A little background to go along with my signature, I was with search and rescue all through high school but had to stop when I went to college, home now and graduated so I joined back up and as part of that my goal is to build my truck as a daily driver that is very capable for the duties that will be demanded of it. I am going to document some of the more recent work I have been doing to make it a more capable Search and Rescue rig here.

What it started life as - 2003 Ford Ranger FX4 4.0



little bit of paint, lots of interior mods and some wheels and tires and this is how it was for most of my time at school





The major work started in December, got a good deal on a used superlift from a member here and went to work.



replaced all the ball joints with MOOGS because I was taking it all apart any way.



Lift done



Front Receiver hitch project





after explorer springs and December mods



the shocks with the lift were shot so next came lots of goodies from Fox Racing





all the shocks are installed but waiting to do the coils when I tackle a later mod.

My receiver is often occupied so rear recovery points were necessary

welded some LII hokes to the rear hitch



A few pictures from after a mission.





Next came something to fill the front receiver. XRC 10 Winch.



Tensioning the cable



Next came HID Projectors ( D2S 4300k Morimotos Five5s)









and most recently is a place to mount more of my gear to free up the cab for transporting teams Thule Moab Basket with modified mounts so it sits near flush with the roof. My shovel, axe, chain saw, Gas, water and 48 hour pack will all go on the roof. (sorry about the dark pics it was getting late.)





those are all currently in work along with Lockers and gears. soon to have 4.56 gears with a Torsen LS in the front diff and an Auburn Ected LS/ Locker in the rear.



Let me know if you have any questions and I will be working on a complete mod list soon because there is lots more I have not covered here.

Thanks for reading!

 

Nice start! Are you going to use it to go off in the woods camping or pretty much just for helping with the search and rescue team?

 

Of Course! The SAR organization I am with is all Volunteer we DONT get paid so it will be used plenty for my own enjoyment out in the woods!

 

awesome. looks just like straycats truck on TRS

 

we had a great meet out at Tahuya ORV this past Saturday figured I might as well show people my truck actually does spend some time out in the dirt.

I had a great time showing everyone around but enough talk on to pics.

Poser flex





this is my "I get to use my new winch to drag a honda ridgline up a hill" face



stuck honda





Nasty looking hill climb that the truck made look easy










































It was a great trip and I defiantly need to get moving on my slider project. no damage to my step bar but it could have been much worse.

 

Awesome work and great pics! I was just going to mention that you need some sliders on there.

 

Looks great!

Side note, Shane's truck is looking good too.

 

Grips of sexy time in this thread. You and Shane have legit Rangers.

 

Looks great! Love that winch and those projectors.... I WANT SOME

 

Love the truck

 

Love it

 

Got some stuff done, 4.56 Yukon Gears with an Auburn Ected rear and a a torsen LS in the front. Rear strobe bar installed and mountaineer Leather power seats.

video of my new light bar



----------

pics of the truck in Search mode with the new light bar and the magnets in place.







New seats

 

I like the light bar! Where did you get it?

 

Its a Strobes and More e48 traffic adviser, its a great bar and the control head is fantastic. it has an LED read out of what the rear bar is doing.

 

Love your truck. That toredor red is so legit. Wish mine was that color.

And you're doing some great mods!

 

Thanks man how's that cap working out for you?

 

For someone haveing a fairly stock height Ranger I would say you might have one of the most capable Rangers out there.

 

Thanks! I can't wait to get the truck out in the dirt with the new gears n diffs should be able to get anywear I can fit.

 

sweet truck. exactly where I want to go with mine. you have the line of fire wired into the strobe controller as well?

 

Honestly...i'm not really liking it. I might end up selling it and picking up a headache rack.

 

No I just have some led strips under the gate and in the rear windows for when I don't need the big light bar. They are controlled by an led strobe box and just switched on an off. They work well at bite when you don't want to blind people.

Well at least you got a good deal on it and got to try it out

 

There rare and elusive clean truck that gets used, very nice! Its begging for a joshp767 skidplate though.

Did those 285s rub at all before the lift?

 

I actually just paid josh for a Tcase skid, not a fan of his front skid, you need the skid under the diff crosmembers and in front of the crossmember, I will either build one or get the SL skid because I need to protect my diff for sure.

the 285s rubbed my sway bar at lock and bump but not much, had to remove the front mud flaps and it rubbed the rear bed side at full flex out on the trails. but for DD it was fine.

Thanks for the complements guys put the truck to use yesterday on a mission.

 

Truck looks awesome. Keep it up

 

This truck gets the LOVE BUTTON click from me!! So clean, so well thought out, so overall awesome. Plus, the dude driving it is a pretty swell guy too.