Wreck-It-Ranger

[rickybobby]

Picked up this beauty from Copart.com for $325 plus fees.

I plan on doing a full restoration over time, but for now im gonna try to swap the inner fenders, radiator support, and hood from my explorer on it, and get a right fender, header panel, and right side lights from the local pick-and pull to get her driving until i can gather all of the right parts

 

[rickybobby]

Today I finally got a chance to pull it off the trailer and give it a good inspection. She fired right up as soon as i turned the key and idled smooth as silk. Thats where the good news ended. Hit the brakes and went to shift it into gear and the pedal hit the floor. When the front end shifted on the frame it caused a brake line to fail. Fortunatly the parking brake works. After getting it on the ground i began looking over the front suspension. The drag link appears to have a decent bend in it, causing major tow-out. The RA's and RA brackets appear to be straight, as well as the beams and pivot brackets.

 

[rickybobby]

I finally got it all torn apart and got a few things replaced. Got the radiator support and right inner fender section installed today.

 

[Tbars4]

...Glad to see you rounded up some parts...:biggthump

 

[rickybobby]

welp, progress has been rather slow and frustrating but i am getting close. The welded in parts didnt end up quite square enough so its gonna require some creativity to get the body panels lined up decent. so far i have the LF fender in mock up and trimmed for the explorer headlights. Im going to have to modify a few bolt holes but i was able to make it line up with the hood fairly well. The header panel needs to move about 3/8" to the right to make the grille line up with the fender but compared to most of this project that seems simple lol. Also, just for information, the ranger fenders will not mount to the ex header panel so you have to have the ex fender sections before you can drive a ranger during the explorer front end conversion. anyway have some pics for your veiwing pleasure.

 

[Tbars4]

..Wow...It's kind of a trip to click on here to see some pics of a Ranger and you see a second gen....

..What are you going to use for the front bumper?

 

[rickybobby]

I really like the 2nd gen front end on the ranger, makes it look tougher. For the time being I am going to use the custom rear bumper from the explorer on the front of the Ranger, just for legal purposes. At some point down the road I plan to build something similar to the Jamescal explorer bumpers.

 

[Turdle]

I think someone has been busy--hmmm.

 

[rickybobby]

Not much work happening lately, running into issues getting insurance so this project has been shelved until i have the funds to finish it completely. I did get to DD it for a couple weeks on my dealer plate until i got my primary truck back up and running. Aside from a lack of power steering it drove great.

 

[rickybobby]

Welp, long time no updates. I got the power steering fixed and then had to sell it. My DD broke (again) and its gonna cost nearly $6k to fix.I need a DD that my newborn can ride in so the ranger had to go to make room for another vehicle(finance company says im stuck with my envoy for another $8500 in payments). Fortunatly my sister bought it so at some point in the future i may be able to own it again.