"Bring It" Project -- 86 Ranger

Ok... The parts chasing is coming to an end -- for now at least. I'm about to finally embark on the Ranger project that has been so long in the waiting/planning stages.

A couple of pics -- yes, I'm really starting to work on this project!

The tow rig... Mama's '03 Trailblazer. 292 hp under the hood, reinforced tranny, tow rating of 6200#. It works and it is nice to drive.

The donor pig... Yuppers -- THIS pig is supplying a lot of the bacon...

Driver's side drop Dana 44 -- soon to get 8 lug, full floater hubs to match the rear. (And yes, the passenger side drop axle, t-case, transmission, etc., are for sale out of the donor!)

The rear Dana 60

The donor motor -- 4.0 liters of butt-kicking power (well, at least it will pull the truck around and be light weight!).

The "not-so-innocent-victim"...

My wife has named this project... When I told her what I was doing, and showed her a picture of what it would be, she just said, "Bring it!" Here it is "dreaming" of bigger and better days!

 

[Burns]

Hey Guy the project is looking good.


Im hoping in can get myself up there sometime in the start of the summer for a little wheeling if you KY boys are up to it. lol

 

[JMan689]

When you gonna come south and wheel with us?

Wouldn't be till spring or summer, need to get a trailer and figure out my schedule (i go to school for 9 weeks, get a week off).

Oh, and I'm working on building a crate for your stuff... You can see my C4 setup in the pics above. They're nice for off-road use. Stronger, lighter, and tuck in nicely. Only drawback is no OD. No problem for off-road use. Might be a problem with fuel economy on the road, but the stuff we're building shouldn't matter much on the highway, other than to get from point A to point B without a trailer once in a while.

Thanks.

I plan on building the rebuilding the 4.0, breaking it in on the street (no pedal to the metal stuff) and then i'll end up doing the c4/sas. Just need to locate a D60 and suspension junk, t-case doubler, another t-case figure out what i'm going to do for steering and learn to weld.

So basically, once it gets the C4 the only street driving it will see is to the car show (once in awhile) or to a local spot or too.

 

[FROADER]

I saw you post earlier. Any updates?

 

[glfredrick]

Some, but not too much that is picture worthy.

I've been grinding and welding, doing finishing work on the major suspension systems, etc. Steering is figured out and the new frame mounts are welded in (about 9" forward from stock location). Track bar mount is figured out (nice flat layout) and the axle side is welded, the frame side is waiting for the axle to get reinstalled and centered up for final fit.

I'm in process of gearing the axles now, and that should be done in the next couple of weeks, then, after a bit of paint, I'll be ready to drop the body in place.

The project should go faster after that, as it is mostly plug and play.

I've got some nice suspension travel so far... By the tape measure, I would score around 1500 on a 20 degree RTI ramp. Should work okay...

I'm also in process of building my own doubler right now. I wanted to purchase one, but they are seemingly non-existent -- at least for any amount of money that I can apply to the project. I've found a decent way to join the stub shafts that should be strong without welding. Time will tell, but I'm expecting to make it work with factory parts and a little bit of machine work (no splines need to be cut -- saves a ton of money -- all lathe work that almost anyone could do at home if they had the proper tooling).

I also got all the hubs, disk brake parts (front and rear) and everything is figured out and ready to go when I finish building my axles. I made a couple of major pull-a-part scores and got everything I needed in almost brand new condition. I was a happy camper on those days!

I'll get some more pics as it goes togehter. Expect to see this thing actually run sometime before fall, this year...

 

[FROADER]

Sounds great. I can't wait to see it all together!

 

[glfredrick]

Sounds great. I can't wait to see it all together!

Me too... Just need time to work on it -- and money at the same time -- seldom have both at once, which hinders progress.

 

[glfredrick]

Too long between updates Mr. Fredrick, too long.

Updates!?!?

I totally agree... This year, I took on about 10 dissertation projects (I edit and format doctoral dissertations for seminary students as a work-at-home side job -- helps to pay the bills!) instead of the normal 4, so I've been having to spend a whole bunch of weekends at the desk instead of building my truck. That's the bad news... The good news is that I'm gonna be able to buy the rest of the parts I need REAL soon (doubler, driveshafts, etc.) and get on with this.

I did spend Saturday in the shop, finish welding a lot of stuff, along with the grinding, test fitting, etc. The front axle is now done and stuffed back under the truck for final track-bar and spring fitting. The rest of the frame has been primed and about half of it painted. New washers cut out to repair the rusted cab mount holes and a lot of other stuff planned out for the next step (inc. unique two-piece rear drive shaft ) which is dropping the new cab onto the frame.

It will take about 8 guys to do the cab drop -- That's going to happen the weekend of October 10 if all goes well. From that point, it is all plumbing, electrical, and cage. Gonna be fun to get busy bending more tube.

The rear driveshaft will use two explorer shafts, end to end. The front shaft is held in place with an industrial pillow block bearing. You end up with a slip yoke on both shafts and everything is tucked up away from rocks. Also, the rear traction bar will match the rear driveshaft joint to eliminating a potential binding scenario.

