4wd to 2wd conversion

[fx2prerunner]

leave the leaf pack the way it is and try to find some longer shocks, if you are going long travel your gonna end up with a deaver leafpack anyway so run the pack you got and maybe someone got a old set of shocks their not using anymore that could find a good home under your truck. SO ANYONE GOT A SET OF LONGER REAR SHOCKS TO HELP OUT OUR GOOD BUDDY DESERTRUNNER?

And about the wife, ahhh yeah lastnight my girlfriend and I got in a argument and something I did two years ago got thrown in my face. Every chance she gets to use something aginst me she do, but the money is all mine and i'll blow it however I want to.

 

[desertrunner]

ya i cant believe that about the shocks, that really sucks, the previous owner must not have ever changed them over once the lift was installed so i assume i am going to need longer ones for the front as well.

i pulled my rear diff cover, verified that i do indeed have 4.56's after doing the math on the teeth count. so thats pretty flippin sweet!

my step son has been talkin alot of crap so tomorrow we are going to have a dual. gonna bring the tow strap for whoever breaks down first.

my trusty cherry picker comes in handy once again

frame after i cleaned her up

ranger leaf pack next to the explorer leaf pack

my "hybrid" leaf pack

shackle reversal

back together

back together 2

ride height after shackle reversal and "hybrid" spring install, looks exactly the same, i didnt lose anything nor did i gain anything

 

[fx2prerunner]

lookin good,common...flex pics LOL

 

[desertrunner]

dont have any flex pics yet. ill get some though, quick question on flex though, with the rear shackle reversal will the springs only go into full droop if both rear tires are dropping? the reason i ask is i took it on some hills yesterday and one of the rear tires was off the ground but the shackle wasnt extended out, i figure it didnt extend because the springs themselves were in a twisting bind from one tire being stuffed and the other at droop

also i remembered some shocks that i had in the garage stored away that came off our excursion when it had a 4 inch lift on it when we got it. the rears i used on the rear of the ranger, they are about 4 inchs longer then what was on the ranger at full extention. the fronts i wont be able to use with the stock ranger mount since the top of the ranger mount uses the stud type shock and the excursion uses the eyelet on top.

now for my carnage.... took the ranger out yesterday and jumped it over some little stuff. got back to the house and noticed the front axle was severely wet. didnt think much of it other then maybe i need to extend out the breather tube off the top of the axle so this morning after i changed the fluid in the tranny and transfercase i went to the front axle to inspect the breather tube, well right next to the breather tube was a nice 3 inch hold and from what i can see it looks like the pinion is destroyed. im assuming that when i jumped it hard a week or so ago and it bottomed out and destroyed the bump stop that it must have cracked the case then and when i took it out yesterday and jumped a few times it must have hit again and went all the way through. pretty crappy since there was a good 4.56 gearset in that front axle. pretty good on the other hand cause now i can rip the front axle out and go 2wd if i want.

drain pulg from the tranny, nice huh, the fluid was almost black, pretty sure thats the origional fluid

side view, this is what i first saw when i was looking at the breather tube

nice huh

poor gearset

 

[RaceRanger97]

On my shackle flip the leafs wont droop out unless they both go. kind of anoying, my rear inside tire comes off the ground everytime i take an off-ramp quickly. Ive seen a few desert trucks that use a uniball on the bottom side of their shackle so that it doesn't resist the twisting motion so much. here is a pic:

 

[fx2prerunner]

On my shackle flip the leafs wont droop out unless they both go. kind of anoying, my rear inside tire comes off the ground everytime i take an off-ramp quickly. Ive seen a few desert trucks that use a uniball on the bottom side of their shackle so that it doesn't resist the twisting motion so much. here is a pic:

thats interesting... I get my shackles built and then see this. HMMM oh well

 

[desertrunner]

Eh? Far as I know 2wd Exploder front crossmember is identical to the Ranger configuration.

