me and my dad are thinking about buying this ranger from my neighbor its a 2000 trailhead with a 3.0 its gonna be cheap cause its a totaled truck but was rebuilt b 4 she bought it we were at her house the other day and it started right up.....what i want to know is how hard it would be to make it 4 wheel drive.....either a straight axle or what ever just a 4 wheel drive setup....

 

hardest part i'v heard is finding a doner and thats not very hard if u look in the right places :D good luck with it though...some body with my know how should chime in here later

 

It'll be easier since you have a trailhead, which has 4x4 suspention already like an edge.

 

well i dont have it yet but my dads a smooth talker and my neighbor has it its been totalled then in a fender bender and needs a new bed and heater core

 

It can be done, but you are pretty much going to need an entire parts truck to do it. There is a lot involved. It would probably be easier to just buy a 4WD Ranger.

 

if you wre to do it i would a solid axle.
it would better of road and it would actually looked like you did a conversion instead of stocl

 

solid axle. there is nothing better looking than a solid axle ranger even if you only put 31's on it it will be sweet. im going to be starting that next summer after i finish building my axle first.

Andrew

 

Buy a 4x4

 

when you say buy a 4x4 how about you give my family the money to buy one cause we dont have it right now......i dont mean to be mean but some people that suggest that arnt helping me so just go take a squat...because your just being a post *****

 

What he means is, it would probably cost less, and would certainly be much easier, to just buy something that is four wheel drive, rather than to make something four wheel drive. In other words sell the 2wd truck and take the money and buy a 4wd truck. There are tons of 4x4's out there for cheap if you really want one.

 

Does anyone actually know what all is required though? I'm sure he knows that it will take some time and money but how about we tech talk if anyone knows or has an idea... I have honestly never had a 4x4 so I dont know what all is needed...

 

That's what I was saying. Not trying to be a jerk about it. I just don't see the sense in converting a 2WD to 4WD unless your building it for show, or just to have fun in. If you want to do it for the learning experience, buy an old beater for less then $1000 and build it.

I believe it would be more cost and labor effective to just buy a 4WD.

If the truck isn't a necessity right now, wait and you'll eventually find a 4WD in good shape for the price you want to pay.

 

some people do this kinda of stuff for the build it self. my friends dad made a 4x4 VW beetle. using a bronco 2 and right now hes in the middle of building a rolled cherokee. its not always whats cost effective. i want a solid front axle but it would be easyer to just buy a wrangler. but i want a SASed ranger. not a jeep so ill take the more costly route and get more of wht i want.

Andrew

 

it will, without doubt, cost more to buy a 2x4 and convert it to 4x4 than it would cost to buy a 4x4.

 

we havnt bought the ranger yet and....a 4x4 is to expensive my dad says..... cause i found a 99 4x4 ext cab with 93k and 4.0 5 spd adn it looked like it had lift tires and rims but he said its to expensive at 7000 i dont think it was....but the only reason i posted this is because its a truck and i need one and my neighbor has one for sale my dad was asking me if i wanted it and its a trail head and it at least looks like a 4x4 and he wont look at any other really

 

An IFS 4x4 I think is going to be way more expensive than buying just buying a 4x4. YOu need a front diff, cv axles, a transfercase, driveshaft ,shift motor, and new wiring harness, just to name a few things. If you were going to go this route it would probably be easiest to just go with a manual so you dont have to worry about all the electronics. I also believe you will need a new tranny, that is really the thing that pushes it over the edge for cost/time.

If your going to do a solid axle conversion your looking at around $3500, less if you use junkyard parts and fab everything yourself but even then your looking at a BARE mimimum of $1500 IMO, again cheaper to buy a 4x4 since ther isnt much of a price difference when your looking at used trucks.

 

The trailhead is a great truck..

Unless you live up north where snow is a big concern, I see no PRESSING need for a 4x4 truck.

I live in Florida, and my 2x4 Edge (same suspension as the Trailhead) works great for me.

 

I have to agree with that, my previous truck was a 98 2wd ranger and I had it for 3 years, no complaints. And on easy trails sometimes its more fun to have 2wd cause its a little bit more of a challenge, I actually miss that truck sometimes.

