Prerunners B II under construction (finally!)

[prerunner]

The 93 Ranger is home finally. Been driving it a couple days now and can say it has potential. Not sure if I should start a thread about it or not. Could be an awkward project / daily beater.
Nice to be back in an RBV again.

A few fixes coming shortly as it had been badly beaten by the PO.

Edit: First fix is a simple polish of the headlights using "Blue Magic Headlight Lens Restorer." Lights look better already.

Have to replace a tail light (rt side) cause the lens is busted. Bought a pair of '03 tail lights to slightly update it. Pulled the tail lights out of my 92 Exploder parts truck and its a 2 bulb system too. Want to use the sploder single pigtail and bulb in place of the separate turn / brake pigtails on the Ranger. Shouldn't be too hard. Can't be much harder than using a trailer converter or drilling out the 2 bulb lens assemblies to 3 bulbs. Idk, if it was this easy maybe other guys would have done this too.

 

[prerunner]

The 93 Ranger has its own page titled Project Guinea Pig. This thread can be a B-II one again.
Lovely winter scene:

Good thing I covered the 4.0...

 

[prerunner]

Minor update.
The Ranger is going to get the early Bronco D44. That opens this truck up for full width axles. Still not convinced I need a Dana 60 front but it might actually be cheaper to start with one. (036speed did a spreadsheet...)
Rear axle undecided at this point. A V8 is also in the works...

 

[prerunner]

Spent the day hauling crap out of the B-II today. Went in looking for something and found rat sh!t all through the interior. Found and plugged the hole, though theres another I can't plug but don't think thats where they were getting in (by the computer, theres a rust hole outside.)
On the plus side, I'd moved on in some ways and had kind of forgotten what made me like this thing in the first place and thats back now. Negatively, I gotta vacuum then clean the carpets and seats then screw it all back together - tomorrow.
Right now I'm throwing my SJ radius arms on Craigslist. Tonight I'll figure out how far I want to go on this and how I'll pull it all together.

 

[prerunner]

Just curious. Anybody try to put Ford Super Duty axles in an RBV? Been mulling that over about this. The other idea has been to just pick off a F150 or full size Bronco with more typical axles and powertrain. Not too sure yet. Lots of time to think it through.
If any of y'all has experience with the SD axles let me know. They're available, cheap and heavy duty.

 

[JoshT]

I haven't read the thread so I don't know what your plans for tires or power train are so I'm basing my reply on your first post stating 4.0L.

IMO if you aren't turning tall and heavy enough tires that you need SD axles then don't run them. SD axles are heavy and the components inside of them are heavy, that means they'll eat more power moving them. A BII will never be heavy enough or pull enough to justify axles like that, so unless you're turning huge tires they are a waste. F-150 rear axle is an 8.8" like the Explorer engine and trans is designed to turn (unless you are talking 9" which isn't much worse), and they can handle a lot of tire and abuse.

Just my opinion, never needed more axle than an Explorer 8.8 myself.

 

[prerunner]

Thanks Josh.
There seems to be two ways to build any truck these days. Some are content with adequate (say, D 44 + 8.8) axles but others believe if you have anything less than D 60's under it - your truck sucks.
I didn't have big plans for this when I bought it. But over time I've decided that 35 to 38" rubber would be on target for where I want to take the Bronco II.
When I bought the early Bronco D 44 it was quickly pointed out that a standard rotation 44 was weak. I countered that I could put the "HD" ring & pinion (used in Jeep Rubicons and a few other trucks) using a kit ( http://www.jantz4x4.com//jantz.php?p=detail&pro=jana_k4) from Jantz 4x4. Not enough, go big or go home. I'm not a proponent of big under a smallish truck but this is where I'm at.
What I think is adequate would be a reverse rotation D 44 (http://www.jantz4x4.com//jantz.php?p=detail&pro=jana_54 conversion.) There are a lot of 8.8 haters out there. I still have a Scout II D 44 that I have chromos for. The Jantz K4 would give that an 8.9" ring and D 60 size pinion. Fewer hangups on stuff too.
How much is enough? Depends who is paying to build my truck, I guess. Would 60's be cool overkill? Yup.

 

[prerunner]

Nice! Nitro makes a kit for the low pinion 44.
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/axles-tires-wheels/1386698-nitro-big-pinion-conversion-kit-dana-44-a.html