The Lone Ranger – Kage’s ’94 X-Cab Leaf SAS and Bed Bob

[4.0B2]

ohhh yeah!! i like it

 

[Andres629]

Man, come a long way! Truck has copious amounts of radness built in.

 

[Kage]

Sliders

I’ll start off by saying I’m not real happy with how these turned out. I wanted to go ahead and cut out the rockers to get a bit more clearance, but wound up leaving them lower to make it easier for the wife to get in and out. We’ll see how I like them after my first trip out, but for right now they’ll do.

Since I’m cheap, I started out with some drop 2x5x1/4 wall tube that was a bit too short:

So I burned them together:

Added the attachment points via some 2x4/1/4 wall tube (there’s also some additional tubes as well that I added later):

And burned them on:

Since there isn’t that many V notches out here, I’m not that worried about getting hung up on them (We’ll see if that holds true or not). I’ve got them sticking out ½” past the widest portion of the door. I found this placement worked out great when I did it on the XJ (it allowed me to pivot off rocks/tree’s easily).

Maybe they’ll grow on me, but for now we’ll call this version one…

 

[Kage]

License Light

I thought someone might need an idea for a compact light in the future. Here’s my solution to the problem:

It’s a LED motorcycle license plate light. Its cheap and compact (my two requirements). We’ll see how long it holds up..

(photo is kinda dark, the whole plate is illuminated at night)

 

[Kage]

ohhh yeah!! i like it

Man, come a long way! Truck has copious amounts of radness built in.

Thanks guys!

The short list is getting very short for its first trip out I need:
-Gas tank Skid
-Wire CB
-Get Spare mounted
-Balance Rear Tires (BB’s)

Nice to haves:
-Winch Wired up
-Cage
-Tool storage

Also, the Ranger is going to be our ride for the road trip this weekend, we'll see how much it likes long highway drives

 

[Kage]

1st Long Road trip

The wife and I took the first ‘long’ road trip in the Ranger this weekend (about 600 miles round trip). While not really part of the build, I thought a little update on how the thing does on the road would make some sense.

Onto the photos!

Headed south (MO) on the two lane for awhile:

Stopped at Blue Springs:

Continued on To Rocky Falls:

And then onto Alley Spring/Mill. This mill is a little different as it uses a turbine instead of a water wheel to power the machinery:

More two lane, and a quick trip down a ‘creek’ road, We stopped and grabbed some photos of the Ranger:

No real issues with the truck on the way down other than a motor mount starting to let go. So we stopped an said ‘hi’ to some relatives near Hartville Mo, loaded up and headed back home:

At this point in the trip, things turned a bit sour. It turns out my truck doesn’t like to act like a truck. When it is loaded up in the rear (had about a ½ to ¾ ton of rock on it), the soft rear suspension likes to sway dramatically at highway speeds above 55 mph. A few white knuckle moments here and there, not anywhere near as bad as death wobble, but still concerning.

As a result of that swaying, my rear shocks have overheated to the point of leaking some of their oil, so I’m not sure how long they are for this world. The swaying also didn’t help out the motor mount situation, which led to things shifting around enough to cause an exhaust leak (knowing my luck, its one of the dang headers leaking).

Other than those issues, I’m extremely happy with the trucks road manners. Even with the gears being what they are, there wasn’t any issues holding highway speeds (loaded or unloaded) which surprised me some. At this point, I think the biggest improvement to be made in the road manners is adding something to stiffen up the front steering (Hyro, or trac bar) as the front shackles allow for a bit more slop in the front than I like.

I’m not quite sure how to attack the rear loaded swaying problem just yet (other than tightening up the front will help some). I’m not sure if slapping a sway bar on the back is the answer, or just adding something to help stiffen up the rear some (Bags?). I don’t plan on hauling that much in this, so its not a priority at this point.

 

[4.0B2]

new wallpaper-- for a little while at least.

 

[kris97ranger]

While I don't think you should be hauling that much weight in a ranger ( especially considering the frnt of your bed is gone so there's more weight behind the rear axle and that's Gonna make the front end light)

I can I have done it lol but I had air shocks in the back and pumped them up to 120psi and it drove fine and didn't sway. I'd say air bags are the bes option. Empty you get good flex and ride. Then when you need the stiffness you have it

 

[Kage]

new wallpaper-- for a little while at least.

Thanks!

While I don't think you should be hauling that much weight in a ranger ( especially considering the frnt of your bed is gone so there's more weight behind the rear axle and that's Gonna make the front end light)...

I konw what you're getting at there, but that was not the case. Most the weight was made up of fairly large rocks, which I stacked at the front of the bed ahead of the axle. That way there wasn't a large concentration of weight hanging out in the ass end. The front never felt light during the trip (though my caster angle was improved some )

While it wasn't sitting level, it wasn't anywhere near the bumpstops either:

That said, I don't plan on making this a regular occurance either. At least not 3 hour long hauls anyway

..I can I have done it lol but I had air shocks in the back and pumped them up to 120psi and it drove fine and didn't sway. I'd say air bags are the best option. Empty you get good flex and ride. Then when you need the stiffness you have it

I'm looking at air shocks right now as I need to swap out the rear shocks (they were kinda crap before, now even more so). What brand did you use?

 

[kris97ranger]

I don't know for sure but I think Monroe. They were white and Had 2 airlines going to a valve stem I mounted inside the gas door.

 

[kroussinoffroad]

air bag's stiffened up the back of my other truck alot even when deflated (recomended 5 psi min) it still made a noticable difference in the rear.

 

[Kage]

I don't know for sure but I think Monroe. They were white and Had 2 airlines going to a valve stem I mounted inside the gas door.

Thanks, I was looking at those, I think for now I'll just rock another set of cheap shocks (A guy in my jeep club tipped me off that '98 GMC 1500 Rear shocks measure about what I need). Since they're all of $20, I'll use them for this trip out. I can allways spend the bucks on the air shocks later.

air bag's stiffened up the back of my other truck alot even when deflated (recomended 5 psi min) it still made a noticable difference in the rear.

Really? I wouldn't have thought they would make much of a difference deflated. Huh, thanks for the heads up.

 

[railman]

you should try to make it down here June 10th-12th....we see how she does on the trails

l8r, John

 

[kroussinoffroad]

they were on a 91 4wd chev reg cab short bed and it definately rode alot stiffer on the road. didnt do much off-road with it so not sure how it affected suspension travel just made it feel like it had stiffer compression on the shocks.

 

[Kage]

you should try to make it down here June 10th-12th....we see how she does on the trails

l8r, John

I'd like to, but I've got to spend some time with the wife (This weekend is our anniversary, and I'll be out wheeling, so its in my best interest to take here somewhere the weekend after if I want to continue sleeping in my own bed ). I will get down there to see you guys sometime this year though

they were on a 91 4wd chev reg cab short bed and it definately rode alot stiffer on the road. didnt do much off-road with it so not sure how it affected suspension travel just made it feel like it had stiffer compression on the shocks.

Gotcha, thanks!

I'm running out of time in a hurry here, the short list is looking like this

Must do's:
-Swap rear shocks out
-Build Gas Tank Skid
-Finish wiring up the CB
-Get my spare mounted on a rim

Would Like to have dones:
-Mount/Wire Winch
-BB balance the rear tires
-Some sort of tool storage/sparetire tie downs
-Cage

Why does it allways seem like I'm scrambling around down to the last minute before a wheeling trip?