Well I figured I should start one of these if for nothing else it will at least help me remember how much money I'm going to dump into this thing.

Specs: 94 Ranger extended cab, 4.0, M5od, 4x4

So far the only thing not stock on it is the lift, tires, and bigger rear end. (8.8 instead of the 7.5)
I have also swapped the auto transfer case for the BW 1354.
The front is the 8inch Skyjacker kit. I was able to get the alignment correct with 3 degree bushings and
it actually steers quite well thanks to an 8 inch drop pittman arm from a superduty.
For the rear I used the stock top spring with an Explorer pack with the eyes cut off and a Procomp add-a-leaf.

Stock:



Spring comparison:


Lift installed:

 

Looks good, just needs bigger meats!

 

Thanks! They are going on this weekend, didn't want to drive to the alignment shop on the big ones.

 

What tires are you getting?

 

Looks good, now you need some big tires. Are you planning on bumpers or anything?

 

For now it's getting 33inch baja claws that came with the lift on dick cepek dc2s. I'll probably be going to at least a 35. Bumpers might be in the distant future but this is going to be a pretty low budget build and I don't rock climb or even mud it that hard so bumpers aren't a huge need in my eyes. Thanks for the positive comments and I'll add some pics after the tires go on this weekend.

 

Looks good! Well horrible with the small tires, but will look great with the 33s.

What gears are you running?

 

I agree, it looks silly with the small tires lol. I have 4.10s in it, open front and rear at the time being.

 

Looks good. It'll look a lot better with the new tires

 

As promised, here are the pics with the bigger meats on it. It cleared 35's nicely but 33s will do until the funds become available.

 

Nothing special to update but I got some 35's. Plans for a SAS are now in the works.

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What kind of axle are you gonna go with?

 

Early bronco Dana44. I also have a 9in. but I'm not sure if that's what I want to use yet.

 

Sweet man. Truck looks awesome on those 35's. Kind of makes me want to get an older ranger to build.

 

Looks good!

 

Not much done to the truck on account of the SAS being built and going in this weekend. 4/11/2016. But for the record 37's fit with the 8in skyjacker.
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Looks good. Are you going to gear the axles at all?

 

The rear already has 4.10s and the Dana 44 going in the front just got a new set of 4.10s. I thought it would be a total dog with the heavy 37's and steel wheels but it can still get up and go with the 4.0.

 

Wow. Nice to see a local guy on here. Good luck on the SAS. I just recently started planning mine. If you're interested in joining a Florida ranger group, check out Florida Ford Rangers on Facebook. We have an April meet planned up towards you in Brandon.

 

This thread just makes me wish I kept my '95 Ranger... :(

 

After months of doing what seemed like nothing but buying parts it's finally in there.
Step 1: Sandblast and Paint everything.



I know the treads are still messed up, they were stripped and painted before installing.





Yes those are locking Grade 8 bolts on the diff cover. Not necessary but it looks pretty cool.

 

Step 2: Clean and install all the new goodies. It's got all new seals and bearings throughout.







If you can get your hand on one of these kits it will make your life a thousand times easier working with an old rusty axle from the early 70s. Cleaned every threaded hole on the whole front end.

 

Step 3: Drilling. Lots of drilling.

The heims that I ordered from RuffStuff Specialties Used non tapered 5/8" bolts so we drilled straight through with a 11/16" and sleeved the knuckles. For those of you who have tried drilling a factory pittman arm you know that it's a real SOB, we went through 2 drill bits, tried heating with the torches and then drilling but to no avail and ended up using some diamond bits on a rotary tool like ones you use to port engine heads then sleeved it.



Test Fit.



For tie rod and drag link I'm running 1.5" X .25" DOM with Heims from RuffStuff Specialties.

Drilling for the James Duff SAS trac bar bracket. It was a bit pricey but for basically bolt on ease and the cleanliness of the install I'd buy it again.

 

More Goodies
James Duff polyurethane bushing set and lower coil buckets.


(note more grade 8 hardware)

Heim joints burned in. The threads had been coated in hi temp anti seize, hence the copper color.



Better shot of the Trac bar mount. It bolts to your factory coil buckets and goes to the engine cross member where it bolts to the back of the engine mount and has a few more holes for more additional mounting bolts.

 

The fun part of doing this swap is that the new longer radius arms bolt right where the ranger transmission mount bolts on. To get by this we removed the ranger crossmember and fabricated a new one that bolts to the factory holes on the new radius arm brackets. The rear hole on the radius arm brackets mounts to the rear holes for the factory ranger transmission mount making lining everything up a breeze.

What the new crossmember started life as:



3/8" steel plate. Overkill? Maybe but who cares.





My buddy is an amateur welder but I don't think it's going anywhere any time soon.



In the truck.



If it looks crooked it's because it's on the lift a bit caddywompus because the arms of the lift go right where the radius arm brackets need to be.