POSFORD 1991 Ranger Trail and Mud Build

[posford]

Someone asked, and I've got time to kill over the next couple days, so I'm going to try to document the build of my Ranger. I've broken it down to 8 "iterations" of the build based on the pictures I took a long the way.

It starts in 2011, traded an 89 Ski Doo Skandic and $300 for this pile. I saw it as a blank canvas. 2.9v6 5 speed manual, manual transfer case, manual locking hubs, single cab short bed.

First order of business was pulling transmission, fixing the botched clutch job, and fixing the broken exhaust manifold. The PO broke every exhaust stud off trying to fix the manifold, and being a dumb cheap kid, I used c clamps to hold the new manifold on. It was ghetto but it worked.

Next I added a 3" body lift, I had enough blocks for the cab, bought bolts, and used PT 2x4s stacked for the bed. This allowed me to fit the PR78-16 Buckshots I picked up or cheap. I had to use Crown Vic wheels and 2" spacers, 16" Ranger wheels were non-existent.

I pillaged the local scrap yard for good structural steel and cobbled the first winch bumper together. I got an old Ox winch, wired it, and was ready to rock.

Easter I went out wheeling with a group of friends for the first time, had a blast, and managed to get launch it into this ravine on the hill climb, which broke both motor mounts. The engine was moving so much that in low it pulled the vacuum line off the brake booster. I capped the vacuum line and wheeled the rest of the day. Reconnected the vacuum hose and babied it home. Which lead to the next iteration...

 

[posford]

Back into the garage it went. I pulled the motor, drilled the exhaust studs, and fixed the manifold the correct way. I found a pair of used motor mounts and threw them in. The truck was gutless with the 3.55 gears, so I bought used 4.56s from a member of TRS and had the local shop set them up for me. While the rear end was apart I welded the spider gears up. I bought a pair of 90s F150 coils from the junkyard, and got adjustable camber caster bushings. I maxed the bushings and trimmed the coils until the alignment was acceptable. Bought a set of 35x12.5 Mud Kings and put them on the factory wheels.

Fresh out of the garage

Then we went wheeling

I had a winch so I was always pulling people out.

And managed to get stuck a couple times myself.

About this point I had enough of the rotted fenders, and decided I didn't like the body lift,so it went under the knife again...

 

[posford]

This iteration didn't last long, I got aggressive with the cutoff wheel, and bought hockey pucks for a 1" body lift also painted it OD green along the way

Check the frame flex posing on the derby car

All this gave way when I bought a new daily, and decided to lift the nicer Ranger that I had been daily driving. I pillaged the 4.56 geared 8.8 and Dana 35 center section for the blue 94. I picked up a Scout 44 rear with 4.88s as a spool, already set up for a Ranger for $100, and threw the front end back together so it was movable.

Nicer truck, 6" Skyjacker lift, and the Mud Kings on the American Racing wheels I had.

While the 91 was in limbo, I bought a set of spanked regrooved 39.5s and put them on it, 3" lift and 39.5s and bombed it around the corn fields in 2wd.

Buddy's F250 on 2" lift and 40s

Sometime that winter I got some ambition, I put the 3" body lift back in the cab but hadn't gotten to the bed yet, about that point the friend with the F250 buried his truck in the woods, and no one could pull him out. I caught a ride home, started the truck for the first time in months, drove across town, thrashed it in 2wd out to where he was stuck, and had it out in minutes. Reminded me how much I like this old beater. I made plans for a SAS and Chevy 350 swap, but never made time for it. So it sat until....

 

[posford]

A friend of mine passed unexpectedly that winter, and for whatever reason I decided that I wanted to put the truck back together for the funeral. We had a lot of good memories in that truck, I guess I felt it was something I could do.
I had pulled and sold the motor, expecting a V8 swap, so I picked up a parts truck and robbed a ton of shit out of it.
Parts truck

10 days from stripped truck to road worthy shitbox

Pop riveted a new floorpan in, changed the motor, and swapped in a less rotted core support, bought 4.88 front gears, had them setup. Did a c clip eliminator up front, swapped in Spicer 760x u joints and tack welded the caps in. I was hopeful that the Dana 35 would hold up to the 39.5s about this time I switched over to powerline wheeling, which was mostly mud, between that and the inherent lameness of the 2.9, the Dana 35 held well even at valve float.

