My 99 Ranger Build Thread

[RJLougee]

Suspension Components Color?

Not that you can tell from the pics so far, but the frame is going to be Rustoleum cobalt blue metallic paint.

I'm thinking the same finish, different color in copper for the links and suspension components:

 

[RJLougee]

Front Cross-member

And I got the old round tube cut out from between the frame rails and got the new cross-member installed.

In this case, I bought a Badlands winch mount cradle from HF (on sale like $45).

I cutt the ends out so it would fit between the rails and still come to about the middle of the frame rail underneath. So that should tie everything together pretty well once it's all together. Looks good with the winch sitting in there, plenty of room to work the controls below the grill.

That's all for now.

Front shock mounts next...
Joe

 

[RJLougee]

I am resurrecting this thread, it's been a while, had some issues that made it very difficult/painful to walk, required surgery to fix, etc... Took some time to get better, but now it's time to update some progress.
Joe

 

[RJLougee]

So the last teaser was "Front shock mounts"...

The front hoops over the shock mounting location are in, as well as the main/front hoop to tie it together and mount the radiator.

 

[RJLougee]

Sidebars to tie it together.

 

[RJLougee]

And another shot from the side:

 

[RJLougee]

At one point I took it for a walk outside the garage, it seemed to enjoy it...

 

[RJLougee]

So now we are catching up to how it sits today, a view of the shocks, mounts, etc... from the back:

 

[RJLougee]

And the front as well, I did not like the way the original hoops were mounted, so I cut them off and welded these in instead.
WAS: 1.5" welded to the top/side of the frame (weak).
NOW: 1.75" tube, holes cut into frame and welded around the periphery, much stronger. The hardest part was cutting the reinforcing bars off the old hoops, then cut/grind/set for welding to the new bars. Came out pretty good looking.

And all the other things, hydroboost brakes mounted, radiator mocked up, most of the hydraulic lines run, etc...

 

[RJLougee]

And I've been working on the interior cage. Most of it is mocked up, but not welded into place. It's so tight in there, I'm leaving the central bars as the last parts to be welded in so I can move things around a bit and get the back side of things welded up before completing the middle pieces.

Again, all the little things like the 3-way shifter for the 4 speed Atlas, the steering column, etc... that are so time consuming.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Looking good.

 

[Jim Oaks]

I'm liking this build

 

[RJLougee]

Spent the last several days reorganizing the shop, going through the multitude of boxes where I'd put all of the "future" parts in so they were out of the way, and pulled the parts out I thought I'd need moving forward. Got most of it organized and into a few specific boxes, so now I can find things as the need arises.

First up was correctly building the parts for the Atlas and the NWF triple cable shifter. I have one of these in my buggy and they are fantastic, smooth shifting, puts all the parts right there and easy to tie into a mechanism to hold them in place. I decided to swap out the Atlas cables that came with the unit and put the NWF cables on. They are a bit shorter and routing them as I am, work better than the 48" cables from AA.

 

[RJLougee]

I have been looking around at different boxes for the back, couldn't seem to find one that fit well and would haold a bunch of stuff. Then I remembered I have a couple of these nice aluminum boxes. I think it fits on there pretty well and I know it holds lots of stuff, yet only weighs a few pounds.

 

[RJLougee]

And last for today.\started a little mock up of where the shifters will go once I get the seats where I want, steering column placement, etc... I anticipate some similar tubing to the 1" mock-up to locate things that need to be "central", although I'm not sure where I'm putting the gauges. The steering column is going to have to move @4" to the left of where the hole comes through the firewall, so I'll have to put another universal joint in there to allow that.

The planetary shifter isn't hooked up yet, the Atlas cable was too short for the way I wanted to route it, so I called TEWCO and ordered up a longer one so it'll fit. This will be a 184-6-LTT-1-72N vs the stock Atlas part at 48N (so 72" vs 48").