1994 2.3 2wd longbed “70’s style”

racsan · Jul 3, 2017

I got another ranger today, needed wheels bad, been sharing a car, a hhr at that, my "polar express" '92 was stolen, and the other truck i had, the '97 had a bad frame and no 1st gear in transmission, i put a flatbed on it and had it up for sale before my '92 was stolen, took it out in a field to play around and ended up rolling it onto its roof while trying to do a powerslide, caved in the roof, messed up the right side. funny thing is the engine was still running even though i was upside down. so today i found a '94, was advertised as a 97 but its a 94. 2wd, reg cab longbed, 2.3 5speed manual. 3.45 rear axle in a 7.5, with a single-leaf fiberglass spring on each side of the axle. 44k on odometer, not sure if its been around the clock once or twice but its at least over 100 thousand. replaced a few bulbs today, got oil and filter for a oil change, has missing gas tank straps and tank is held up with tiedown ratchet straps, rear cab mounts bad, wipers only work on high, tailgate bad, bed not great, rest of body seems ok, only bad spot on frame is right behind the right rear spring hanger, i think i can take parts off the wrecked 97 and get this old thing on the road. probly put the other box on it, after rolling the flatbed i think its apparent that the heavier std box woulld be better to have. going to change out the rear axle though, want a 8.8 with at least 3.73s but would prefer a 4.10 gear ratio. gave 700 for this thing, wanted better but was all i could afford at the moment.

RayInStl · Jul 5, 2017

Doesn't look bad for 700. Rangers are pretty good at getting your money's worth. I'm sure she'll pay back that 700 in no time.

racsan · Jul 7, 2017

picked up a free cap for it today, drove over 50 miles to get it, and i will say the handling was alot better on the way home, and its not from weight, its a aluminum cap, roof height. i usually prefer fiberglass, but the price is right. yesterday i topped off the rear diff and changed trans fluid, it was low, maybe only 2 qts, and i could tell by the smell it was the wrong stuff, yep, 80/90 hypoid differential lube. turns out i didnt have any atf either, so im trying something. atf is a hydraulic fluid, i do have a 5 gallon containor of 303 tractor hydraulic/transmission fluid.... figure i may already have some damage anyways, alot of crap came out during the drain, including the wave washer from the shifter bushng assy. i did some quick researh and i gues some drag racers have used 303 in their cars with no issues, and its probly cheaper. trans is a little noisy in nuetral, but that could be from it being low on oil and having wrong stuff in it for awhile.

racsan · Jul 9, 2017

got the rolled 97 stripped mostly down, cut the roof off it and have been driving it in the country for fun, on the "good" truck i took out the drivers seat and replaced it with the passenger seat from the rolled truck, its so much better, original seat was broke down, but the passenger seat was fine, going to build a small console to go between the seats. did have to use the driver side seat rails but no biggie, sure the lever to tilt seat forward or recline is now on the inside but thats not too big of a deal. it does seam like the seat is a little lower-or ive just been staring at it too long today. ended up pulling the other seat out so i could clean really good underneath, found alot of pennies. tomorrow the rolled 97 gets the plug pulled on it being a rat rod jalopy, going to drop the fule tank and remove the cab mounts and brackets. weighed it today and was surprized. its at 2400 pounds now, in stock assembled form it weighed 3,000 pounds. right now its as stripped as can be, no bed, doors, roof, hood, bumpers, headerpanel/headlights. kind of fun to drive but squirrly. i defitly wear safty glasses. going to por 15 the used cab brackets and the rear frame of the truck when i put it back together, using the 97 bed and the original bed will be put back on the 97 frame and be made into a trailer. the rolled truck was silver and the 94 is a dark blue, dont know what they called it but its like a navy blue. not sure yet if i will paint the cab silver or the box blue....

racsan · Jul 23, 2017

Got cab mounts replaced and have a 410 axle ready to go in, of course I wanted a 8.8 but all that was at the junkyard with a 410 was the 7.5 rear, and only 2 of them, newest being a 98 with 190K on it. Put new axleshaft seals and a pinion seal in it, cleaned it up and painted it. Should be a big improvement over the 345 rear that it came with. Paid 200 for it, seems like a lot but maybe thats what they go for now. Have the 20 gallon fuel tank from my parts truck installed now too, next will be my hurst shifter and the warn trans4mer grille guard I kept from my 93. Its coming together nicely.

racsan · Jul 25, 2017

Got the 4.10 axle in today, also put new seals in it along with new wheel cylinders, spring kits and new lines. Looks nice, might have to clear coat everything before the steel brake line rusts. The performance now is great, put my phone on a speedometer app so I could see how fast I was really going, well with the stock 14" tires I have to go nearly 70 indicated on dash to be doing 55. Switched back tires to 255/70/15s I had and now speedometer is only 7 mph off but still performs good. Between the low gearing, wide tires and the fact that the bed is still off, its hard NOT doing a burnout. Next I need to finish my cab mounts (only replaced the worst one so far) por 15 the rest of the frame, put the bed back on, hurst shifter in and the grille guard back on.

