5.0 swap and SAS "Half-Pint"

[Rooster]

Absolutely love this build wish I had the money to duplicate it!

Thanks! That’s part of why it’s been a 3 year project, some of this stuff ain’t cheap

 

[seveer13]

Thanks! That’s part of why it’s been a 3 year project, some of this stuff ain’t cheap

I know and it doesnt appear to be getting any better either!

 

[Rooster]

It’s been awhile. Got married, moved states, renovated a house and had a baby. But I’m back to working on the truck.

Put the 9 inch rear end together and installed it this week. I addes the VSS tone ring and sensor out of an 8.8, my electronic trans won’t shift without it. If I were to do it again I’d drill into the third member instead of the housing, the sensor winds up sitting below flush with the top.

Rear end also got a disk brake conversion.

 

[Rooster]

Here are some more pics of the vss. Had to clearance the third member a bit to get the tone ring in

 

[Rooster]

Here it is welded up under the truck. All it needs is gear oil and brakes bled to be functional. I’m gonna have to get some custom brake lines, the ones that I had were way too long so I had to bend them a bunch to get them to fit

I also installed the winch but forgot to take a picture. I started to weld on my rock sliders, was trying to get it ready for a trip this weekend. Unfortunately I had ordered a front driveshaft from a local shop and it came out too short, so the truck isn’t going to make the trip.

 

[Rooster]

Not rock crawler related but I’m saying goodbye to this truck today. Was my DD for years but I needed something bigger for work. ‘Twas a good truck

 

[Angie]

The edge is in nice shape. Good looking truck.

 

[Rooster]

It’s been too long. Was on orders for a few months away from home, so I haven’t had a chance to work on the ranger since April.

This last week I finally ran brake lines in the rear and added gear oil, so I was able to test drive it with the new axle. Brakes are a little weird, may need to do some more bleeding, may need to replace the master cylinder with one out of an explorer since they have disks in the rear and rangers don’t. I also have some local high spots in my brake lines, but I’m hoping that’s not the issue cause I don’t want to re-route them.

The VSS must be working because the transmission shifted and my speedometer worked. I didn’t go very fast or very far, we’ll see what it’s like at high speeds.

Locker also seemed to be working, could hear the clicking around corners and it chirped the tires if I gave it a little gas.

Hoping to whittle down the to-do list BEFORE the next wheeling trip so I’m not thrashing to make it the week before

 

[Rooster]

Little bit of progress this weekend. When I took my track bar to a shop to get it bent a few years ago, the shop bent it a little crooked, so it was too close to my oil pan. I got it straightened out today in my pipe bender. Had to get a little weird with it

pics are before, during and after

 

[Rooster]

Got the radiator raised 3 inches so that is out of the way. Couldn’t raise the shroud cause it’ll hit the fan so I chopped the bottom. I might get an electric fan eventually
Before

After

 

[Rooster]

Been working on little things the last few weeks. Wired up my KC lights, and finished wiring the cb radio. Added a fuse panel next to the battery to make it as clean as possible, I’m fine with having a couple in line fuses but I plan on adding a few more things and don’t want a rats nest.

also made some bed rails out of some scrap angle iron and pipe. I got a used roof top tent a few months ago and wanted to be able to use iton wheeling trips

 

[Rooster]

Worked on the truck some today, fixing more issues from when I first built it. Initially I put 7 Degree offset c bushings on the front axle because that’s what guys with lifted broncos do. However, my radius arms are longer, and transfer case isn’t in the same place, so it made for a pretty bad pinion angle (about 15 degrees off)
Today I swapped them out for some 2 degree bushings to hopefully straighten that out some. I can’t rotate it too much or I’ll have bad caster. Eventually I’ll cut and turn the knuckles or get a different axle, but I’m ready to get this thing on the trail so hopefully this works for now
I swapped the bushings with as little disassembly as possible, had to get a little creative

here is the pinion angle after I put the new bushings in. I’m hoping it’ll settle some, cause the axle didn’t rotate a full 5 degrees

 

[Rooster]

Also did a little wiring today, the switches I installed to control the kc light have a light that is constantly on, so to avoid draining the battery I installed a cutoff switch

also, my horn quit working and was able to diagnose that the clock spring needed to be replaced. Rather than spend the money on a new one, I just bypassed it with a button on the dash. I tend to accidentally honk the horn with my elbow when going over big obstacles, so now I don’t have to fix my driving either

 

[Rooster]

Went on a deployment so I didn’t get to work on the ranger for over a year. I’ve got a trip coming up in July so I have a couple months to wrap it up. Got back to work starting with a big change… had to pause due to weather but all the big cuts are made and the body mounts have been moved. Took out 7 inches

will need to do a few clearance cuts, and I’ll mess with the body lines some to try and get them lined up

 

[Rooster]

Progress is slow. I got the bed mostly welded back together, but I decided now is the time to build a rear bumper so I can cut off more of the bed and do less body work