New Ranger Project

[Kirby N.]

I am picking up a different ranger in trade for my old 2.4L beater. This is an extended cab with a 4.0, but still 2x4 and it is purple. The modifying will begin shortly because it has a A4ld that is pretty much toast. Here is my pla:

Manual Tranny Swap
Manual Tcase
Bob the bed- between the fender wells and the tailgate. Just enough so my Yamaha will still fit with the tail gate down
Paint Job or Vinyl wrap
FW 8.8 Rear 4.88 Yukons Open Diff
FW Dana 44 Front from a 77 or a 76 f150. Remove the c wedges and move them in 2" and fix the caster so I can run 0 degree c bushings 4.88 Yukons Moved forward about 3.5". Tracbar with Superflex joints, Steering with Cheby Tierod ends Open Diff. 5" BC Broncos Coils.
35" All Terrains on stock FS ford rims

Drive it to work or to go riding. Sounds perfect to me. We will see how many years it takes. What do you guys think? I have been envisoning the perfect commutter. I think this may be it. I have the explorer for wheeling. I just want something that is 4x4, reliable and fun to drive.

 

[Tbars4]

...I'm subscribing...

...We need more Ranger builds on here and I anxiously await your progress...:biggthump

 

[RockRanger]

Drive it to work or to go riding. Sounds perfect to me. We will see how many years it takes. What do you guys think? I have been envisoning the perfect commutter. I think this may be it.

Until you realize how much you like the lower center of gravity that the ranger has over an explorer. I can sidehill stuff in my ranger that feels fine but looks and feels scary with an explorer.

 

[Kirby N.]

Until you realize how much you like the lower center of gravity that the ranger has over an explorer. I can sidehill stuff in my ranger that feels fine but looks and feels scary with an explorer.

Eventually it will become the wheeler, but for now the explorer is the wheeler. It is at a point where all I really need for it is a cage (and maybe a rear ARB) so I feel like I need to just keep it going and wheel it! The body is getting pretty bashed these days too so I imagine that I will retire it eventually and replace it with the ranger. My buddy and I built a ranger once before it was rolled 3 times and totalled. I agree with you on the Low COG, but I like the weight bias of the explorer too- in the ranger there was no weight on the back tires, and it was hard to get the rear to get traction and the suspension to do its job. You are right about less weight being high though. It is also nice that the body is only high for about 3 feet, so if you are leaning over towards a tree or a rock, there is much less to worry about.

Here is a pic of my absolute favorite Truck ever. It started life as 2.3L 4 banger 2x4 extended cab. In the pics it had an atlas, an eb 44, coilovers fron air shocks rear, ARBs, 40 MTRs, etc. I knew the guy who built it, and when he passed away his brother continued to build it and wheel it. I see his brother pretty regularly on the trail and he has a rock buggy now, but I think he eventually sold the truck:

 

[zjrog]

Gotta watch this one...

 

[RockRanger]

That is a nice ranger. I know what you mean about the light back end. Once I put a BII tank in behind the rear axle all thisng you describe went away. Very stable now.

 

[Kirby N.]

Right on! Yours is sweet. I bet the 63" Chevys helped too. I have been eyeing those ever since you did it. My rear on the X could afford to flex more for sure.

I added BC 5" coils to the list and stock aluminium ford rims. Should be just about right with that offset.

So I got the ol ranger apart. Stole the:

Steering Collumn
Pedals/ housing
clutch safety switch
Hydro hose that goes between the master and slave cylinder
CD Player
Hood latch cable (I broke the handle on the explorer latch)

She has been a great truck. 235,000 miles. All I did to her was change the clutch, slave cylinder and change a relay. Been on her side once, molested by a careless front end loader operator, and totaled during an encounter with a pontiac sunfire. Oh and I clipped a garbage truck once. I also had a lady in an impreza rear end me. Oh and there was a suburban that pulled out as I went by and clipped the passenger rear. And of course there was various other incidents.

Its a little hard to see from the pics, but she doesn't have a straight body panel on her!

 

[Kirby N.]

I got my new cab and a half ranger today. Even went and got it registered and insured. It runs awesome. I found some trannys, but it looks like most of the ones available are 4x ones. That is fine I suppose since I would like to get it there eventually. Maybe sooner than expected? I will see if I can get some pics up for everyone.

 

[Kirby N.]

Here it is:

Heres how it would look with a little bob:

What do you think? I have gotten mixed feedback about bobbing. I am have trouble finding others who have done a clean Ranger bob. Any ideas?

 

[jbracefan1977]

I'll be looking forward to this

 

[Tbars4]

...Not the best pic but, this should give you some inspiration on bobbing your Ranger..:biggthump

 

[Kirby N.]

DB1 eh? Need to look into his build I guess. I didn't realize his was bobbed. That looks sweet. Anything with those wheels on it looks sweet!

 

[DB_1]

Congrats on the Ranger
Hopefully you have better luck with your bed bob than me. I say that because I went about it the wrong way, mostly where I made my cut on the inside of the bed. Plus the fact that my bed was pretty dented up at the time of the bed bob didn't help matters much either. I had to do a lot of body hammering to get things to line up.

I took out 7" out of the bed but originally I was going to do 10". I believe I was going to have shackle hanger interference or something of that nature.
I actually had it cut for the 10" bob when I realized this so I had to weld back in a 3" strip on the bed sides. I never bothered fixing the gap on the inside of the bed and it was like that for years but recently I just hacked out the remaining piece and braced up the bedsides.

One thing a lot of us Ranger owners do is cut off a good 4-5" or so off the bottom panel behind the rear wheel well for a decent departure angle. That should get you by until you do the bed bob.

Bottom line, plan out your cuts and do it before you dent up the bed:

 

[Kirby N.]

Thanks for chiming in man. My exploder is cut like that. I want the box to look stock, so I would like to leave that section in if possible. Maybe a bumper with 1" tubing to protect it or maybe not. I am not going to wheel it much at this point. I have seen some sick yota bumpers that cover that whole lower section. 10" was too much huh? I was hoping for 14". I really dig those WER wheels. Those look so bad on there!

I am also thinking it would be great to Rhino line the inside of the bed and up over the bed rails since the bed rails are pretty hammered from being a work truck. That way all that would really need to be pretty is that 12" or so from the rhino to the bottom by the taillights. The bed rail doesn't have to be all that pretty and niether does the bed.

 

[Kirby N.]

DB_1- I found your Bob Job thread but all the pics are dead :scratch:

Bummer!

 

[DB_1]

I'll have to look for those pics if I still got them.
You could probably go more or less than 10 inches, I remember there was some kind of interference with the shackle hanger at 10".

I always get good ideas in the Toyota section in Pirate, some good bobs in there.

I've had this idea in my head for some time now that I'd tube out the bed and hang the bed sides on for the street since I don't have a trailer yet but I haven't been motivated enough to do it.

I love the Walkers too, mostly because I could get them in the backspacing I wanted (3.75"). Plus the valve stem is protected behind the wheel ring.

This is probably the best pic that shows what's going on with the bed bob:

 

[Kirby N.]

Oooh. That is a sweet picture! Thanks for posting up. I am feeling the itch now! I talked to a body man friend of mine about the bob and I am feeling more confident now. found a good 4x4 tranny and case, but I haven't gotten them yet. Maybe Saturday? My wife leaves the country again on sunday, so saturday is my best bet.

 

[RangerX]

Kirby, if you do the bob, take pics as you go. I'm planning to do mine.

 

[Kirby N.]

will do!