Hey guys first time posting.
I have a 2000 ranger 2wd 4cyl and I just bought a 97 mountaineer 5.0 Awd. I would like to keep the truck 2wd. Any tips on how to make that happen? And any other general tips for the build would be helpful thanks guys.

 

Just to clarify: you bought the entire Mountaineer with transmission and AWD transfer case, not just the 5.0?
Some options:
1) You can swap the output shaft and tail housing to the parts from a 2WD. (A lot of work and in the end, you may as well just find a 2WD trans...)
2) Save yourself the work and look for a 4R70W out of a Mustang, since it will already have the proper 2WD bits.
3) Look for a 4R70W out of a 2WD 4.2L F150
4) Find a manual BW4406 transfer case out of a 4.2 F150 and keep it in 2WD.

General tips: Read all the posts from the guys who've done it, there are a lot of them on a lot of forums! If you have the Mountaineer you have most of the parts you need, but take pictures of everything before you start (i.e. where the vacuum hoses route/go on the intake). Expect it to take longer than you think, even with >90% of the swap being plug and play.

Cheers,
A