Completed Project Kirby's 1991 Ranger Build Up

[BKennedy]

That is a good deal. You got two for one. When I was tire shopping last year, the Goodyears were about $30 each more than the KM2's, so I got the KM2's. Good tires.

Good choice on the 35's as well, 33's are so 90's.

 

[Kirby N.]

That is a good deal. You got two for one. When I was tire shopping last year, the Goodyears were about $30 each more than the KM2's, so I got the KM2's. Good tires.

Good choice on the 35's as well, 33's are so 90's.

LOL! That made me laugh. In the 90s, I had 30" BFG All Terrains on my 1984 S10 Blazer that I swapped in a 3.4l crate motor, and my buddy had 31s on his 1983 regular cab ranger with a carbed 2.8l v6 and a James Duff 2.5" lift.

We dreamed of 33s!

That blazer was such a piece! Most miserable vehicle to work on I have ever touched. Here is a scanned in picture to prove it!

 

[Kirby N.]

Got the 2 tires mounted and ordered up 2 more to match. I may order a third if they will make me a deal on one for a spare.

It is hard to believe they will fit!

Also started installing the 5.13s. The dinky pinion looks funny down there!

 

[Kirby N.]

I had to use every shim my install pack came with to get the pinion deep enough. Of course then the carrier had to be shimmed far left to get the backlash in spec. I am worried this will screw up my disk conversion on one side. Anyone set up 5.13s and have to use a ton of shims under the pinion to get an acceptable pattern?

 

[Kirby N.]

The newer calipers I had weren't fine enough. Only measuring to the .01 of an inch. So l was adding way too much shims every time I was adjusting and really got off track! I was adding .030 every time I adjusted. It's all setup now. I got my parts from the machinist today and it is ready to go together. Hope I can put the rear together next weekend. Just have to cut off the stock leaf and shock mounts and get some brake pads, calipers and 1/2" bolts to replace the rivets. It won't be long now.

 

[Kirby N.]

Got all the parts I needed and torched the stock mounts off. I have tomorrow off work so I hope to get it all assembled and ready to slide in.

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[turboexplorer]

I had to use every shim my install pack came with to get the pinion deep enough. Of course then the carrier had to be shimmed far left to get the backlash in spec. I am worried this will screw up my disk conversion on one side. Anyone set up 5.13s and have to use a ton of shims under the pinion to get an acceptable pattern?

I did 5.13's and don't remember a bunch of shims for the pinion depth. Mine set up pretty good if I remember right only a few adjustments. And yes the disc conversion will be very close and you will have to grind/clearance the passenger side pretty good. Mine is all on Page 6 of my build thread if you need any reference to save some time. BTW take the time to clearance the shoes and park brake shoe mount and c-clips. Some have mentioned how they have tapped in/hammered the c-clips in place. Can't imagine trying to get them back out. Mine slide right out which was very nice since I have had to replace axles since the first go around because I snapped my right rear shaft. Would have been a nightmare to pull apart to replace the shaft if I hadn't taken the time.

 

[Kirby N.]

Oh man! I so wish I would have seen your reply earlier!!!

On the gears, I figured that out. I was using the wrong calipers for the job and jumping way too far every time I adjusted the pinion. Thanks to that, I set up this 8.8 way more than anything I have ever set up! I figured it out, and had it perfect in 2 steps from stock.

The disk conversion has been a nightmare. I so wish I would have seen turboexplorers thread a few months ago- atleast I would have known what I was getting into!

Here are the parts that have been modded by my machinist buddy:

The shafts have been chamfered on the outer edge of the wheel mounting flange so they fit inside the rotors. The inside "hub hole" of the rotors has been opened up and the rotors have been drilled for 5 on 5.5.

Like turboexplorer, I had problems clearing the emergency brake shoe retaining pins. For a solution, I visited 3 parts stores tonight and took a few hours going through their stock of brake hardware kits looking for shorter pins. Let me save everyone the hassle- There are no shorter pins in any of the brake hardware kits on the shelves. There are longer ones. There are thicker ones. There are a ton of kits with the exact ones. There is only one at the 3 stores I went to that is shorter. It is only a 1/16" shorter, but after you spend $23 on it you will also decide it wont work.

Here was my solution:

I added 4 small #8 washers to the pin before I did this on both sides, and along with removing the out upper spring and a little grinding on the upper piece between the shoes and it fits. Mine seems to be about the same on both sides. I am sure it is all about pinion depth and shims to get backlash in spec.

So I was really excited. Then I slid on the rotors and found this:

And that is when I had a tantrum and decided to call it a day!! Haha!

