4wd to 2wd conversion

[84projectFORD]

ok im understanding now, equal length threat beams i dont need to swap out the crossmember but if i go aftermarket beams such as camburgs ill have to swap out the crossmember for sure, correct? if thats the case the truck is a keeper and ill use this one for my prerunner platform

Yes using Daves beams that he is currently building for his buddy will work on your truck unless im incorrect. To use unequal lenght beams that a regular 2wd ranger uses you will have to switch crossmembers. so yes you are correct, just givin ya a bit more information.

Truck looks great though! Reminds me of when i bought my 84. The new guy at my auto shop had it and was only keepin it for a short time before sellin it so i said when you do let me know. Well later that week he said he was sellin it and wanted me to know first. I said ok, how much? he said i dunno as i traded a ported and polished atv cylinder head for it. Now this truck at the time was four different colors, had bald 31s, the fiberglass fenders were in great shape, the tranny had a shit ton of slop in the shifter and the 2.8 was kinda tired. I told him id give him 400 buks for it and that way i could just go beat the hell out of it as it had a decent 5.5" lift on it. Well one thing led to another and now its turing into a full blown race truck lol.

be careful as the bug may bite you too!

 

[Lindenmooch]

I'm very interested in this 4 to 2wd conversion....as I'm looking to buy a Ranger for prerunning. I see more 4x4's than not...and I don't think I need or want the extra weight and cost.

We could use a swap like this in the tech library....so noobs like myself don't have to constantly bug the experts in the forum. =)

 

[desertrunner]

Yes using Daves beams that he is currently building for his buddy will work on your truck unless im incorrect. To use unequal lenght beams that a regular 2wd ranger uses you will have to switch crossmembers. so yes you are correct, just givin ya a bit more information.

Truck looks great though! Reminds me of when i bought my 84. The new guy at my auto shop had it and was only keepin it for a short time before sellin it so i said when you do let me know. Well later that week he said he was sellin it and wanted me to know first. I said ok, how much? he said i dunno as i traded a ported and polished atv cylinder head for it. Now this truck at the time was four different colors, had bald 31s, the fiberglass fenders were in great shape, the tranny had a shit ton of slop in the shifter and the 2.8 was kinda tired. I told him id give him 400 buks for it and that way i could just go beat the hell out of it as it had a decent 5.5" lift on it. Well one thing led to another and now its turing into a full blown race truck lol.

be careful as the bug may bite you too!

thats great info cause i really didnt wanna go through the hassle of changin the crossmember.

wow i thought i got a good deal, yours sounds like what mine is now and also what mine will eventually be.... the wife hit the brakes on my prerunner build for now, she says to run it the way it is so i agreed. gotta get some cash flowin b4 i get crazy on the project. so for now im gonna try and make the truck more liveable. i did break down today and go get a steering column from the junk yard, gonna install it tomorrow. im thinking the exterior and interior is gonna be multi colored here soon. they have some explorers at the yard with good fenders im thinkin about snaggin, one explorer has a good left fender, the other explorer has a good right fender, the best part is one is a light faded red, the other is purple and my truck is dark red, should be pretty sweet. whats even cooler then that is none of these trucks at the junk yard have gray interior, so today i snagged some tan sun visors and a tan center console. im also lookin for a good set of seats, the ones in the trucks at the yard are trashed, if i cant find a good set i might get the trashed ones and have them redone. theres nothing wrong with the seats i have but i really like the idea of having the center console.

 

[bobbywalter]

why did you buy a steering column?

 

[desertrunner]

why did you buy a steering column?

well im 6'2" so i really wanted a tilt column cause i beat up my knees everytime i get in and out of the truck, also my signals dont work (either direction) and i cant start the truck via the column, ive ad to jump it from the solinoid everytime i start it. im hoping these other problems are related to the column but if not i atleast got the tilt out of it and i had a credit at the junkyard so i got it for free.

 

[fx2prerunner]

free is always good, looks like you got a fun toy to play with and a good base for a prerunner, cant wait to see more.

