RockRangerII Refresh

I am going to be going through my 93 ranger and giving it a refresh. I bought the truck in late 2004. Other then a rancho lift kt it was an all stock stripped truck with a 4.0 manual trans and tcase. No AC cruise or power windows. The perfect basic wheeling rig.

Here are the specs of how the truck currently sat before this refresh.

4.0V6 all stock
Stock 5 speed
d.d. machine duel case setup with manual 1350 front and 1354 rear.
Front axle is a 1984 Jeep wagonner dana 44 converted to 5 on 5.5 bolt pattern 4.88 gears and an Aussie locker
Three link front suspension using 8" skyjacker TJ springs.
Rear axle is a 1992 explorer 8.8 4.88 gears and welded spider gears.
63" Chevy springs with a bellteck shackle.
BroncoII tank behind the rear axle
Warn 9.5 XP winch behind the front grill.
Interior roll cage
37" MTR on 17" steel rims

Untitled by dresselhausfc, on Flickr

I took the truck down to King of The Hammers and few years ago and did some wheeling and managed to crush the bed good. Broke both front hubs and all 4 front axles, bent the rear driveshaft and ripped a shock mount off. Due to life getting in the way it sat on the trailer for 18 months before I even touched it again. Now I plan to give the truck some love and get it back on the trials again.

 

[Tbars4]

...The radio is a keyed circuit as well as the blower motor...

 

[Stic-o]

What if your truck didn't come with cruise control?

The wiring may still be there. JP didn't come with cruise either, but was still included the cruise control recall because of this. Reminds me I really should get that taken care of

 

[BKennedy]

What if your truck didn't come with cruise control?

See if there is a fuse for it in the panel. Run the wire off of that.

 

[RockRanger]

Ran out of time to get to wiring so that will have to wait for another time.

Realized I wasn't gong to have enough space for our Dusy trip so I built a tailgate/ tire carrier with material I had laying around. Once I get more time there are a few changes I plan to make to it.

20150802_112558 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

Tire on.

20150802_114900 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

Open.

20150802_115346 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

 

[Stic-o]

How is the weight? You must really feel that back there, being so high up.

I noticed it when I had mine on the back. It was like a tail.

 

[RockRanger]

I have only driven it to the store so far. Only up to 35 mph. I will tell you in a week after 200 miles of driving and 33 miles off road.

 

[RockRanger]

Had a good trip on the dusy. A trip report can be read here: http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=431717

One thing I most wheelers carry is a hilift jack. It seems like every time it is used the jack has a tendency to slide on the sliders and seems very unstable. I built the bracket below to help grab onto my sliders and hopefully make it more stable.

Here is the bracket.

20150901_134556 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

It mounts onto the jack with a 1/2" bolt holding it to the jack.

20150901_134829 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

Here is how it latches onto the sliders. Mine are 1.5" tube. I forgot to account for the weld on the back side so version two will be changed there.

20150901_135037 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

Here it is lifting the truck. For the front I carry a chain to limit wheel travel so I don't have to jack so high.

20150901_135246 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

20150901_135302 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

Toss it in the toolbox and hopefully I will never have to test it for changing a tire.

 

[Stic-o]

^ why my sliders are flat

Did you notice any difference with the spare tire on the back? Besides the gain in space

 

[RockRanger]

I am sure it causes more wind resistance but with the way we were loaded I don't think it made much of a difference.

IMG_0610 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

For day runs I plan to put the tire back where it was. I like the look better with the tire laying in the bed.

 

[Stic-o]

I am sure it causes more wind resistance but with the way we were loaded I don't think it made much of a difference.

IMG_0610 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

For day runs I plan to put the tire back where it was. I like the look better with the tire laying in the bed.

I think wind resistance went out the window when you put on bigger tires, a SFA and cut off the bed

 

[RockRanger]

Took the truck to Coyote lake and met 4x4junkie in his BII there. Had a good time and need to go back and stay longer. There is a lot to explore there.

20150905_073453 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

IMG_0699 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

IMG_0703 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

IMG_0702 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

 

[RockRanger]

Got sick of both of my floor jacks being to short for taking my skid plate off.. So I built an extension for my bigger floor jack. It bolts through the center hole with a location circle on both sides so it won't fall off. The 4 holes in the corners are so I can build a second one and bolt them together if I want to. We will see if 4" is enough.

20150907_155401 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

20150907_155535 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

20150907_155606 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

 

[RockRanger]

I never had a good place to hang the mic for my CB. With getting my ham license and eventually adding a second radio to my truck I needed something better then just laying it on the seat. Looking at the dash of the truck I determined the best spot is below the radio and above the HVAC controls. So I drew up a bracket cut bent and welded and ended up with this.

20150907_155936 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

Here it is held to the dash while I check layout.

20150907_160823 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

Until I get a vehicle mounted ham radio I can clip by hand held on one side.

20150907_160857 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

I am thinking of pop riveting on as I doubt screws will hold well enough. I am open to other options for attachment to the dash though.

 

[RockRanger]

In addition to my hilift I also carry a bottle jack. Using a bottle jack has a few drawbacks though. The small flat top likes to slip off the round tube of axles and often times with bigger tires you can run out of jack before you get the vehicle high enough. So I made this adapter that slides over the top of my jack and adds 2" to the height. It is more then enough now to get my truck high enough to change a tire.

20150907_162833 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

20150907_162857 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

20150907_154711 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

 

[BKennedy]

All that stuff is awesome! Beats the blocks of wood I use to get the height out a jack.

With the radio mount; I think that panel just pulls off if you remove the two screws holding the ash tray slider. You could get behind it and use small nuts and bolts to hold the radio mount in place. I also think strong two-sided tape and a couple of sheet metal screws would hold it as well. The plastic is fairly thick there and its not going to need to take a lot of weight.

 

[mounty71]

Wow, what a waste, you barely get any use out of that table!

I love all these homemade brackets and tool additions you're coming up with.

 

[RangerX]

What a bunch of functional stuff you're creating, Matt! I want one of everything.
I just noticed your spare tire is a coyote. Did you get that from me?? I went through a couple sets of those, then they stopped making them several years ago.

 

[RockRanger]

What a bunch of functional stuff you're creating, Matt! I want one of everything.
I just noticed your spare tire is a coyote. Did you get that from me?? I went through a couple sets of those, then they stopped making them several years ago.

Yes I got that tire from you. Still holds air. One of these years I will get a spare made this century.

 

[RockRanger]

Mounted the mic bracket. Ended up using rivets. If they don't hold I can always through bolt it.

20150908_142655 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

I also made some brackets to mount some offroad lights to the front bumper.

20150907_151026 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

20150908_145854 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

 

[FROADER]

Loving all of these fabbed little chingaderas! "Thumbsup"