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.]

I did a little wrenching on the ranger today. I changed the oil and I also added a new Fuel Pressure Regulator- NOS ford motorcraft. Hoping it would affect the idle, but it doesn't seem like it did.


I have been running around with 3 shocks for quite some time now. The rears are probably not doing much either- they seem pretty blown. So I added the correct eyelet to the passenger side shock, loctite'd the heck out of it, and put the bushing in. Next I moved the reservoirs to the rear of the shocks so they would not interfere with the brake lines.

Next, I have had some limit straps sitting on the shelf for a few months now. I wanted to get them installed. I thought I had a plan to mount them behind the shocks, but they were a little longer than I thought would be ideal in that location and the drivers was going to interfere with the pump for the rabs. I ended up putting the top mount on one of the shock mounts and welded the bottom on. I think it will be a great location and length. Left some room behind the shocks if I ever get some hydro bumps.

A couple of days ago I came home to a surprise! I got the shifters from behemoth. I didn't think they would come with cables, but they did!

I quickly got it into the kitchen and un boxed them. I am impressed with the quality and size of these things.

You can see how they mount in this picture. I think I am going to make a new plate for my floor out of thicker steel than the current aluminum and have it rhino coated with a hole for these shifters. I need to find a good manual trans boot without the tcase boot attached. That could be a chore.

It came with an independent boot for the twin sticks:

 

[RockRanger]

Hopefully that shifter boot is better then the Amazon one a bought that cracked and fell apart after a year or so. I can't remember what brand mine was but it was cheap. I want to see how you like the doubler compared to your old d.d machine setup.

 

[Kirby N.]

Hopefully that shifter boot is better then the Amazon one a bought that cracked and fell apart after a year or so. I can't remember what brand mine was but it was cheap. I want to see how you like the doubler compared to your old d.d machine setup.

I hope so. Looks a little like the one I ran in my explorer, but different material. I think I got it from Jeffs Bronco graveyard. I ran it in the 1354 manual bezel and tucked it under. It wasn't awful. If this one gernades Ill but another Jeffs.

 

[Kirby N.]

So I ran my ranger down the highway for the first time in warm weather since she got rebuilt. A couple of things I noticed.

1. The ac only works when I am going down the highway. I really didn’t know what I was doing when I charged it and the manifold I rented didn’t really hook up to the high side anyway. Might have to do something about that

2. When cruising up the highway in 80’degrees with the ac going the temp continually climbed until it was on the high side of the temp- almost to the “L” in NORMAL. Weird. I thought it wa probably low on antifreeze. So I checked that and no. Hmm. I am going to check the fan clutch next. Should be resistant when I turn it off and when it is hot right? Any other ideas? Seems like this thing never runs hot.

 

[donalds]

Fan is my vote

 

[410Fortune]

is your 91 converted to r134? The high side fitting should go on if so

You need to vacuum the system and then the system needs to hold vacuum and prove itself worthy of a charge.

Temps climbing like that due to increased drag on the belt running the ac:

Do you have a full fan shroud?
How is your fan clutch? Old? Loose or stiff?
What fan are you running?
Cooling stack clean no mudd or cardboard? Lol

 

[Kirby N.]

It is converted to r134. The rental manifold I got was not engaging the shrader valve on the high side through the adapter for the 134. So I wasn’t getting good readings on either side because of that. I guess on those manifolds high and low are tied together? So it wasn't really making sense. I did vacuum it down and it was fine and I also added tue reccomended amount of oil. All the components of the ac were brand new with the engine swap. My guess is that it doesn’t have enough 134. I’ll have to get another manifold and try again.

I do have the stock fan shroud intact, no debris or cardboard. The condenser is brand new- so no obstruction there. The radiator is newer- did that with the paint.

I need to give the fan a spin this morning hot and cold. I am running all stock stuff there. Fan and clutch. I don’t remember changing the clutch ever- I could have, but the don’t remember. So it could be stock or have several hundreds of thousand miles on it.

 

[RockRanger]

When I first put my doubler in, when using double low the truck would ovheat in just a matter of a few minutes of 2k pulls in the rocks. New fan clutch fixed that problem.

