Looks great!!

 

ya i might of damaged something in the ac or heater, im not sure what the compartments on the passenger side are but they were smoking something bad after i welded on the frames with a battery connected. i can still smell it tonight.

i managed to get the steering mounted, plummed and hardware installed and mostly mechanically finished. my brakes were the real issue, they were spongy and soft and there was no way to firm them up. by the end of the day i towed it into ford and let the mechanic at it. he took one look at it and said the calipers were on the wrong side as the bleeder was on the bottom of the caliper not allowing all the air to be bled from the caliper. once they were flipped and bleeders on top, finished the brakes and they were much better. it steers beautifuly, p/s works well. i had it up to 80kmh on the way home from ford with no real issues. it likes to move with the bumps a bit, but it tracks fairly well.

my gears are a little noisy and i can hear what sounds like a high spot or something as i drive. im going to take it into the shop tomorrow and see what they think is wrong there..

i need to make a steering shaft support, but it drives ok without one for now. i also need to figure out shocks and mounting for them. and i also need to finish the frames and clean them up.

ill post more pictures tomorrow when things calm down a little here.. im still a little shocked of what i actually did to the truck haha

 

the brakes are never gunna be 100% like they used to be imo lol
surprised ford even helped you! haha

 

Looks great!

 

Looks good. My brakes don't feel any different than stock. Its the steering that gives me hell. When the weather starts to cool off I'm gonna redo a couple things on mine.

 

well aint that good and dandy for you

 

Finally some progress! Looks great!! My brakes work excellent like they did stock. It steers well for what it is too!

 

Did you go to rear disc brakes as well?

Id recommend upgrading the master cylinder regardless.

Truck looks good so far! Sounds like its driving well too

 

Lookn good! I've done a lot of welding on mine and never had a problem. Its usually bad luck that it happens to a few here and there.

 

Yeah I have done a lot of welding as well, I dont unhook the battery all that often really.

 

i forgot my camera at work but i got more pics from today. i finished a support for the steering shaft and its a hella lot better lol. the steering was already awesome but the support got rid of any little bit of bind i was getting before. i did some test driving around town to break in the gears, and got it right up to 100kmh without any issues. i find the tru trac up front to be a little noisy sometimes, but everything checks out fine.

i spent most of the day continuing to cut off old scrap from the frames and running around trying to figure out driveshaft fitment. ill need to redesign the exhaust a little for the drive shaft to clear. and it will also need to be lengthened around 3-4". and hopefully there is enough flex in the shaft to clear all the down travel because i dont think there is as it sits. the drive shaft shop is going to order some fancy offset u joints to hopefully give me a little more flex from the shaft.

tomorrow ill be taking it in for an alignment to get the toe straight on. and then ill be back in the shop hopefully finishing some cosmetics.

its funny how much attention the truck gets. people just dont know what to make of it. i even had someone ask if it was an f250 lol..

 

looks good, you should definetly see the spings settle at least an inch. what size of tire are you planning to run?

 

too bad you are an edge/sport model. I need 2wd lift spindles and I would buy yours.

just curios why did you decide to go with a D30 when D44s are easier to swap and much stronger.

 

35" MTR's will go on it, in the spring. probably on some cheapo black powered steel wagon wheels.. those will be my all season tire. ill get rid of my ATZ's on the classic 2 wheels since my ifs really messed them up. ill polish the classics up nice and mount something on them for the street. the aluminum is just to hard to keep nice in the off season.

the d30 was 10 times easier to find in the correct width, and matches the truck very nicely. and for my intended purpose of the vehicle at this point of its life. the d30 is all i will need to make my vehicle all weather and terrain ready.

there is nothing saying that a d44 is easier to swap then a d30. it just breaks down to how big you wanna go and how much to want to spend..

 

no i still have the stock drums, the front brakes actually work better then my stockers ever did lol

 

to what master? f150?

 

oh ok, good! i had the same result with my D30. haha

wait until you upgrade to discs and get a larger master cylinder. wow is all i got.

 

x2 i wanna try this..

 

1996 F250 with cruise control.

You have to run some new lines though because they connect on the passenger side of the master cylinder opposite of the ranger.

Its 1.25" bore master cylinder and the ranger is .75.

Advance auto has them for like 35 bucks reman.

 

no way? thats a nice cheap upgrade! bolt in otherwise though?

 

yes bolt in besides the lines.

 

since we are talking about it -- I dont know if it will be needed in his application. Whats the reason behind getting a proportion valve?

 

They are used to allow less pressure in the rear,so they don't lock up first in a hard brake.

 

unless you have a jacked up wheel cylinder like the rangers are prone to...

 

its only needed if you have rear disc brakes.