Bought this 1992 Ranger a while back, it is in great mechanical shape and was owned by some old lady most of its life. After deciding it was too clean to cut up for a 4.0 swap,
I recently decided it would make a great DD/wheeler/hunting and exploration rig. The 20 year old suspension is sagged out, the shocks are on their last leg and the 31" BFG ATs rub up front on bigger bumps. Time for a build up and some major improvements. I have been scavenging pull & pay and e-bay for parts for a while now, have a lot left over from other projects and will borrow a few things from the '91 as I go.
Specs:
4.0, m50d, 1354E, standard cab long-box
Plans:
Front Axle:
’96 XJ high pinion Dana 30 SAS w/ 4.56 gears, Detroit Truetrac, for which I will fab a truss, inner-C gussets, HD lower control arm mounts and skids.Ill be doing a WJ knuckle swap for bigger brakes and improved steering with over the knuckle cross-over steering and one-ton TREs, custom longarms, etc.
Rear Axle:
’93 Ford Explorer 31 spline 8.8 with disc conversion, 4” skyjacker ranger leafsprings, belltech shackles
Saginaw HD T-Bird ps pump swap w/ cooler and Hydro Assist
D.D. machine doubler
Flatbelly skid
Shortened frame and bobbed bed for improved departure angle.
BII gas tank
½ doors
Some interior mods
Rock sliders and bumpers, winch up front
interior cage
It had suffered some hail damage before I picked it up. I will live with the dents, but the windshield needs replaced sometime in the near future. I am not a fan of the faded red and white two-tone paint so that had to go.
I ditched the topper, and trim, did a little prep work and painted it flat khaki.
Wanted tinted windows so I grabbed the doors off the '91. Got rid of the stock decal with the flapwheel and sanded the rest.
Took it camping up off Boreas Pass near Breckenridge this last weekend. Our campsite was tucked off the road near 10,500ft in White River National Forest. Found a lot of traces of Elk and blackbear. It rained off and on while we were there and the burn bans were finally lifted so we could have a campfire.
Installed a cheap cd player, cb, tuffy lockable console box.
I also swapped the rails out on some waterproof seats and bolted them in.
I started with some work on my old 8.8
It is a '93 Explorer 31 spline drum brake 8.8 It has been regeared 4.56 with a new carrier (Detroit Truetrac) which is a solid body design with the helical gear limited slip internals hidden. This makes a small difference in how the shafts are removed/installed.
There is an access port on one side of the truetrac carrier held in by a snap-ring
remove the snap ring and access port cover I then the ~1" slug that holds the shafts in place. Push the axle shafts further into the differential and remove the c-clips. The drivers side shaft came out easily and I was able to remove the c-clip with needle nose, but I had to clamp the passenger side shaft from the flange to the backing plate to push it further into the diff so the c-clip would clear the carrier body, I used two strong magnets to pull the c-clip and finally removed the shaft.
I wanted disk brakes, I had problems with my old drum setup locking up in wet conditions and the newer explorer disk brakes bolt right onto the '93 housing.
So with the drum off and the c-clips axle shafts out I pulled the old drum backing plates off.
Remove the brake hard line and four bolts at the end of the housing and the drum setup comes right off.
I pulled the old axle shaft/bearing seals and regreased the bearings.
Installed new seals.
I made a trip to the pull and pay and picked up disk brake backing plates, caliper brackets, calipers, e-brake cables and a spare set of 8.8 shafts from a '98 Ford Explorer.
Bolted on with stock hardware:icon_bounceblue:
I pulled the old e-brake shoes off, since they came from a junkyard axle they were cracked and in real bad shape. First remove the retaining spring clips, then the adjuster spring and threaded adjuster(tensioner), then the large outside spring and I pulled the shoes and inside spring off as one unit.
To assemble, attach large inside spring to shoes and seat the shoes onto the backing plate tab
put the threaded adjuster back in
and now re-attach adjuster spring, large outside spring and finally retaining spring clips
insert shafts and c clips
...and fit new disk rotor. If I had known this swap were so easy I would have done it a long time ago. Ill post up a pic of attaching the cables when the axle is under the truck.
