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- Joined
- Oct 10, 2010
- Messages
- 781
- Reaction score
- 16
- Location
- Near St. Louis MO on the IL side
- Vehicle Year
- 1994
- Make / Model
- Ford
- Engine Size
- 4.0
- Transmission
- Manual
Hapless organ donor, is this the end of the line for The Lone Ranger?
The truck has left my possession bit by bit over the past couple of weeks. The last of it (shell) wound up departing the other evening which brings me to the natural conclusion of this project, so I figured it would be wise to put a warp up post to end this thread. So in that vein, here’s a collection of lessons learned and random thoughts.
Front SOA with leaf springs and shackles up front:
By using the flat wagoneer leaf springs, and shackles up front, you effectively get the same characteristics as an arched leaf spring with a shackle reversal. However, with the TTB framed rangers, you can keep the packaging pretty low. There were a couple of draw backs though:
1) Lots of flex on short leaf springs means that the bushings tended to get munched quickly.
2) With shackles up front, you need to run some sort of track/panhard bar to keep the steering from being too vague
3) The wagoneer springs package real nice, but you can’t get them with a military wrap unless you get a custom pack made. That said, I never did bend my crown replacement pack, so it’s not a huge issue.
GM 63” Rear Leaves:
I wound up creating a bastard pack by cutting off a main leaf, and adding it to the pack with an AAL. I was amazed at how well this packaged flexed and rode. Enough that I plan on duplicating the setup again if I need another rear leaf pack in a future build
Consider your weight:
I originally thought that I would be able to keep the whole ranger package around the 5,000 lb mark, so I was a bit surprised when it frequently scaled in the 6,500 lb mark (once as high as 7,800 lbs!). I think there were times I was denied on some of the obstacles solely due to the weight of the truck. Also keep in mind that the heavier things are, the more likely you’re going to need the bigger components (one ton axles). Having said that, these things are pretty heavy from the get go so there is only so much you can do.
Go ahead and jump to the bigger axles:
I tried to make the D44 front work and it just wasn’t happening. While I never killed a shaft in the 44, I just couldn’t keep ball joints in the thing, the combination of a heavy wheel combo and the weight of the truck would just murder them. So if you plan on running 35” tires or larger on one of these trucks (extended cab/exo/skids), you’ll probably be money ahead by jumping into the one ton world. The counterpoint is that if you managed to keep things lighter, with a less heavy wheel packaged (reg cab/No exo/minimal skids), you can keep a D44 alive.
I’m still on the fence with the 14 bolt. Its main selling point is the cheap factor. But it is often a boat anchor, so running another axle out back may not be a horrible choice. People knock the Rear D60, but I never had any issues.
Gearing:
Running both 4.10’s and 4.88’s, I’d have to say that the 4.88’s were better. With the doubler, and M5OD transmission, it put my crawl ratio over 100:1 and gave me some good trail running ratios as well. Mileage did drop with the jump in gears as well (14.5 mpg with the 4.88 and 15.5-16 with the 4.10’s), but the drivability went up considerably. It’s also worth mentioning that the 4.0 will run down the highway all day long at 2500 rpms without a care in the world, and I killed less motor mounts with the 4.88 gear set compared to the 4.10’s.
Doubler:
Quite simply, if you’re going to play in the rocks with a manual transmission, you need one. Way more throttle control and much less clutch burning. I was one of the rare ones that didn’t have any issues ordering from Duffy at D&D. Yes there were a few issues in the beginning, but after those were ironed out, the thing performed perfectly.
Bronco II tank swap:
I’m very glad I did this swap. There are a lot of complaints about these tanks hanging down too low, and I found that never to be the case. Certainly not enough of a case to ever cause me issues on the trail, and the extra range was worth any issues it could have caused. For reference, the tank doesn’t hang any lower than the typical Jeep Cherokee tank (XJ), and is certainly more tucked up than a TJ tank. If the Jeep folks can live with low hanging tanks, then you shouldn’t have any problem either!
Steering:
I never felt the need to run hydro assist on this truck, and in fact several of my jeep friends (with hydro) often commented on how easy my truck was to steer. It would have been nice to have a small ram to take some of the load off of the box, but I can honestly count on one hand the number of times that hydro assist would have helped. And I’m not certain that I wouldn’t have broken something while bound up during those times with hydro assist. Keep in mind that Ford used the same steering box on the F350 that they used on the Rangers. I will say that adding a power steering cooler did help quiet down the pump whine quite a bit on the hot days.
The Ranger Based Vehicle Platform as a whole:
As a whole, this is a great platform to start out with. The truck was driven to and from the trails, and wheeled HARD for the past several years with no ill effects. No cracks in the frame, no funky body panel fitment, and the A/C even still worked! The only real weak link in my opinion was the manual transmission (some folks never have issues though).