Sneak peek at the drive shaft arrangement (another truck):

 

[FROADER]

I almost bumped this yesterday to bug you.

Glad to hear the build will start up again soon.

 

[glfredrick]

Progress...

Installed (sort of) the body on the frame today. At least got it lowered back in place, and sort of lined up. Now I can proceed with other installs, including making a few custom body mounts, figuring out stuff like wiring and shifters, radiators, etc.

Thanks today to Jeremy, Kathy, and Tyler for their help.

Body on the rack, poised for lowering -- this is the way to do body swaps, but the hard part was getting the stuff from my back yard onto the trailer and over to the shop at work with the nice lift.

My wife plays with tools... She is AWESOME! 8)

On the trailer for the ride home, now parked in the driveway awaiting a good garage cleaning before getting back to the project.

 

[FROADER]

Looking good, Guy! Hurry and clean that garage.

 

[glfredrick]

Looking good, Guy! Hurry and clean that garage.

Between tomorrw and the end of the year, I have 116 hours of vacation to burn up, which coupled with weekends will give me quite a bit of time in the shop.

I expect to see some progress.

Have to clean the shop because this project has now moved 4 times since it started. I have boxes from moves with parts and tools that haven't seen the light of day since they were first packed. I even have a bunch of stuff from an Explorer that I parted out still in the rafters of another garage where we lived that I have to retrieve!

I'll take a few days to get everything sorted out, workbenches cleared, tool boxes re-filled, then there will be some sparks flying!

 

[FROADER]

Sounds like a plan. I'm anxious to see this thing finish, because it's close to what I'm thinking for my next project.

 

[FROADER]

Between tomorrw and the end of the year, I have 116 hours of vacation to burn up, which coupled with weekends will give me quite a bit of time in the shop.

I expect to see some progress.

I'm guessing you meant '09? :

Any updates?

 

[glfredrick]

I'm guessing you meant '09? :

Any updates?

And, that's as far as I got with my vacation hours... I did get the garage cleaned out so I can press forward with the next round of mods, so "I have that going for me..."

Actually, winter set in, and I ended up missing most of the end of my vacation hours. Between doing snow, which has cost me almost every day off since Christmas, I've also traveled for job interviews to another state and have been busy getting things ready for a potential move that might just happen.

Otherwise, I've been collecting a few more parts. Found a set of Nissan pickup lights that I'm going to run in the front end instead of the Explorer stuff. Self contained in one unit. Sort of "truggy" like in appearance. Also scored an ARB for the front axle that is on its way right now. (Someone buy my True Trac!) I'll have the axles set up in a couple of weeks, then finish the cab mounts and get on with this thing. Spring is just around the corner.

 

[FROADER]

Ahem...

 

[glfredrick]

I'm stringing in the wiring harness and ran into a snag. CoryL, from whom I purchased the engine/transmission/wiring had a setup in mind, but building the harness from the 3 different generations of truck is proving to be too time consuming (already have a full day in just sorting out stuff and learning that it won't work!) so I am off to pull-a-part this weekend to strip the entire manifold and harness pluss all sensors out of one vehicle that will make it all tie in and work.

I'm taking the next 11 days off work to get this thing built. I'm 99% ready to go (only big items needed are the doubler and driveshafts).

I bought a e-locker for the rear 60 and the axles will get built on Tuesday. Also picked up a fuel cell to replace the factory tank, have the cab bolted down, and have plotted out the next few welds... Fuel tank mounts, utility box mounts (batteries go in utility box behind the cab), track bar mount on the frame, and suspension tabs for shocks gets it rolling. After that, the roll cage and sliders.

I now have a plasma to use, so some of that work can go fast.

I should hear this truck run before the end of this weekend... I'll probably cry, just a little bit.

I've got an event planned for this truck on June 11th!!!

 

[FROADER]

Very nice. June 11 will be here sooner than you know.

 

[glfredrick]

Very nice. June 11 will be here sooner than you know.

I know that June 11 will be here sooner than I know... It was here sooner than I knew way back last year June 11. Seems like an impossible deadline, and it probably is.

I may have to resort to a backup YJ that needs to have a back axle un-sprung over to run. :thumbdwn:

 

[glfredrick]

Well, we had "Wrenchfest" over the past weekend and I had a few helpers. We got some work done -- lots of grinding, welding, cleaning up, and figuring out.

Later this week we'll lay in the track bar and be able to flex this ride out!
Here are a few pics:

Coil springs in place -- still have to fab the track bar and the upper spring posts:

Front end view -- still messy...

Winch mount sunk into the front frame, still some additional support to come

Rear view

Rear radiator mount

Electric fan for the radiator

Mock up of rear tire carrier, fuel cell, radiator frame, and utility box. Exo-cage still to come.

 

[kert0307]

Nice, I like that toolbox and how it will protect the radiator.