I rocked the shit out of this setup, if I could get it this low again, I'd probably do it. Mind you this is still F150 coils, 3" body lift, and a lot of cut.

Found a set of 5 lug 16.5 wheels so switched to 37" humvee tires, first time wheeling like that was a night ride/party at a friend's property, lost a bead on one of the tires and the tire came off the rim, got dragged into a pit, went up the next morning and swapped the 39.5s back on. Made it a mile or so and lost the drivers front, took it toward the ditch, caught a cross culvert and laid it on the passenger side. Was quite the adventure, local volunteer FD was bored that morning and made life harder than needed.

Got it home, threw a new bed on it, redid the front sheet metal, changed the doors, and painted it. Was set on keeping the 37s and tried pushing the TTB forward but wound up with some jank geometry. Drove it a couple times and parked it. It was time to come apart again....

Clean body and 37s before coming apart again

 

[posford]

So after months of dickering and arguing, I got a Dana 44 from a friend that had 4.88s and a spool already. I had to convince him to help me narrow it, which we did. The axles were actually from the green Ranger, he had the narrow Scout rear and wide FSB front before going 1 tons. I had another radius Dana 44 with Dana 60 rear from a F150 that was 3/4 ton swapped, that got sold but I kept the radius arms, mounts, coils, and coil buckets. I reused the Ranger coil buckets at first, which were cut and a F250 shock tower was added. I didn't reinforce the coil bucket enough and it didn't last. The radius arm mounts line up with one hole in the Ranger frame, so I mounted it with 1 and drilled the rest for grade 8 bolts. I made a nice cross member for the tranny out of 2x2 tube to replace the factory one. Steering was RuffStuff 1 ton Chevy TRE stuff. A track bar bracket was made that didn't last, had to revisit that.
Hindsight is that the James Duff SAS coil buckets with track bar mount had just come out, I should have definitely done that. Too late.

I really liked the ride height with the 38" Gumbo Mudders up front and 38" Boggers out back.

Threw the cap on and when all over hell that winter

Per usual, something major had to go to shit. Dana 44 rear shit the wheel bearing leaving work one night on 2nd shift. Locked it in 4 and drug it to the edge of the road, had to crawl out the passenger side

Wheel, tire, and axle shaft came out and wedged itself between the frame and bed. Got it towed home, tried replacing the bearing, fucked up the axle shaft splines, got mad and junked the axle. Which brings us to the next iteration...

 

[posford]

I did a little horse trading, wound up with a cab and chassis 14 bolt from an 80s Chevy. Bought RuffStuff leaf spring perches and disk brake conversion kit, acquired a Detroit locker along the way, and bought 4.88 gears. Had my guy set the gears and locker up, did the disk conversion and slid it under the truck

While I had it apart I grabbed a Dana 44 from a 75 K20 with blown gears, robbed the knuckles off it, new ball joints and bearings, Warn hubs that I've always hated, and picked up new springs from JBG 6" superflex IIRC. Pretty sure I had to rehab the track bar mount again, both sides. Frame side wasn't rigid enough, casting on the axle got wallowed out, it got drilled, a tight fit spacer was made, and sent it back together with the impact and a castle nut.

At this point I also converted the nose to 83-88 style. Welded some nuts to the core support for the light buckets, the rest bolted up.

This is the final stance, picked up a set of 38x12.5 TSLs and finally sold those clapped 39.5s. Picked up 8 lug 15" wheels as well, minor caliper grinding was required.

 

[posford]

We wheeled the shit out of the powerlines that year. Bunch of random pics of it from that iteration. It was ignorantly tall, but it went everywhere I wanted to go. I wound up overheating the shit out of the 2.9 the following spring in wet heavy 3' deep snow, which the motor never let me down, but I came across a deal I couldn't turn down...

One of the Warn hubs wouldn't lock and 3 wheel peel wouldn't drag itself out of this hole. The random chicks were not impressed

 

[posford]

A guy I knew asked if I was interested in a 351w in a 84 F250, asked how much, he said $100 comes with T19, hydraulic bellhousing, and transfer case, had to pull it myself, part the truck out for him, and help him finish his bullnose. Pop started the F250 in the road to verify it ran, it ran okay, worked in the dirt to get it pulled and home. The deal went to shit, I paid the $100, got my shit, helped him a ton, but it was never enough. He eventually got over it.

