My truck (lots of large images)

I figured I'd go ahead and make a thread tracking some of my progress since I've been more active on here lately, lots of good information on here. Updates will probably few and far between as I have too many projects and not nearly enough time/money. As far as the basics go: 93 XLT 3.0 5 speed Paid $800 for it almost a year ago. The PO parked it under a pine tree for a few years after the rear shackles broke. I needed a vehicle and drove it with the broken shackles for awhile. The gas tank straps were also rusted and broke which i fixed at the time with some universal strapping, and the filler neck was dry rotted pretty bad. Cylinders on the drums were also replaced sometime, was losing all my brake fluid when I stopped. Here's how it sat the night I brought it home and gave it a bath


And the next day in better light

A few months later using some of the info here I put some mustang bucket seats in I found on eBay and was able to pick up local.


I think that's all I can remember doing until about feburary. After leaving for work I noticed what sounded like metal dragging. It was my mudflap. The front driver side leaf hanger had now broken. I parked it for the rest of the week and got a rental car. I had ordered the parts early in Januaray, but the truck is my DD and its hard to fix when working 7 days a week. Luckily I just got hired in full time (was a temp) and was able to get a vacation day securing a weekend off.
Let the fun begin.

Remember how the PO parked it under a tree? That sure helped the rust spread. Makes for a fun time. Although, it wasn't the hardest thing we've done.
All new hangers, shackles, and filler neck on, you can see the generic strap I mentioned earlier. Also sprayed some rust inhibiting paint on the frame, which didn't last too long in this rough Ohio winter.

Bed back on with time to spare. Which means i had time to get the other parts on I had been slowly purchasing.

Minor things done in this time were 2 bulb tail light swap, 07 mirror mod, and some headlight polishing and bulb replacement with silverstar zxe's

The other major thing I got done that weekend was installing an audio system.
Started by yanking out the interior, only to find this.

Cleaned it with a wire brush, dried it, and sprayed some more of that rust inhibiting paint to try to keep it from getting worse. It didn't hold up much better here. It'll probably need replaced at some point.

Back to some real work, put in an Optima battery, I chose marine for the screw type terminal posts. The box is a trail gear optima specific box.

Also added a tuff stuff 150A black alternator, and upgraded the big 3 with wire from Knu Konceptz.

Head unit ready to go. Sadly it doesn't fit as nice after switching to an explorer dash trim due to mine having broken pins causing floppiness. The expo mounts the unit behind the trim, and the ranger isn't set up for that, so I had to rig it with some dash install kit.

Getting the subwoofer set up


Here you can see most of the wiring for the main amp.

I don't think this is what Ford meant by "Power Distribution Box"

Here's whats got put in the doors and cab corners

And everything goes back together


All was going well until a couple weeks ago


Ended up replacing all tie rod ends, and purchased all new ball joints. Passenger side joints got changed, driverside, the pinch bolt on I Beam had the head snap off.
Also had some new wheels come in earlier this week, got them on. 18x9 wrapped in 245-40-18 with 5/16" spacers up front and ET lugs all the way around. Also did a shackle flip at the same time for a slight drop. This is how the truck sits today.

It may not be the nicest, but its mine and its getting better. Any questions on anything, feel free to ask. I'll update this when something is done I feel worth posting. Also if someone could tell me how to make my images show up a little smaller, that'd be great.

Very nice truck man. I like the seats a lot. Audio must song amazing...

Thanks for the support guys. Most of the wiring isn't really visible. battery is grounded by the driverside headlight, alternator is grounded in the passenger side of the bay, and the alternator positive wire runs under the engine, iirc, I put it in the I Beam. And yeah, the audio does sound pretty good. The 4 speakers are kicker cs68 6x8s, 75 rms watts, 225 peak (4 ohm). The amp that powers them is a Polk Audio PA660 class AB. It flows 75 rms watts on 4 ohm or 85 on 2. It is a 4 channel. The subwoofer is a preassembled box from kicker. The sub in the box is a CompRT 10" 600 rms watt 1200 peak DVC wired to 2 ohm final impendance. Its powered by a Kicker CX600.1 class D amp, with 2 ohm outputs matching the sub (600/1200). All wiring aside from the big 3 was done with kicker kits, and the head unit I believe is a Pioneer DEH-X9600BHS. Also, only the driver side pan was in that shape. The passenger side was fine.

Dig the wheels brotha . What's your plans for a drop ?


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forgot to mention I went to summit for parts Saturday. Plans are the beams and 2" coils up front flip kit and shackle flip in back. Shackles might get flipped back around as I would like to be able to pull a 16 ft boat. The camber bushings are in the mail and hopefully I have the money for shocks radius arm relocators c notch and transmission cross member at the end of the month and get those parts from illusive fab and get them on.


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If not c notching right away, flip them back to stock ( shackles ) cause my axle sets 1" away from the frame right now with them flipped . Had to install Es pancake bumpstops to get the frame off the axle .



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Yeah, I don't plan on flipping the axle until I can notch and drop the front. I wonder how hard it would be to fit those bump stops into the c notch though. A little cushion incase it does hit.


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Those bumpstops I got at autozone for like $15 . Should fit no problem . Just have to drill a hole in the notch and tap and screw in , blind nut , or drill two holes on the notch to drop the nut from the top with a socket and extension


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parts galore! Let the surgery begin.

I like your new wheels. For the rust in the floor pans I would coat them with POR15. It will keep the rust from getting worst.

Thanks. Know who might carry the por? What kind of prep needed for it?

I've only ever been able to buy it online...lmc, amazon, eastwood, etc. For prep just make sure you clean up any dirt and grease (they may recommend a solvent based cleaner...can't remember) and give the cab floor a good vacuum. Depending on how bad the rust is, you might want to take a wire brush or wheel to it to strip the metal if it's flaking, but other than that, POR15 is painted direct to rust

p.s. the stuff will almost absolutely never ever come off of whatever it touches...skin, clothes, other car parts

Some paint stores sell it also. POR stands for Paint Over Rust . It's a great product to stop rust. It's a good idea to paint over the POR 15. to protect from UV damage. ebay is another good place to get POR15. Here's a link http://www.ebay.com/itm/POR-15-SUPER-STARTER-KIT-BLACK-Rust-Preventive-POR15-45009-/390899179251?hash=item5b03681ef3&item=390899179251&pt=Motors_Automotive_Tools&vxp=mtr

Here is a new pic for those interested. The flip kit gave a crazy drop in the back and I had to get lift shackles to bring it up.

Your Ranger looks nice and low without being too low. Good job !