1989 Ranger straight axle

[jdmechanic001]

http://s1190.photobucket.com/albums/z445/jdmechanic001/1989 Ranger Straight Axle/



This is my Big toy I created in my garage. All the work done by myself, 9 months to create a 1 of a kind custom straight axle Ranger. It has 38.5 tires. Full width axles from an F150. Front is a Dana 44 HP with Auburn Pro Locker and 5.43 Gears. Converted the front axle from coil spring to leaf spring, custom shock mounts on the axle and
F250 shock mounts on the truck frame. The rear is a Ford 9 with the same Auburn Pro Locker and 5.38 Gears, custom shock mounts both axle and frame. I swapped out the the stock 2.9 ltr with a 4.0 ltr and custom built the flow master exhaust so it comes through the bed.

 

[LiLRanger]

Nice! I hope mine comes out as nice as yours did!

 

['95 ranger]

for the lazy people.

 

[lil'_big_truck]

woah! very nice truck. How high has it been lifted? a foot?

 

[jdmechanic001]

It has about 10 inches of lift. Thanks for the compliment

 

[lil'_big_truck]

dang. that has to be fun to drive down the road. haha. I'd love to see the looks on people's faces

 

[-Nathan-]

looks awesome man. 2 things tho.....1. Id lose the body lift if possible....and 2. the rear shocks look SUPER close together.

 

[JohnnyU]

Valliant effort, now finish it. I suggest that you brace that front "crossmember" for starters.

 

[Josh40601]

Looks good brother! What all do you have left to finish it?

BTW... I hope you have a built 44HP up front or that she will be a street queen with mild offroading with those massive meats and chrome plated steel wheels. Those things have to be weigh a ton, and the fact your running such a low gear, you will snapping u-joints and axle shafts and blowing hubs out like crazy.

Take it from someone who personally knows from running 38.5 on a CJ7 with a built 360 and a totally stock D44. with 3.73 gears i was either blowing the hubs out or busting u-joints every trip out.

 

[jdmechanic001]

It has a 4.0 ltr(I beleive about 165hp) and I matched everything according to hp. Everything is brand new in both front and rear ends. Nothing was left stock on purpose, I actually did a lot of reading about the dana 44 and the ford 9 before building them both.[/QUOTE]

 

[jdmechanic001]

Trust me dude that front cross member is braced and gusseted you just can"t see it. I did a major amount of work to insure that everything was braced. Thanx tho

 

[JohnnyU]

I just can't see any bracing in the direction parallel with the frame. There is a lot of force acting in that plane, and that square tube looks to be pretty thin wall.

 

[7.5L_STX]

Looks Good!


Now its time to Flex It And Gets some more pics On here!

 

[ranger]

now you just need a custom front bumper with a winch

 

[4x4junkie]

Trust me dude that front cross member is braced and gusseted you just can"t see it. I did a major amount of work to insure that everything was braced. Thanx tho

Was the bracing done after you took those pics?
As I see it, I have to agree with the others here, that square tube crossmember thing (.120" wall?) is just waiting to deform into a diamond-shape before it then cracks along it's edges.

I'd also look into a Hi-Steer kit to get your drag link above the leaf spring where it'll be more level (perhaps adding a track bar as well). As it is now I imagine the bumpsteer is pretty bad on it?