Welcome Visitor! Please take a few seconds and 
Loanranger
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Aug 6, 2007
- Messages
- 842
- Age
- 44
- City
- Puyallup, Wa
- Vehicle Year
- 1989/
1972
- Transmission
- Manual
Well, here's my frankenstein. It started out as a '72 Suzuki LJ20. I picked up an '83 Ford Ranger 2wd longbed regular cab, which was a good running little truck till I got to it. Muahaha. So basically I started with a bone stock Suzuki, and stripped everything down. The only things left from the original rig are basically the body and frame. The first things I picked up were a Samurai transfercase and axles. Now, I know what you're thinking. Where does the Ranger come in? Well, I needed a good running motor and decent tranny to put in front of the samurai transfercase. A buddy of mine was at the time trying to sell his '83 Ranger, and I knew it ran and drove good, so I payed a whopping $200 for it. Well, actually $100, because my dad needed some body parts for his ranger, and so we split the cost. I got the little ranger home and immediately went to work yanking the running gear and was soon on my way to fitting it into the LJ.
So for about the last 4 months, I've been cutting and welding, making a crazy little rockcrawler. The ford parts in it include the 2.3 liter 4 banger with a Weber on it, the stock 4 speed, all the wiring and the steering column, the brake and clutch pedals with aluminum bracket, the master cylinders for the brakes and clutch, the rear springs (which were cut in half and used just the main leafs for 1/4 eliptical rear) and the slipyoke into the tranny and the rearmost flange of the driveline. The non ford parts include samurai axles, transfercase, and modified drivelines (the rear is shortened and the front is lengthened due to the length of the drivetrain), Datsun 620 rear leafs up front, outboarded on the frame, toyota IFS steering box with modified pitman arm to accept a custom samurai z-link, john deere tractor toplinks for the rear triangulated 4-link (the bottoms were cut and welded around D44 axleshafts to strengthen), and a whole bunch of 3/16ths steel plate.
As of right now, I need to get some calipers for the front axle, run my brakelines, run the wiring, install a fuel tank and fuel lines, and either find a small enough radiator to fit in the front and still keep it cool, or run some tube to the back and run the ranger radiator with electric fans.
Here's some pics of the build.
So for about the last 4 months, I've been cutting and welding, making a crazy little rockcrawler. The ford parts in it include the 2.3 liter 4 banger with a Weber on it, the stock 4 speed, all the wiring and the steering column, the brake and clutch pedals with aluminum bracket, the master cylinders for the brakes and clutch, the rear springs (which were cut in half and used just the main leafs for 1/4 eliptical rear) and the slipyoke into the tranny and the rearmost flange of the driveline. The non ford parts include samurai axles, transfercase, and modified drivelines (the rear is shortened and the front is lengthened due to the length of the drivetrain), Datsun 620 rear leafs up front, outboarded on the frame, toyota IFS steering box with modified pitman arm to accept a custom samurai z-link, john deere tractor toplinks for the rear triangulated 4-link (the bottoms were cut and welded around D44 axleshafts to strengthen), and a whole bunch of 3/16ths steel plate.
As of right now, I need to get some calipers for the front axle, run my brakelines, run the wiring, install a fuel tank and fuel lines, and either find a small enough radiator to fit in the front and still keep it cool, or run some tube to the back and run the ranger radiator with electric fans.
Here's some pics of the build.
Last edited:
