Stiffening the frame

[Ab_Reed]

Theyre pretty cheap on Ricks Rangerz

Rust Repair Parts, crossmembers/mounts/etc Ranger

Since 2014..With top quality parts and fast shipping the RicksRangerz name quickly spread across the Ranger scene

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[Blmpkn]

weld some .5" steel plate across from left to right frame sides everywhere you can. that will stiffen it up pretty solidly and help protect your powertrain from land mines

This is a good idea. My biggest phobia IS driving over a landmine so.. this may be the option that has the proverbial biggest bang per buck.. no pun intended of course.

 

[superj]

a few of my friends at work drove over land mines when they were deployed. all of them have messed up backs and shoulders from it. its a real issue to worry about (in some parts of hte world)

 

[Blmpkn]

a few of my friends at work drove over land mines when they were deployed. all of them have messed up backs and shoulders from it. its a real issue to worry about (in some parts of hte world)

I'm sure they're probably lucky to only have back/shoulder issues too.. shits no joke.. glad they're still with you.

It's nice we don't have to worry about crap like that over here.. although having to worry about digging up old WWII ordinance like they do in Britain would be sort of neat in a way lol. I used to love digging random holes everywhere when I was a kid.. I definitely would of been the one to unearth half of an old bomb or something

 

[ekrampitzjr]

Go to your local electrical-supplies distributor and look at galvanized channel and fittings. The channel is made by companies such as B-Line and Kindorf and comes standard in 10-foot (3 meter) lengths. Of course, you would cut it to fit. The L-straps for fastening bits of channel together at right angels are very heavy. Kindorf uses zinc chromate instead of regular galvanizing, and it uses a modular system. The channel itself is also available in various heights, with or without holes, in 20-foot lengths, and even in aluminum.

Seeing the options available might give you some ideas.

 

[19Walt93]

Jeeeeeze and I thought I had issues





I'm not worried about trapped muck all that much. It's gonna be a fair-weather driver.. hell.. might not even be driven on a dirt road now that I've moved lol. It'll also all get corrosealed, painted, AND fluid filmed before I drive it again.

A pretty thorough boxing that has the plates hit with a dimple die would be super awesome.. I have a 20 ton press and a good bit of 1/8" sheet already.. and also recently got a drill press that I could cut all those damn holes with..

Drill some holes in the bottom of the frame at low spots so condensation can drip out at least. We used to spray oil into our frames and on the undercarriage, it was messy to work in but it beat rust. Cleaning up the shop after oil undercoating rigs sucked though.

 

[Blmpkn]

Alright folks.. question time..

Replacing the stock tank with a fuel cell.

Original thought was to just put it in the bed.. then I started thinking about things like center of gravity and such and decided to essentially hang it from where the spare tire should go..

Now I'm questioning how much of a difference it would really make in terms of handling.

Obviously won't handle as well with it in the bed as if it were underneath... But by how much? Would it negate the gain brought about by the improved f/r weight bias? I do know it would make my fab time a lot easier lol

 

[Bgunner]

What is the plan for this rig? Offroading, Track times, all arounder? Each of these would be affected by the weight distribution differently. You may have mentioned it in the past and I missed it.


EDIT: Rangers are really light in the rear so moving the weight bias to the rear will add rear traction for going straight but will remove some of the weight on the front tires causing a slight loss in traction there for cornering.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Alright folks.. question time..

Replacing the stock tank with a fuel cell.

Original thought was to just put it in the bed.. then I started thinking about things like center of gravity and such and decided to essentially hang it from where the spare tire should go..

Now I'm questioning how much of a difference it would really make in terms of handling.

Obviously won't handle as well with it in the bed as if it were underneath... But by how much? Would it negate the gain brought about by the improved f/r weight bias? I do know it would make my fab time a lot easier lol

The tank goes from full to empty. That changes bias. Having the tank closest to center is best, but I can't remember the term used for why. Its not f/r bias. That said I put mine where the spare tire goes for ease of construction (in my case...).
Edit; something to do with moment arm? It was to do withing cornering.

