'85 Ranger Restomod

[Bird76Mojo]

It looks like 1/4" sheet! Your dash is gonna weigh 150lbs. lol



GB

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

It looks like 1/4" sheet! Your dash is gonna weigh 150lbs. lol



GB

They say the camera adds 50lbs...

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Painted the gauge bracket:



Hit the JY today, couldn't believe what I found in the back of a truck:



Crap, whoever took the powertrain took the yoke too. Scraped the ice off the best I could with my knife and could see no damage, propped it up in the sun while I looked for another yoke.

Found a yoke, it was a fight. Couldn't get the yoke off without dropping the whole bent in a U shape driveshaft. Did a pull up on my little ratchet and had to scrounge for a cheater pipe. Little peice of Dodge jack hardware proved its worth. Neither yard showed anything old online and driveshaft searching had been a bust for 6 months so I was packing light and only had my little 12pt socket set/ratchet with me (and my leatherman of course)





Bingo, my $23.50 driveshaft that only needs shortened now:

 

[Bird76Mojo]

Gotta love a nice score day at the JY. Happens less and less these days. These old trucks and their components aren't getting any younger or easier to find. Only cheaper, and that's a big MAYBE at most yards.

Your latest find is on par with my Explorer Limited aluminum driveshaft for $20 that I had to pay $173.50 to have shortened and balanced. A shame it only needed shortened 3/4" for my V8 swap truck.



GB

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Gotta love a nice score day at the JY. Happens less and less these days. These old trucks and their components aren't getting any younger or easier to find. Only cheaper, and that's a big MAYBE at most yards.

Ain't that the truth. Mine has deviated enough from stock there isn't a whole lot I really need from another first gen but I do enjoy looking at them and finding weird accessories/options and I have a couple body parts on my wish list yet.

Your latest find is on par with my Explorer Limited aluminum driveshaft for $20 that I had to pay $173.50 to have shortened and balanced. A shame it only needed shortened 3/4" for my V8 swap truck

Dang, does aluminum cost more to modify than steel?

That is what I paid to retube my stock steel driveshaft to have it lengthened 8 years ago. It was only $50 to knock 4" off the front one.

What was irritating about the driveshaft search is the only truck longer than what I need (everything else is too short) is the 98-11 supercab 4x4 Ranger and 4wd Sport-Trac... which yards are full of. But 99% of the trucks moved into the yards have the rear driveshaft totally screwed up by the payloader that picks the truck up. Explorers fair better because they have a lower frame that shields the driveshaft... but the driveshafts are too short for me. For some reason this truck entered the yard with most of the rear driveshaft in the bed which saved it. The entire powertrain had been gutted so I had to pull a different driveshaft for the front yoke to complete it.

 

[Bird76Mojo]

Dang, does aluminum cost more to modify than steel?

That is what I paid to retube my stock steel driveshaft to have it lengthened 8 years ago. It was only $50 to knock 4" off the front one.

It's seems to vary greatly from shop to shop, and I didn't "shop" around either. I just found a somewhat local business that could do aluminum properly, that could also have it done in one business day because I'm impatient, and it was the very last component I need to go roast some tires.




GB

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

It's seems to vary greatly from shop to shop, and I didn't "shop" around either. I just found a somewhat local business that could do aluminum properly, that could also have it done in one business day because I'm impatient, and it was the very last component I need to go roast some tires.




GB

My local machine shop doesn't do it anymore (the guy that did it died) so I have to take off half a day and run the thing to Omaha to a shop there so I have no idea how much it is going to run.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Tapped the front flange off, slight upgrade over what I had (for the rear anyway)



I had previously researched cross sizes, a '96 Explorer and '77 F-Series both use 1310 crosses for the rear, '95 Ranger uses the same for the front. Didn't think much more about it, kinda assumed a '98+ would be the same as the Explorer. I was taking off my flange and thought it looked kinda big so I measured it, bigger than either. Looked up a '99 Ranger 4x4 on Rockauto and it uses 1330 crosses. Crap, did a bing search on the difference between a 1310 and 1330 to see how screwed I was and a TRS write up on crosses (which was awesome) came up, gotta use a conversion cross for the front but it didn't say anything about flange bolt patterns changing which made me uneasy so I checked:



https://www.therangerstation.com/ho...r-case-driveshaft/all-about-universal-joints/

Ok, just gotta run a 1310-1330 conversion cross on the t-case end to adapt the "puny" Ranger 1330 shaft to he "beefy" 1310 NP205. 1330 will end up on the axle end (usually more problematic than the front one) so that will work out for the better.

While there I measured the rear driveshaft, the stock '99 shaft measures 61":



And the front:



If I could get that front stub off the front diff I could get the front shaft done while I am at the driveshaft shop...



POS worthless screw will not come and it was freaking cold in the garage so I adapted and overcame. It will need dealt with but isn't holding me up for this project at the moment now. Gotta remember to knock an inch off for when I get the D35 in:

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Your latest find is on par with my Explorer Limited aluminum driveshaft for $20 that I had to pay $173.50 to have shortened and balanced. A shame it only needed shortened 3/4" for my V8 swap truck.

$75 to lop off 9” and balance it. Should be done tomorrow.

 

[Twister]

$75 to lop off 9” and balance it. Should be done tomorrow.

Saw you said you had to run it to Omaha, where did you end up taking it?

Sent from my LG-LS997 using Tapatalk

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Saw you said you had to run it to Omaha, where did you end up taking it?

Sent from my LG-LS997 using Tapatalk

Advanced Driveshaft at 77th and L. Seemed like a really cool place.

About the only place in town and it is close to my inlaws.

 

[Bird76Mojo]

You got a good deal there. No doubt. I suspect mine was over twice cost that due to being aluminum, and people always seem to charge more when working with aluminum...



GB

 

[sgtsandman]

You got a good deal there. No doubt. I suspect mine was over twice cost that due to being aluminum, and people always seem to charge more when working with aluminum...



GB

Welding aluminum requires more expensive equipment and materials, plus extra training and certification. Thus why the price it higher. If I ever needed to get work done on my rear driveshaft, I would run into the same problem.

 

[Bird76Mojo]

I just never understood the fuss. I was an aluminum welder/fabricator for the better part of a decade, training employees and helping two factories to set up their aluminum welding departments and processes. I understand it takes different equipment, but that equipment is just a different variant of the same equipment already used to weld steel in most cases, unless we're talking spool guns. The welding gases carry a marginally higher cost when compared to other welding gases.

People just seem to think "hey it's aluminum, we can charge them more for this work"

In my case, the pay rates for welding aluminum were the same as any steel welder/fabricator in those days.



GB

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

It might have been your timeline too "this guy is desperate and wants it today, its gonna cost him"

I kinda wanted aluminum, didn't know if it would cost more but it sure looks better long term. Found a steel one first though.

It is close to where my FIL works, he is going to pick it up on this week so then I can pick it up this weekend.