So I've been a long time lurker. Posted here and there occasionally but for the most part I've been on the outskirts and tried to glean what I need. I finally decided to come out of the shadows a bit. This ranger is by far the smallest truck I've ever owned and it's been a bit of a learning experience. My first was an '87 Bronco on 35's. Owned and beat the crap out of it for nearly a decade. Then I switched things up and bought a '72 Cougar. After that was the '94 F-150. Actually for a short time I owned all 3 at the same time. Sold the Bronco and Cougar, started college, then realized that $20 a day in gas was killing me so I traded the F-150 for the Ranger.

WARNING: NOT PIC HEAVY!

So, on to the meat and potatoes. On the lot the Ranger sat bone stock aside from a color matched fiberglass Leer canopy. At the time I had no use for and nowhere to store a canopy so I sold it (stupid!). I picked it up with 180 k on the stock 4.0. I didn't believe the odometer, it was way too clean for that many miles. The only mod I made when I first got it was to install my deck, amp, and subs. It stayed that way for about a year, just being my DD and dirtbike hauler. Eventually I started to modify it further by removing the silencer tube from the intake box, cranked to t-bars and installed 285/75r16 Toyo M/Ts and plasti-dipped the wheels and top of the hood. Didn't like the hood so I took that off. Ran a cab guard for a while. I got stuck on the snow on a snow day with my son so I decided to install the Ramsey 8k winch I've been hoarding for years. I had to remove or cut up my lower valance to fit it so I just took it off. It was like that for another year or so.

Chapter 3:
The latest round has come about since I quit riding and sold my bike. Bought an aluminum canopy off C/L and painted it black. Just recently I've added 3" shackles (rear springs are sacked out), ever so slightly turned up aftermarket keys and 2" extended Ranchos up front and a 6k HID conversion (forgot to consult the forum before that last one). Sitting in the garage waiting are MOOG uca's, Powerstop cross drilled and slotted rotors and HD towing pads, rear shocks, camber bolt kit, 40" LED bar, and a couple old sets of 6x9 KC Daylighters. Other future plans include a swing out tire carrier, a brush guard or front bumper build, some skid plating, wheels and a bump up to either 305/70r16s or 33x12.50r15s.

 

Nice truck. Love that bronco and F-150. Gotta love the dual tanks on the F-150.

 

Yeah I miss the crap out of that Bronco! Though if I got another full size it would be just like that F-150. Funny thing about the dual tanks was I never used them. I couldn't afford to fill 1 of them, let alone both!

 

Thanks, by the way.

 

That Cougar brings back memories. I had a 73 XR7 in 79. It even had an 8 track.

 

My 8 track was long gone when I got it. Mine was a '72 XR7. It was originally a 351c/fmx but had a 429/c6 swapped in.

 

That Cougar must have been sweet. My dad and I are restoring a '69 XR7 351W/FMX. Just put a new rear end under it and are about to swap an AOD in for the FMX. Its pretty sweet to say the least.

 

It was fun for sure.

 

Question: For those that don't know, I have a bixenon hid kit installed in factory headlights. Would removing the little dome reflectors that are in front of my bulbs help me at all? High beams are somewhat focused but lows are scattered all over the place and very uneven.

 

Got the Bronco a little stuck eh? lol nice ranger!

 

It may actually hurt your pattern. Cough projectors cough

Keep adding to the tread truck looks great

 

Lol yeah, forgot to shift the t-case into 4wd and by the time I realized that the front tires weren't turning I had already buried the *** end. 4wd was useless at that point and probably only made things worse. Thanks for the compliment.

 

I know Mike, I know. Just having a hard time trying to swallow that pill.

 

Hahah I hear ya the first swap is the cheapest. Once you are used to them u don't want to drive anything without amazing headlight lol

 

Did my front brakes today after work. Forgot to take pics till I was already done. I ended up getting Powerstop cross drilled and slotted rotors and Powerstop heavy duty / towing pads. Also I picked up some freebie parts that I can hopefully use for my HID projector conversion. I'll post up pics of those later but the gyst is that they are factory HID projector assemblies out of a Kenworth T660 semi truck. I know that the bulbs were d2s or whatever. They had big metal boxes on the backs of the bulbs. The ballasts were bolted directly the he housings and Hella is stamped all over those suckers. I'm not sure they will work though because in those headlights the low beam is HID but the high beam is a completely separate halogen bulb. Also the projector assembly looks to be way too deep to fit in the Ranger headlamps. I'll make sure to thoroughly photo document the dissection.

 

Here is a little bit of a picture update. All of my torx bits and drivers are at work so I didn't get to start disassembly on the headlights. Took some pics anyways. Also included a crappy pic of my brake job and my 40" LED bar. The outside 10 LEDs in each row have flood lenses while the rest are spot.

 

Just wondering, are the upholstered panels on the top of the door panels unique to rangers? I'm talking about the one above the arm rest. I'm a diesel tech and I may not always get all of the grease and dirt off my arms before I leave work and those panels are getting kinda nasty. Was wondering if explorers had the same panels and if I could swap out for leather or vinyl... Something easier to clean.

 

Some Rangers came with vinyl inserts

 

Ok, seems like my local "you go get the parts you need off of the 300 cars we got out back, haul it up here, then we'll charge you no less than 75% of the cost of a new part, regardless of the shoddy condition, and oh by the way, there is no warrantee" yard and see what they got. Usually they have a ton more explorers than rangers, let alone 5th gen rangers. I checked there on leaf springs for my truck one time. They wanted $100 EACH, I would have had to pull them myself, and if they were flat or damaged then it was on me.

 

Long time, no update. Haven't done much, been real busy. I did however put on some new treads. 35x12.5R15 Mastercraft CT tires on on Allied Daytona 15x8 wheels with 3.75" backspace. The Toyo's weren't gonna make it through the winter and one wore out of round. They fit for street use but that is about it. Gonna be making some small modifications to see how well I can make them work without a body lift, but that isn't out of the question. Has anyone ever rolled the lips on their bedsides? How well has it held up? Any cracking?

 

I know people have pulled the bedsides out to gain clearance. I dont think rolling the rear lips on gonna be enouhh clearance

 

Bought some explorer springs yesterday. I have no idea how sacked out my current springs are so I'm not sure what to expect. Guess it's gonna be trial and error. I'm running 3" shackles right now and my truck still squats an inch or so in the back with no load. Depending on how things look when I get them in I may have to flip the shackle, which I'm prepared to do, because i really don't want to lift it much more than I'm already sitting.

 

Did my explorer leaf swap yesterday. With factory blocks and lift shackles I sit about 2" high in the rear. I'm gonna play around with it and drop a hole on the shackles and if I'm still not happy I'll put my stock ones back in. I'll tell you though. It's really nice not having 90 psi in the air shocks.

 

Went up and played in the hills above town the other day. My buddies FJ80 on 35's got stuck and needed a tug, my Ranger had no issues.

 

haha nice