2006 Ranger STX "Street" Project

[TheTwanksta]

A friend of mine is letting me borrow it, just had to pay shipping!

 

[Capriman86]

Beautiful truck!!!

I had thought about getting a STX before I just bought my FX4 as I just gave up my lowered S10 and still kinda miss it but I am enjoying the change in ride height lol.

I love the original stx grill, I still think I would have at least kept that in, don't sell it, I think you will regret it later! It does not look bad at all with the new one, I just like the straight bars across and the monochrome feel.

Keep up the good work!

 

[TheTwanksta]

Beautiful truck!!!

I had thought about getting a STX before I just bought my FX4 as I just gave my my lowered S10 and still kinda miss it but I am enjoying the change in ride height lol.

I love the original stx grill, I still think I would have at least kept that in, don't sell it, I think you will regret it later! It does not look bad at all with the new one, I just like the straight bars across and the monochrome feel.

Keep up the good work!

Thanks! I kept the STX grille just in case I go a different route, but the STX bumper had to go! haha! Welcome to the ranger club!

 

[TheTwanksta]

Finally got around to rolling the rear fenders on my truck this weekend so they would stop cutting into my brand new tires! I gotta say though, this was an easy job on a couple of Hondas that I have worked on, but it was a PITA and took a lot of finesse and, effort and patience to get them rolled. From what I could tell, my bed side has two metal sheets that are pinch welded together on this seem. There is a pinch weld about every 1-2" and they did not want to BUDGE. It was hard enough since the bed side wanted to push out before rolling and the bed was also moving the suspension. I guess its kinda of uncommmon to roll fenders on a truck, so it was a learning experience. I had to stop short of what I was really after as I started seeing signs of stress cracks in the paint, so I didnt push it any further. I think I was able to get them rolled far enough in that they shouldnt hit anymore. Enjoy the pics!

Getting ready to jack up the rear to remove the wheels.

Here is the fender before being rolled, has about a 3/4-1" tab that was cutting the hell out of my tires.

I taped off where I wanted to stop rolling the edge in to make a smoother transition back to flat.

Rear Fender AFTER.

Suspension fully tucked/articulated to see what my clearances were. LOOKS like I should be pretty good!

 

[Capriman86]

Thanks! I kept the STX grille just in case I go a different route, but the STX bumper had to go! haha! Welcome to the ranger club!

Thanks!

I actually like the bumper on the STX too LOL, but your truck does look damn good!!!!!

 

[TheTwanksta]

Starting to prepare the truck for Slamfest, I doubt Ill win anything as my truck is pretty stock, but atleast she will be PRETTY stock. Ill be going through every inch of the truck and doing a professional detail(I detail professionally ) to get her ready.

I started with the rear bumper. It has always had that "ranger" tilt going on and I decided to get under the truck and see if there was anything I could do about it. Turns out there is two bolts for forward/rearward movement, as well as two bolts to slightly tilt the bumper each way. The movements were limited but enough to get the job done.

BEFORE.

AFTER.

I then decided to try to tackle the front bumper as it was slightly off center and seemed to be hanging a bit low. The front bumper just has four bolts, two for each side. It rest on the frame horns, which have a "bowl" sort of that the bumper sits on. I was able to re align and raise it slightly, maybe 1/2-3/4" upwards. Its hard to tell in the pics, but its a noticeable difference in person.

BEFORE.

AFTER.

Also, my Ford logo decided to fall apart on me after 130k miles. It was fine and then just out of no where it started falling apart.

So I headed up to my local Ford dealer and picked up a brand new OEM Ford Badge and some DSG touch up paint.

 

[Thed]

2/3 drops are the most attractive, personally.

Much props!

 

[TheTwanksta]

2/3 drops are the most attractive, personally.

Much props!

Thanks! Its technically at a 3/4 but I know what you mean. I go back and forth with my self on whether I want to lower more or not every single day! haha! Sometimes I walk up to and think man it looks good, then some days Im just like man its sitting too high, another 1-2" would be awesome..needless to say Im not in a huge rush to lower it any more.

 

[TheTwanksta]

Went ahead and tore down the grill to replace the Ford emblem.

Out with the old.

In with the new!

Completely polished and sealed the grill while I had the emblem removed.

Finished product, man am I glad to have that fixed. Now I just need new headlights/foglights to freshen up the front end again.

 

[Thed]

Thanks! Its technically at a 3/4 but I know what you mean. I go back and forth with my self on whether I want to lower more or not every single day! haha! Sometimes I walk up to and think man it looks good, then some days Im just like man its sitting too high, another 1-2" would be awesome..needless to say Im not in a huge rush to lower it any more.

I just can't stand anything looks like it doesn't have even, consistent spacing between the tire and fender. Small peeve, but it goes so far in the looks of a vehicle.

If I were to do a lowered setup I'd do it almost the same way. Same height and rims no larger than yours.

 

[TheTwanksta]

Still in the process of getting the truck ready for Slamfest, decided to tackle the paint chips I have aquired in the last 130k miles. I am real happy with how it turned out, I used the Ford Motorcraft OEM Dark Shadow Grey touch up paint.

*Sorry for the crappy pics, I forgot my memory card, so I took them with my phone.

BEFORE.

AFTER.

BEFORE.

AFTER.

BEFORE.

AFTER.

BEFORE.

AFTER.

 

[TheTwanksta]

A pic I took a few days after dropping, sitting 2/4 in this pic. After replacing the stock bump stops with the Energy Pancake and letting everything settle, its sitting around 3.5/4" currently. Ill have updated pics after this weekend at Slamfest..

 

[TheTwanksta]

Snapped a quick one before tucking it away in the garage for Slamfest tomorrow. Its not the greatest picture, I was running out of light fast.

 

[JoshT]

If you don't mind my asking what is your method for doing the touch-ups? I've tried using touch up pens in the past but the results weren't near as good.

 

[TheTwanksta]

If you don't mind my asking what is your method for doing the touch-ups? I've tried using touch up pens in the past but the results weren't near as good.

I bought the touch up paint from my local Ford dealer. It came in the normal pen/brush capsule. I never even used three brush,I found it lets it too much paint for my taste. I was able to just press the ball tip of the pen to release a very small amount of paint, just enough to fill in the hole/chip. The color of the truck helps too, so keep that in mind. In very happy with the results though!

Detailers Top: wipe chip area with a microfiber and isopropyl alcohol, make sure it's dry, then apply the touch up paint.Let that cure for a while, then wax over the area.

Sent from my computer phone.