Ranger SAS

build looks good, but i would try to come up with a better solution for your shock mounting. You lose alot of the shock effectivness mounted at an angle like that.
 
jeepn-jason said:
build looks good, but i would try to come up with a better solution for your shock mounting. You lose alot of the shock effectivness mounted at an angle like that.
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yep, youre right, and i did consider that when i was figuring out what to do. i had gotten these 14's for a killer deal, and at this time, did not want to buy new/different ones. so that was what i came up with for the time being. i know my up travel is going to suffer, not worried about down travel cause i know they have a long ways to go before bottoming out. i need to take it out for a decent "test run" but i hope they will be alright until i figure something better to do.

thanks for the compliments
 
new gears :D

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I couldn't be more excited to have found this thread. I bought the @GrnRanger about two months ago from a guy in Concord, NC. He knew very little about it, and had run the rear 9" out of gear oil, seizing the rear end. I pulled the pinion cartridge, threw a battery in it and drove it on the trailer in front wheel drive.

I have a dedicated Toyota buggy, but always had a thing for axle swapped rangers. I decided it would be nice to have doors, glass, heat, ac, a bed, plenty of storage for when I don't want to beat the heck of out of my ride or just cruise our clubs property. I can't promise much of a fabrication exhibition, but from here on out I'll be documenting the changes I make. My friend named the truck DOUBLEMINT, and it stuck.

A lot of the changes will be superficial things to make me feel cool, but maybe I'll make a few changes for the good underneath this thing.

All feedback is welcome.
 
I love the color, just so minty lol. Only thing that stuck out to me were the track bar and rear shock mounting.

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I'm pretty certain that the trac bar shown in the build was ripped out of the frame. Pretty much the entire frame is c channel with the exception of the crumple zone up front. The current trac bar mount is welded to plate and bolted a few inches forward of the coil buckets. It is DOM and heims, but is not parallel with the axle tube. Both the frame and axle mount are stout, but what do I risk by having my frame mount 3-4 inches forward of parallel with my axle?

I intend to move the rear shocks once I find a suitable set of rear leaf springs to ditch these blocks.
 
@ProbablyBroke I've got 2 different sets of leaf springs that came with a Scout project I picked up from CrawlerNut. If they're anything you think you can use, you're welcome to them.
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@ProbablyBroke Glad you found it! nice to see it resurrected again! i sometimes miss that truck. just didnt get enough ride time out of it since i did the SAS. yes, the front stabilizer bar shown in this build broke on the first ride to ure. upgraded to heims and dom. i will message you a few more things. and btw, i'm not the guy who seized up the rear end. that must have been the guy i sold it to.
 
in case anyone was wondering, the color is from an old forestry service truck. you dont tend to see any in that color any more but they used to be fairly common (rangers, s-10, chevy 1500s, full size blazers, etc). it was an auction truck from Georgia.
 
So the first issue to address once I got the truck back home was to pull the 9" third, check gearing, disassemble, and order parts. I had to sourced a new pinion cartridge housing as the dry bearings had fused themselves to the housing. So a trip to local junkyard yeilded what was needed from under a 1978 Ford LTD. I sent it all to Carolina Axle and 4x4 along with a new pinion guard and set of crappy eBay 4.86 gears that might have sent @Jody Treadway over the edge. Luckily, the Detroit survived the lack of oil. Here she is all buttoned up.
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While the truck was waiting on the differential to be built, I did what I do best, pressure wash and rustoleum. The truck had been in Boone for sometime, so I pulled the bed while I was at it.
 
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GrnRanger said:
in case anyone was wondering, the color is from an old forestry service truck. you dont tend to see any in that color any more but they used to be fairly common (rangers, s-10, chevy 1500s, full size blazers, etc). it was an auction truck from Georgia.
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I thought it was an old Blalock Paving truck!
 
The traction bar brackets on the 9" housing make me think that might be my old axle out of my full size Bronco.
 
I wouldn't doubt it. Maybe matt will chime in. There is no frame mounted bracket on the ranger, and I was wondering about that. The first post of this thread says it came from a 82-85 bronco.
 
I was a little stretched financially after having just bought the truck and parts for the gear install, so I took it easy for a few weeks and did things like degrease the engine, oil change, air filter. The headliner made it look like it was Edward scissorhands truck, so I scored this gem at the same junkyard.
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The truck it came out of was an absolute disaster but some how the headliner made it out unscathed.

I also got rid of the stupid fold down console on that bolts to the side of the drivers seat in a 60/40 bench truck. I found that a fold down arm rest from a 90s f-150 is a much better use of that space.

While the bed was off, I realized just how big the fuel tank on this thing was. It was pretty close to the driveshaft and not helping my ground clearance. So I yanked it out, about half way full of gasoline. I have a terrible track record of siphoning fuel.
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I did some trading with my buddy @DannyH, and snagged a 10 gallon Summit fuel cell of his 4Runner. I cut the aluminum pickup tube and hoseclamped the rangers in-tank fuel pump on there. I picked up an electrical bulkhead fitting that worked like a charm, and all my 90 degree -8an to 3/8 hose barns came from the good dudes at Pirtek hydraulic in downtown Charlotte. 13$ in fittings, 37$ for the bulkhead and reused the pump.
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I also bought a used Bedliner from pullapart, prior to installing the fuel cell and bolting down the spare tire.
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ProbablyBroke said:
I wouldn't doubt it. Maybe matt will chime in. There is no frame mounted bracket on the ranger, and I was wondering about that. The first post of this thread says it came from a 82-85 bronco.
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I think I still have the traction bar from that truck. Let me know if you want it.
 
Looks like it's coming around! I like it. Is it going to see the street??


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It's still a good bit taller than id like, but I'm chipping away at it. I took it down the road once so far and it drives straight, didn't catch any wobble, and stops well. If i can get it to a point where I trust it in the turns then I'll probably slap a plate on it. Planning to make a new transmission crossmember this weekend, and start the hunt for a power steering pump that can keep up with the hydroassist.

I imagine it will be a Saginaw type but I'm open to suggestions.
 
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Picked up some 3x5 angle iron to make a rear bumper. Planning to grab some weld on d rings for it and maybe a plate light.

Not comfortable enough with the plasma yet, so put in some time with the sawzall.
 
Got the rear bumper painted, drilled for a license plate and reinstalled. Trouble shot the non functional rear brake lights. It took a few shots of brake cleaner on the switch connected to the pedal and I was in business. Wired up 2 rock lights under the rear end.

Really just did a bunch of small things today to avoid having to plan my attack on the transmission crossmember.

Went ahead and jacked up the tail end of the drive train and pulled the existing crossmember. Seems like however I do it, it going to be 3 different sizes of angle iron boogered together. Pics tomorrow.
 
Bumper looks sweet. I'm a huge fan of just plain, but 100% functional. Just my $.02 on those weld on D-rings, I'd just weld on eyelets to put a shackle through. My rings clank on the rear bumper incessantly! Kind of annoying.
 
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She's got a pretty low profile. Material was thicker than what I wanted but found 10 feet of 3x5 for 30 bucks. It's 3/8.

Got a bunch of cut, grind, measure done today on the trans crossmember. It's going to be 1/4" and 3/16" angle.

Someone needs to talk me out of cutting the bottom bodyline out of the bed from the wheel wells back. Something kind of like this. Thoughts? Front wheel wells are going to get a trim once my family members quit planning events on the weekends.
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I wouldn't cut the bed. I'd take the whole thing off and sell it to fund a custom flat bed. Then you could bob the frame rails all the way back to the spring perches and get all the departure angle you could ever want.
 
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