Building a mild 88 4x4 Ranger?

[Spades]

I am hoping to draw from the experience others have. I purchased a 88 Ranger Super Cab 4x4 2.9l 5-speed last year with the plan to fix it up this summer. It is in very good shape with new paint and 124k miles. It has a valve sticking that may be fixable, if not I will put heads on it. The clutch is almost new, suspension and drivetrain are in very good shape, fluids are all clean. Other than the sticking valve it is in excellent condition.

I want to use the truck as a daily driver and for camping or very mild off roading. I will only be using it to drive across town, and I rarely put more than 2k miles on a vehicle in a year.

With that being said, I know that I will most likely want to lift it and put larger wheels and tires on it. While I have built cars before, this will be my first attempt at a 4 wheel drive.

I want to know what is the best way to lift a vehicle...suspension or body? What problems have people run into when lifting a vehicle? If I only want a few more inches of clearance, which is the most inexpensive and best way to lift the truck?

Besides suspension, what size of tires are most common? I don't want a size that is hard to find and expensive. How big should I go if I don't want to jack the truck up too high? Are multiple terrain off-road tires more common in 15" or 16" wheel size? What type of tires do well on dry pavement, rain, and most off road situations?

I want to build bumpers for it and have a winch on the front. How heavy duty does the winch really need to be? I would rather go overkill than getting something too small and burning it up, or getting stuck and not being able to get out. Is the stock charging system and battery enough for a good winch?

Do I really need lockers,ect for very mild off roading(getting to more secluded camping sites, or on really easy off road trails)?

If I am building the truck with a budget in mind, what upgrades should be first if everything is in good shape? What commonly breaks on this truck if it is taken off road a few times a year? does the 2.9l V6 have enough power? Do the stock differentials and t-case hold up to mild off roading?

I know I have many questions, so patience and any help would be very greatly appreciated! Thank you in advance!!!

 

[adsm08]

A 4.0L, M5OD transmission/BW 1354 t-case and at least a D-35 front end are probably the first places too start.

Suspension lifts are far superior to body lifts for just about everything, but are also much pricier. Along with the lift you will probably want to nab yourself a 98+ 1-piece rear shaft from another super cab truck.

The weakest point in the front axle is the u-joints. A D-35, even the hybrid 28/35 will fix that.

For your mild off roading lockers probably aren't needed, but a limited slip might be nice.

I wouldn't go above 33" tires with your current axles.

 

[Spades]

is the 4.0l for the reliability of the engine or for more power? when I worked for ford the 2.9l's weren't around because everyone flogged the living daylights out of them and cracked the heads. this one has been maintained very well, and I have my eye on a set of World Performance Products heads.

I am wondering if I can get the engine reliable and perhaps hop it up a bit(intake, exhaust, ect), if it would be enough for what I will be using the truck for.

is the Mitsubishi FM146 that bad of a transmission?

My plan of attack then is this:

I can either find a rear driveshaft from a 98+, or go to Six States and have them fab up a one piece unit and look at getting a LSD for the rear.

I will look at getting a suspension lift, and some 31 or 33" tires.

I will fix up and run the 2.9l for now, if it breaks and I am going to the trouble of swapping an engine in, I would much rather put in a 4.6l or 5.0l.

How much effort is it to swap in the d-35? I know they are larger in size, that's about all I know. Will the D-28 with its manual hubs be that prone to failure on easy trails headed for remote camp grounds even I don't do anything stupid?

 

[cody93]

if a 2.9 breaks and is fubar'd, go ahead and drop in a 4.0 or a 302

 

[strvger]

your build is like mine... you want affordable and reliable. if you can take care of the 2.9 to your satisfaction, great. one less thing to have to replace or rebuild.
check the door sticker or the axle tag to see what gears you have in it. 4.10 gears would serve you well, but they can be pretty rare from the factory. i put in 4.56 gears and am happy with them. if i were more than a year from retirement, i would have gone with the 4.10's just for better driveability as a dd. mine will be used for traveling the country in all kinds of weather and road conditions towing a camper so i went the 4.56 route to be better prepared.
i vote for the body lift. you get 3 inches of lift for well under $200 and it doesn't affect the stock handling and ride quality. you should also be able to fit 31-32 inch tires under it easily enough. the added clearance it will give you will make it easier when working on your truck from underneath it. mine is only a 2" body lift and i'm running 31" tires with no problems at all.
for sure i'd get a locker for the rear axle. either a Lock Right or a Detroit. you can always check around for a good used one as i got an excellent Detroit for about $250 or so. you will appreciate the added traction in bad weather on the road as much as the capability off road.
i'm currently running 215/85x16 (31" tall) AT tread tires as 90% of my driving is on the road. next summer i'll be upgrading to 235/85x16 (32.5" tall) AT tires for my road trips. i know big fat tires are what's popular, but i get 2 big advantages with tall and skinny. one is better gas mileage. much less rolling resistance on the road with the slender tires. just finished a 1600 mile trip and averaged 21mpg with my set up. the other is better trail capability. with the skinny tires, i can pick my way on the trails, often going around obstacles that could otherwise injure my truck if i had to muscle big, fat tires over them.
as you're going for the best bang for your buck, check out www.treadwright.com for your tires. people can say what they want, but i don't believe you can get better tires anywhere for the money. 4 years and 30k miles on mine and still have 75% of the tread left! they will last a very long time on a light vehicle. and the traction has been excellent in the northern Minnesota winters of snow and ice and springs of 8" deep mud on my road.
there is my $.02. good luck with your build and don't forget to post up pics when you can!

