with.

This is ride height from the front. I love the angles. It is nice and flat.

This is a few inches straight up compression.

This is ride height with wheels straight. You can see how close the tierod will get on compression

This is compressed wheels straight

I am thinking about a different track bar mount. I can get it back about 1/2" and I can trim off all the lower holes. Then I will need to mount the other end high enough to get it flat. Then I have to deal with limiting the travel on that side due to a honking large mount. Steeper angles may just be easier. No drop pitman arm, etc.

I am digging rockranger's crossmember. I am going to have to do something similar I am afraid. I wish I had some of the rad tools he had.

 

[BKennedy]

I had to drop my track bar about 3-1/2" below the frame to get a good angle. The tie rod comes close, but never contacts the bracket with about 5" of compression. You can't raise the axle track bar mount too high or it will contact the right side frame rail at stuff. My axle was pushed forward 2", but you already have a longer wheel base so the only reason to do that is to clear the firewall with the tires. For mine, 2" is the minimum because it rubs slightly on the firewall at full stuff on the right side only.

I am feeling lazy today so I did not find the pictures and copy them to your thread. Here is the page on my thread where I did the track bar mount for the second and final time.
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=387037&page=24

 

[Kirby N.]

Thanks Brian. That info helps. Its good to know what you are at. What is your center hub to fender measurement sitting flat on the front? I am trying to get an idea of ride height compared to mine.

 

[Kirby N.]

I have been really sick for about a week. Something like laryngitis and the flu or something else awful. my throat is really sore and I haven't had energy to do much of anything. Took a bunch of time off work. So I havent been able to get anything on the ranger done, though I have thought if I am not working I should be wrenching. It sucks.

Anyway, I am feeling better and I did some digging on pitman arms today. Apparently, there have been other guys looking for longer pitman arms to get a tighter turning radius. I never noticed on my other build, but it sounds like other guys have had issues where the box stops steering before the bumps on the knuckles make contact? I never noticed on my explorer, but my tires made a little rub on my radius arms, so maybe that was it.

I found this little nugget of info: the stock early 1999 superduty 2x4 pitman arms with a x pattern key way and a 32 spline sector shaft mating surface fit and are about 6 3/8" long (center hole to center hole). However, stock they are nearly flat. Maybe 1" drop.

So I started looking for a drop pitman arm specific for that vehicle. Fabtech sells one for that vehicle only. It is a FTS309. After talking to fabtech, I confirmed all the measurements were correct. It will fit our application and it is a 4" drop.

So I was ready to order.

I called up crazy ed's performance to order. When he went to order, he realized not only is it pricey, ($100+) its not a stocked item. Special order. Not only that, but it also cross references to some pitman arms that are stocked. Specifically the FD400A made by pro comp and the Skyjacker FA400. Both of which are referenced to fit a ford ranger specifically.

So I began to wonder if that is what I already have. Sure enough, the 4" drop pitman arm I already have and have already modified for Chevy TREs is a Pro Comp FD400A. It is the same measurements as the more expensive Fabtech version. 6 3/8" center of hole to center of hole.

SO I could go with a flat stock f250 pitman arm to get my axle as far forward as possible. Sure, the tierod will likely make contact, however, it will probably give me 4 more inches of uptravel before I have to worry. And then I would deal with a steep draglink and trackbar and thier ill effects on handling, lateral axle movement through travel, etc.

Or I could just pull the axle back a little and deal with tire clearance on fender. I guess I will deal with tire clearance.

Geeze. That was a huge setback that I ended up over thinking.

 

[BKennedy]

Center of hub to fender is about 26".
For info, I am using the drop pitman arm that came with my 4" Superlift. It seems to work fine and the drag link angle is not that steep with tie rod over steering. Drag link and track bar are within one degree of parallel. I have zero bump steer and zero wander. Excellent street manners. It rides smoother than my Silverado.

