RBV-46 Dodge

[T Hilde]

First off let me say a HUGE THANK YOU to The Ranger Station, the tech I have got from here is awesome.

My 1985 Ranger became too rusted for daily driver duty and came close to going to the scrap heap.

After not liking how the Dodge was fitting an S10 chassis and feeling nostalgic for the Ranger the tape measure came out to play. It looked like it would fit great.

Time to get busy.

 

[T Hilde]

Here is the chassis.

This is the jig I put together to get the cab mounts located.

Putting the cab on with the cherry picker lift.

 

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Cab is on.

Fitting the front sheetmetal.

 

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The water pump pulley would have touched the radiator so it needed to go back.

Here it is 4 3/8 inches back.

 

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The shifter was a little low for my taste.

I added some tubing in two places to make it feel right.

 

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The rubber was wore off the pedals. I took some scrap pieces of diamond plate to make them better.

They look pretty good hanging there.

 

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I like the removable floor, so came up with these panels.

 

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This is for inside the firewall to help stiffen it.

 

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The gauges were fitted with the ranger units except the amp gauge. I don't like them and used more diamond plate to make a bracket for the volt gauge.

I picked up some explorer wheels and modified the center cap for the lock outs.

The beads are rolled on the floor piece, toe board is next.

Got the exhaust hooked back up. Put on a new Smithy muffler.

 

[T Hilde]

Put the alternator and brackets back on. Also fit a new shorter belt.

Power steering pump too.

Got the steering hooked up with new u-joints at the column and steering gear.

Master cylinder is mounted. The clutch location landed on the firewall rib. That may need to be trimmed out.

 

[T Hilde]

Been spending a lot of time sorting through the ranger wiring harness.

Got some of the under-hood stuff located.

Forgot to post this one last time.

 

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Got the wiring harness off the bench and mounted in the truck.

 

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Got rid of the stock air cleaner in favor of this Chevy hubcap. Had an old 9" filter base on the shelf and found this new K&N filter on Amazon for $16 shipped.

Made a bracket for the Ranger cigar lighter. Found some nice indicator lights at NAPA.

Mounted the volt gauge, ignition and headlight switches. Can't remember where the ignition switch came from, but it has a GM square key with an IH logo.

Driveshaft is shortened and reinstalled.

Got the windshield to open a little bit.

Took a spare windshield mechanism and got it working again. It needed some teeth filed to work smoothly.

 

[T Hilde]

Welded up the brackets for the running boards today. 1X2 channel steel, idea stolen from a friends Plymmie truck build.

They might be an inch long, step stool is the right height for mock up.

Got the stuff from Dodge of Central Michigan to rebuild the cowl lights. All new lenses and innerds, now they will function as turn signals as well as marker lights.

 

[T Hilde]

Got some original style mirrors

Picked up an Explorer 8.8 and Dana 35 (way more heavy duty)

Stripped the rear frame, getting new brackets. The old ones were froze solid.