The Lone Ranger – Kage’s ’94 X-Cab Leaf SAS and Bed Bob

[Kage]

How about some additional shocks outboarded on all 4 corners with quick release pins (that way the shocks are for on-road use only, and can be pulled in seconds for wheeling)....
SVT

I thought about doing that, and/or moving the shocks out more, but there just isn't room there with how I have things setup. I think its more a case of just not enough spring rate. Which is odd as I'm not the first guy to use these springs. Heck, KyleM's setup is pretty much the same as mine (before he inboarded the springs) so I'm lost as to why I've got such an issue going on.

Hopefully the add a leaf will stiffen up the rear enough to cure my woes. If not, I'll add a track bar to help keep the front 'tighter' which should also help keep the sway from getting out of hand.

So the 60 is coming out?? What would you want for the 60?? I would just want the axle without the calipers or rotors (so you can keep them for your disc brake swap on the 14, or I can give you mine)...I'd be interested if your wanting to part with it....Or I can find a 14 for you and I'll swap you..
SVT

I don't think the 60 is coming out any time soon unless I find a good deal on a 14 bolt. If I were to start from scratch building a 14 bolt, I wouldn't be much money ahead over building the 60 as things sit currently. There isn't anything wrong with the 60 (other than having an LSD) so I can rock that for a while as I get the funds together to regear/lock it. However, if the right deal came along on a 14 bolt, I'd probably go that way.

The right deal would be a SRW with good 4.xx gears and detroit for under $200, and I have yet to see one for that price in my area (seems that the CUCV's were the only ones to get the detroits?).

If I were to sell the 60, it'd be a complete unit (disc to disc).

 

[kroussinoffroad]

i'm runnin a similar setup with over 300 lbs of goodies in the back and it likes to wander but i wouldnt say sway. i blame the wandering on the 14 wide tires tho. I passed a car today for the first time since fullwidth's (on a 2 lane) and there was definately some puckering goin on since the tires wanted to follow the low spots in the pavement. made for a squirly time but i made it. i dont think i will ever pass with it again after that experience.

 

[Kyle M.]

I would have to wonder if it isn't just the front sway that makes it feel so bad. I would put your track bar on first before doing anything else to the rear.

The only thing I see different in our set ups are you have leafs in the front with no track bar and my rear shocks are on angles, but inside of the frame like yours. I don't see spring rate making the truck act like this.

 

[Kage]

i'm runnin a similar setup with over 300 lbs of goodies in the back and it likes to wander but i wouldnt say sway. i blame the wandering on the 14 wide tires tho. I passed a car today for the first time since fullwidth's (on a 2 lane) and there was definately some puckering goin on since the tires wanted to follow the low spots in the pavement. made for a squirly time but i made it. i dont think i will ever pass with it again after that experience.

Yup, the wide Nittos' like to follow the ruts in the road as well.

I would have to wonder if it isn't just the front sway that makes it feel so bad. I would put your track bar on first before doing anything else to the rear.

The only thing I see different in our set ups are you have leafs in the front with no track bar and my rear shocks are on angles, but inside of the frame like yours. I don't see spring rate making the truck act like this.

The only reason I' thinking stiffer springs will help out is when I don't have any weight on the back of the truck (prior tot he cage/Spare/etc) I don't have this problem. When I add weight to the rear is when I have this issue, which could be more a factor of the rear trying to 'steer' the front around (if that makes sense).

Since the rear isn't sitting where I want it to, it does justify slapping some AAl's on to see if it'll help level out the truck a little better. Plus, its easy to slap the AAL's on there to see if it'll fix the problem.

That said, I do have some Heims on the way to build a track bar if need be . I'm just hoping to not have to do that as getting crowded up front.

Either way, I'll keep you guys updated.

 

[Kage]

Winch Mounting

I’ve been wheeling for some time without a winch now, never really thought I needed one (probably still don’t). But the last time I rode along at Interlake gave me a new perspective. Long story short, it was very wet from melting snow, throw in a very sideways XJ (leaning in an alarming direction), and you have yourself the makings of a situation where using a Highlift/come-a-long to recover some one just isn’t a good answer. Thankfully, there was one winch there that saved the day.

After that experience, I didn’t really have to think twice about how useful a winch can be on occasion.

So from the very git-go, I made sure that there was a space for a winch in the front of the Ranger. While not a high zoot one, I’ve heard quite a few good things about the Smitty Built winches, and the people that run them out here don’t seem to have any problems with them. If it dies on me, I’ll just swap it out for something better as it has the standard winch mounting pattern.

So if we go to the way back machine in this thread, you’ll recall that the main structure of the plate is based off a of a 3/8” thick piece of angle iron sandwiched between the plated frame rails:

From which I built the bumper off of:

Because of how I compacted everything together, I had to get creative on how to get a fairlead mount in there. While skimming through a magazine, there were ads for those receiver mounted winch plates. I took that idea (less the receiver mount) and applied it to my own application.