85_Ranger4x4 · Jul 25, 2017

FWIW they have a new copper alloy brake line out that is pretty cool. Obviously copper doesn't rust, it bends easily and holds it shape well.

I was glad it was available when I replaced the brake line between the fuel tank and the frame on mine.

RayInStl · Jul 25, 2017

85_Ranger4x4 said:
FWIW they have a new copper alloy brake line out that is pretty cool. Obviously copper doesn't rust, it bends easily and holds it shape well.

I was glad it was available when I replaced the brake line between the fuel tank and the frame on mine.

That's what I used on my B2. Had to replace the front passenger side line, which runs over to the driver side line :dunno:

I was able to bend it all by hand. Took all of 5 minutes. The hardest part was getting a wrench into where it connected to the rubber line. It's behind the spring perch. Ford engineers really make some weird design decisions sometimes.

85_Ranger4x4 · Jul 25, 2017

RayInStl said:
That's what I used on my B2. Had to replace the front passenger side line, which runs over to the driver side line

I was able to bend it all by hand. Took all of 5 minutes. The hardest part was getting a wrench into where it connected to the rubber line. It's behind the spring perch. Ford engineers really make some weird design decisions sometimes.

Replacing that soft line is where things get weird.

The clip, it is really rather clever but it takes a beating getting it broken loose after 30 years. And of course it does not come with a new brake line...

racsan · Jul 25, 2017

I used a small hand bender to make my bends, turned out good I thought. Someone before me replaced the line going down the frame to the rear axle, its got some sort of flat-green coating. I still had a roll of the regular stuff that I used. Love my double flare tool set, dont need it much but its well worth having when you need it. Have to have so many diffrent nuts on hand, I usually get extra when I buy some to have on hand. Dont you hate it when you make a flare and either forget a nut or slide one on backwards? Ive got to where I will tape the nut to the middle of the line before flareing, its there and wont slide off when im not looking. Todays project was putting the hurst shifter in, almost couldnt remember where I put it. Original shifter had no bushings left and was extremly sloppy. Guess a hurst is over 300 now, think I paid 220 about 6 years ago

racsan · Sep 10, 2017

paint idea: two-tone

yes, its already two tone in a way, blue front, silver rear, drivers door is rotten at the bottom so think its going to gain a silver door too. im thinking of making this a two-tone paint job, by keeping silver in the middle-extending it forward and then painting the top and bottom of the box (and tailgate) silver. not sure if i want to do a silver stripe on the hood/roof or just leave that be. the original blue bed for this truck is going on the '97 frame thats been made into a trailer chassis, i'll be able to experiment on covering the blue with silver on that, might have that be a matching trailer, sometime i will do a build thread on that. been taking pictures so just a matter of uploading then transfering... good bad weather day stuff. sure i could just paint the bed blue or front end silver, but what the heck, if i can cover that dark blue with silver i think it would look good.

Mark_88 · Sep 26, 2017

Looks...functional... :icon_thumby:

Better than my Ranger (wherever it is now) did when I was building it on the first go round...

A nice police officer pulled me over and said my truck looked "beat up"...I laughed...but felt like saying "so does the people who insult my truck"...but decided against that tact...

racsan · Sep 26, 2017

i considered calling it the "johnny cash" edition ford ranger, ive even started a notebook so i know what year to get rear brakes for since theres a big differance between the 94 & 98 rear drums, will eventually have the 97 front spindles/brakes. had to explain to a freind what i meant by "johhny cash edition", they are older than me and hadnt heard the song. good greif......

Mark_88 · Sep 26, 2017

Oh, yes, my famiily used to tease me about my Ranger and because some of them are musicians they reminded me of my project whenever they had the chance.

Keeping a book with notes on the part years is the smart thing to do and I was in the process of that myself. When I sold the Ranger last year I made notes for the new owner in case he decided to keep the project going...but I have a feeling he bought it strictly for the engine which was very low mileage and ran like a top.

Ah, well, can't say I blame him if he did...I bought three trucks to make that one and once the scavenging was done I sent them off to their happy hunting ground...

Which is what I called the junkyards where I did my happy part hunting...

alwaysFlOoReD · Oct 20, 2017

It looks better than it did. It's what I would call a 100 job...it looks 100% from fifty feet at fifty mph!

1994 2.3 2wd longbed “70’s style”

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