 

[ekrampitzjr]

The tank goes from full to empty. That changes bias. Having the tank closest to center is best, but I can't remember the term used for why. Its not f/r bias. That said I put mine where the spare tire goes for ease of construction (in my case...).
Edit; something to do with moment arm? It was to do withing cornering.

The term you're looking for is polar moment of inertia. Hanging more weight at the extreme ends will make a vehicle more prone to spin under bad conditions. Keeping as much weight as possible within the wheelbase will minimize that tendency.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

The term you're looking for is polar moment of inertia. Hanging more weight at the extreme ends will make a vehicle more prone to spin under bad conditions. Keeping as much weight as possible within the wheelbase will minimize that tendency.

Thanks. That is the term I was looking for!

 

[stmitch]

The two biggest detriments to decent handling in a truck are usually a high center of gravity and terrible Front/Rear weight balance. Rangers are usually around 60/40 front rear weight balance if memory serves. Getting that ratio closer to 50:50 will probably have a bigger benefit than worrying about polar moments and keeping the weight centered.

If you put the cell as low and far back as possible, you get:
Better F/R weight balance
Better traction (weight behind the tires add leverage and rear grip)
Low Center of Gravity
Higher polar moment

If you put the cell in the bed:
you keep the weight centered for a low polar moment
No improvement in F/R balance (because it's basically stock position front to rear)
you've raised the CoG compared to stock
and you can't use the bed for anything anymore either

Any truck that handles well on pavement will have the fuel low and in the rear because worrying about polar moments when the vehicle is horribly balanced to begin with doesn't really help. Improve the worst aspects before you worry about optimizing to the nth degree like a formula car. Get as much weight off the front and towards the rear as you can.

 

[Blmpkn]

Thanks for all the replies.

The truck is gonna be a street/strip rig.. probably 50/50 split. Very much care about 8th mile times.

Obviously the tank isn't the most ideal thing to fiddle with for a weight bias change since it's constantly emptying but.. in my case I don't believe it would be too bad. I'd be able to keep it topped up well enough during whatever I'm doing to keep it essentially constant.

The whole auto-x/track day deal is an extremely hard 'if'.. not a when.. but the drag strip is a guarantee..so after some soul searching I'm just gonna slap the cell in the bed and call it good. Makes no sense to engineer something for a bunch of crap it might not even ever do it'll absolutely benefit for what I know for sure it's gonna be up to so.. there we go.

Now.. mount it over the axle or all the way back? Thinking all the way back..

 

[Lefty]

Thanks for the input fellas.



Am I correct in thinking that #4 is exclusive to the extendo cabs? My trucks 2 towns over so I can't really check lol.





Roll bars are out slightly out of the scope of this build in particular.. but boxing some select sections of the frame is definitely on my mind. I'd like to strike a decent balance of adding stiffness and NOT adding a bunch of weight.. if I could.

A big k brace to act as the trans member, boxing the section of frame that 'humps' up from the back of the cab to somewhere around the spring hanger, and then a big x brace or something to tie the back together real well seems like a decent plan of attack in my mind.. I'm gonna be ditching the stock fuel tank for an 8 or 10 gallon cell that'll hang where the spare should be as well.

Perhaps an x brace in the rear wouldnt be necessary.. mabey just adding some bigger round tube crossmembers with plates and gussets would do the trick.. hmmm.

Once I'm home I'll make some quick sketches of what I got rolling around in my head.. a picture is worth quite a few words I've heard so..

I'm pretty sure that an old Jeep CJ5 roll bar would fit inside the bed of Ranger. You will probably need to add just a little more steel tube to the support brackets. I did the same to my old Izuzu way back when.

 

[Blmpkn]

I'm pretty sure that an old Jeep CJ5 roll bar would fit inside the bed of Ranger. You will probably need to add just a little more steel tube to the support brackets. I did the same to my old Izuzu way back when.

I'm thinking I got the frame stiffening thing figured out decently enough, especially now that I'm just gonna put the tank in the bed. Probably the battery as well. Gonna get a tonneau cover to keep it all hidden