Playing with the iron worker/mill at work got me the base parts to work with:

Test fit:

Welded/Painted:

Sandwich that fairlead mount between the winch and the winch mount got me this:

All bolted down:

And under cover:

This project was way over due, I was getting very tired of moving that stupid winch all around the garage as I worked on things..

 

[Bennybooster]

Really simple yet a really good job, its nice and tucked up in there

 

[kroussinoffroad]

now just need to post some pics using it (or wheelin in general).

 

[4.0B2]

i like it.
next bumper i build is gonna be a tight hidden winch build. but i love my bumper now on the b2. on a newer ranger like yours, i like the tight tucked look

 

[Kage]

Really simple yet a really good job, its nice and tucked up in there

i like it.
next bumper i build is gonna be a tight hidden winch build. but i love my bumper now on the b2. on a newer ranger like yours, i like the tight tucked look

Thanks! I thought about tucking it up further (cutting out the front facia and grill) but it didn't really gain me any more clearance with those long shackels haning out there. It should be safe sitting there, especially after I get the stinger stuck on.

now just need to post some pics using it (or wheelin in general).

I know! Its been too long since my last trip out (1 month as of today). The truck is getting used though for my (ever growing) Honey-do list.

Yearly mulch hauling, one of the reasons I need to keep a bed:

Now if it would only quit raining, I could get the mulch out of the back of the truck

I did play with the rear leaf packs yesterday, I'll post an update on that once I figure out if it cured my swaying issue. I'm hoping to load the truck up "trail ready" soon and put some miles on it to see if everything is happy. I do think I'll go ahead and slap a track/panhard bar under the truck to help out my road manners, it might even be removable so that I don't lose any offroad performance.

The "Need to do before wheeling" list is pretty short at this point. I'm hoping to get out again later this month after I get the clutch changed on my DD (the ranger will be the DD while the clutch is happening, I've learned that wheeling the DD leads to bad things, unless you're Bray ).

At this point the list is:
-Weld on the stinger
-Find a spot to mount my huge CB Whip (Cage interferes with the old spot)
-Trac Bar (if the swaying issue isn't cured by my leaf fix in the back)
-OBA (that solution should be en route right now).

Wish List
-Lock the rear (may have a solution in the works)
-Regear (4.88? or put it back to "stock" with 4.56's? Depends on how I lock the rear)
-Front 60 (Yeah , I've got axle envy ).
-Manual 1354 (or swap it out for another 1354E as the rear case is making some noise).

The light is shining bright at the end of the tunnel!

 

[Bray D]

I really like the idea for the fairlead mount. I may have to steal that. I was just pondering what I was going to do to mount my fairlead, since I wouldn't be able to get my winch in place if I had a permanent mount. Nice work.

 

[kris97ranger]

the mulch has been in the bed throughout the rain? i bet thats a wee heavy back there.

i also want to see more wheeling pics.

 

[4.0B2]

4.88's. the differences are so minimal on road. its like 300-500 rpm differences at 65 mph i think.. so why would you not want the lower gears????

 

[Kage]

I really like the idea for the fairlead mount. I may have to steal that. I was just pondering what I was going to do to mount my fairlead, since I wouldn't be able to get my winch in place if I had a permanent mount. Nice work.

Steal away! I farted around with a few different designs which mostly revolved around a removable plate that you would pull out to get the winch out. This simplified everything.

the mulch has been in the bed throughout the rain? i bet thats a wee heavy back there.

i also want to see more wheeling pics.

Nah, the truck has been parked in the garage, so now it smells a bit in there. I still have quite a bit of unpainted metal on the truck that I'm trying to keep dry until I get a chance to paint it.

I want to see wheeling pics too!

4.88's. the differences are so minimal on road. its like 300-500 rpm differences at 65 mph i think.. so why would you not want the lower gears????

I agree, but it just depends on how things play out. If I regear the 60, then I'll go 4.88's. If I happen to stumble upon a 14 bolt with a detroit and 4.56's, I'll rock those as the cheap option.

Either way, a regear or rear end swap is off in the future a ways, so I may change my mind a few times between now and then

I'm trying to get the stinger done today, but my back is killing me at this point. So until the advil kicks in, I think I'll hang out in the A/C for awhile ^_^

 

[Josh40601]

I've learned that wheeling the DD leads to bad things, unless you're Bray

Story of my life...

I know what you mean about a few more things to do before taking it out. That's where i am at too

 

[Kage]

Stinger

I finally got around to finishing up the front bumper with the addition of a stinger. This took a little longer than I though it would to get it to look right, but I’m happy with the overall results.

Bent up a hoop and played around with the placement of it:

So much for being able to walk around the truck with the garage door closed (and it only fits in the garage one way now):

It was a little high, so I dropped it down some more and angled it back some:

Happy with that result, I started burning things on:

Painted up:

View from the drivers seat:

I’m pretty happy with how it turned out!