After reading turbos thread, I will take off the inner lip. I might have my buddy do it on a lathe or I might just do it with a grinder. I am also concerned because it looks like the inside face of the rotor will rub the dust shield. The dust shield got a little tweaked, and it is close all together. I may just cut the whole out 3" of the dust shield off. Also, I heard rumors the calipers wont travel enough to wear the pads evenly. That was not true. The calipers have plenty of travel.

 

[Kirby N.]

As a side note, my brother once had a Chrysler 8.25 with a TSM disk conversion using Cadillac calipers. I thought it was a little jumbled together, so I vowed not to do one of those kits. Honestly, this is as jumbled! I read a thread on fullsize bronco forum that lead me to believe this would be a bolt on conversion- save for a little machining. Now that I am completely into this, I probably would have stuck with drums. Such is life!

 

[turboexplorer]

To almost all of your comments, been there did that. Wanted to throw the axle through the window at one point. I used a lathe to do the chamfered angle on the axles and to cut off the little lip on the inside of the rotors. Post #75 Later on the replacement axles I didn't have access to a lathe so had to do the whole thing with a grinder Post #601. Took FOREVER but turned out good.

Anyways like you said knowing beforehand the effort involved in the swap I may have gone a different route. Leave drums, meh maybe. Like my Explorer discs better now that its all done. But in hind sight I would get a 96+ F-150 8.8 axle. They have the factory disc brakes. Then I would have the axles and rotors redrilled for 5X5.5 and be done! That's all the machine work that would be needed. Done and done, also it is a bigger diameter rotor than the explorer rotors so slightly better brake performance as well.

Also noticed your in Ogden! Will have to get together to wheel at some point, I'm just down in Eagle Mountain.

 

[Kirby N.]

I considered the option of the later axle with the larger disks, but you can't run 15" wheels with them and I am still frustrated with the expense of 17" wheels and tires that all the tire manufacturers decided we need to undergo, so I want to stay with 15s! It would have been much simpler, though.

I am no longer in Ogden. I moved back to Colorado Springs about a year ago. We really miss Utah! I need to change my profile info.

 

[Kirby N.]

I was thinking that it may be way easier to cut the outer flange off the axle and reweld a new flange on at explorer specs. Seems brilliant right? I called currie, moser and strange and no one makes them unless it is for a c-clip eliminator. Does anyone know where I could get them from?

 

[Kirby N.]

I was thinking that it may be way easier to cut the outer flange off the axle and reweld a new flange on at explorer specs. Seems brilliant right? I called currie, moser and strange and no one makes them unless it is for a c-clip eliminator. Does anyone know where I could get them from?

I figured out this was a bit of a dumb question. The mounting flanges aren't just 1/4" rings with holes for mounting the brake backing plates, but it is a bearing housing that welds on the end of the axle tube. I am dropping off the rotors at the machinist today.

 

[BKennedy]

Dude, you got SPAMMED!!! Someone please delete post #54 !!

 

[Kirby N.]

My thread is spammed. What do I do about that?

I finally have a rolling rear end! So glad I got all the brakes clearing and bolted together.

I got the inside milled off smooth, but then I had conflict with the dust cover. Mine were tweaked some. Most probably wont have the interference. Whatever, I cut them off.

Take that! Got her all bolted together. Hope to start putting the rest together this weekend. I need to get some gorrilla lug nuts somewheres.

 

[Kirby N.]

 

[Kirby N.]

Demo day! Got it all out! I am running into some ranger specific problems I didn't foresee. It has a 2 piece driveshaft. I am thinking it can go away, however there is this huge crossmember, that holds up the gas tank and the mid shaft bearing support that will be in the way. Any ranger guys have suggestions?

 

[Stic-o]

Did you ever read the thread about my Disc brake swap? Probably mite have helped. I didn't do anything to my stock full width shafts. I am running a few washers on each stud to space the Disc out because of the inner edge on the rotor. Been running this for a long time now with no issues.

 

[Kirby N.]

Yeah I did. I didn't really like the idea of washers, but looking back I am sure it would have been fine after all the other hokey crap I did to make it work. I wonder if a set of these would work well between the rotor and shaft
http://www.4wheelparts.com/Wheel-Spacers.aspx?t_pt=4049&t_pn=MRG2376

We might do that on the bronco setup. They are cheap enough.

 

[Kirby N.]

So another couple ranger specific problems that suprised me:

The 64" springs require the front spring hanger to be moved fwd 6". Which is easy enough but I have a cab mount in the way. So I will have to do some hacking.

My new shackles will conflict with my exhaust so I Will have to figure a new Route or something