 

[desertrunner]

free is always good, looks like you got a fun toy to play with and a good base for a prerunner, cant wait to see more.

thanks, i appriciate it, its a work in progress and will be awhile before it is a prerunner but im gonna keep tinkering with it and ill get there one day.

well i didnt get around to doing anything to the ranger today, i had to go down to van nuys this morning to do some stuff. while i was down there i went to the "pick your part" yard and spent the better half of the day scrounging around lookin for stuff. they have a huge yard but no kidding there might have been 6 rangers total and they were all gutted. i did find out that they had a totally different section of the yard that was strictly for 97 and up vehicles but they wanted 2 more bucks to check that side out so i passed for now. they are gonna have a 50% off everything sale the 13th-15th of march so maybe ill go back then and check that side out.

i did however find some gray double sun visors out of an explorer, u know the ones that allow u to turn the main visor towards the door window and then flip down another one for the windshield, so i snagged those, also snagged a gray console from the same explorer.

then i had a stupid thought, look for seats, i read through the library on what seats will bolt right up but i couldnt really find any that i liked or that were in good shape at the yard, the ones i liked were trashed and the ones i didnt like were in excellent shape, go figure. so for some reason i thought i read something about second generation probe seats, i found a set that i really liked, they are mostly black with a gray design in them and the drivers side is even power. so im satisfied and remove them and get back to the house and look in the tech library again, NOPE the probe seats are not on the library for bolting right up, so then i did a search to see if there are any writeups and i didnt find anything other then people asking questions to see if they would fit or not but no one actually doing it. does anyone know of a writeup on installing these that you can send me a link too? ive got an idea of how im gonna try it, im gonna try the passenger seat first, gonna jump on it tomorrow morning and see what i can come up with. while i have the drivers seat out im gonna swap the column.

i got a question that i posted in the exterior forum but it hasnt got a response yet. just eyeballin the explorer front fenders they appear that they flare out alot more then the rangers and the flare is also much higher. i know by putting the explorer fenders on a ranger the body lines will not line up but what im wondering is if it would be worth swapping them for the extra flare they have for the possibility of tucking the tires at full compression?

heres a few pics of my seats and my new console

probe seat is on the left, looks like they are gonna sit about 3 inchs lower than the rangers

hard to tell in this picture but the probe seats have this fancy pocket in the back of them. no idea what im gonna use them for but i thought it was a pretty cool lil feature

picture of the seat brackets, DRASTICLY different but i aint skerred!

my fancy explorer console with cup holders, gonna figure out how mount a cb in it.

 

[desertrunner]

well fellas ive got the probe seats in. now i understand why no one ever puts probe seats in rangers. what a freakin pain. all in all it wasnt that bad but theres no way id ever do it again, id just get a set that directly bolts in and be done with it.

the positives to having them in are i have a ton of leg room, way more then i need and im not even back all the way with the seat. the seats are unbelieveably comfortable, i adjusted the bolster to tighten in on my sides, adjusted the lumbar etc, super super comfy seats! i honestly cant say enough about how comfy they are. what a difference!

the negatives to having them are the drivers seat isnt centered on the steering wheel, sits a good bit to the left, the tracks are so wide that i pushed them as far over as i could towards the transmission hump but it still isnt centered, its not so far over that its a problem but it is something that i noticed. both the drivers and passengers seat are so wide that they make contact with the door panels, nothing to where i have to worry about it breaking something but you definately gotta give the door a good push to get it shut all the way.

i also changed out my steering column before installing the drivers seat. im 3 for 3 on the column, i now have turn signals, i can now start the truck via the key and ive also got the tilt. cant be any happier about that. i do have one problem with the new column, its a cruise control column so the wiring for the horn is different so i dont know which wires to cut and splice for the horn to work. anyone got any experience with this?

o i forgot to mention, i went and looked at the explorer fenders again and took some measurements, just by some rough measurements it flares out a half an inch wider than the rangers does and also it flares a full inch higher than the rangers does. after taking these measurements im really not thinking that 50 bucks a fender is really worth it for that little of a difference but who knows if i can get both of them for 50 bucks i might consider it since they are way straighter then mine are.

tomorrow im gonna get my tires swapped around and try and get a front end alignment.

ive got a few questions...

will an explorer driveshaft work on a ranger? im interested in doing the 1 piece driveshaft conversion but my local yard only has explorers, no newer rangers.

i currently have a 3 inch body lift on the truck that i havnt got around to removing yet... if i do the rear shackle flip will this allow the shackle to clear the bed or will i need to cut the bed regardless?

i was reading in the tech library about swapping in explorer springs in place of the rangers. one guy was saying that he did a mixed spring set up with both the ranger and explorer springs and gained 3.5 inchs of lift. i have a 3.5 inch lift block in the rear of my truck so would this be worth doing to get rid of the block and just have a hybrid spring, or would the spring be so stiff at that point that it wouldnt flex good at all?

