Hello...I just joined the "Ranger Forum" earlier this morning and I have already had questions answered that have been running around in my head for quite a some time.

My name is James E. Griffin (RazorsEdge on this forum) but every one calls me "Butch". I'm 62 years young and divorced. My place of residence is on 10 acres just north of Mount Pleasant, TX. About 120 miles east of Dallas and 60 miles west of Texarkana on I-30. My hobbies range from coin and relic hunting with my metal detector, to photography, to competitive shooting. And now...truck building

I own a 2002 Ranger with the Edge Package. She is a 4x2, Black and somewhat beat up as I have used her quite a bit here on my acerage. Currently I have the torsion bars cranked to the max. This allows me to run 31x10.5x15's without anything rubbing. I bought the truck new and I have put 128 thousand miles on without problem one out of her.

Over the Winter I have plans to build my "Tarantula Truck". She will still be the factory black but when I have her painted I am going to have just a hint of pearl and an even smaller amount of metal flake mixed in. The interior of he bed will sport a black Herculiner. Suspension wise I am going to lower the torsion bars back to their stock position and replace the factory spindles with 4" Lifted Spindles, new ball joints, new tie rod ends, and a new drag link. Shackles on the rear will be used to level her out. I want to run either 33x14.5x15's or 35x14.5x15's (I may go to 16" wheels)on her (assuming I can find tires thar have a tread pattern that ain't too agressive) and mount them on 10" Crager Classic S/S wheels with 3.5" backspacing. I have given thought to using Chrome Reverse "Smoothie" wheels too. When finished she will carry a VERY agressive stance. I plan to have the tires extend outside the factory fender flares by about 3 inches. This will give the apperance of a shorter, wider truck. Also, when finished, she will have a hard bed cover, carry no badges of any kind, and will be capped off by a black powder coated 3" Bull Bar mounted with the most intense driving lights I can find. The only thing that will not be black will be the wheels and maybe (I havent made up my mind yet) a polished aluminum grille. I don't plan for her to be a daily driver but rather, a "weekend truck" and I'll take her out on road rally's from time to time....might even enter her in a couple of car shows. But I think my greatest satisfaction will be to wash and polish her and listen to the ooo's and ahh's of those that stop by the car wash to see her. I'll post a bunch of pictures next spring when she's finished. Hopefully before the Bluebonnets bloom.

If she turns out like I see her in my (sometimes warped) mind...she will truly be a thing of beauty. Whadda you think? I'd like to hear your opinions and comments.

Contact me when you can. I always enjoy good conversation and I can't think of a better subject to discuss than trucks. And if you know where I might find some 14.5" wide tires with a mild tread pattern...get in touch.

Glad to be aboard...
Butch

 

Welcome to RF!

Sounds like a project that we would like to see.

Got any current pictures of the truck?

 

Thank you for your kind welcome...

Unfortunately I don't have pictures of the truck at te moment...but there will be "before" and "after pictures...I plan on posting quite a few.

Butch

 

Sounds like a good plan Butch. Can't wait to see the progress on this project.