Kirbys 1991 Ranger Build Up and Solid Axle Swap

[Kirby N.]

I have done a bunch of messing with it. Put shims under the pedestals. I thought it changed the sound, but when I actually drove it and got it up to operating temp- then it didn't. Started with .010, went to .030 and then to .050. The sound didn't go anywhere. So I think I have ruled out the pushrods being too long.

This is a stock rocker setup vs. the melling rocker arms.

Oil pressure is staying really good. When fully warmed, it doesn't get below 30lbs.

I went to the machine shop to have them take .020 out of the pedestals to see if maybe the pushrods are too short. The owner discussed a long time with me and really didn't think that that was a possibility. So I took off the heads and took them back to the machine shop. He said he wanted to see them. I hope he can find something that is wrong.

Pistons look good I think

 

[Kirby N.]

The heads really didn't have anything that looked concerning to me, except they were marked odd on 4 of the cylinders. Black like an exhaust valve was hanging open or something:

I took the heads to the machine shop and he said he went through them and found everything to be in spec. Everything sealing up well. But he went ahead and did another valve job and said he ground them by hand this time. He said he thought it was the lifters. So I found some NOS motorcraft lifters on eBay and purchased those. I took the melling lifters out and returned them to autozone- for a full refund on warranty. I need to buy more stuff there.

Anyway, put it back together and she runs great- no noise. I am still not sure if it was the lifters or one of the valves in the valve job wasn't quite right and was hanging open- maybe more due to the coloring- IDK. The important thing is that it is fixed. I have put about 5k miles on it now and it is working well.

It had a high idle, but I figured out that when my dad cleaned the throttle body, he cleaned off all the film they put in the butterfly to seal it up- so it was leaking air. I got a NOS tb off eBay and installed it. It still idles a little high- about 800 rpms, but it will do.

A couple of weeks ago, I found a roof top tent for sale and I was too good of a deal to pass up. ARB Simpson III.

I also got some death wobble after my hunting trip:

Turns out it was the tie rod ends- both on the actual tie rod were wore out. I replaced the driver with a moog, the passenger with a ruff stuff specialties y link tie rod because it came pre tapered- we have come a long ways in our sport!

I also used the Ruff Stuff "the cure" bushing under the drag link to tie rod connection. I had one in there before, but for $20, I figured it was time to replace it. I dont know if it is as revolutionary as they say, but it will help with the dead spot- can't hurt. Honestly, it drives really nice on the road.

I wish I would have used the ES2027L instead of the ES2234 on the lower drag link joint. It would have given me more clearance. My machine shop buddy sold out and moved to Idaho- so I dont have a great way to redo my drag link shorter. I might just have to cut it and weld it.

 

[Kirby N.]

Last thing, I made a pretty large purchase today.

My front driveshaft is limiting my droop on the drivers side. And though my transmission gear swap has helped, I still want a little lower gears. I had decided I wasn't doing another doubler like I had in my explorer and on this build I would do an atlas. However, Advance Adapters no longer supports our platform. Thats not handy.

I ran across Behemoth Drivetrain a few months ago: Behemoth Drivetrain I know they used to have a terrible reputation but they have been purchased by a new owner, Jim. I called and spent some time talking to Jim and to his lead guy, Dillon, and I was really pleased to learn about where they have taken the company. Their shorty case for the 1354 Ranger and Explorer transfer case is a really innovative idea. It incorporates the whole front housing of the case into the doubler for a super short setup. The doubler basically houses the planetarium from both cases. It comes in at just over 4" over all!! I have 7" until I would interfere with the gas tank. Plenty of space.

I am pretty sure this case will fit in a Explorer Sport without getting into the gas tank.

This design also includes a support bearing on the shaft between the cases and a unique design for the intermediary shaft that allows it to be shorter because the transmission shaft goes inside the intermediary shaft.

When I had the d and d doubler, Duffy, the creator of the kit, told me never to put the front case in low when the rear case was in high. He said that would break the shaft in a heartbeat. That was a bit of a bummer because I wanted to use 2 low at times- and shifting the front without shifting rear would allow 2 low even when the hubs were locked. It also just made me feel a bit uneasy about the strength and reliability of the thing.

