Hey guys,

So I got myself a new to me old ranger. It’s a 1996 XLT 5 2WD speed manual with a 4.0 OHV. It’s is a little rough around the edges but that’s ok with me it just needs a little TLC.

So I got this truck because I currently drive a BMW that I love. Dives real nice takes the corners so smooth has great power and is everything I want in a car. I live in northern Alberta where we get lots of snow and it is just heart breaking listing to my front lip smack the garbage roads. We don’t really have much for the city’s snow removal department.

I had a ranger in 2008 it was a 4.0 4x4 super cab. Now that I am up here I miss it a lot. With the new job and greater need for a truck I can also do the mods that I wanted to do on my old one. I debated for a while about going 4x4 or 2x4 and decided to go 2x4. I really don’t need a 4x4 I find with skill and taking an extra second to think I shouldn’t need it. If I do any more serious off roading ill have a friend who can pull me out if needed.

So this brings me to my plans for the ranger. I would like to do a 4 inch suspension lift. It seems to me rough country makes a pretty good kit at a decent price unless you guys know of something that may be a better option I think I will go with that one. Normally I would have gone with a body lift but since it is an older truck adding a few new suspension components seems like a better choice right now. I am sure I will have a fair bit of maintenance to do on this thing so adding in some replacement parts seems much better than keeping existing parts and a body lift. Do you guys know if there is any reason why 33’s won’t clear?

I intend on putting a set of 33x10.5r15’s on the truck. From what I have read they should fit with the 4 inch lift. Something to love about living in an oil town is there are so many cheap sets of tires out there from the riggers who spent their money thoughtlessly and now sell their stuff to try and save themselves. Poor guys but everyone needs to learn somehow and gets me a decent deal.

Something very high on my priority list is adding in a power trax no slip system. Honestly this looks like a great setup for me. I know there is tons of debate about adding a locker to a vehicle that is driven in the winter. This is a good system or from what I have read. I know my winter driving and spend some of my time on the track with my beamer. So I know what happens when too much skinny pedal is applied to a locker or L/S. This system does disengage around corners and as long as I take her nice and easy it should be all good. I am not a kid who wants this to drift I want this to get around in my slow 2x4 ranger and that’s what it is, a slow 2x4 not a race truck. I also figure since there will be 33’s on there they won’t break free AS easy with the extra power needed to turn them. Also this looks like a pretty simple system to install and that’s always a bonus.

So do can you guys think of anything else that would make a nice addition to my list so far. I got a nice shop at work that I can do all this in too and that’s always a bonus. One of the things I am planning for the future is since this has an old 4.0 OHV once the engine becomes a little too tired it would be nice to throw in a 5.0. However I don’t need it right away my old 4.0 even though it was a SOHC was plenty powerful for my little truck.