 

[Spades]

Thanks for the replies!

I am going to look around the local wrecking yards to see if I can come up with a LSD 8.8 rear end and 1 piece driveline.

I am still looking at suspension lifts and body lifts, all I know is I really only want a 2" or 3" lift, and I am still wanting tires under 33 inches. I don't want to go too tall or wide on the tires, I want a trail rig, not a monster truck. If I go with a suspension lift, I will find one that works with a D35 front axle, in case the D28 does break (doesn't sound like it will for what I will be using it for).

I know the truck was well maintained, so I will be fixing up the 2.9l engine, and most likely setting up a custom intake and exhaust and a few other things.

most of the other modifications will be to make it more usable. I will be fabbing a rear bench seat in the extended cab so I have somewhere to strap a booster seat in when we go camping, building a roll bar for the bed and a weather-tight locking box for extra storage space, and building heavy duty rear and front bumpers with hooks for tow straps and a front mounted winch.

I think after getting the truck set up with those things, I will add other things as they break, such as a new front driveshaft and a d35.

 

[feellnfroggy]

If you do the proper porting/polishing, and open up the airways you can get some good power out of the 2.9l however reliability will only depend on your maintenance and the prior maintenance of the block. If you do more than the factory planned then it will have more probs than it should. As far as the build, You appear to be new here by your post count. Meaning you prolly havent read all or most of the prior build already completed or in progress. I would print a copy of you original post questions and then start reading build threads and writing down ideas. This will give you a place to start. Walmart has a set of really aggressive all terrains that come in minimum 31x10.50/15 This would be a good size to start with for your truck. I would read up on some of the explorer spring swaps, and f150 spring swaps. and other budget swaps in the tech library and build threads. This will give you a cheaper place to start as you can always go more expensive later after you get a more specific taste for what you are looking for. Remember to post your own build thread and lotsa detail and photos for others with your same questions(not required but really kool).


::EDIT:: talk to supersixmotorsports.com about upgrading the 2.9l. They dont do many of them, but they know 6's and engines. And they can tell you whatever you need to know.

 

[Spades]

Thanks for the tips! I already have some good places and ideas to start off with, I apologize for not being able to read all of the builds and tech ideas, between work and the ranger and a 72 datsun 510 I am building, what little time I have left has been spent with family.

With all the help I have so far, I at least have the direction I want to go, and I can get started and read the tech write ups and forums for gleaning other information. It sounds like this truck has the ability to do what I want as it sits right now, and the add ons I have planned will only improve it.

As far as the 2.9 goes, I will just be working on getting the stuck valve issue fixed, if I need to buy heads I will get a set from World Performance and port and polish them. I will add a couple bolt ons to the engine, but I will not be seriously modifying it. short of fixing anything wrong, a full tune up, and intake,exhaust,ect...it will be staying close to stock. since the truck was maintained well for the first 100k miles, and I will be taking care of it and fixing anything it needs, I am sure it will last me for a long time.

 

[NMB2]

A 4.0L, M5OD transmission/BW 1354 t-case and at least a D-35 front end are probably the first places too start.

IMO, he could spend the money from a motor swap on other much more worth-while modifications. That should be something that is done because you engine is on its last leg, or you have run out of things to modify.
Also, no point in really changing the tranny beings he has an FM146. the 1354 however is a good swap, along with a better front axle.

 

[Spades]

considering how well maintained this super cab really is, I think I will just fix the sticking valve and drive it...

I have a couple more questions to add to the mix, I decided I will be getting the ford spring perches for the front found in one of the tech write ups and the Belltech 6400 shackle kit for the back to get a extra inch or two of lift...and I decided I would like to swap to a 1 piece drive line at the same time.

In the tech write up on swapping the two piece to a 1 piece, the article was for 1990-1997 rangers...I am guessing the 1988 ranger is the same?

Also, I am assuming from what I read, those ford f150 spring perches don't raise the front enough to cause camber issues, and I should still be able to have it aligned to stock spec, right?