ranger refit/build thread

[gwaii]

around this time i had a customer who didn't have the money to pay his bill....

so i took his tires.





i waited about 30 seconds before putting them on.

 

[gwaii]

yup,they work.

brought up some more problems,though.

 

[WoodyB2]

nope...not enough flex!

HAHA j/k man this is awesome!

thanks for posting all these pics!

 

[gwaii]

nope...not enough flex!

HAHA j/k man this is awesome!

thanks for posting all these pics!

no problem....sure does eat up a lot of time,though-scanning bunch of photos,cropping them,sending them to photobucket,etc.
all good though

anyway-back to the story.....problems.
sheet metal was an obvious one.note how the front fender is getting eaten by the tire.same thing happened to rear fenders.
that was small potatoes,though.

remember that compound transmission?seems i kinda rushed it on that one,so long ago.remember,that was when the 302 was going in.on the first compound i did,near the start of this thread,everything was done properly.the second was rushed.to combine the two i just cut the input spline short on the back transmission and welded a clutch spline on the other's tailshaft.it lasted a long time,but i fouind it's limits.so now i had to cut an input spline from a 205,machine the gear for a press fit,and tig them together.at this time i also changed the t18 for a second 435.now they had the same parts.
lot's of people were telling me to give up on the multiple transmissions at this time,but i don't give up easilly.
another issue was the input for the compound transmissions.
remember,i'm using a drive shaft for the input,not a clutch.when i first put it together,i just put the spline from a clutch into a yoke,and slid it on the input spline.not enough support for side loads,and just not strong enough.

so i machined the gear to fit inside the bearing bore on a 205 rear output shaft,cut an output shaft to fit,and turned the shaft housing to index on the 435.weld the gear to the shaft,and bolt it on.
this gave it all the support it needed,and allowed a proper yoke to be bolted on.it also took up thrust loads.

 

[gwaii]

the other problem was one of power-or to be more presice,torque.

the bigger tires,combined with those 3.5 gears,and a fairly small v8 just was not cutting it.

but i'll put in this pic just becase i think it's cool.

so,i got a 10.25 rear with 4.10 gears,and changed out the front...actually for a d44 pumpkin because it had 4.10 gears,and is a direct swap for the 50 so the 50 shafts and outers were retained.
this helped a little,but in the mud the boggers really ate up the power.

 

[-Nathan-]

You're a GENIUS. With a mind like that, you should be working for NASA or something.

 

[gwaii]

so,two problems dealt with here.

the obvious is the bodywork,now there should be room for those tires.similar activity is occurring on the front.

the other not so obvious thing is....look in the bed.

see that air cleaner sticking up there?doesn't look like one for a 4.6,does it.
for the first time i pulled an engine out of this thing that still worked.and remember that red and white bronco from a while back?the one with the 460?
now it's got an empty engine bay.

now i should have my torque.

one good thing about that 4.6 is that it protected itself well.when i tried to overrev it,the limiter kicked in.when i tried to over heat it,it shut down 4 cylinders at a time and cycled them to cool the engine with air.
and the 4r7ow never gave me any greif.now it had a c6.
so much for the reasonable fuel economy...but the nitrous could go back on.

 

[gwaii]

fenders turned out well,and the 460 was the ticket to turn those tires in the mud.

and i was still experimenting with the suspension.

 

[WoodyB2]

how did you get those fenders turned out so much?

cut and weld in more sheet metal?


edit: cause i think they look sick

 

[gwaii]

You're a GENIUS. With a mind like that, you should be working for NASA or something.

might be just a bit of an exageration.

but i appreciate it

looks like i need a wider axle to get further up the ramp.

by now i had ditched the coils in the front and leafs in the rear for a transverse leaf setup in both ends.i built some massive lower arms and a triangulated link for the rear.this allowed full articulation,but gave it a stable-even stiff ride on the street and off road.
one of the best things i did with it.edit-just noticed it still has the coils in the front-they were changed out soon after.

 

[gwaii]

how did you get those fenders turned out so much?

cut and weld in more sheet metal?


edit: cause i think they look sick

look at post #82-you can see all the seams.

 

[WoodyB2]

that's just insane man...that tire is almost fully horizontal...



kinda a random question but what made you decide to do the black on blue color scheme?

it makes all the work underneath pop out that much more.

 

[WoodyB2]

look at post #82-you can see all the seams.

ya i noticed that after i posted and then scrolled back up and examined the pic further.

 

[88_Eddie]

might be just a bit of an exageration.

but i appreciate it

looks like i need a wider axle to get further up the ramp.

wow, that's some flex there. the only other thing i've seen flex like that is my RC rock crawler, lol


i guess i missed this, but from looking at the last several pics, did you turn a ttb into a solid axle?

 

[gwaii]

that's just insane man...that tire is almost fully horizontal...



kinda a random question but what made you decide to do the black on blue color scheme?

it makes all the work underneath pop out that much more.

it was flat black when i got it....just sort of kept it that way.and i liked the blue.

heres the rear arms when i was building them.