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BeaterMan
Well-Known Member
so i have not been on here in a little bit of time and thought i should post a build of my 85' ranger. A little short story to start things off. i bought a 85' ranger longbed last year with a 4'' superlift and rust free body for 800$. The tranny was cooked and had milk sludge inside of it. i rebuilt the trans myself and slapped it in and off i went. i drove it as it looked for about a summer then the customizing began
this is what the trucked looked like when i got it with bald 31's, a poorly running engine and 150k on the clock.
the first time i took it wheeling, the tcase lost low range completely and the exhaust had cracked off. i picked up a used tcase for 70$ at the yard and rewelded the exhaust.
after doing a serious tune up the beast ran great and had minimal problems.
i found a great deal on some 33' mtr's with rims for 300$ and with slight fender trimming, there was not clearance issues. i also blacked out the grill and added a bull bar that i got from the junk yard for 10$.
with adding on the bigger tires, my 2.8L had quite an issue turning them in the colorado mountains so it was time to regear and get rid of the d28 and 7.5- i dont have any pics at the time of the axles getting geared but i did it myself and went smooth.
first was the 8.8 31 spline swap with 4.88 gears. and at some point i added a tool box for storing my goodies. i used a drive shaft from a 98 ranger and had it shortened to fit.
i drove it around like that for a little while i gathered parts for my d35 swap.
once i had my new gears and bearings ect, i started on the front.
while i had everything apart, i decided to put in an aussie locker and cclip elimator spring and add some manual hubs. i also replaced every bearing, balljoint, seal and bushing.
next i pulled out the interior and put in bedliner and painted the rocker panels for shits and giggles.
soon after the rear leaf bushings rotted out and i tried a explored leaf swap but did not like the ride height so i put my old leafs w/ new bushings and some beltec 6400's on.
there has been countless repairs on the vehicle that i dont have pics of like carb. rebuild, fuel pump, ect ect ect. sorry for the lack of pics.
this is how it looks as off 2 weeks ago. i took it out wheeling and it did amazing with the locker and the belltec's let that rear flex really well.
last week i added some tube doors but dont have any pics yet. tomarrow i'm going wheeling and will get plenty of pics of the doors, flex ect. thanx for checking it out, let me know if anyone has any pointers or ideas.
this is what the trucked looked like when i got it with bald 31's, a poorly running engine and 150k on the clock.
the first time i took it wheeling, the tcase lost low range completely and the exhaust had cracked off. i picked up a used tcase for 70$ at the yard and rewelded the exhaust.
after doing a serious tune up the beast ran great and had minimal problems.
i found a great deal on some 33' mtr's with rims for 300$ and with slight fender trimming, there was not clearance issues. i also blacked out the grill and added a bull bar that i got from the junk yard for 10$.
with adding on the bigger tires, my 2.8L had quite an issue turning them in the colorado mountains so it was time to regear and get rid of the d28 and 7.5- i dont have any pics at the time of the axles getting geared but i did it myself and went smooth.
first was the 8.8 31 spline swap with 4.88 gears. and at some point i added a tool box for storing my goodies. i used a drive shaft from a 98 ranger and had it shortened to fit.
i drove it around like that for a little while i gathered parts for my d35 swap.
once i had my new gears and bearings ect, i started on the front.
while i had everything apart, i decided to put in an aussie locker and cclip elimator spring and add some manual hubs. i also replaced every bearing, balljoint, seal and bushing.
next i pulled out the interior and put in bedliner and painted the rocker panels for shits and giggles.
soon after the rear leaf bushings rotted out and i tried a explored leaf swap but did not like the ride height so i put my old leafs w/ new bushings and some beltec 6400's on.
there has been countless repairs on the vehicle that i dont have pics of like carb. rebuild, fuel pump, ect ect ect. sorry for the lack of pics.
this is how it looks as off 2 weeks ago. i took it out wheeling and it did amazing with the locker and the belltec's let that rear flex really well.
last week i added some tube doors but dont have any pics yet. tomarrow i'm going wheeling and will get plenty of pics of the doors, flex ect. thanx for checking it out, let me know if anyone has any pointers or ideas.
