What engine did you go with? Sounds good.
Back in 97' we tried a PSD in a 96' ranger, to see if it would work. Engine was pretty mild, only 315hp. Only mods to truck was mount reinforcements and crossmembers. Heavier coils for weight.
It lasted about 3 months! The torque ended up twisting the frame and the front axle fell apart from the added weight. It was done just to see if it would work.
A friend took same motor and put in a 95' ranger. But, he had about $3k in frame reinforcement and one ton axles. Now, that truck is still going strong, last time I heard.
The 4bt vibration can be overcome with proper mounts.
I really like Mercedes diesels for small truck swaps. Not big powerhouses. But, very dependable setups.
Like I said, anything is possible with time and money!
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now you have me curious...
where are you at? where did you build these rigs?
the ranger...the second ranger, did you guys work at carron and co at that time and the owner lives near waltz? i seen it for sale about 8-9 years ago near willow and at m.i.s., but it had a total custom frame so not noteworthy to me. I am detroit native, and you sound like many of the prototype/ x wrench contract house guys i have run with in the past. And...my name is Bobby Walter oddly enough. I am shitty with names for the most part so for all i know we know each other. the projects you listed sure as hell sound familiar.
i used a 6.5 in my ranger initially. and now a 6.2. but i will likely put a mechanical 6.6 d max in so i can run blended fuels. i had less then $400 into the initial swap.
i regulalry detroyed dana 35 beams and damaged my frame with 260-300 plus hp sbf's in my ranger prior to the diesel swap, but i run one ton axles in it now. and fawked all of that shit up too with a wimpy ass sbf ford in there.
but nothing in the destruction dept that is not manageable. i dont think i could get 300 hp out of a 6.2 or 6.5 for very long... but a 250 hp 7.3 i cant see as a problem, anything you can do with motor mounts to calm one of those 4bt turds would only further soften the blow of one of the smoother v8's.
unless you were tough trucking or rock racing i cant see a psd destroying an rbv platform. and even then, like i said...a sbf will do that in those conditions.
and in general, i am not "easy" on my million mile truck chassis.