What would I do differently:
Build and explorer! Seriously though, the only reason this truck had to be put down was due to the lack of space for my growing family. If I had started with an explorer, we’d still be rocking along right now, so consider future growth in your plans if your family is inclined to go with you.
The other things I would consider doing differently would be to run a different style of track bar, and shorten up the wheel base a bit more (I was at 113” ish). It got old crawling under the truck to remove the track bar before and after wheeling. And the wheelbase was just long enough that I would belly out on several obstacles, and the rear drive shaft took quite a few hits due to it being so long and low. I really don’t want to think about how much I have wrapped up in replacing rear drive shafts!
I would also consider building a smaller version of the truck. While it was fun to have the “big boy” axles and tires, it turned out to be a bit over kill for the Midwest wheeling I typically do. In a nut shell, most of the obstacles out here became rather easy once the truck was completed. So I found myself taking harder and harder lines to keep things entertaining. To the point that I would run any trail other than the “Rock Bouncer” type trails (not my bag). In running around in this Baby TJ, I’ve found that the easy/mild trails are fun again and I’m being forced to pay attention and work to wheel whereas in the truck it was very point and shoot. So keep in mind that bigger is not necessarily better.
So what is the future of the truck?
The major components of the truck have been sold off, however as I was parting the truck out, I did so in such a way that it could be put back together again if one was so inclined (didn’t cut wires, unbolted things instead of cut, etc). The doubler is living on in another Ranger in the Springfield MO area, the tires went to a local Jeeper, and the shell went to a fella up North.
The future is unknown, there is a slight possibility that it might get turned into a wheeler again, but I’m not holding my breath as the guy that bought it was mostly after the drive line and interior to swap in to his Ranger. So I wouldn’t be surprised if its next ride will be to the scrapper. Considering how heavy the thing is, he’ll probably get a pretty penny for the left overs!
So moving forward, I probably won’t wander through here that often, but if someone finds this and has a question about something, I’ll try to come back and answer it. I tried to be extremely detailed in my posts so all the information should be in there.
So here is a little progression of the trucks last days…
King of the world on top of Bald Knob:
Cleaned up and listed for sale. Lots of interest, but I couldn’t make a deal happen though there were a few close calls:
The boy was rather upset that his truck was going away:
Yanked the doubler:
Sold off the wheels, and started pulling parts off of it:
Dragged it out of its home:
Yes the neighbors love me:
Loaded it up:
And dropped it off at its new resting place:
Leaving just a little bit to hang around the garage:
And so ends the tale of this Ranger under my ownership….
The truck has left my possession bit by bit over the past couple of weeks. The last of it (shell) wound up departing the other evening which brings me to the natural conclusion of this project, so I figured it would be wise to put a warp up post to end this thread. So in that vein, here’s a collection of lessons learned and random thoughts.
Front SOA with leaf springs and shackles up front:
By using the flat wagoneer leaf springs, and shackles up front, you effectively get the same characteristics as an arched leaf spring with a shackle reversal. However, with the TTB framed rangers, you can keep the packaging pretty low. There were a couple of draw backs though:
1) Lots of flex on short leaf springs means that the bushings tended to get munched quickly.
2) With shackles up front, you need to run some sort of track/panhard bar to keep the steering from being too vague
3) The wagoneer springs package real nice, but you can’t get them with a military wrap unless you get a custom pack made. That said, I never did bend my crown replacement pack, so it’s not a huge issue.
GM 63” Rear Leaves:
I wound up creating a bastard pack by cutting off a main leaf, and adding it to the pack with an AAL. I was amazed at how well this packaged flexed and rode. Enough that I plan on duplicating the setup again if I need another rear leaf pack in a future build
Consider your weight:
I originally thought that I would be able to keep the whole ranger package around the 5,000 lb mark, so I was a bit surprised when it frequently scaled in the 6,500 lb mark (once as high as 7,800 lbs!). I think there were times I was denied on some of the obstacles solely due to the weight of the truck. Also keep in mind that the heavier things are, the more likely you’re going to need the bigger components (one ton axles). Having said that, these things are pretty heavy from the get go so there is only so much you can do.
Go ahead and jump to the bigger axles:
I tried to make the D44 front work and it just wasn’t happening. While I never killed a shaft in the 44, I just couldn’t keep ball joints in the thing, the combination of a heavy wheel combo and the weight of the truck would just murder them. So if you plan on running 35” tires or larger on one of these trucks (extended cab/exo/skids), you’ll probably be money ahead by jumping into the one ton world. The counterpoint is that if you managed to keep things lighter, with a less heavy wheel packaged (reg cab/No exo/minimal skids), you can keep a D44 alive.
I’m still on the fence with the 14 bolt. Its main selling point is the cheap factor. But it is often a boat anchor, so running another axle out back may not be a horrible choice. People knock the Rear D60, but I never had any issues.
