Project Adventure Ranger: 95 Ranger Build

Picked up another Ranger a few weeks ago with the idea using it as an "adventure" rig. This truck is going to be built with the intent of being a comfortable driver while still having enough off road prowess to conquer mild trails and extended back country trips. It needs to be as reliable as possible, so I'll be going through the entire truck from front to rear and upgrading some parts as I go. I'll be on a budget for this build since I already have too many projects, going to try to do it as cheap as possible without cutting corners. I'll be using parts I already have laying around and scrounging for good deals on parts I do not have. I'm going to try to keep the total cost at or under $5k including the price of the truck.

Some basic info about the truck. It's a 95, 168k, 4.0/5spd, 3.27's, manual hubs/tcase, power everything, A/C, cruise/tilt, keyless entry (had no idea that was even available on a 95) and everything works. It runs awesome, and has pulled down the best fuel mileage I've ever personally experienced out of a 4.0, which was 21.1 mpg on 170 miles of twisty two lane highway. The body is in good shape other than a dent in the driver side quarter panel. The only real issues it has is the clutch slave is leaking, and the windshield is cracked. Because of those two issues I was able to get the guy down to a $1600 purchase price. I sold the canopy right away for $150 so net cost was $1450. Here's some pics of the day I brought it home.






These are the plans for the truck at this point in time:

3" James Duff Stage III lift (already have laying around from my V8 truck)
4.56 gears
Some sort of traction aids front and rear
Possibly an Explorer 8.8
33X10.50's
Ditch stock front and rear bumpers for high clearance tubular ones

For now that is it, other than general maintenance stuff. I'm sure other things/ideas will pop up along the way. Stay tuned...

Manual shift tcase stock too... Lucky Bastid! Sounds like you have solid plans already laid out... as far as the adventure thing goes, get some good sliders and bumpers built with a winch tucked up nice and high for good approach angle and giv'r!.....

It's been years since my ranger was that clean!

I'm defiantly watching this one your truck is gonna be my trucks twin lol!

Adventure as in camping, or adventure as drive it in absurd places? I might be following this thread as well, but as far as camping, I've always weighed keeping a camper shell on it so I can camp in there, versus a small utility trailer or just carrying a tent around. A topper shell seems to offer a convenient, dry 6ft space to sleep in, as I've done it before. I actually have the exact same topper and liked the fact it had screens on the sliding windows.

Soo pretty!

Ill be watching this one!

wahlstrom1 said:

Manual shift tcase stock too... Lucky Bastid! Sounds like you have solid plans already laid out... as far as the adventure thing goes, get some good sliders and bumpers built with a winch

Click to expand...

See I already forgot something! It will definitely getting some solid sliders. I was tossing around the winch idea, and was thinking of maybe making a removable setup that can go front or rear.

James86 said:

Adventure as in camping, or adventure as drive it in absurd places? I might be following this thread as well, but as far as camping, I've always weighed keeping a camper shell on it so I can camp in there, versus a small utility trailer or just carrying a tent around.

Click to expand...

Adventure as in camping and driving places, but not like to Argentina or anything. This is not going to be a so called "expo" rig. Just a good solid rig that I can jump in and go where ever, be it down an interstate to a destination or down a two track dirt road with no destination. I've never been a fan of camper shells, especially on a small truck. Since I use the bed regularly to haul stuff the shell is just it an inconvenience. I don't mind throwing up a small tent where ever I go.

So here's what the truck looked like as of yesterday. Other than the shell being gone, I also removed all of the pinstriping and the mud flaps. The rake is even worse with the camper off, it's down 3" in the front now compared to the rear. Can't wait the to get lift installed. I removed the factory exhaust and threw on a 2.5" Dynomax muffler I had laying around and dumped it out the side with a 3" stainless tip. The windshield is also missing in pic, this was taken in the middle of the replacement process.

I like that exhaust...gives me an idea

Lol... I'm not the only one who noticed their rear lifted when the camper came off.... sure doesn't seem like those shells weigh that much when you take them off.

Lets get this thing lifted I wanna see what it looks like lol.

That's a nice truck for 95. I'll be watching this one.

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did you feel the quake down there Mav?

Hells yes I did, I was underneath a truck on a two post lift when it happened. That's the second time I've been under a vehicle on the rack when we had a quake, not a great feeling.

The old V8 Ranger project that's donating its suspension



There's the good stuff

looking forward to see more.