Show me your off-road Ranger, tell me what makes it a good off-roader, and what you'd do different today.

[Jim Oaks]

Like the tile says, show me your off-road Ranger, what makes it a great off-roader, and what's you'd do different if you rebuilt it.

I'll go first...

This is my 1996 Ford Ranger. It has a 4.0L OHV V6, and automatic transmission, and electronic shift transfer case.

It has a Skyjacker 6-Inch Class II suspension lift that includes extended radius arms and rear leaf springs. The 28-spline 8.8-inch rear axle was replaced with a 31-spline 8.8-inch rear axle that received a Detroit Locker and 4.56 gears. It's also been supported by an axle truss, and the stock diff cover was replaced with a heavy-duty diff cover made out of 1/4" steel plate. The front Dana 35 also received a Detroit Locker and 4.56 gears. The tires are Cooper Discoverer STT PRO's.

It has a heavy-duty front bumper designed for maximum approach angle and has a Smittybilt 9.5K winch. The bed cage is made from .120 wall DOM 1-1/2 inch tubing and is home to an LED light bar and tire carrier.

The Ranger has both a CB and GMRS radio to communicate with the group, but anymore we always use GMRS.

What I Like:

It's basically made up of stock components. No Dana 44's or Dana 60's. It just looks like a lifted Ford Ranger and people underestimate its abilities, so it's fun to conquer difficult obstacles and surprise people. It's also fun to do obstacles that I see other off-roaders struggle with. There's never been a time that this truck wasn't able to go anywhere I pointed it.

What I'd Do Differently:

Building it today, I'd rather have a selectable locker like an air lock or electric locker instead of a full-time locker. A locked axle makes it difficult to do sharp turns on a trail. It also puts more stress on the steering. Locked axles can also push the truck sideways when you're on a side slope with a loose surface. On slick surfaces, the locked rear axle can cause the rear end to slide sideways, and the locked rear tends to want to push the truck straight even though you're turning which can get interesting on slick highway ramps.

I'd like to run 35-inch tires, so I wish I had 4.88's or 5.13's to compensate.

The manual hubs sold today are stronger than the originals. I can't even remember when the last time was that I blew a hub. But I have thought about a Dana 44 knuckle and hub swap to run 35's. But that's more for the wheel bearing spacing than the hubs.

I'd get rid of the bed cage to have more use of my bed, although there were a couple of times, I thought I was going to roll the truck over onto it.

You're turn. Let's see your Ranger, how you built it, why you think it's a good off-roader, and what if anything you'd do differently.

 

[JonH]

Like the tile says, show me your off-road Ranger, what makes it a great off-roader, and what's you'd do different if you rebuilt it.

I'll go first...

This is my 1996 Ford Ranger. It has a 4.0L OHV V6, and automatic transmission, and electronic shift transfer case.

It has a Skyjacker 6-Inch Class II suspension lift that includes extended radius arms and rear leaf springs. The 28-spline 8.8-inch rear axle was replaced with a 31-spline 8.8-inch rear axle that received a Detroit Locker and 4.56 gears. It's also been supported by an axle truss, and the stock diff cover was replaced with a heavy-duty diff cover made out of 1/4" steel plate. The front Dana 35 also received a Detroit Locker and 4.56 gears. The tires are Cooper Discoverer STT PRO's.

It has a heavy-duty front bumper designed for maximum approach angle and has a Smittybilt 9.5K winch. The bed cage is made from .120 wall DOM 1-1/2 inch tubing and is home to an LED light bar and tire carrier.

The Ranger has both a CB and GMRS radio to communicate with the group, but anymore we always use GMRS.

What I Like:

It's basically made up of stock components. No Dana 44's or Dana 60's. It just looks like a lifted Ford Ranger and people underestimate its abilities, so it's fun to conquer difficult obstacles and surprise people. It's also fun to do obstacles that I see other off-roaders struggle with. There's never been a time that this truck wasn't able to go anywhere I pointed it.

What I'd Do Differently:

Building it today, I'd rather have a selectable locker like an air lock or electric locker instead of a full-time locker. A locked axle makes it difficult to do sharp turns on a trail. It also puts more stress on the steering. Locked axles can also push the truck sideways when you're on a side slope with a loose surface. On slick surfaces, the locked rear axle can cause the rear end to slide sideways, and the locked rear tends to want to push the truck straight even though you're turning which can get interesting on slick highway ramps.

I'd like to run 35-inch tires, so I wish I had 4.88's or 5.13's to compensate.

The manual hubs sold today are stronger than the originals. I can't even remember when the last time was that I blew a hub. But I have thought about a Dana 44 knuckle and hub swap to run 35's. But that's more for the wheel bearing spacing than the hubs.

I'd get rid of the bed cage to have more use of my bed, although there were a couple of times, I thought I was going to roll the truck over onto it.

You're turn. Let's see your Ranger, how you built it, why you think it's a good off-roader, and what if anything you'd do differently.

93 4.0 5 speed 1350/1354 doubler 4.88 Dana44 Front with Spartan locker 4.86 9 inch rear with Detroit Locker. Pitbull Rocker 41.5 x 13.5 R 17 on dirty life racing bead locks. Reid racing high steer knuckles and DOM steering. 05 Jeep liberty power steering pump.
Front suspension is from a jeep cherokee, 6 inch lift spring with progressive coils, rear is basically stock Ford Explorer springs with 2 add a leafs and hangers lowered to bottom of the frame rail. 86 B2 fuel tank still in doner frame in the bed. Could be other stuff im forgetting.

Stuff I like. Fun to drive. Built with angle geometry so it'll run 70 mph down the highway smooth as can be. It just crawls over everything. 12 trail runs in 4 differentoffroad parks and I don'ttake the bypassess. Mud, rocks, snow, hills, uneven terrain, technical Very capable. With the doubler in 4 lowlow has top speed of 18 mph in 5th gear. Cage is completely custom using both roller & bender. I wired winch hook up for both front & rear and 12 inch LED light bars just under the headlights is clean

If I started over again would probably start with a 5.0 and dana 60 converted to 70, I still plan on running coil overs and air shocks but would have started that way too. Its not lacking any power because the doubler.

Overall very happy with it.