it took my carnage for me to finally investigate this. went to the yard today and got to lookin at a 2wd ranger, 100% no if's and's or but's about it the crossmember is way different than the 4wd ranger crossmember. went and looked at a 2wd explorer, looked too good to be true so i went back out to my truck and looked at it again, then went back to the explorer, exact match. just by eye ballin it im 95% positive they are exactly the same.

i removed the i-beam set up to include ibeams, radius arms, tie rods, the outters, and the passenger side pivot bracket. the drivers side pivot bracket looks like it is the same as whats on my truck but it was hard to tell by just eye ballin it since mine has the drop bracket installed because of the lift. i used my saw zaw to cut out a section of the crossmember which included the drivers pivot bracket since it is rivoted in from the factory just incase it is different.

i havnt had a chance to start workin on it yet cause im on baby duty again and will be for most of tomorrow as well but again im about 95% sure this is going to be a bolt on operation. i will without a doubt take pictures and notes along the way so that if it all works like i hope it does maybe the writeup can be put into the tech library for future reference.

On my shackle flip the leafs wont droop out unless they both go. kind of anoying, my rear inside tire comes off the ground everytime i take an off-ramp quickly. Ive seen a few desert trucks that use a uniball on the bottom side of their shackle so that it doesn't resist the twisting motion so much. here is a pic:

nice! ive gotta get me a welder, i had a 110 volt lincoln but i sold it with the intentions of using the money to turn around and buy a better welder. im pretty sure i just used the money to buy beer or somethin. anyone ever try and put teraflex shackles on the back of a ranger? i run them on the back of my jeep, helps out tremendous for flex on the rear because it twists along with the leaf spring so there is 0 binding but this is also just crawlin around, no idea how they would hold up to high speed punishment.

well the baby is cryin so its time for me to start drinkin

 

[Beanmachine7000]

it took my carnage for me to finally investigate this. went to the yard today and got to lookin at a 2wd ranger, 100% no if's and's or but's about it the crossmember is way different than the 4wd ranger crossmember. went and looked at a 2wd explorer, looked too good to be true so i went back out to my truck and looked at it again, then went back to the explorer, exact match. just by eye ballin it im 95% positive they are exactly the same.

i removed the i-beam set up to include ibeams, radius arms, tie rods, the outters, and the passenger side pivot bracket. the drivers side pivot bracket looks like it is the same as whats on my truck but it was hard to tell by just eye ballin it since mine has the drop bracket installed because of the lift. i used my saw zaw to cut out a section of the crossmember which included the drivers pivot bracket since it is rivoted in from the factory just incase it is different.

i havnt had a chance to start workin on it yet cause im on baby duty again and will be for most of tomorrow as well but again im about 95% sure this is going to be a bolt on operation. i will without a doubt take pictures and notes along the way so that if it all works like i hope it does maybe the writeup can be put into the tech library for future reference.

well the baby is cryin so its time for me to start drinkin

Yeah, BII's and Explorers have the same cross member 2wd or 4wd... It's Rangers that are weird...

 

[desertrunner]

Yeah, BII's and Explorers have the same cross member 2wd or 4wd... It's Rangers that are weird...

right on... the first time i was reading about the crossmembers i really confused myself about what was what. then i just got to thinkin screw it all and go with daves equal length set up when i have the money. then i decided it would be a swift idea to put a hole in the top of my axles pumpkin and i really dont like the idea of cruisin around with a hole in the axle even though it isnt spinning so im gonna go ahead and convert it to a 2 wheeler and once money allows ill still go with daves equal length set up.

are the brake caliper set ups the same as far as the mounting and 2wd to 4wd or do i need to to get 2wd explorer calipers? the donor explorer was a 92 and also my ranger is a 92 if that says anything

are the radius arms the same for 2wd and 4wd? the reason i ask is the pass side of the explorers is worn a bit, nothing horrible but if i could just use the 4wd ones that would help

i was planning on removing all of the drop brackets, is this a good idea or is it a better idea to leave them and run them with the 2wd beams since the 2wd beams are stockers and obviously arent bent which would drasticly effect the camber to where i seriously doubt they could be adjusted since i have the lift coil springs. i grabbed the explorer springs just in case.