I had issues with steering boxes and figured out I had the steering stops turned out way too far. I still don't know why I did that when I set them after the SAS. I think that's why the box's rear bolt pulled out, and why the replacement box blew the main seal. If I turned the wheel until it hit the stops, and keep turning, the coil over shocks would compress on one side and it was very hard to tell I was at the stops while off road. I turned the stops in so they are even with the box's limits with the third steering box. Then, the tires rubbed on the back side of the shock mounts on the Duff arms, so I trimmed them down and cut the back half of the tubing off flush. I didn't want to cut them off all together as they are used for my suspension limiting straps when flat towing the Explorer behind the RV. I think I ended up with a better turning radius than I had with the TTB.

 

[Kirby N.]

I spent some time head scratching and tweaking tonight. Someone asked for a pic of how much the tires are going to stick out. So I got that handled. It was raining like cars and dogs outside so I had to get close pics.

Yep, there is not track bar yet so it is not centered.

I wanted to check tierod and pitman arm clearance so the first thing I did was set the steering bumps to just over where the ujoints would conflict. That should get me pretty close. (Thanks for the trial and error Brian). Then I set the toe to about 3/16" or so with help from my 8 year old. Give or take!

Then I removed the front bumper so I could cycle the suspension with out bumper/ tire clearance issues. Unfortunately, the tires are still going to get into the rear of the fenders. The good news is that it looks like the wider front will keep my driveshaft out of my y pipe. And the crossmember seems to clear things nicely.

Here is full bump pictures:

How do I know that's full bump? Because with these radius arms that's as much uptravel as possible. If you look closely, you can see where they are bottoming out on the frame. I am a little unimpressed. 4" of uptravel. However, it would be pretty difficult to get more than that with the other constraints, so I think it will have to do. I would guess i got a little more on my exploder with the stock length arms. I may have to go with the 7" springs. It may go bump on speed bumps. I will have to wait and see. 2 more inches would be nice, but nearly impossible.

Moving on to the steering (ignoring the trac bar for now) I took the tires off so I could see the steering. With the stops set I could turn the box one way completely and turn the tires completely then compress the suspension to full bump and see if it was going to interfere. I got pretty hopeful because it cleared to bump wheels straight.

Full bump wheels straight:

Full bump wheels left cleared fine too (I had to trim the crossmember so the tierod would clear).

Full bump wheels right:

We have contact! It looks like it clears but it hits. Maybe 1/4". It would probably clear with an odd random think when it compresses. I considered putting a little bend in the tierod, but I am sure that will come when I get it in the rocks. I could run the stock pitman arm (it would pull up the drag link enough that it won't make contact at full bump anyway). I think the right way is to slide the axle back 1/4"- 1/2". So that's the next item on the to do list. Yep. I am not stoked about it. I should have started at 2" with the heims in the center of thier adjustment. I didn't though. So the brackets have to go back. I think there is enough wiggle in the bottom notched hole. The other hole I drilled will be notched on the frame side I guess.

I have youth camp this week, so I won't have much time to wrench this week, but at least I have a game plan now. I'll move the axle back first, then I can move on to the track bar- if you look close there isn't much room for a trac bar! I don't know if it's possible without a bend or 8. And I will be crossing my fingers in hopes that the ride height will work. I won't know until I can drive it. It might need some go fast air bumps to make it work! Might just be simpler to deal with a taller ride height.

 

[BKennedy]

I got a little over 5" of compression with the Duff arms. Looking at that last picture, the engine cross member must be placed differently for the Ranger in relationship to the steering box. My axle is more forward. The diff cover is nearly aligned with the old front suspension mount on the cross member. I cut it off to avoid contact, and track bar clearance. My track bar is a BC Broncos adjustable. It curves around the front of the diff cover. The track bar is above, and slightly behind the tie rod. Doesn't look like that will work for you.

I'm thinking you might need to raise the overall ride height a few inches to clear everything.

 

[Kirby N.]

I don't think the crossmember is different. Since you narrowed yours, you cut 6" off the passenger side only, effectively moving the differential 3" to the center of the truck, closer to the crossmember. The majority of my clearance is due to the diff being further driver than my other setup. I had to clearance the crossmember front and rear to get all the uptravel possible. In this setup, however, crossmember clearance is not as big of an issue(yet- the trac bar is going to be a problem)- but one of my hopes for full width was more up travel and I don't think it is achievable due to other constraints- mostly the radius arms/ frame- but also the pitman arm and tierod.