A what if.... STX Level II

[turbo91xlt]

Figure I'll start a project log for my winter beater.

Rewind to the fall of 2017 a coworkers friend asked of I wanted to buy his rusty junk box that he had bought off his neighbor a few months ago after falling in love with my turbo Shortbed thats in my profile picture.

 

[sgtsandman]

It doesn't look that bad. Why not?

 

[turbo91xlt]

I definetly wasnt in the market for another ranger because at the time I already had 4 others. But this truck ticked all the right box's: 1991 (best year for any RBV imho), 4.0 5 speed 4wd extended cab STX in black with buckets/console/ manual windows & locks and no A/C. Factory ordered tube bumpers & ralley bar with off road lights. Basically exactly how I would have ordered mine in 1991 other then I would have opted for the manual transfer case & hubs over the electric stuff it came with. Basically being a 1 owner truck (my coworkers friend never got it titled in his name and only had it for a few months, with relatively low miles (130k documented miles) for an almost 30 year truck and a price of get it out of my yard as soon as you can..... I dragged it home.

 

[turbo91xlt]

Original window for the truck. And I found a small note pad in the glove box with a recorded of every gas fill up, milage, and maintenance performed on the truck since day 1. Needless to say the original owner was a fanatic lmao.

 

[sgtsandman]

Man after my own heart!

 

[turbo91xlt]

The 1st thing the guy I bought the truck from did to it was pull the bed and change the fuel pump/sending unit. It was then he realized he had boughten a completely rotten POS. He had hopes of fixing it and I actually gave him some frame rail sections from my old totaled '92 long bed 4x4. But he was in over his head without the skills and equipment to fix it. As you can see in the previous picture of it on the trailer the wheels were sitting funny in the wheel wells.... thats because the axle wasnt bolted in lol. Made for an interesting time trying to figure out how to load it up.

 

[turbo91xlt]

Closer look at whats left of the frame on this thing.. Come to find out the original owner bought it solely to use in the winter time to keep his chebby truck in nice shape. Which explains why he didnt order A/C on. By all means this thing should have gone to the junkyard but I love my 2nd gens too much. Gotta love NY winters....

 

[turbo91xlt]

Luckly even though the frame rail peices came from a long bed, everything I need was the same. The last & 2nd to last rear crossmembers, last 6-8" of frame rail where the bumper mounts, shock mounts, and all 4 leaf hangers had to be replaced. Some quick measuring and I lopped what was left of the rear rails off. Of course since almost every was used ment alot of rivets had to be cut and removed to be able to be reused over again.

 

[turbo91xlt]

 

[Assassynation]

Rare truck you have there. Good luck!

 

[turbo91xlt]

Got to work putting in the replacement crossmembers and mounts. The previous owner actually gave me brand new Dorman shock mounts with the truck and I had previously bought rear leaf hangers for my old '92 which I never ended up replacing. If you're wondering why the crossembers were cut in half those frame rail sections were orginal destin for the scrap heap and splitting the frame in half made it easier to throw in the scrap pile lmao. Good thing I held onto the stuff. Rails were welded in. Where rivets were removed half inch grade 8 hardware went in its place. The rear leaf hangers kinda act like a brace over the weld joint too which worked out great. I did have to drill new holes in the replacement rails for the leaf hangers as they are located 6" further forward then a short bed frame.

 

[turbo91xlt]

New leaf springs & shocks were also given to me by the previous owner so on they went. What this truck really needs is a complete frame swap but this will hold me over for now. All I have in it at this point is some welding wire & a bunch of bolts lol.

 

[turbo91xlt]

Was able to save 4 of the 6 bed bolt clips. Stole 2 clips & all the bed bolts from my Shortbed as it wasnt going anywhere anytime soon (might start another build thread for that truck in the future). Classic ziptie throttle cable fix and a fresh oil change.

 

[turbo91xlt]

Had to steal the rear bumper from the Shortbed as the original tube bumper wasnt salvageable. Back together, register, and passed NYS saftey inspection without issue! Time to press it into daily drive status!

 

[Assassynation]

If you find yourself feeling generous, break down that roll bar and mail it my way...

It's a pretty rare option, if you can post some pics with it installed for reference.