The Money Pit Ford Ranger

RangeRunner17

Observer
So I've had this truck for about two years now, and It's about time I made a thread to track this build.
I bought the truck in March of 2013 when I was overseas. I had my dad and a friend go check it out. 2005 Ford Ranger 4x4 4.0 and 5 speed. The plan was, and still is, to keep it for forever.
Here's how she looked the day I bought her. And I immediately got to work installing a stereo and making a rear bumper.
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I also tried making a headache rack, but I didn't like how it turned out, so I cut it up for scrap.
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After doing a bit of research, I decided on the Dixon Bros long travel kit. 4.5" wider per side, 14" of travel and 2.5" coilovers. I went with some fiberwerx fenders and 33 in Nitto Terragrapplers. The fenders came in long before the suspension components did, so of course I put them on and drove around looking like an idiot for about 2 months.
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Love the ride now! She rides like a Cadillac! The front end in much softer now too, so when I get on it, there's a decent bit of squat and I feel like I'm going much faster! Only problem now is that the tires rub really bad in the back. So the logical thing to do is get some fiberglass bedsides, and cut the old ones off.

I got them painted through a friend of a friend. And then I deployed again. I started playing around with Sketchup, and made some ideas I thought I'd like.
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RangeRunner17

Observer
We got back and started buying some new parts!!! A Smittybilt winch, and some LED lights. Got to work making a bumper as soon as I could. I wanted a plate bumper to start, but when I couldn't get templates to play nice, I cut up some 1.5" square tube until I found what I liked.
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As soon as the funds allowed, I got my self a RTT!!! The Tepui Ayer to be exact. And I'm currently making a rack for it. One that maximizes bed space, but still keeps the tent as low as possible. It's lookin like I'll have about 30 inches below the tent.
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The rack should be done and tent mounted here in the next few days.
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Future plans include a tiregate, rock sliders, 35's, suspension seats, and a supercharger. Stay tuned for more updates!
 

RangerXLT

Adventurer
Subscribed. Seems like we are seeing more and more ranger builds on here all of which are very impressive. Looks great and keep of the great work and posting, Your rear bumper is exactly what I want to do. Just don't want to pay for the fab work haha


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RangeRunner17

Observer
Thanks for all of the compliments! I highly doubt I could even move a dozer, but I'd love to give it a shot! I don't see nearly enough built up rangers on the road, and I have no idea why. There's tons of aftermarket support (if you dig deep enough), and the 4.0 is plenty strong.

I'm about to get back to work on this tent rack right now. I don't expect much to get done, It's very cold here in CO. Let's see how far we get!
 

mike the welder

Adventurer
I also have a Ranger with the 4.0, plenty of power, but very over engineered and full of potential problems. It has 3 timing chains with plastic chain guides that get brittle and break. If you ever rebuild it make sure you replace those guides because if they break you have to pull the engine to replace them. The guy who rebuilt mine reused the guides and they broke at just over 10k miles. Now I have a fresh rebuilt engine I have to repair.

Good looking truck though.
 

4x4junkie

Explorer
×4 on another small Ford getting the recognition it deserves. Very nice setup!


I also have a Ranger with the 4.0, plenty of power, but very over engineered and full of potential problems. It has 3 timing chains with plastic chain guides that get brittle and break. If you ever rebuild it make sure you replace those guides because if they break you have to pull the engine to replace them. The guy who rebuilt mine reused the guides and they broke at just over 10k miles. Now I have a fresh rebuilt engine I have to repair.

Good looking truck though.

It's probably worth noting that for '03 or '04 (I forget which) Ford did update the design of the guides due to earlier ones having issues, so no doubt you'd at least want to look into swapping to the later ones if you're rebuilding an earlier motor.
 

RangeRunner17

Observer
I also have a Ranger with the 4.0, plenty of power, but very over engineered and full of potential problems. It has 3 timing chains with plastic chain guides that get brittle and break. If you ever rebuild it make sure you replace those guides because if they break you have to pull the engine to replace them. The guy who rebuilt mine reused the guides and they broke at just over 10k miles. Now I have a fresh rebuilt engine I have to repair.

Good looking truck though.

Thanks for the heads up on that, I'll definitely look into that when the time comes.

I got a lot more work done in the last few days, all that's left is paint!

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Note to self: When you climb in the tent, bolt it down. It will almost fall off!

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I want to add some points to mount shovels and maybe a hi-lift on the sides of the rack, but it's just too cold out. It'll probably happen when I get bored in the summer.
I also need to "test" this thing and see how it affects my offroad abilities. I guess I need to go snow wheeling now... Oh well! :)
 

coastal616

Adventurer
Im glad you went long travel. I have a camburg lt kit on my 4runner and absolutley love it, for the amount of gravel roads an expedition truck does, the ride and comfort cant be beat. Too many people do solid axle swaps because they are trendy, I follow solid axle trucks anywhere they go on camping/ wheeling trips and make some obstacles they dont...a bit of momentum goes a long way . ;)
 

RangeRunner17

Observer
Im glad you went long travel. I have a camburg lt kit on my 4runner and absolutley love it, for the amount of gravel roads an expedition truck does, the ride and comfort cant be beat. Too many people do solid axle swaps because they are trendy, I follow solid axle trucks anywhere they go on camping/ wheeling trips and make some obstacles they dont...a bit of momentum goes a long way .

I couldn't agree more!!! She rides like a caddy and handles anything I throw at her. I still have yet to get stuck, but that's probably because I'm not doing hard enough trails.

I finally finished the rack and got everything wired up, then went up to Central City for some wheeling and shooting. It turned out to be more shooting than anything else. Between 3 of us, we shot close to 600 rounds. I had some sapi plates laying around too ;) And the Truck did great! I actually had to pull my buddy out within 5 minutes of getting on the trail. No center of gravity issues (I was mostly on hard packed snow), didn't need 4 Low except to recover my buddy. But, This truck is very slow off the line now. I think it's time to start thinking about starting to save up for a supercharger.

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At a certain point, SAPI plates just give up and stop working

In other news I just drove 1000 miles back to 29 Palms. That was not a fun drive. 16 hours in a truck, 2 of which were at a dead stop on I-70. I got back, went to unload my truck and discovered a leak... I think It's gear oil and coming from where the axle meets the CV on the passenger side. Now I get to figure that one out before I can do anything fun :(
 

RangeRunner17

Observer
The leak is fixed!!! Turns out it was a outer axle seal for the front passenger side, The most difficult part to find, ever... According to the computer, the closest one was 250 miles away. A few phone calls and a hour drive later, and I had one.

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This little guy decided to stop doing his job.

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And it's quite the process to get to him too. The entire front end had to be taken apart


Next step for me is to clean up the wiring I've added. I'm going to find somewhere to mount a fuse block under the hood. Does anyone know anything about the ST Blade fuse blocks from Blue Sea Systems? They aren't too expensive on Amazon
Something like this.

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I'm also going to add some side lighting for camping and what not. Not going to spend more than $150 on both the lights
 

RangerXLT

Adventurer
I've been running a blue sea box for about 3 years plus. I'm very happy with it, and definitely recommend it. I have all my extras running off one. As far as lights go for camping, I'm running TUFF LEDS. Probably a knock off brand in most people's eyes, but for the price and the power rating. Just my experience. Lots of options out there.
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Hope that helps.


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