AJE Ranger K-Member Who's Done It!?

[clippii]

I haven’t yet. I will eventually.

Quality of the welds and the machine work on the Racecraft seems very good. Mocked up the Bear brakes to check for fitment issues and so far so good. Pardon the wrong rotor on the wrong knuckle.

 

[Yotaismygame]

I haven't decided which route ill go. I know a guy waiting on some spindles from AJE so ill see how those look first. I missed out on some barely used Racecraft spindles for $400! Day late

 

[n2xlr8n]

@n2xlr8n what spring rate did you go with?

@Yotaismygame There's so much to report that I'll likely miss something- I dumped the front AJE coil overs (junk, as you stated) for Vikings, and the rear suspension, well.....

Quicktime 9", 35 spline, 3.90 gears- I sold the Explorer 8.8 because I had already narrowed it and didn't realize the aftermarket doesn't make c-clip eliminators for the Explorer housing ends...so I said before I spend another dime on this housing, I'll go with something I'm familiar with- thus the 9".

I've driven her about 5 miles so far. Baby steps...

Here's what I've learned about the AJE kit. The recommended 175lb springs from AJE were way too soft. Truck bounced and bottomed out on every bump.

Now here comes a rant: The AJE kit for a ranger is not meant to be slammed to the ground.

Good to hear! I'm closing in on firing it- probably 3 weeks of wiring away.

Yes- mine, too. The spring length is such that you lose 75% of the adjustability of the shock.

I'll see your rant and raise it to "The AJE kit was not meant for a first gen Ranger, period".
The fabrication I've done to make this "kit" safe and functional is ridiculous.

Honestly if I could do it again I would look harder into using a mustang 2 front suspension. The amount of fab work I've done on this truck is crazy and when I bought the AJE kit that's not what I had planned.

Fully agree.

Here's where I'm at presently. I just finished setting the rear ride height- I'll call Viking with the particulars tomorrow and get them going on my fr / rr shocks. I'm using Calvert split leafs with sliders- I dropped the rear of the perch ~2" for additional leverage. It was work; the frame rails are really too narrow, so I boxed in the frame where the sliders weld to the frame (via 2x3 gusseted tubing). Disregard the tack welds- I was running out of gas.

A few tidbits: My friend owns a large chunk of the LS aftermarket head porting service (and has his own castings, as well). He has provided almost 100% of the machining servce (and many parts). Wilkes Performance, fwiw.

One of the "cool kids" trends is using King XP bearings. I tried it - suffice to say I went back to Clevite. The pic below is of my freshly line honed, brand new crankshaft measured with King XP (lower sharpie on main cap) versus Clevite P (upper number). The measurements were dead on +/- 0.0002.

Anyway, after all that drama- I assembled it and dropped the entire drivetrain in:

The only other thing I changed was I'm using E85. I prefer it over pump 93, and I'll probably run around on about 12-14 psi and run 18-20 during track passes.

Til next time!

 

[Yotaismygame]

There's so much to report that I'll likely miss something- I dumped the front AJE coil overs (junk, as you stated) for Vikings, and the rear suspension, well.....

Quicktime 9", 35 spline, 3.90 gears- I sold the Explorer 8.8 because I had already narrowed it and didn't realize the aftermarket doesn't make c-clip eliminators for the Explorer housing ends...so I said before I spend another dime on this housing, I'll go with something I'm familiar with- thus the 9".


Good to hear! I'm closing in on firing it- probably 3 weeks of wiring away.

Yes- mine, too. The spring length is such that you lose 75% of the adjustability of the shock.

I'll see your rant and raise it to "The AJE kit was not meant for a first gen Ranger, period".
The fabrication I've done to make this "kit" safe and functional is ridiculous.



Fully agree.

Here's where I'm at presently. I just finished setting the rear ride height- I'll call Viking with the particulars tomorrow and get them going on my fr / rr shocks. I'm using Calvert split leafs with sliders- I dropped the rear of the perch ~2" for additional leverage. It was work; the frame rails are really too narrow, so I boxed in the frame where the sliders weld to the frame (via 2x3 gusseted tubing). Disregard the tack welds- I was running out of gas.


A few tidbits: My friend owns a large chunk of the LS aftermarket head porting service (and has his own castings, as well). He has provided almost 100% of the machining servce (and many parts). Wilkes Performance, fwiw.

One of the "cool kids" trends is using King XP bearings. I tried it - suffice to say I went back to Clevite. The pic below is of my freshly line honed, brand new crankshaft measured with King XP (lower sharpie on main cap) versus Clevite P (upper number). The measurements were dead on +/- 0.0002.


Anyway, after all that drama- I assembled it and dropped the entire drivetrain in

The only other thing I changed was I'm using E85. I prefer it over pump 93, and I'll probably run around on about 12-14 psi and run 18-20 during track passes.

Til next time!

Glad to know you're still alive and healthy lol. I've got my truck running and driving. Just waiting for the weather to get better before I take her home from the shop. Finally got plates and insurance. I forget if I mentioned it already but for now im running 350lb front springs and 175 in the rear. I thought yukon made a C-clip eliminator for the explorer 8.8? Or just add 9" ends to the 8.8, but hey 9" upgrade! I still need to re-gear my 8.8 and add a posi. I have the posi but am undecided if ill go 3.90 or 4.10. Need more seat time to make that decision. I wish we had E85 around here.

 

[That_One_Dude_97]

It’s here gents! Time for the real fun to start!

 

[Yotaismygame]

It’s here gents! Time for the real fun to start!

Best of luck!

 

[Yotaismygame]

Found the solution I was looking for. Need to do the fronts and get drop spindles. This is a 2.75” flare with 1” spacers on a explorer 8.8 stock width. This will be final ride height in the rear. Not many options for flares. Tested multiple off Amazon then found these metal ones on eBay. Had to trim them a bit. Pretty sure I’ll mount the fronts higher then use the full 2” drop with spindles. Should level or be slightly raked forward.

 

[That_One_Dude_97]

Hey you guys recommended fox body parts (rack/spindles correct?

 

[That_One_Dude_97]

Found the solution I was looking for. Need to do the fronts and get drop spindles. This is a 2.75” flare with 1” spacers on a explorer 8.8 stock width. This will be final ride height in the rear. Not many options for flares. Tested multiple off Amazon then found these metal ones on eBay. Had to trim them a bit. Pretty sure I’ll mount the fronts higher then use the full 2” drop with spindles. Should level or be slightly raked forward.

Looks Fuckin sweet

 

[Yotaismygame]

Hey you guys recommended fox body parts (rack/spindles correct?

Sn95 spindles. Possibly drop if you need.

 

[Blmpkn]

Flares look awesome

 

[That_One_Dude_97]

(Sorry for the shitty picture) Currently working a boat at my job and haven’t had much time to get out in the garage. Because I’m limited on power all I had was a cut off wheel and hopes but In the end I got it done. Frame is in better condition than I was expecting, the entire drivers side had power steering leaked on it for who knows how long and built up quite a bit of dirt and who knows what else. I have family coming in town this weekend so I’m gonna try and get out tomorrow after work and clean it up a bit I’ll post better pics and maybe even have a slight mock up

 

[Yotaismygame]

Finished my flares tonight. Just need drop spindles now. Configured boost control in the Holley software and now I need to re-gear and install a posi.

 

[That_One_Dude_97]

Finished my flares tonight. Just need drop spindles now. Boost control setup, and now I need to re-gear and install a posi.

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the way it sits and looks, to anyone who doesn't know its just a lowered ranger when in reality it'll hurt alot of feelings haha
Im eager to start putting new parts in place instead of just cutting stuff out

 

[Yotaismygame]

the way it sits and looks, to anyone who doesn't know its just a lowered ranger when in reality it'll hurt alot of feelings haha
Im eager to start putting new parts in place instead of just cutting stuff out

Can’t wait to drive her more when the weather gets nicer. The 5spd and small turbo is fun so far and I’m only pushing 7.5lbs. I kept the cam small too so there’s lots of tq out of boost.