90 ranger expeditionary vehicle

so i have a 90 ranger 2.9L Ext cab 4x4 that has been in the family since new, it was the first vehicle i learned how to drive and was my dads favorite vehicle. when he passed i kept the truck. i drove it and kept it up for a couple years then the trans went... it sat for a couple years after i got laid off, now im back on my feet and ready to get this thing back to its glory and build something i will use enjoy and my father would appreciate.
i'm sure many are familiar with expeditionary vehicles, but the key is long distance trail vehicle... not a crawler, thats super reliable and you can basically live out of. that said no sas here!
on to the general ideas i have

engine:
so i want to keep the 2.9 probably bore it 30 over although it ran great when parked it has 168k miles on it.
i plan to do the camcraft head then have the intake manifold matched to it
thinkin of going up 2lbs on the injectors to ensure i have plenty of fuel for the free breathing
full ac delete (its broke anyways)
87 2.9 throttle body
exhuast:
jba headers
magnaflow cat
2.5" piping
flow master 50 series single exit
transmission:
which tranny is toughest? got 168K out of my original but im up for suggestions!
10 inch clutch conversion
want to swap to a manual transfer case (buttons on something that essential scare me)
swap to the one piece drive shaft

body:
use fiber glass front and rear flares to reduce weight... get rid of bad rust... and give me more room for larger tires
im going to use a steel cap off of a work truck with the dual rear doors and tool boxes on the side.
3 inch body lift
removable doors
will make bumpers and skid plates

brakes and wheels:
wheels will be 15x10 steel wagons with 3.75" backspacing, beadlocks arent legal for street use in many places around here (doubt i would be pulled over but i aint got the money for that currently anyways maybe if i hit the lotto)
looking to run 35x12.50 tires a decent allterrain like the terra grappler which i have had great luck with on other trucks
i am thinking of swapping in i think its 95 steering knuckles and brakes so i can get the dual piston calipers
slotted or dimpled high quality rotors
good semi metalic pads

suspension:
i dont want to do much of a suspension lift because like i said its not a crawler and i need it reliable probably 2" coils in the front 2" shackles in the rear with a helper spring...

axles:
im going to keep the dana 35 regear it to 4.10 maybe 4.56 but i want to keep my fuel mileage decently ok... 20 mpg or so
the rear is... if i remember correctly a 7.5 so an 8.8 with lsd and discs out of an explorer would be great... (can i use explorer leafs and not have to reweld the perches? that reweld to me will never be as strong as stock)
i currently have warn hubs and will probably install new ones to replace them
plan to truss the rear

cooling:
b cool rad
electric fans maybe stay with the standard for reliability... never had any experience with installing after market fans
low temp thermostat




basically everything im talking about is almost bolt on, just have to locate the stuff rebuild it and pop it on.
this is not going to be a high dollar build but a thorough one, the truck wont be pretty but it will be use full
i will say that most of everything ive decided on has been from lurking here reading as much as possible over the past like 6 months lol
so im starting with a thank you!

any info suggestions issues you see with this please feel free to let me know! also if there are any other builds similar to mine if i can be pointed that direction that would be awesome
planning on picking up the trans this week so info on that needed stat!

is this the right thread to post this?

-irwin- said:

is this the right thread to post this?

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yes

buy a landrover discovery 1. great overlanding vehicle even when stock, and you can find them for pretty cheap

Rose2300 said:

buy a landrover discovery 1. great overlanding vehicle even when stock, and you can find them for pretty cheap

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no thanks

M5OD is a good manual trans, IIRC it bolts up to a 2.9

I would regear to 4.88-5.13 with a 2.9 and 35s You will get better mileage that way

Bennybooster said:

M5OD is a good manual trans, IIRC it bolts up to a 2.9

I would regear to 4.88-5.13 with a 2.9 and 35s You will get better mileage that way

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sweet thanks man! i dont remember what the m50d is in? and what does iirc mean? lol sorry
will that work with the 10" clutch?
any other thoughts on the build?

I wouldn't mess around much with the 2.9L V6, there's not much room for cost-effective returns on it power-wise (it's already pretty darn well-tuned as it comes stock).
I'd keep it as is and run it until it's done (which if taken care of, can be in excess of 300K miles), then drop a 4.0L V6 in there. The 4.0L has more potential for power upgrades.
Do swap the 4.0L clutch in in the meantime though (excellent upgrade )
Look into the 2-core Explorer radiator swap. Much better cooling than the stock one-core. Also stick with the 195° T-stat. A lower one I suspect gives you a slight tad more power, but at the cost of MPG, as well as increased cylinder wear.

The Mazda M5OD trans is your best option for durability. Make sure the 3 shift-rail plugs on the back are in good shape though (them being left unchecked is by far the leading cause of failure on these transmissions).
M5ODs can be found in 4.0L Rangers & Explorers, and occasionally under 1990 2.9L 4WD trucks (if you can find one, the 2.9L version has slightly deeper 1st, 2nd & 3rd gears ).
Check to make sure... You might even already have this trans, hopefully in rebuildable condition.

On your wheels, go with 15x8s. If you must use 10s, then I'd suggest a 4.5" backspace instead of 3.75". Your wheel bearings will live a much happier life.

3-4" lift on the suspension should be fine. It's above 4" lift where the steering gets to be a nightmare.