what about the steering set up? will the explorer tie rods line up perfectly with my steering box or will i need to run my ranger tie rods? or are they exactly the same? looks like the explorer tie rods have alot more bends in them.

is there anything else i should be expecting for this swap? trying to formulate a plan of attack for this swap to minimize downtime as much as possible

 

[Beanmachine7000]

You'll need everything from the 2wd, including steering set-up... Radius arms are different between 2wd and 4wd (4wd beams are wider)... I'm not sure if calipers are different (I think they might be the same, I don't know though) but rotor will be very different... If I were you I'd just swap everything instead of trying to mix and match...

 

[desertrunner]

whats up fellas? nothing new with the ranger since my last posting. been pretty busy the last week sharing the love with my stroker stang.

anyhow met up with the in-laws over the weekend and was talkin with my father-in-law about my old truck which lead to the subject of this 95 mustang ive been tryin to sell. to make a long story short he threw a trade offer at me that im biting my nails on cause im really interested in doing it, but i wanted to run my thoughts across some of you guys that know prerunners to get some insite before i get too carried away.

months back my father-in-law was trying to start up a handy man business and needed a truck so since my truck was sitting on the side of my house doing nothing i sold it to him for 3 grand to help him out under the agreement that if he were to ever want to sell the truck he would offer it back to me. well his handy man business didnt go as well as hoped and now he doesnt really have a need for a truck anymore and now he lives near a drag strip so now he wants to build a car for the track.

the trade offer is to trade me back my truck (88 f-150 4wd) as well as a 1987 f-350 4wd with a 460/c6 for this 95 mustang gt that ive been trying to sell.

here are pics of each

here is what i "think" my plan would be if this goes through...

remove the 4.0/5 speed out of the ranger and keep as spares for my step sons truck

remove the 302/5 speed set up out of the f150 and put into the ranger

remove the 460/c6 from the f350 and install into the brown f150

remove the axles out of the 1 ton and set them aside for my jeep

sell the flat bed off the f350

sell the ranger

trash remainder of f350 parts i cannot use nor have a use for

brown f150 is now the prerunner project

im really liking the idea of this whole thing but its along road to get all of this done so its definately not going to happen overnight. i guess the main reason im liking this idea so much is i know everything about my brown truck front to back top to bottom, i know its a good solid truck and what im working with.

are there any obvious problems with this that stick out to anyone? will a f150 single cab be a good canadiate for a prerunner or is this just a horrible idea all together?

 

[fx2prerunner]

WOW thats alot of work and alot of swapping stuff, dont know what to tell you maybe dave@threat can give you some advice

 

[84projectFORD]

whats up fellas? nothing new with the ranger since my last posting. been pretty busy the last week sharing the love with my stroker stang.

anyhow met up with the in-laws over the weekend and was talkin with my father-in-law about my old truck which lead to the subject of this 95 mustang ive been tryin to sell. to make a long story short he threw a trade offer at me that im biting my nails on cause im really interested in doing it, but i wanted to run my thoughts across some of you guys that know prerunners to get some insite before i get too carried away.

months back my father-in-law was trying to start up a handy man business and needed a truck so since my truck was sitting on the side of my house doing nothing i sold it to him for 3 grand to help him out under the agreement that if he were to ever want to sell the truck he would offer it back to me. well his handy man business didnt go as well as hoped and now he doesnt really have a need for a truck anymore and now he lives near a drag strip so now he wants to build a car for the track.

the trade offer is to trade me back my truck (88 f-150 4wd) as well as a 1987 f-350 4wd with a 460/c6 for this 95 mustang gt that ive been trying to sell.

