‘94 4x4 Swap/Build

[PetroleumJunkie412]

Well, a new project followed me home today. Paid $300 for this pile of possibilities.

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‘95 F150 XLT 4.9 5-speed 2wd. 190,XXX on the clock. The old 300 overheats but it’s not a head or head gasket related issue. The radiator has a leak at the top of one of the tanks and the fan clutch is lazy. So I’ll throw a new cooling system at it, give it a tune up and drive it. It will eventually get either a 5.0 or 5.8 and 4x4 swap. Wife wants a loud V8 fun truck again.

Broseph.

You must turbo this.

For America.

 

[DRanger024]

Broseph.

You must turbo this.

For America.

With which engine? I HIGHLY doubt she’ll let the 4.9 stay in there. It’s kind of going to be her truck.

 

[NIGERIAN RANGER]

This was shortly after I bought it. It was completely stock and came with all the original paperwork and every single receipt since it was new.

Fast forward 13 years and this was basically how I got it back. I had lowered it a couple times at one point and the front end was shot/.

This was the '97 B4000 donor truck I traded my clapped out Dodge 1500 for. It had no title and the body was trashed but the motor and trans both worked like they were new.

Stripped right down to the cab and engine cross member out

4.0 in my Ranger after new gaskets and converting it to '93 engine management.

And the Almost finished product.

Future plans are to get the front end up another couple inches and Run 33's. It would be a plenty capable truck for the two tracks and little bit of hunting it will see


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Old thread though, but what can one refer to the trim of this truck? Is this a single cab extended or what? I have exactly like your truck, with a 3.0l automatic.

 

[MikeG]

That's a single cab

 

[DRanger024]

Old thread though, but what can one refer to the trim of this truck? Is this a single cab extended or what? I have exactly like your truck, with a 3.0l automatic.

My truck is considered a regular cab, short bed. Your truck is a regular cab but looks like it may be a long bed.

 

[NIGERIAN RANGER]

My truck is considered a regular cab, short bed. Your truck is a regular cab but looks like it may be a long bed.

Thanks a bunch sir

 

[DRanger024]

Got some rolling shots on the Highway. Wife took the Ranger and I followed in the F150

Also finally got around to pulling my spare 4.0 apart. One cylinder is scratched but appears to have been scratched for quite a while. Pressure washed the block and painted it.

After I cleaned it up, it went in a Rubbermaid tub and got washed down with WD40 for whenever I’m ready to build it. Bearings all looked good and half of the push rods/rockers were good. The other half were worn pretty bad. Havent cleaned up the heads yet. I’ll probably reuse the crank and rods but plan on better pistons and a cam. Possibly looking towards a little forced induction at some point.

One thing I did reuse was the valve covers. Got a little creative and let my 5 and 6 year old daughters paint them. Turned out... interesting but I love it.

Stuffed them in after work today

That’s all for today.

 

[NIGERIAN RANGER]

Got some rolling shots on the Highway. Wife took the Ranger and I followed in the F150

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Also finally got around to pulling my spare 4.0 apart. One cylinder is scratched but appears to have been scratched for quite a while. Pressure washed the block and painted it.

View attachment 51277

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After I cleaned it up, it went in a Rubbermaid tub and got washed down with WD40 for whenever I’m ready to build it. Bearings all looked good and half of the push rods/rockers were good. The other half were worn pretty bad. Havent cleaned up the heads yet. I’ll probably reuse the crank and rods but plan on better pistons and a cam. Possibly looking towards a little forced induction at some point.

One thing I did reuse was the valve covers. Got a little creative and let my 5 and 6 year old daughters paint them. Turned out... interesting but I love it.

View attachment 51279

Stuffed them in after work today

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That’s all for today.

How many inches of lift is this beautiful truck?

 

[DRanger024]

I honestly don't know because it started life as a 2wd but it has 4" springs with 2" brackets and what would be the equivalent of a 1" washer lift. It is maxed out on the camber adjustment but I can't easily reverse some of the things I did to bring the front back down.

 

[DRanger024]

New parts are lurking..

 

[DRanger024]

This is the only picture I took yesterday during the locker install. Not much to see anyways.

Couple loud bangs and some pops and it’s working like it should. My carrier is really tight so I’m on the low end of the tolerances. 0.008” and 0.007” on the cross pin to spacers and 0.148” between the cam gears. I guess the Explorer’s auto 4x4 really saves on wear in the rear end. We’ll see how my driveshaft holds up.

 

[scotts90ranger]

Aussie's aren't too bad to install, not fun to get out... . I loved mine while it worked.

As for the driveshaft, it's been a while since I went through this thread but if it's a stock 4x4 shaft I wouldn't worry about it too much unless you have serious axle wrap and do silly things like tractor pulls or something... that's what it took to break my stock shaft, but I also twisted a leaf spring and broke a plug weld on the 8.8 and twisted the axle tube... the locker held up for years after that, just gave up a year ago after a fair amount of abuse.

 

[DRanger024]

Aussie's aren't too bad to install, not fun to get out... . I loved mine while it worked.

As for the driveshaft, it's been a while since I went through this thread but if it's a stock 4x4 shaft I wouldn't worry about it too much unless you have serious axle wrap and do silly things like tractor pulls or something... that's what it took to break my stock shaft, but I also twisted a leaf spring and broke a plug weld on the 8.8 and twisted the axle tube... the locker held up for years after that, just gave up a year ago after a fair amount of abuse.

I was curious about removing the Aussie if need be. It doesn’t look fun to fish the C-clips out of that narrow slot. My only concern with the driveshaft is the fact that I shortened it myself and it isn’t one continuous weld all the way around. I’ll probably never put enough load on it to cause any real concern but ya never know! I have an explorer shaft laying around somewhere ready to be shortened if something happens.

 

[scotts90ranger]

Yeah, it's not easy, gotta get everything lined up, push the C clip back, rotate to a point it can fall out, pull out that axle shaft then you can start pulling stuff which involves dealing with the 4 pins and springs...

 

[DRanger024]

Good to know. Thanks!