Behemoth said I can do whatever I want and the shaft won't break. front case in low, rear in whatever.

Also, with the d and d kit that I ran in my explorer, I had to cut the front case and weld in a block off plate to cover the hole where the chain went. This wasn't a huge deal, but I suck at tig welding so I had to get a guy to do it. Mine didn't leak after the second try at sealing it- and luckily the guy I had weld it did a wonderful job. But they were a little prone to leaking.

Ill have to lengthen the front driveshaft- that will help with the amount of available travel before my driveshaft bottoms, and I will have to shorten the rear driveshaft- which will help with the vibes it makes at 85 MPH.

I will post pictures when it gets here. Everything I am seeing and learning about it- I think it will exceed my expectations.

I have never seen a doubler quite like this. I am really stoked to put it together and have low gears again. Once you have had low gears, nothing really compares.

They also have this beautiful billet tcable shifter- I got the twin stick setup. The doubler allows a ton of clocking options. My case hangs down maybe an inch now- should be able to fix it.

 

[bobbywalter]

yeah....that is grems old design. should work well.

 

[bobbywalter]

i dont think you can beat it for the price....get that and a 205 so you have front and rear dig and a decent running 4.0 all a guy needs with an rbv and 40's....

 

[Kirby N.]

i dont think you can beat it for the price....get that and a 205 so you have front and rear dig and a decent running 4.0 all a guy needs with an rbv and 40's....

Haha! I am going to run it with another 1354 for now. Maybe front digs someday.

 

[Kirby N.]

yeah....that is grems old design. should work well.

Gremilstien. There is a name I haven't heard in a long time. Good old days of RRORC. I miss that forum. I didn't realize this was what the stubler looked like. He put a lot of work into those, but I seem to remember the shaft was difficult to get figured out? Seems like there wasn't many that were produced either? I can't remember. Probably been 15 years and we can't go back and look at old threads.

 

[bobbywalter]

Gremilstien. There is a name I haven't heard in a long time. Good old days of RRORC. I miss that forum. I didn't realize this was what the stubler looked like. He put a lot of work into those, but I seem to remember the shaft was difficult to get figured out? Seems like there wasn't many that were produced either? I can't remember. Probably been 15 years and we can't go back and look at old threads.

i can call him maybe...

 

[Kirby N.]

I did a little wrenching on the ranger today. I changed the oil. I have been running around with 3 shocks for quite some time now. The rears are probably not doing much either- they seem pretty blown. So I added the correct eyelet to the passenger side shock, loctite'd the heck out of it, and put the bushing in. Next I moved the reservoirs to the rear of the shocks so they would not interfere with the brake lines.

Also added a NOS motorcraft FPR. Hoping it would affect my idle. Didn't really seem to.

Next, I have had some limit straps sitting on the shelf for a few months now. I wanted to get them installed. I thought I had a plan to mount them behind the shocks, but they were a little longer than I thought would be ideal in that location and the drivers was going to interfere with the pump for the rabs. I ended up putting the top mount on one of the shock mounts and welded the bottom on. I think it will be a great location and length. Left some room behind the shocks if I ever get some hydro bumps.

A couple of days ago I came home to a surprise! I got the shifters from behemoth. I didn't think they would come with cables, but they did!

I quickly got it into the kitchen and un boxed them. I am impressed with the quality and size of these things.

You can see how they mount in this picture. I think I am going to make a new plate for my floor out of thicker steel than the current aluminum and have it rhino coated with a hole for these shifters. I need to find a good manual trans boot without the tcase boot attached. That could be a chore.

It came with an independent boot for the twin sticks:

 

[dvdswan]

Amazing build.


Just a FYI your limiting straps are too long. They should be tight if the axle is just hanging there. If the axle is supported in the images then please ignore this public service announcement.

 

[Kirby N.]

Yeah, that is a thought- I put a ton of thought into it- what is limiting down travel there in the pics is the coils only- which are captured top and bottom. I set the straps based on the limit for the driveshaft and it still has about 1.5" of shock travel left when the limit straps are tight. with tires it is a little tighter, and with momentum they will get completely tight no problem. My passenger shock was coming apart when it extended 2" more than what the straps are set at. So do you think it will damage coils to extend more? Why would I set it shorter?