are there any other things i can steal out of an explorer that would be of benefit to my truck or is it basicly all the same? i read that the explorer has 31 spline with a trac lock but with it being so much wider is it worth doing since the donor explorer still doesnt have disc brakes?

passenger side probe bucket

drivers side probe bucket

reenforcement squares i cut up

 

[fx2prerunner]

glad to hear the column worked out and the seats look good. If you flip the shackle you will loose height but with stock shackles you wont have to cut, with or without a body lift and the explorer leafs might compensate for the loss of height. Now I got a question for you, What axel is in your truck now. definatly look for a rear with discs, I put in a 8.8 with drums cause of the trac loc and 3.73's but my truck is 2wd and I couldn't find one with discs, you need to make sure the ratio in the new axel is the same as your front gears, your truck is 4x4 so you have lots of traction, the trac loc wont make a big difference right now so hold out for a 8.8 with discs and the right ratio, also you should check to see if the gears have been changed from stock by the last owner where it has larger tires.

 

[desertrunner]

good to go on the shackle reversal

i have an 8.8 but ive read that my year for sure is a 28 spline open diff and has the 10 inch brakes. the previous owner told me he had the gears changed to 4.56's i have not verified it yet though, i swapped the tires around to some 33's i had today and now what feels like 60ish in 5th is 2000 rpm'ish but my internal speedo could be off so im gonna pull a cover and find out.

after i took the truck to get the tires changed around i went to get an alignment done. well the guy tells me it cant be done so i ask why and he takes me into the pit and shows me that my right lower ball joint is shot, the right outter tie rod end is pretty beat as well, both bushings where the twin traction beams pivot are shot and the wheel bearings on both sides are toast. so directly after that i told him just to back it back out and i decided its time to take it to the desert.

well i thought i was cool cause i was rippin around at about 40-45 mph over some bumpy dirt roads and then i stumbled on what appeared to be a dirt bike or 4 wheeler trail because it was so narrow and the turns were so tight and i started playin around on that trying to go as fast as i could over it just having a good time, i was bouncing so much that i overlooked a large bump and had no time to slow down and i jumped it, it wasnt big or anything but it was big enough to tell i was airborn. i was stunned that the truck took it so well so i turned back around and kept hitting it purposely now faster and faster each time until i finally hit it so fast that the truck completely bottomed out on the landing so i figured that was enough for the day but my god was it fun! the next thing i knew i was doing 50-55 over the same stuff i was doing 40-45 on before, very addicting!

for now im gonna leave the front end as it is, i cant really justify putting money into it when im planning on converting it to a 2 wheeler. if for whatever reason i decide to keep it a 4wd i figure nows a perfect time to convert the d35 to the d44 outters

 

[84projectFORD]

good to go on the shackle reversal

i have an 8.8 but ive read that my year for sure is a 28 spline open diff and has the 10 inch brakes. the previous owner told me he had the gears changed to 4.56's i have not verified it yet though, i swapped the tires around to some 33's i had today and now what feels like 60ish in 5th is 2000 rpm'ish but my internal speedo could be off so im gonna pull a cover and find out.

after i took the truck to get the tires changed around i went to get an alignment done. well the guy tells me it cant be done so i ask why and he takes me into the pit and shows me that my right lower ball joint is shot, the right outter tie rod end is pretty beat as well, both bushings where the twin traction beams pivot are shot and the wheel bearings on both sides are toast. so directly after that i told him just to back it back out and i decided its time to take it to the desert.

well i thought i was cool cause i was rippin around at about 40-45 mph over some bumpy dirt roads and then i stumbled on what appeared to be a dirt bike or 4 wheeler trail because it was so narrow and the turns were so tight and i started playin around on that trying to go as fast as i could over it just having a good time, i was bouncing so much that i overlooked a large bump and had no time to slow down and i jumped it, it wasnt big or anything but it was big enough to tell i was airborn. i was stunned that the truck took it so well so i turned back around and kept hitting it purposely now faster and faster each time until i finally hit it so fast that the truck completely bottomed out on the landing so i figured that was enough for the day but my god was it fun! the next thing i knew i was doing 50-55 over the same stuff i was doing 40-45 on before, very addicting!