And agreed 100% on Benny's gear suggestion.
The 2.9L turns into a big-time gas-guzzler if it can't spin enough RPM. 35" tires = 5.13 gears no question whatsoever (I have 5.13s in my BII and have seen as much as 24 MPG, though typically it hovers in the 21-22 range).




Sounds like a great project.
That's basically what I built my BII for (camping & expedition/overland travel). Never really been into the "Bash it, Break it, Fix it Bigger" mentality, I prefer simply enjoying the great outdoors myself.

4x4junkie said:

I wouldn't mess around much with the 2.9L V6, there's not much room for cost-effective returns on it power-wise (it's already pretty darn well-tuned as it comes stock).
I'd keep it as is and run it until it's done (which if taken care of, can be in excess of 300K miles), then drop a 4.0L V6 in there. The 4.0L has more potential for power upgrades.
Do swap the 4.0L clutch in in the meantime though (excellent upgrade )
Look into the 2-core Explorer radiator swap. Much better cooling than the stock one-core. Also stick with the 195° T-stat. A lower one I suspect gives you a slight tad more power, but at the cost of MPG, as well as increased cylinder wear.

The Mazda M5OD trans is your best option for durability. Make sure the 3 shift-rail plugs on the back are in good shape though (them being left unchecked is by far the leading cause of failure on these transmissions).
M5ODs can be found in 4.0L Rangers & Explorers, and occasionally under 1990 2.9L 4WD trucks (if you can find one, the 2.9L version has slightly deeper 1st, 2nd & 3rd gears ).
Check to make sure... You might even already have this trans, hopefully in rebuildable condition.

On your wheels, go with 15x8s. If you must use 10s, then I'd suggest a 4.5" backspace instead of 3.75". Your wheel bearings will live a much happier life.

3-4" lift on the suspension should be fine. It's above 4" lift where the steering gets to be a nightmare.


And agreed 100% on Benny's gear suggestion.
The 2.9L turns into a big-time gas-guzzler if it can't spin enough RPM. 35" tires = 5.13 gears no question whatsoever (I have 5.13s in my BII and have seen as much as 24 MPG, though typically it hovers in the 21-22 range).




Sounds like a great project.
That's basically what I built my BII for (camping & expedition/overland travel). Never really been into the "Bash it, Break it, Fix it Bigger" mentality, I prefer simply enjoying the great outdoors myself.

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I do currently have the m50d in my truck although the trans. All ready melted down, so rather than try to rebuild it I will get another and go through it thoroughly., it was a great transfer and the gearing was deep as hell.the little 2.9 is tough and I found it reliable but kinda suffered on the higher end and its the heart of the truck and want to keep that. Thanks for the info!
so I will need to do a 3 inch lift to fit the 35s? Can you suggest a good kit?

To clear 35s, I'd suggest either a Skyjacker 4" or maybe the James Duff 3" kit for your suspension, and then top that off with a 2" body lift (giving you a total of 5-6" lift, but with less of the suspension lift headaches a full 6" susp. would have). Some fender trimming will also be needed, though shouldn't be a whole lot.

Too bad on your trans, that particular unit is not common. If the taller gears bother you, you could still "make" one by putting the gears from any non-4.0L M5OD into a 4.0L case however. The end result would be what you had (maybe you'll still luck out and the case from yours will be salvageable).

Good luck with it.

4x4junkie said:

To clear 35s, I'd suggest either a Skyjacker 4" or maybe the James Duff 3" kit for your suspension, and then top that off with a 2" body lift (giving you a total of 5-6" lift, but with less of the suspension lift headaches a full 6" susp. would have). Some fender trimming will also be needed, though shouldn't be a whole lot.

Too bad on your trans, that particular unit is not common. If the taller gears bother you, you could still "make" one by putting the gears from any non-4.0L M5OD into a 4.0L case however. The end result would be what you had (maybe you'll still luck out and the case from yours will be salvageable).

Good luck with it.

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Fender trimming won't be necessary because I'm going wit fiber glass fenders front and rear to replace my rusty steel, and a 3 inch body lift on top of that so I would have a tot of 6 inches of extra clearance to the top of the fender from just that.do you think I could get away with 2 inches of suspension lift and still clear the 35s? I would like to just use a 2 inch lift spring and leave the rest of the suspension as stock as possible

That's right, you did say fiberglass fenders

You could probably do a 2" susp + the 3" body lift, sure. Only thing might be keeping the tire from hitting against your firewall during suspension compression (maybe move the axle forward some by shimming your radius arm bushings).

Huh never heard of shimming the axel, how involved is that?

How bad are we talking with the rub? Would the 3 inch remedy this? I don't want to have the steering issues you spoke of earlier... but I want to keep this thing as close to off the shelf parts as possible. For reliability and ease of repair

Maybe I should just do 33s?

Shimming the axle forward is a matter of placing some washers on the frontside of the radius arm bushings like what is seen here:


There should be maybe an inch or so of thread behind the nut so you should be able to shim it that amount before you run out of thread for the nut. Just make sure you don't go so far forward that the passengerside axle shaft hits the bolt holding the driverside beam in it's bracket.




As for the steering, you should be fine up to 3-4" lift, though you will probably need to get a bigger dropped pitman arm than what usually comes with whatever kit you buy.

I wrote this article a few years ago that explains what happens with the steering, since the lift industry didn't seem to take engineering 101 too seriously on these rigs. With some understanding of it all, it shouldn't be difficult to avoid these issues. To get the best out of it, you might want to fab up a better steering linkage for your truck, however it's not absolutely necessary that you do so.