Huggyb1972's 87' Ranger 4x4 build

[huggyb1972]

can't wait to see how ya do the airbags

l8r, John

Me to I have a learning curve on air springs to overcome I am sure it will be challenging.

 

[huggyb1972]

Working on the extended RA's today I shortened them up the other day then took them to work and sand blasted them.

Since I am using rectangle tube to extend the arms I want to make the fit up between the two as tight as possible for strength so onto the milling machine to shave off the casting rib

 

[huggyb1972]

A little more work done

 

[SAY789]

Nice work on the arms man looking sweet. You should add some speed holes for bling

 

[huggyb1972]

Thanks I am actually going the other way and wil most likely add some armor to these with some style I really want these to be solid and make clean up easy.

I am looking forward to dwiving my wanger again.

 

[huggyb1972]

Today was 82 out I got all my stuff out and got all this stuff shoved up underneath. I ended up using the little screw jacks for a RV to level the frame I know they are not professional quality but the weight is minimal and I just wanted everything right from the beginning.

I still gotta figure out the panhard bar the one that its in there is just temporary.

 

[huggyb1972]

Now I need to figure out how I'm going to lay out the trailing arms in the rear. Without any wheelbase changes the trailing arms will be 54"long. My problem is I need to get my head around setting up the link structure to get it liveable in respect to anti squat and roll center. I have the calculator from over at pirate now I just need to make some sense of what the numbers mean.

 

[railman]

nice progress so far

I am sure you will figure out the rear geometry.....

l8r, John

 

[huggyb1972]

So I played around a little with the 4 link calculator over on Pirate and this is my thinking. Any critiques I will be running low on the road with about 4 " of up travel assuming I can get the front axle more uptravel then what I have currently. Then once out in play land the suspension will be out at 10" of up travel.

 

[huggyb1972]

Got a little finish welding done on the front today. Now I'm ready to start on the rear end.

I went and gave them a little primer and will wait to paint later.

 

[huggyb1972]

Have any of you guys used the jegs roll cage kits. is there any words of wisdom like avoid or anything bad. http://www.jegs.com/i/Jegster/550/945504K/10002/-1

 

[huggyb1972]

Since my last post not much had changed until last week I got my hands on a 93' Ranger with a sour trans and a 2.3 so this is the engine I will be running. The paper is the wiring diagram forthe ECM harness so I can get it wired right.

Putting a motor in is so much easieir this way.

I'm making custom motor mounts for this since the factory one have all broke.
So I am doing a little fine tuning with a prybar hoping to get the motor just a little lower in the chassis.

There must have been some change between the 87 Ranger chassis and the 93 chassis. the cross memeber and the oil pan are very close I was going to modify the cross member any way so the front axle could tuck up farther but now it's imparitive so the motor has clearence.

Anyways I've had this little Garrett turbo stashed away for a little while now I want to use this with the 93 motor after some modding of course but that's a little later in the build progress right now I'm shooting for a running driving truck once more.

 

[huggyb1972]

Has any of you guys got a picture or know someone who is running full width axles and H1 beadlocks on a Ranger? I am thinking about just buying adapters to from 5 lug to 8 lug for now the ones I have spotted are 2" wide. I am going 37x12.50x16.5 think I'm gonna need to trim a fender.

 

[railman]

Has any of you guys got a picture or know someone who is running full width axles and H1 beadlocks on a Ranger? I am thinking about just buying adapters to from 5 lug to 8 lug for now the ones I have spotted are 2" wide. I am going 37x12.50x16.5 think I'm gonna need to trim a fender.

not a Ranger....but Josh has re-centered H1's on his FW'd Explorer....

Trying Terry's Territory (competition hill)

Furthest I got

Where I almost rolled it. Rick, Mike (5brosfabrication), and my Warn saved the day.

Wearin it out on Snot Rock

Notice the passenger doors have a "u" shape to them now

The name for this trail was very fitting....

Running the wash.

Wearin it out there too!

Couldn't fit around the tree, so i took a different line

l8r, John

 

[huggyb1972]

I wonder if I can make the H1's fit with the bacspace and just do a 8 lug conversion.
got my wheels thursday

Then I am going to be ordering my 4 link stuff for the rear. I bought a winch for the Bronco last night and have been tring to do the finishing touches on it before next weekend. I volunteered it to give rides at Ft. Ben Sunday the 16th and would like to have it looking respectable.

I would like to be driving the Ranger and do the Night Run at Redbird in november. :fingerscrossed