here are pics of each


here is what i "think" my plan would be if this goes through...

remove the 4.0/5 speed out of the ranger and keep as spares for my step sons truck

remove the 302/5 speed set up out of the f150 and put into the ranger

remove the 460/c6 from the f350 and install into the brown f150

remove the axles out of the 1 ton and set them aside for my jeep

sell the flat bed off the f350

sell the ranger

trash remainder of f350 parts i cannot use nor have a use for

brown f150 is now the prerunner project

im really liking the idea of this whole thing but its along road to get all of this done so its definately not going to happen overnight. i guess the main reason im liking this idea so much is i know everything about my brown truck front to back top to bottom, i know its a good solid truck and what im working with.

are there any obvious problems with this that stick out to anyone? will a f150 single cab be a good canadiate for a prerunner or is this just a horrible idea all together?

If i were you id trade for the two truck and then turn around and sell them both, you would have enough to really get your ranger goin. If you turn the F150 in to a prerunner its gunna be a bit more expnesive in my opinion.

the ter-a-flex shackels are a bad idea. when your crawlin the tires are not flyin on and off the ground so you dont feel the shackel coming apart to allow more flex. In off road racing, your constantly having all your tires or atleast two tires coming off the ground at the same time. so when you hit the ground you will hear a loud "SNAP" as the shackels fall back together again. eventually they will break.

I think your hole in the diff is from your drop braket hittin the case, not the diff blowin apart. the 4.56 should still be good. If you take the spring out of the driv3er side and fully compress the driver side beam ill bet you see the diff hit the drop bracket or crossmember.

 

[desertrunner]

WOW thats alot of work and alot of swapping stuff, dont know what to tell you maybe dave@threat can give you some advice

ya thats the scarey part, ive already changed ideas around anyhow as far as the swaps would go, doesnt even seem practical at all to put the 460 in the 150, the 1987 f350 460 had 220hp and 360ftlbs of torque, a stock mass air 302 out of a stang has 225hp and 300ftlbs of torque, doesnt seem worth the trouble or expense to even consider the 460 idea.

If i were you id trade for the two truck and then turn around and sell them both, you would have enough to really get your ranger goin. If you turn the F150 in to a prerunner its gunna be a bit more expnesive in my opinion.

the ter-a-flex shackels are a bad idea. when your crawlin the tires are not flyin on and off the ground so you dont feel the shackel coming apart to allow more flex. In off road racing, your constantly having all your tires or atleast two tires coming off the ground at the same time. so when you hit the ground you will hear a loud "SNAP" as the shackels fall back together again. eventually they will break.

I think your hole in the diff is from your drop braket hittin the case, not the diff blowin apart. the 4.56 should still be good. If you take the spring out of the driv3er side and fully compress the driver side beam ill bet you see the diff hit the drop bracket or crossmember.

ya id definately consider the trade and then selling both trucks off then using the money for the ranger. my origional thinking is that the 150 would be a stronger platform since its a half ton but i guess with the added weight it isnt really any better?

thats what i figured on the teraflex shackles, just a rock crawlin thing, couldnt handle the prerunner abuse

the hole in the diff is for sure from the drop bracket hitting, the reason i think the r&p is shot is because when i hit the dirt i lock the hubs just to save myself the 14 seconds it would take me to get out of the truck and lock them if i were to get into a jam. so the front axle was spinning but the tcase was still in 2wd when this happened so the bits of case were floating around in the oil and im pretty sure jammed in the teeth twice. absoultely no idea what the condition is until i pull it apart but im thinkin they are shot.

no idea if im gonna do this trade for sure or not, still weighing out all the options and possibilitys, selling the mustang isnt going in my favor so by doing the trade mentally i would somewhat feel like im moving forward.

 

[simonsays]

drivers side probe bucket

my brother put those seats in his ranger too.. they are pretty nice seats.