Here I will show you my upgrades and mods that I will do on my truck. I will include pictures and the progress of most of the mods/upgrades. I would also like to use this thread to ask questions and gain info. Now onto the modding!

04/16/2008 Upgrade: RECON White Lightning

A little dirty so I washed her first





And now the Install!!



Cleaned the surface some more and final prepped for mounting with an alcohol pad that comes with the kit. Now getting it all lined up. Used a tape measure to line up all mounting points. But the led's on the strip are not perfect so eyballing it to the center is all you can do. Before I mounted it for good. I held it up using some tape; then hooked up the wiring. I tested it out and realigned it to my liking. I then put some blue tape right above the mounting base's and made sure it was straight as I could get it. Drew a line to resemble where the mounting point is going to be. I did the inner to first and removed the tape. I lined it up with the tape measure first then after everything was all set i put her on! Then the same process for the outer mounting points. I removed the light bar and got some crape pieces of wood and pushed a little harder to get that bondage!



White wire is for the power to the reverse light. Popped off the drivers side brake lens and tapped into the black and pink wire.



What I love about this kit is that it's pretty much plug and play. I could have just Tapped into all the wires I needed to, but that's to hard! I used the 4 pin trailer/brake light connector that I didn't know I had. Just plugged it right in!



After tucking all the wires up with zip-ties and getting it all done you have this as the final product!

With out Tailgate.


With Tailgate on. As you can see it's pretty much hidden. Unless your in a lowered Honda you can see it. But it looks good and clean.



Now some action shots. (HaHa at my reflection!)





Like I said before it was very easy to install. Now I know I wasn't going to expect it to produce much light at all, but the whole point for it is to act like a running lights in the rear. I may upgrade to some 06+ taillights and throw in some LED bulbs to kinda match the light bar when in reverse and not to mention the 06+ ones look sweet! Now that I notice my bumper looks a little f*#$!ed up. A little crooked maybe? O well maybe I was holding the camera all crooked!!

Now I just need to save up and get my lift going. Still not sure if I want to go with a Fabtech 5.5 Ultimate lift, but I'm leaning toward it more than anything else.




Also got a little early B-Day present for my self. I need some dirt tires for it and register it so I can take it to Hollister Hill's It's a 125cc and can hold up to a 250lbs person, but I'm 200 so I have no worries.

 

Lol I just stuck my White Lightning on when I got it from another member. Looks great to me. Sweet truck, 04s rule!

 

Awsome man, I think the RECON bar looks great and works pretty damn good. Post pics of how yours are if you want. I ordered up some LED's off of superbrighleds.com 40+ shipping for 2 3156 25led backup lights and 2 912 12led to mod for my Explorer OHC. A little expensive but I bought led's off of ebay years ago and they burnt out after 6 month's which I never understood. I think these one's are better quality and are built better.

Now I am wanting to upgrade my front valance to the textured one with Fog light cut outs. Certfit has them for pretty cheap. I would want to hook up some fog lights to my headlights so every time I turn on my headlights they go on. I wouldn't have to worry about installing some switches and crap. I would get some OEM fog lights and put yellow bulbs in them, to give it a better contrast between the white headlights and yellow fog lights.

 

You probably already know this....but you'll have to get a new metal bumper as well as the xlt 4x4 style valence to run stock fogs.

Looks good. What else is planned for your rig?

 

Yea that's what I thought I would have to do is get the 4x4 upper bumper to go with the new valance. The 4x2 is a little diff from the 4x4 one? I was wanting to stay with the black bumper just because I like it better. O well if I have to get a chrome bumper then I will have to replace the front grill to an OEM chrome one.

The next plans for the rig is:
Fabtech 5.5 Ultimate Lift (but I don't like the idea of running block's and AAL I would rather have a new leaf spring package to level out for a 5-6 inch lift. Blocks and AAL's seem to be half *** imo.)
Procomp 8179 rims 15x8
BFG AT 33/12.50
depending on who can do it some 4.56 gears.

 

4/19/2008 OHC LED MOD LED Reverse Lights

So as most of you guys know that have the OHC the orig bulbs are kinda put in the housing stupid. Mine didn't work to well because of that stupid copper contact thingy. So I rigged up some LED's to it and they work a lot better then if the orig worked. Also got a 25 led reverse bulb and it works pretty good. I ordered from superbrightleds.com ( I have has bad experience in the past with ebay led's.) Anywas they did send me one bulb that was the wrong color so I have to send it back. But o well you get the idea of it. Soon my reverse lights will match the White Lightning.

stupid copper thingy!

 

Ok so I have a few questions as far as lifting my 2wd Ranger.

1. I would like to use The Fabtech 5.5" lift kit for my ranger.

2. I do not want to use the aal kit and blocks for my ranger I would rather get a new leaf spring package and some shackles.

I was thinking of using Deaver Leaf Springs 2.5" and then get a 2" or so shackle for the rear spring to hopefully level it out. I hoping this would be a good solution. What are your thoughts and opinions on it?