for now im gonna leave the front end as it is, i cant really justify putting money into it when im planning on converting it to a 2 wheeler. if for whatever reason i decide to keep it a 4wd i figure nows a perfect time to convert the d35 to the d44 outters

hahaha your tellin me! i was hooked the first time i rode in a long travel race car. now im spendin my all my hard earned money on my ranger lol. Careful cause it can make your ass go bankrupt . We have all been tryin to tell Jim (the founder) that when he come out here for the Primm race that he will be addicted. he seems to think not but im sure the bug will bite, the newer ranger he has im sure will be goin under the knife

 

[desertrunner]

hahaha your tellin me! i was hooked the first time i rode in a long travel race car. now im spendin my all my hard earned money on my ranger lol. Careful cause it can make your ass go bankrupt . We have all been tryin to tell Jim (the founder) that when he come out here for the Primm race that he will be addicted. he seems to think not but im sure the bug will bite, the newer ranger he has im sure will be goin under the knife

ya the last time i went to the junkyard my wife actually asked me how much i spent, i said um well i got alot of good parts, she says how much, i said well look at what all i got, she said how much, so i bowed my head and said 160 bucks, she says how did you spend 160 bucks and i said on some good parts that the red rocket really needed, she said uhh huh so does that mean i get to go get the new cell phone i want, i said hum...

i honestly dont see how anyone into any type of motorsports or cars in general wouldnt love prerunning. its one thing to jump a hill on a dirt bike or a 4 wheeler but its totally different in an actual vehicle. he will be addicted fo sho!

i got to lookin at the front of my truck after i jumped that hill a few times and i destroyed my drivers side bump stop, its afu. but i had a good time doing it so its cool, part of the game.

i started my rear shackle reversal today, im about halfway done with the drivers side and i still gotta do the passengers side. i got the rear leafs out of a 4 door explorer and have combined them with my rangers, i doubt it will give me the 3.5 inchs since i dont have add-a-leafs or anything but it sure would be nice to totally get rid of that block i have in the rear. eventually im thinking they are gonna crack but who knows maybe they will hang in there for awhile.

 

[fx2prerunner]

man I love seeing a junk yard build, do us all a favor and I know you will without me asking but TAKE PICS we want to see those leafs.

Did you get the center console in yet?

I guess its a safe bet that your wife got her cell phone. I bet she didnt care how many good parts you got (if she is anything like my girlfriend) just what you spent ha ha.

 

[84projectFORD]

haha i totally agreee on the wife thing. My soon to be wife is the same. i send 1,000 on the ranger or the diesel and she says "well can i go buy the coach purse then??". i have to keep tellin her that untill we are offcially married that my money is MY money lol.

 

[desertrunner]

man I love seeing a junk yard build, do us all a favor and I know you will without me asking but TAKE PICS we want to see those leafs.

Did you get the center console in yet?

I guess its a safe bet that your wife got her cell phone. I bet she didnt care how many good parts you got (if she is anything like my girlfriend) just what you spent ha ha.

i had alot of things goin on today so i only got the left side done but its not too bad, no idea how its gonna ride or flex and im kinda nervous about it. ill get some pics tomorrow when i get the right side done as well

havnt got the console in yet

ya she will prolly get her cell phone, she is the type of girl that has to have her nails and hair done on a routine basis to stay with the "times" so now she wants a new cell phone, for the most part she always gets what she wants. ya she doesnt really care what i got at all just how much was spent, i honestly think she only asks just so she can use it against me at a later time when she wants something, such as this cell phone.

haha i totally agreee on the wife thing. My soon to be wife is the same. i send 1,000 on the ranger or the diesel and she says "well can i go buy the coach purse then??". i have to keep tellin her that untill we are offcially married that my money is MY money lol.

dude i wish i had that power, im already married and my wife looks at it as if my money is her money and her money is her money so im just assed out all around. dont get me wrong she is cool though, doesnt care one bit about all my projects, her dad is the same way so she grew up around in the gearhead life.

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the shackle reversal and flip was really easy, gave me a chance to wire wheel a good section of the surface rust on the frame as well, primered her up and put some black on it. by me doing the reversal im assuming that i lost 2 inchs or so but with me combining the leafs i gained about the same so the ride height is the same. i did realize once i got under there that my shocks are way too short, i disconnected the shock at ride height and ive only got about an inch and a half more shock left for droop, not even kidding. so my shackle reversal is pointless until i get longer shocks.

should i just remove the lift blocks and leave it since that will give me 3.5 inchs further on the shocks travel? should i take the springs back apart and do a different combo? talk to me prerunner goo roos i need some direction!

my leaf pack consists of:

explorer top spring
explorer second spring
ranger middle spring
explorer third spring
ranger overload