My 1996 Ford Ranger 4x4 (TRS-2) Re-Build

[PetroleumJunkie412]

If youd put a 2.9 in it, it would be 33% more awesome by volume...

 

[Curious Hound]

View attachment 48032

If youd put a 2.9 in it, it would be 33% more awesome by volume...

 

[Jim Oaks]

Ok. As long as it's an Ecoboost.

 

[Jim Oaks]

My kids got me a stereo for TRS-2 for my birthday.

 

[scotts90ranger]

Nice, Pioneer's good stuff, have a similar one in my '90 and it's still alive after not having a sealing rear window in most of a decade in the Northwest... that and a leaky windshield so the floor is always wet...

 

[AgPete139]

Nice! It'll be good to have bluetooth and updated tech in her.

 

[Jim Oaks]

The old girl needs a lot.

The 4.0L is tired, and it's been through (2) transmissions. One from me, and then it needed one when I got it back. I'm seriously thinking about doing the Explorer 5.0 swap. I want some more power to put it on 35's, but more importantly I want the benefit of a stronger transmission. I also have the parts here for electric power steering, but I don't want to bother with it until I do the engine swap.

I'm also considering a Dana 44 TTB swap before it sits on 35's.

 

[Jim Oaks]

Shit. ​

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

If you can't fix it with a hammer its probably an electrical problem.

 

[Jim Oaks]

I swear I replaced that solenoid last year.

 

[dvdswan]

I'm also considering a Dana 44 TTB swap before it sits on 35's.

Wouldn't that make a wider track in the front though?

 

[Jim Oaks]

There's (2) ways to do it:

One would keep the 65-inch width, and the other would narrow it to 63-inches.

Ford Ranger Dana 44 TTB Conversion FAQ’s – The Ranger Station

The Dana 35 is 59.5 inches.

The Dana 44 also has a different wheel bolt pattern.

If I narrowed it to 63-inches and used a 1.75-inch thick wheel adapter for the rear axle it would make the rear the same width as the front.

The only point would be to go up to 35-inch tires and not have to worry about busting the front hubs and get a to slightly larger ring gear. The Dana 44 TTB would allow me to keep the look of a factory setup. I could also swap in the Dana 44 knuckles and get the hubs that way, but I'd like to replace my front locker, which makes it a good time to go to a larger axle.

I could just go with a Solid Axle Swap (SAS), but if I'm doing that I want to go at least with a Dana 60 and probably a 36-inch tire. If I'm doing that much work I want to at least be replacing the axle with one that's significantly stronger than the Dana 35. That also requires swapping out the rear for a 1-ton axle as well.

 

[Shran]

Consider this - my buddy down the street did some parts swapping on his D35, which basically involved late model Bronco (95/96ish) D44 spindles, hub, rotor, and outer axle shaft. The spindle bolts right onto a D35 knuckle and the only other part that you need to modify is the rotor itself. Have a machine shop turn it down so that the outer diameter is the same as what you have now... you then use your current caliper and pads.

You gain most of the D44 benefits without the extra width, weight, and misc other modifications that the mappyjack method or full on D44 knuckle swap entail... it's super easy, removes two of the BIG D35 issues (weak hubs and crappy spindle/wheel bearing design.)

Here's his build thread on EF:

Gen 1 version 2.0 build

Playing with wheel choice for the 5"x5.5" swap. I'll be using 16" Dodge 1500 wheels with the centers enlarged to fit the front hubs, the off set works nice with the 1.25" spacers I need to use to change the rear bolt pattern and I already have a almost new set of 265/75-16 tires. There are also...

www.explorerforum.com

 

[Curious Hound]

There's (2) ways to do it:

One would keep the 65-inch width, and the other would narrow it to 63-inches.

Ford Ranger Dana 44 TTB Conversion FAQ’s – The Ranger Station

The Dana 35 is 59.5 inches.

The Dana 44 also has a different wheel bolt pattern.

If I narrowed it to 63-inches and used a 1.75-inch thick wheel adapter for the rear axle it would make the rear the same width as the front.

The only point would be to go up to 35-inch tires and not have to worry about busting the front hubs and get a to slightly larger ring gear. The Dana 44 TTB would allow me to keep the look of a factory setup. I could also swap in the Dana 44 knuckles and get the hubs that way, but I'd like to replace my front locker, which makes it a good time to go to a larger axle.

I could just go with a Solid Axle Swap (SAS), but if I'm doing that I want to go at least with a Dana 60 and probably a 36-inch tire. If I'm doing that much work I want to at least be replacing the axle with one that's significantly stronger than the Dana 35. That also requires swapping out the rear for a 1-ton axle as well.

I'm beginning to see these things in my future, too.

 

[dvdswan]

Great read and info. But I though I read on the site somewhere that you could put the d44 carrier in the d35 housing. Is this correct or did I read that wrong?