If you have some answers or some suggestions then chime in. If you have other suggestions on lifts then that's always good too. I use my truck as an everyday driver and don't plan on doing anything hardcore or anything crazy. So I don't need a crazy 10k lift. LoL Thanks again guys.

 

 

got horses?

 

yea we had 2 but we had to put one down 2 years ago. So now we have one that is about 24 and still looks great and has energy of a 10 year old horse.

 

we've got 4 and a mule, mule is probably about to die :( and trying to get rid of 2 horses..

truck looks good bud

 

Yea mules can be a horse's best friend and keep them company.

But I decided to go with an RCD lift for my 2wd pickup. They come with better shocks then the Fabtech ones and I would get more bang for the buck. After I get it installed I could then firgure out how to get a good pair or leaf's to put in and run no blocks.

 

Sweet I'm gonna have to do that LED map light thing, thats awesome!

 

Well I went into 4wheel parts today since there having an end of the month sale. Buy any 3 selected pro comp wheels and get the 4th one free! So I had them quote me on 15x8 Pro Comp 8069's and 33x12.50 BFG All T/A for 1,220. Everything included plus warranty, mounting and balancing. It may be good but I also asked them how much for the Fabtech lift and install and they quoted me 2,200. I was pretty shocked. I'm still wanting to go with the RCD lift and if there is nothing needed to weld I can do it my self in a day. I found an RCD kit off of ebay and I'm going to see if I can win it!

 

Oh yea got these bad boys on today!

 

Got them from 4wheel parts.com Buy 3 get 1 free deal and free warranty on all tires.











At the end of the month I am going to go back and just get the Fabtech Ultimate 5.5 lift and have them install it. Going to look badASS!!

 

You could have gotten them cheaper off of summitracing.com but they look freakin good.

 

 

Well I called up 4wheelparts.com and the lift is getting on earlier than I planned! So for 2360= lift+ install+alignment. I'm getting the 5.5 Fabtech Ultimate Lift put on. I know most of you guys probably hate Fabtech but I figured just go with them. I'm not planning on going to the sand dunes and jumping 25ft in the air. I would want to use my truck for going camping and that sort of reason. Small recreational use only really. Plus I hate the stock ride and how low it is. It feels like a car with a bed on the back. Any ways I take it down tomorrow and afternoon and won't get it back until Friday evening. So I hope everything turns out well and I'll get pics for all you ppl that crave the digi's!

 

cant wait to see it its gonna be sick
those tires are freakin huge compared to the stockers

 

Washed the Ranger up stock for the last time. Took some quick pics and waited for my friend to take me down to 4wheel parts to get the lift installed. Have to wait till friday to get it back.






Well about 2 hours after I dropped the truck off I got a call from 4wheelparts saying that my Steering shafts had play in them and would be suggestive to replace them. They said they will wear out quicker with the bigger tires if I don't get it resolved. So I decided to tell to replace it and do what they need to do to make it right. They also said that my tranny had a small leak and said it would be wise to take to a tranny shop to check it out, since in fact that 2 or 3 times it shiffted really hard since I bought the truck so I know I need to have the transmission looked at or at least have them change the fluid. Any ways they added 465 to my bill wich brings it to about 2,8xx some thing. But I'm not worrying to much about it since in fact these things happen and I want my truck to be running good. It's good to know about these things and fix them before its too late. I'll let you guys know if there's anything else that comes up in this process.

 

Well got back a while ago from 4wheelparts with my new lifted truck! It looks pretty badass and they said a lot of people that came in gave a lot of compliments on it from what they told me. Any ways here are some quick ones and I will get some more tomorrow with my friends better camera. I think the 33's make it look good. Now I can just imagine you guys with the SAS trucks and how tall they are to clear the 37" tires!

 

That looks so good, can't wait to get mine sitting up there.

 

then pics:

is it just me or is that LED light bar unlevel? it looks closer to the top edge of the bumper on the pass then the driver's side.

as for now pics:

looks good with the lift. what is the backspacing of the wheels and tires?
i'd keep the 2wd bumper and get one of those pre-runner bumper things for lights or mount your lights in the holes in the middle.

 

Yea it looks like the led light bar in the rear is not perfect (I may have been taking the picture crooked too perhaps.) but it's more or less the leds inside the tube are not even and perfect in a straight line. I measured and eye balled it to the best I could and I think the bumper is not lined up correctly. I guess its a multiple things that make it look un-even.

The backspacing on the rims is 3.75. They stick out a little more then I wanted but I don't mind it at all. Gives more of wider aggressive stance. I have also been checking out those pre runner bars for the ranger and ORI makes one that's looks close to the Fabtech one. But I was thinking of putting on a Chrome 06 Grill (looks like the one on there now but chrome.) And to match the Chrome bumper and bottom valance. But I don't know. I need to do some other things before I make that choice. The light par with some PIAA driving lights would look good.