Wish I had more/better pics from the install, but is what it is. I lost a ton of pics around this time.

When I was cleaning up the motor, I found a tag on the block saying it was rebuilt by AC Delco, go figure, a Chevy built Ford engine

I kept the factory efi tank and pump, grounded the relay, and used a Holley bypass regulator to regulate the fuel pressure down the carb pressure.

I picked up an Edelbrock intake cheap, and swapped that on, with an adapter to run the Holley 2 barrel carb. Which was dumb.

It fits it ships. Wound up using fox body convertible motor mounts. Thanks to Totalled and his awesome post on PBB inspiring me to just do it. RIP buddy.

Radiator wound up pushed into the core support, put a high pressure cap on the radiator and added an inline radiator cap. Used a 2 row radiator from a Ranger with a 4.0 and A/C

AA headers needed to be clearance heavily. I still need to replace that rag joint.

No idea what happened to the original pic, but the T19 fit okay thanks to the body lift. Everything is high enough that it's flat belly. Radius arm mounts are the only thing hanging down. I was able to use the Ranger clutch master, and clutch line, with the F250 slave cylinder.

Rebuilt the original bootyfab bumper for. Milemarker hydro winch. I blame the C2 power steering pump for the lack of performance, but I wasn't happy with it. Redid it later

 

[posford]

I did the motor swap and hated the height, truck would torque twist when you stomped it. It sat, I moved out of my parents, and mothballed it. Then I blew the motor in my F250 and was forced into driving it. That's when I swapped the old shit Holley 2 barrel for the Edelbrock 600. Later fixed the ignition problems by installing a HEI distributor. That spring put a bunch of work into it, swapped the Milemarker for a Warn M10k, bought brand new 39.5x15 TSLs to replace the 38x12.5s that were losing tread fast. Wadded the track bar mount again, drove it home strapped together. Welded a brace to the engine cross member and made it solid as fuck. Around this point all my old wheeling friends sold their trucks and bought side by sides. I was stuck doing easy trails and finding harder optional spots to really play.

My buddy's F250, now on a 6" and 44s. He went to 5.13 gears at some point. Think this may have been while he was in Korea.

 

[posford]

In a fit of arrogance and stupidity, I got playing in a retention pond. The bottom was softer than I expected and I sank it. The guy with the Chevy had a PTO winch in the bed, but refused to use it, said he'd pull me, and sank his truck. Somehow in the struggling a caught a piece of tramp metal and gashed a new TSL. One of the dudes there that day tried stealing some of my recovery gear, was all around a bad day.

 

[posford]

It went home after that, bought a tire, cleaned up the truck, used it a little, but life happened and it's been sitting.

No pics apparently, buy a couple years ago, pulled the bed, cut out a bunch of frame, patched it up, added some cross members. Forced me into a fuel tank in the bed, mounted a Carter pump in the bed and wired it to a oil pressure switch. Works well for the little 351w

Pics from right after I swamped it, 2017?

And more current, pulled the truck into the garage to fix some shit and get it at least road driveable.

 

[posford]

So that's about it. I know I missed some details along the way, if something is poorly worded and need elaboration, I'll gladly try again. If it weren't for the awesome tech forums of the old days I wouldn't have learned nearly enough to have attempted building this over the years.

 

[Levigarrett76]

I plan to finish reading later, but thank you for sharing, awesome

 

[Steve300xcw]

you took alot more pics than I ever did. I regret it now

 

[Pickuptrucker]

Fun to see the progression. I hate to think of some of the stuff I built in high school. Who needs a drill when you have a torch? Or so I thought

 

[posford]

Fun to see the progression. I hate to think of some of the stuff I built in high school. Who needs a drill when you have a torch? Or so I thought

Yeeeeah. I had drilled the motor mounts holes, and couldn't get the motor set in place, so out came the torch and turned the holes into slots, and the motor fell right in

I'm thankful that I learned precision torch work on farm equipment, the truck got better work.

Add in I just bought my first mig welder. Almost everything on the truck was stick welded, except the frame work. I phoned a friend for that. Bumpers were built with a 4-1/2" grinder, ass load of cutoff wheels, and poster paper.

 

[Gbkeith]

I like it.