 

[Northidahotrailblazer]

Youll have to keep us posted on that Behemoth shorty box. I've been really looking into getting one.

 

[dvdswan]

Yeah, that is a thought- I put a ton of thought into it- what is limiting down travel there in the pics is the coils only- which are captured top and bottom. I set the straps based on the limit for the driveshaft and it still has about 1.5" of shock travel left when the limit straps are tight. with tires it is a little tighter, and with momentum they will get completely tight no problem. My passenger shock was coming apart when it extended 2" more than what the straps are set at. So do you think it will damage coils to extend more? Why would I set it shorter?

The big question is what are you using the suspension for? If you're not doing any high speed runs or jumps then you'll be fine if the straps are keeping the driveline/cv joint at a severe angle or extension and the shocks are not bottoming out at full extension. As far as the coil springs, if they are not loose at full extension, I would imagine there wouldn't be an issue but I'm not an expert on this.

Several limiting strap sites are more concerned on the shocks and driveline; here's one of them...

Limit Straps | PRP Seats
Limit straps are vital in custom suspension setups helping to prevent damage to suspension and drivetrain components. Without limit straps, the force of your vehicle's unsprung weight can cause damage to shocks when jumping or at high speeds over rough sections. Limit straps can also prevent damage to your CV joints.

 

[Kirby N.]

I have been using the heck out of it. i do some high speed stuff and also rock crawling. Limit straps are doing their job. I haven't pulled any shocks apart. I didn't have any issues with drivelines before anyway. My coils are captured (not loose on either end). So again, I think I set them up well- but I appreciate the conversation/ analysis. I always welcome someone else's perspective.

A couple of things since I last posted. My shocks on the rear suck. The way I had them setup- they were overextending like the front. I pulled atleast one apart, welded it back together and I think the seals on them were blown. They are bilstiens.

I have wanted to outboard the rear shocks so that it would handle better- especially with the roof top tent- it has had some body roll with the weight up high. Also, shocks are way more efficient/ effective when they are close to the wheel and close to vertical. I was running the stock setup which were set far inboard and at an angle to clear the bed. The one good thing is that they are on opposite sides of the axle to dampen axle wrap. I dont think I can duplicate that, but if axle wrap becomes a problem I will address it in other ways. As of now, current springs and leaf pads- it isn't a problem.

As stated before, I use the heck out of the bed. I haul dirt bikes and everything else back there. So I didn't want to cut the bed. However, with the axle width- there is lots of space in the wheel wells. I think that will get them closer to the wheel and it will also give me the height I want to get the shock vertical and get a long shock. I have the shocks left over from the front- 12" travel smooth body Fox 2.0s. No reservoir.

I started off building a tubing brace from one side to the other. since I am not cutting into the bed, I wanted to tie the two sides together. I also feel like I need some more bracing in the rear of the fair too.

You can see the old shock setup in the picture.

I drilled a hole in the frame and the tube is continuous from one side to the other.

Next, I made front mounts- these end at the frame on each side due to the exhaust in the way on one side and the gas tank on the other (drivers). Then I started bending and notching some hoops.

Trying to get the shocks up as high as possible without rubbing on the wheel wells.


When it was all tacked up, I then took the bed off and took it out for a flex to see how everything is clearing.

I did also have to heat up and bend the exhaust a little to clear the rear crossmember. I will be bolting and welding the mounts because overkill.

 

[Kirby N.]

Next I added a center tube because I wanted to make sure everything was solid and wouldn't move- if the shock mounts deflect, not only does it cause damage to frame and stuff eventually- it also causes the shocks not to work as well also- I wanted them to be rigid, so they would take all the movement from the road. You will notice I was able to use a through tube on the center mounts too.

I got some beefy lower shock mounts from ruff stuff and also welded on some limit straps to keep things from over extending.

The top mounts were also from ruffstuff- I had to modify the front tub because of the way the tube bends.

Then cover up the cab and get some paint on it.

And I took a camping trip to see how they perform. It handles way better. Less sway, more controllable slides when I am going fast. I even towed a huge trailer with it with lots of weight and it handled it so well.