Just curious. How rare are regular cab rangers that have 4WD?

[lil_Blue_Ford]

You mean like this one?

View attachment 86473

Worse…

 

[don4331]

2008 was last year of the regular cab 4x4. After that to get 4x4, you needed to get SuperCab (and 4.0 as 3.0 was removed from options, too). And most people who were paying for 4x4, we're afraid to spend a little more for the bigger cab anyways.

This should almost be a sticky:

To make a 4x2 torsion front suspension into a 4x4 IFS you need

Upper and lower A-arms (technically you just need the correct ball joints, but explaining what you need to parts guy is challenge, there are difference pre and post '08, so best to grab everything)​

Knuckles, unit bearings and rotors​

Half shafts and front axle​

See footnote 1​

Front and rear driveshafts for the wheelbase you are working on​

Manual transfer case​

See footnote 2​

4x4 transmission​

See footnote 3​

Optional: lift blocks from 4x4 (and new u-bolts)​

​

I don't know if shocks swap - they are a "wear" item and as the existing shocks were over 10 years old, I just replaced them.

​

Footnote 1: There is a bracket to mount the front axle that isn't present on the 4x2 frame. You will need to cut the bracket out of a 4x4 frame and weld into the Edge frame (slots have been in the 4x2 trucks which I have worked on, so accurate placement wasn't an issue

Footnote 2: If you really want electric transfer case, you would want dash and ECM and you want them to have exactly same options as your current truck - power windows, power locks, same engine, same transmission, same ABS, etc, etc

Footnote 3: It is possible to convert a 4x2 transmission to 4x4, but you need the output shaft and tail shaft from a 4x4 transmission. And removing the tail shaft requires serious transmission dis/re-assembly. You might as well start with correct parts. Exception: If transmission has different bellhousing, i.e. if you are building a 2.3 Duratech manual transmission 4x4, you would be in for transmission work as Ford never made that combination.

 

[Blmpkn]

2.3L, FM-145 (I think), not sure if I stole the T-case or not, that might have been the replacement for the 1350 in my choptop that stopped shifting and when I drained it I got about a cup of chocolate milkshake.

Maaaaaan... it's tempting. I'd LOVE a 2.3 4x4 to make a wheeling rig out of. Your not too terribly far away either.. ugh lol.

 

[superj]

Thats alot of work to make a 2x4 into a 4x4. That off the list of mods now since my other truck is 4x4

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Maaaaaan... it's tempting. I'd LOVE a 2.3 4x4 to make a wheeling rig out of. Your not too terribly far away either.. ugh lol.

Lol, after a discussion with a friend, I had thought about making it a crawler project, do a D-30 front, box the frame behind the cab, build a rear frame section and attach the two with a swivel like the old Dodge trucks with the swivel frame (doesn’t swivel side to side like an articulating loader, or up/down like a hinge, but allows the frame sections to rotate separately). Really nifty idea. But there’s a huge backlog of projects before that is a possibility