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railmans build thread....


railman

December 2011 OTOTM Winner
OTOTM Winner
Solid Axle Swap
TRS Banner 2010-2011
TRS Banner 2012-2015
Joined
Mar 31, 2009
Messages
2,660
City
Madisonville, KY
Vehicle Year
1996
Transmission
Automatic
well, to be honest....I never really intended to have a build thread.....but since the Ranger is now gonna be mostly a trail vehicle and not my DD anymore ( but still legal so if i wanna drive it I can ) .......thought I would make one for the up-comming changes.....

here is basically how she started....only thing I had done at this point was the bedrails, toolbox, and the 32x11.50's....

truckshow2009137.jpg


found a 10,000# reciever mounted winch at....Sam's Club of all places......but after scouring the internet for a front reciever and seeing what was available I decided that they would have the winch mounted too low for any real wheeling....so I started to make my own front bumper with provisions to accept the reciever cradle....

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and the finished product.....

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then on my first trip to Turkey Bay I hydro-locked the motor....

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so Rick hauled my truck to his place and within the week an EX 4.0 was in place of my hydro-locked one......

not long after I found some considerable rust and had to replace all the spring hangers...

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and at the same time to compensate for the heavy winch and bumper i got some 2" Daystar coil spacers....but they lasted less tha 6 months....:annoyed:

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so I made my own custom spacers....

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then it was time for some added traction.....so in went a locker....

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next I was tireing of the stock "deer hoof" wheels, so I bought some rims from a TRS member ( pretty cheap considering the oxidation that was on them ) so i cleaned and sanded them for some fresh paint to match the lower graphics on my truck....

newrims001.jpg


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well they rubbed too much, so I had to take them back off and do some lifting with some "poor-boy" upgrades.....

what my rear measurement was at the start.....and what she looked like....

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first was some Ex 4 door leaves.....new center pin....

lift005.jpg


new Chevy lowering shackles....( cheap ones found at O'Reillys, AutoZone...etc...)

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rear finished.....and the after measurement...

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now for some front upgrades......2.5" lift brackets, coils, and extended arms ( which the arms turned out to be for a 2wd Ranger :annoyed: ).....

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so up in the air she went.....

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since the arms were for a 2wd, I cut off the factory radius arms and grafted the extended arms to the ends....with gussets and plating on the backside....

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noticed what is leftover from the stock arms....

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what she looked like afterward.....

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shortly thereafter my carrier bearing on my 2 piece shaft decided it didn't like the new geometry ( or was just worn out :dunno: )......

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and since Rick's truck was down, I "borrowed" his one piece aluminum one ( since the Ranger was my DD still ) until I could have a new steel 1 piece made....here you can see all 3 together....

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and the new shaft with out the rubber "billows" on the slip....

lift132.jpg


well after wheeling her some more my fan got into the radiator and caused a leak....so I got a new one.....well the fan got into the new one a couple trips later.....

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trail fix to limp her home....

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turns out that the EX 4.0 fan is thicker than the Rangers.....

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so now that I had that problem licked....and another new radiator I had a buddy ask if I wanted to buy a truck he has had....so I bought it for his pay-off and that is how I got a new daily driver and tow-rig.....

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which pretty much brings me up to date....the only things not really mentioned are my EX power leather seats, Ford/Blaupunkt Focus radio, and a few other odd and ends....


but, from this point forward I have some new drivetrain, suspension, and body/armor mods on their way.....so keep watching.....

l8r, John
 
about time you do one of these....get the sawzall and lets start cutting shit :thefinger:
 
You want to sell the 250 for what you paid for it?

Looks good.

What else are in your plans?
 
about time you do one of these....get the sawzall and lets start cutting shit :thefinger:

yeah, yeah.....:thefinger:

don't know bout' a sawzall...but a cut off wheel and an air-saw do come to mind.....:D:D

You want to sell the 250 for what you paid for it?

Looks good.

What else are in your plans?

lol....no I don't think so...already bought a toolbox, new tires, and swapped in EX-Sport seats....

as for what is next....I have quite a few ideas....but I want to surprise people.....so will post pics as they materialize.....

but a quick teaser is..." my tow-rig has got me thinking "........

l8r, John
 
:D


thinking eh?
:icon_thumby:
 
It's about time!! Maybe if you link the build thread in your sig you might get more points when Benny nominates you again :icon_rofl: :thefinger:
SVT
 
It's about time!! Maybe if you link the build thread in your sig you might get more points when Benny nominates you again :icon_rofl: :thefinger:
SVT

like I told Benny....if he wants to nominate me that is fine...but, I know I will never get ORTOTM......

it has never ever been about "bragging rights"....only knowing that I am able to go where I want to on the trails.....and pushing my truck to its limits...without breaking her....

and considering I have had her where 30K+ Rubicons had to pull cable and I was able to walk her right through....priceless :D:D:D

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l8r, John
 
Last edited:
like I told Benny....if he wants to nominate me that is fine...but, I know I will never get ORTOTM......

it has never ever been about "bragging rights"....only knowing that I am able to go where I want to on the trails.....and pushing my truck to its limits...without breaking her....

and considering I have had her where 30K+ Rubicons had to pull cable and I was able to walk her right through....priceless :D:D:D

l8r, John

never find the limit that way....never break anything 1/2 way:D

wheel base....sometimes it wins....sometimes its a real m-fer
 
Looking forward to the updates. Did you do anything special to to the arms as far as caster/camber goes?

Richard
 
never find the limit that way....never break anything 1/2 way:D

wheel base....sometimes it wins....sometimes its a real m-fer

true ya never find it 1/2 way...but ya have to understand that where I have to wheel that I am able to do what others have a hard time doin'.....not to mention I couldn't push too hard due to the DD status of the Ranger at the time.....

as for the wheelbase....my poor bed is a testament to that.....

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newrims007.jpg


Looking forward to the updates. Did you do anything special to to the arms as far as caster/camber goes?

Richard

yes, I used an angle finder to make sure I had enough static caster at ride height...the camber is took care of by the adjusters on the upper ball joint....

its like someone has summed up every time ive gone offroad in one sentence, lol.

amen to that.....:D:D
 
but a quick teaser is..." my tow-rig has got me thinking "........

l8r, John

"You're thinkin' Ricky, it's a good thing!"


I agree with Jon... sawzall and start choppin'! :D
 
Not that I'm taking up for jeeps, but it was a woman at the wheel...That was the only one out of I think 8 jeeps...:icon_rofl:
 
Not that I'm taking up for jeeps, but it was a woman at the wheel...That was the only one out of I think 8 jeeps...:icon_rofl:

that was just that one day......there have been plenty of other times as well....

l8r, John
 

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