 

i own a 2000 trailhead goes anywhere i want it to go hunt duck and deer
pondered the swap to 4x4 but after extensive talks to several people i decided agait it


1st the power steering set up is different
not to mention all the crap ie vaccum lines etc wiring and
possible reprograming the chip/replacing the computer accoring my buddy
at the wrecking yard

btw he did swap his 2000 trailhead to a 9" font and rear but what a pain including the $$$$

but with time and patience and a good bottle of bourbon anyting is possible

 

Tim if you wanted to buy that ranger and turn it into an off-road beat you most cost effecive option would be to have a solid axle put in the front. This would require building or buying an axle (prices vary greatly) buying a fwd transfer case, and setting up a lever in the cab. You will need to fab your own parts and be able to weld. If the bed is trashed don't worry about buying a new one just make one.

This is all dependant on your or your fathers ability to weld. I am guessing that since you are here asking us then it isn't somehting you know how to do, (me neither). Given all this work it would cost you about 2 to 5 grand using average parts. But if you had to pay some one to do it you are looking at double that.

If yoiu abd your father are looking for a good offroad vehicle then buy a late 80's early 90's 4x4. any make. wheel it and see if you want to tale on the project of building a vehicle.

 

Holy Risen From the Grave Thread......
you would think when you gents saw the Dave & Julie post it would have clued you in

 

Well, I'm doing this and it doesn't have to be that expensive if you can do much of the work yourself. It's probably TOTALLY impractical to do this to a "daily driver".

Really the two hardest parts with a trailhead or Edge 4x2 are these:

1. You need a different transmission (from a 4x4) or to modify the one you have. The reason? The final adaptor and tailshaft are different. The transmission has to be removed to change the tailshaft. So you're looking at a remove-modify-install or swapping in a replacement tranny that the transfer case will bolt to.

2. Wiring and all for the electrically controlled transfer case. I'm making my own controls and dodging that one. I don't need the "sophistication" and "safeties" of the Ford control system.

I can't remember if the rear driveshaft is compatible, but I think not. That's trivial though.

Since I'm going to keep this truck "forever" and just keep building it over time, it is MUCH cheaper for me to do a 4x4 conversion than start with another truck and do all the mods I've done ALL OVER AGAIN, lol. I've got a kickin' rear axle setup and it makes more sense to me to do a SAS and keep a truck I already love.

Of course, if I'd known I'd like to offroad, I'd have bought a 4x4 in the first place!

 

same here. unless its totalled, im keeping my truck. i didnt have the option of buying a 4x4, but im going to put as much $ as i need to into it to make it one. john, does the same transmission problem affect mine? no trailhead edition or anything, plus im going to do the manual t-case. im working on getting the axles, and already have the t-case and front driveshaft. what else comes to mind besides the ecu wiring for the t-case?

 

Yes, I'm afraid it does. Only the 4x4 transmissions have the bobbed rear adaptor and shaft that make a direct bolt-up to the transfer case. Actually, I probably should have noted that. What I mean when I say those are the "main" problems is that I don't have to deal with the coil springs like in your truck.

I'm not at all sure what the issues are converting your front suspension, or whether an older TTB front would work better with your coils.

Really, the ECU has not much to do with it if you're not concerned with interlocking what speed you can shift at (which with a manual case is certainly not an issue) and speedo correction. I won't have speedo correction in 4-low but I really could care less about that. If it doesn't bother you, don't worry about it.

There is a possible issue with the automatics I haven't addressed yet, which is shift points. I need to see where the output shaft sensor comes from on the 4x4 but I think it's on the t-case. I may have to try to fool that in some way so the auto tranny shifts well.

Although, maybe not. I doubt I'll be using it in "D" with 4-low. "L" and "2" are much more useful as they apply engine braking whereas "D" can really be fooled by wheel slippage, etc. I may simply not worry about auto tranny shifting and just figure on manual control like I do currently. I almost never wheel in any critical situation in "D" as it is.

 

The OSS is on the transmission housing on 2001+ Rangers, 4x2 or 4x4.

The drive shaft plugs into the back of the trans on a 4x2 but it is a flange mount on a 4x4. The slip yoke is ahead of the forward U-joint on the 4x2 and slides on the transmission output shaft spline. On the 4x4, it is integral to the driveshaft between the U-joints. Completely different.

I believe that you will need a 4x4 PCM calibration or external correction box when you're in 4LO. The calibrations that I've seen use a shift schedule table based primarily on calculated vehicle speed and throttle position. Introduce a 2.48 multiplier and I doubt that it will ever get out of first gear!