 

[posford]

So those are 38s in that pic. The picture from in the truck, that hole was like our local bounty hole. I once got called to pull someone out. Fullsize Dodge on 35s had almost 2 feet of muck over the rear end.

I went out there with a group, still with the v6, I eased in until the bumper touched water, started backing up and I heard the collective "awwww." Once I got a little bit of a run I did I 4k rpm clutch drop in 2nd and held it to the floor. About the point the hood went under I about shit but never lifted. Somehow clawed it's way through. This poor trucks been through hell

 

[Levigarrett76]

Fucking awesome writeup!!!
Takes me back

 

[posford]

So after doing the disk brake swap I had a ton of issues, you had to be careful, it would lock the rear brakes. Master cylinder took a shit on me, so it got replaced by a Ford Explorer one, 95-01 style bolts in and was designed for disk rear! No issues after that.

 

[posford]

Per usual I did a bunch of shit, and didn't update this at all. Wrapped up shit on the truck and squirted some paint onto it, just rustoleum rattle can again.

Had to clean a ton of mouse nest out of the HVAC vents to try to blow some outside air down low, its hotter than hell in this thing even with vent windows. I should reassemble the heater core and run the coolant lines, even if the heater box is fucked. Rain-X on the inside of the windshield might help?

I need to order another TRE for the passenger side, Ruffstuff y link steering kit seems to eat that side. I bought "the cure" for it years ago, it didnt really help, and I cracked it changing the TRE a few weeks ago to a better used one I had.

Fixed a bunch of oil leaks, I think the front main is weeping. If I pull the motor to fix it, I know it'll snowball the project.

One header has a rust hole, I need to try to weld it up, but I know the chance of success is low, and the exhaust is one welded piece

I need to buy a new shifter for the T19 I think, this ones super sloppy. I changed the pin in the side of the shift tower, which helped, but its getting worse again.

I'd love to lose the body lift, or at least 2 of the 3" but the snowball effect that has is discouraging. It needs sliders and with the BL they'll look dumb I think (fake boatside?)

Been driving this to work at least once a week, until now since the newborn is in daycare. Still haven't wheeled it yet. It gets lots of stares on the road, and a lot of comments at work, I forget that its been years since I had driven it here, and how many new people there are.

I got invited to a place the end of this month, going to drive the truck the 45 minutes there, hopefully wheel the bitch, then drive it home. Backup plan is a have a friend that lives 5 minutes away from this place, worst case I can limp it there. Fuck trailers

 

[Levigarrett76]

What, no pics?

 

[posford]

What, no pics?

Yeeeeeah I'm bad about that. Plus new phone, and I didn't transfer pictures over yet. Have a couple saved snapchats

Caption explains it

Fresh painted white wheels

All the POS Fords in one place

 

[Levigarrett76]

Nice lineup, thx for sharing. I dig the white wagon wheels

 

[willis_racing]

Nice lineup, thx for sharing. I dig the white wagon wheels

Same, white waggys with black hubs and lugnuts is always a combo

 

[posford]

Moved pictures to new phone, here's a few more for documentation.

Started by painting the bed, it all came out pretty awful but it looks okay from a distance. It's a wheeling rig.

Wanted to spin it around so do the front half body work, the 39s have less than 5psi in them to fit out the door

Boyd last day of school, had to get his picture taken with the truck

Back in and finished the body work and painting, check the front end, wound up all new bearings and seals in the hubs. Apparently I never checked them after some deep water and they were shit. Being that they're 75 Chevy D44 big bearing spindles it makes parts a PITA to track down

Got the bumper back on, rewire the winch to use a contactor instead of the solenoid pack, still need to troubleshoot this. Powers out, but doesn't want to power in.

piece of rubber mud flap under the contactor so it can't accidentally touch steel and short out

All done, front hitch makes a good step to work on it

 

[Levigarrett76]

Nice.

I think in my old age that 39 tsl is my fav for rig that will see some street time

 

[CDA 455 II]

All done, front hitch makes a good step to work on it

The front hitch was a YUGE improvement in usability.

Example:
Invert an 8,000lb square trailer jack with a main leaf spring and you got a lift.

 

[TiTRD]

Camaro and this? Please tell me you've got a mullet

Looks great

 

[posford]

Camaro and this? Please tell me you've got a mullet

Looks great

Close, its a Firebird, and I cut it off again, but I did have a decent mullet for a year or so recently So classy white trash?