I recently decided it would make a great DD/wheeler/hunting and exploration rig. The 20 year old suspension is sagged out, the shocks are on their last leg and the 31" BFG ATs rub up front on bigger bumps. Time for a build up and some major improvements. I have been scavenging pull & pay and e-bay for parts for a while now, have a lot left over from other projects and will borrow a few things from the '91 as I go.
Specs:
4.0, m50d, 1354E, standard cab long-box
Plans:
Front Axle:
’96 XJ high pinion Dana 30 SAS w/ 4.56 gears, Detroit Truetrac, for which I will fab a truss, inner-C gussets, HD lower control arm mounts and skids.Ill be doing a WJ knuckle swap for bigger brakes and improved steering with over the knuckle cross-over steering and one-ton TREs, custom longarms, etc.
Rear Axle:
’93 Ford Explorer 31 spline 8.8 with disc conversion, 4” skyjacker ranger leafsprings, belltech shackles
Saginaw HD T-Bird ps pump swap w/ cooler and Hydro Assist
D.D. machine doubler
Flatbelly skid
Shortened frame and bobbed bed for improved departure angle.
BII gas tank
½ doors
Some interior mods
Rock sliders and bumpers, winch up front
interior cage
It had suffered some hail damage before I picked it up. I will live with the dents, but the windshield needs replaced sometime in the near future. I am not a fan of the faded red and white two-tone paint so that had to go.
I ditched the topper, and trim, did a little prep work and painted it flat khaki.
Wanted tinted windows so I grabbed the doors off the '91. Got rid of the stock decal with the flapwheel and sanded the rest.
Took it camping up off Boreas Pass near Breckenridge this last weekend. Our campsite was tucked off the road near 10,500ft in White River National Forest. Found a lot of traces of Elk and blackbear. It rained off and on while we were there and the burn bans were finally lifted so we could have a campfire.
Installed a cheap cd player, cb, tuffy lockable console box.
I also swapped the rails out on some waterproof seats and bolted them in.
I started with some work on my old 8.8
It is a '93 Explorer 31 spline drum brake 8.8 It has been regeared 4.56 with a new carrier (Detroit Truetrac) which is a solid body design with the helical gear limited slip internals hidden. This makes a small difference in how the shafts are removed/installed.
There is an access port on one side of the truetrac carrier held in by a snap-ring
remove the snap ring and access port cover I then the ~1" slug that holds the shafts in place. Push the axle shafts further into the differential and remove the c-clips. The drivers side shaft came out easily and I was able to remove the c-clip with needle nose, but I had to clamp the passenger side shaft from the flange to the backing plate to push it further into the diff so the c-clip would clear the carrier body, I used two strong magnets to pull the c-clip and finally removed the shaft.
I wanted disk brakes, I had problems with my old drum setup locking up in wet conditions and the newer explorer disk brakes bolt right onto the '93 housing.
So with the drum off and the c-clips axle shafts out I pulled the old drum backing plates off.
Remove the brake hard line and four bolts at the end of the housing and the drum setup comes right off.
I pulled the old axle shaft/bearing seals and regreased the bearings.
Installed new seals.
I made a trip to the pull and pay and picked up disk brake backing plates, caliper brackets, calipers, e-brake cables and a spare set of 8.8 shafts from a '98 Ford Explorer.
Bolted on with stock hardware:icon_bounceblue:
I pulled the old e-brake shoes off, since they came from a junkyard axle they were cracked and in real bad shape. First remove the retaining spring clips, then the adjuster spring and threaded adjuster(tensioner), then the large outside spring and I pulled the shoes and inside spring off as one unit.
To assemble, attach large inside spring to shoes and seat the shoes onto the backing plate tab
put the threaded adjuster back in
and now re-attach adjuster spring, large outside spring and finally retaining spring clips
insert shafts and c clips
...and fit new disk rotor. If I had known this swap were so easy I would have done it a long time ago. Ill post up a pic of attaching the cables when the axle is under the truck.