Gearing:
Running both 4.10’s and 4.88’s, I’d have to say that the 4.88’s were better. With the doubler, and M5OD transmission, it put my crawl ratio over 100:1 and gave me some good trail running ratios as well. Mileage did drop with the jump in gears as well (14.5 mpg with the 4.88 and 15.5-16 with the 4.10’s), but the drivability went up considerably. It’s also worth mentioning that the 4.0 will run down the highway all day long at 2500 rpms without a care in the world, and I killed less motor mounts with the 4.88 gear set compared to the 4.10’s.
Doubler:
Quite simply, if you’re going to play in the rocks with a manual transmission, you need one. Way more throttle control and much less clutch burning. I was one of the rare ones that didn’t have any issues ordering from Duffy at D&D. Yes there were a few issues in the beginning, but after those were ironed out, the thing performed perfectly.
Bronco II tank swap:
I’m very glad I did this swap. There are a lot of complaints about these tanks hanging down too low, and I found that never to be the case. Certainly not enough of a case to ever cause me issues on the trail, and the extra range was worth any issues it could have caused. For reference, the tank doesn’t hang any lower than the typical Jeep Cherokee tank (XJ), and is certainly more tucked up than a TJ tank. If the Jeep folks can live with low hanging tanks, then you shouldn’t have any problem either!
Steering:
I never felt the need to run hydro assist on this truck, and in fact several of my jeep friends (with hydro) often commented on how easy my truck was to steer. It would have been nice to have a small ram to take some of the load off of the box, but I can honestly count on one hand the number of times that hydro assist would have helped. And I’m not certain that I wouldn’t have broken something while bound up during those times with hydro assist. Keep in mind that Ford used the same steering box on the F350 that they used on the Rangers. I will say that adding a power steering cooler did help quiet down the pump whine quite a bit on the hot days.
The Ranger Based Vehicle Platform as a whole:
As a whole, this is a great platform to start out with. The truck was driven to and from the trails, and wheeled HARD for the past several years with no ill effects. No cracks in the frame, no funky body panel fitment, and the A/C even still worked! The only real weak link in my opinion was the manual transmission (some folks never have issues though).
What would I do differently:
Build and explorer! Seriously though, the only reason this truck had to be put down was due to the lack of space for my growing family. If I had started with an explorer, we’d still be rocking along right now, so consider future growth in your plans if your family is inclined to go with you.
The other things I would consider doing differently would be to run a different style of track bar, and shorten up the wheel base a bit more (I was at 113” ish). It got old crawling under the truck to remove the track bar before and after wheeling. And the wheelbase was just long enough that I would belly out on several obstacles, and the rear drive shaft took quite a few hits due to it being so long and low. I really don’t want to think about how much I have wrapped up in replacing rear drive shafts!
I would also consider building a smaller version of the truck. While it was fun to have the “big boy” axles and tires, it turned out to be a bit over kill for the Midwest wheeling I typically do. In a nut shell, most of the obstacles out here became rather easy once the truck was completed. So I found myself taking harder and harder lines to keep things entertaining. To the point that I would run any trail other than the “Rock Bouncer” type trails (not my bag). In running around in this Baby TJ, I’ve found that the easy/mild trails are fun again and I’m being forced to pay attention and work to wheel whereas in the truck it was very point and shoot. So keep in mind that bigger is not necessarily better.
So what is the future of the truck?
The major components of the truck have been sold off, however as I was parting the truck out, I did so in such a way that it could be put back together again if one was so inclined (didn’t cut wires, unbolted things instead of cut, etc). The doubler is living on in another Ranger in the Springfield MO area, the tires went to a local Jeeper, and the shell went to a fella up North.
The future is unknown, there is a slight possibility that it might get turned into a wheeler again, but I’m not holding my breath as the guy that bought it was mostly after the drive line and interior to swap in to his Ranger. So I wouldn’t be surprised if its next ride will be to the scrapper. Considering how heavy the thing is, he’ll probably get a pretty penny for the left overs!
So moving forward, I probably won’t wander through here that often, but if someone finds this and has a question about something, I’ll try to come back and answer it. I tried to be extremely detailed in my posts so all the information should be in there.
So here is a little progression of the trucks last days…
King of the world on top of Bald Knob:
Cleaned up and listed for sale. Lots of interest, but I couldn’t make a deal happen though there were a few close calls:
The boy was rather upset that his truck was going away:
Yanked the doubler:
Sold off the wheels, and started pulling parts off of it:
Dragged it out of its home:
Yes the neighbors love me:
Loaded it up:
And dropped it off at its new resting place:
Leaving just a little bit to hang around the garage:
And so ends the tale of this Ranger under my ownership….
), I think would have been a better choice than what replaced it. 