Then in the summer on the long grade to the trails (1500 ft to 5000 ft in 8 miles) it would overheat. Swapped in the two core automatic radiator, fan shroud, and lower radiator hose. Now I can hold my foot to the floor the eentire pull and the temp barely moves even when 100 plus outside. My truck didn't come with AC so can't say what it would do with AC.

 

[BKennedy]

That grade up to the trails is brutal. Since I replaced my fan clutch and water pump I'm not seeing the rapid rise in temps I used to get on grades on warm days. The three core all aluminum radiator I put in a few years ago really helped too. I am assuming that since your engine is a fresh rebuild that everything but the radiator is probably new. If your still getting high idle issues, you have a different issue

 

[Kirby N.]

Thanks fellas.

Yeah water pump is new motorcraft. Radiator is pretty new- maybe 20k miles. I don’t see any leaks. It was the stock size- I didn’t do anything fancy or upgrades because it never got hot before.

When I did the engine I put in a new Stant thermostat.

The clutch is odd- there is lots of resistance when it is cold, little resistance when the engine is hot. I checked it first thing this morning and it wouldn’t make a full turn freewheeling. After driving and getting up to temp it spins easy and free wheels easy.

I just decided to go to ford and order a new rad cap and a fan clutch. Should be here in a week or so. On the way home it is uphill on the highway. It started getting hot, then when it flattened out it got back to the cooler side of normal. Something is not quite right. It is supposed to cool off here in the next couple days- but I will swap those parts when they get in and see if it makes a difference.

 

[Stic-o]

Some of the old Explorer Radiators are 4 rows if you can find one. There was one in the Black '97 that was all manual, I had for a short time, but I never swapped it out.

 

[410Fortune]

Could be your coolant temp sensor is getting funky? Do you have a mechanical gauge could install to monitor temps while fighting this battle? Stock gauge leaves some to be desired

My bii fan clutch was locking up soon after warmup it was oem 1996 my truck was running 210-220 in summer. New clutch and we are back to running at 190-210 Like I want

I will also only install dual core radiators in these trucks especially the first Gen. Which has a smaller radiator. You are 5 speed so that’s good, with the autos I bypass the tiny cooler (pre heater) built into the radiator

Any chance you have some
Blockage in the lower hose or? Check all of your work

Are you sure all the air has been bled since engine swap? I have to ask

 

[Kirby N.]

I am not sure air has been bled that’s a good point- do you have an reccomended proceedure? Thank you for the reminder- I will look for some blockage and double check my work.

 

[Kirby N.]

Also considering buying a 2 core and tossing it in.

 

[RockRanger]

Also considering buying a 2 core and tossing it in.

If you do that make sure you change the fan shroud as well. You will more then likely need the automatic lower radiator hose as well. I changed all three parts together when I did my swap.

 

[410Fortune]

The fan shroud can be trimmed at the top for the second core

To bleed all the air out you can actually pour boiling water (coffee pot) down the upper hose right at the thermostat, it wil open and the trapped air will burp out

Others I think have jacked up the rear of the truck and run it to temp?

The radiator hoses are the same for single and dual core?

 

[RockRanger]

I had to use a different lower radiator hose. The single core came strait out the radiator and the duel core came out pointing down at an angle. My duel is an auto trans radiator and the single was manual trans.

 

[Kirby N.]

To burp it I drove up a really steep embankment forward and back and let it idle a while at operating temp. It wasn’t super hot because the weather is cooling off today but hopefully that would have done it. I can do it again on a hot day.

 

[BKennedy]

I just go climb some rocks, then squeeze the upper radiator hose several times. Burrrrrrrrrp

 

[Kirby N.]

The cooling issue seems to be resolved.

I started a new project here in the last 3 weeks or so. I have been wanting to outboard the rear shocks for a long time. The bilstiens have continued to come apart- likely from over extension. I wanted to put them in the wheel well since I have tons of space with the wide rear axle, and also to help the thing handle better. I have the left over fox 12.1 travel 2.0s that were not long enough for the front.

I wanted to make sure not to cut into the bed- I use it too much- I also wanted to be sure the frame doesn't twist under the load- so I tied the two sides together.

You can see from this photo that the two are tied together. I used a hole saw to drill a 1.75" hole in the frame and the mounts are tied together.

Next I bent up some tube and notched it. You can see the one bilstein that is left in the picture. Way too far in to be very effective.