All I wanted was a 2whl drive!

All I Wanted was a Two Wheel Drive!!
This page is a start , I will fill in the blanks as I feel like it .

How she looks now..a lot of work ,will explain on the bottom ...later


After 2 months of looking for a 2whldrv Ranger SCab I had a friend drive my for greener fields. After a day of finding trucks sold, crappy overpriced trucks and sheer junk I, in desperation bought the only truck I liked in my price range and it happened to be a 4whdrv lifted (4") truck. It had a canopy which I left on for a week or two and then traded for a good Fiskars axe. The power train is a 4.0 with manual transmission auto t case manual hubs and 3.73 gears. The transmission (rebuilt )and rear springs (replaced) just 15,000 miles ago, the whole truck had 156,585 miles (252,000kms)on it.




But I could not leave it alone, it was lifted so I HAD to go offroad since it was lifted!

******CONTINUED *******

So the next thing to do, since I was going to do some November driving on BC, Coquihalla highway the Michelin 31" A/T tires got swapped out for the Latitude Ice X 's you see in the picture. Then, well the exhaust was fine but...... Flowmaster 40 time!! Fuel economy was a little dicey as a stuck open thermostat and a lazy O2 sensor took a bite out of my wallet but eventually got tracked down 2 years later!). Next thing on the list was the front axle slip joint had too much play to use and the push button T-case did not do anything. So I read and read and fixed the T case in a hour , the axle was $500 sadly.



So now I have a working 4x4, hmmm well my buddy pays meals for firewood collection so out in them hills I go.



After tackling a few de-activation ditches I was hooked, so...Finally we go snow road running! A few hours on the backroads in 2 foot deep snow, great fun!


Then in the spring (08) try the truck out for real , got the A/T's back on and out we go. Sadly while they are good on hard pack ice and rock they lack greatly in mud and snow.





So now I need new tires!! What next? So I got a hell of a deal from my BigO tire guy on some 2nd hand BigFoot X/T's that he will warranty for me and sell to me at 1/2 price of new. I figure that now I have new tires I am going to get in more and more trouble, so I am going to need a winch. And so, not long after getting the tires I get a old school winch bumper for $250. So here is a picture of the two new improvements with the tires in action.
2008

2009


So I go out and 4x4 and it is good.......

My local 4x4 shop has a open house, as you can see I entered the ramp competition and made the connections for my economic downfall...more improvements. The local rock crawler club was there and I got invited on a run of the famous Whipsaw Trail one of BF Goodrich's "Outstanding Trails" http://www.bc4x4.com/inthenews/default.cfm?ID=256.


So to carry on a little...I had a shock break , so time for new. Trailmaster 4" gas shocks (which have enough travel for 6" as well) replaced the Dick Cepek oil front air/oil rear and suddenly my handling off road got way better! I addition to the good stuff I was fixing every little thing so I would not have to walk home.
On my trip on the Whipsaw I broke the front center u joint when the beam slammed a rock.
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leaving me halfway though the trail with a 2 wheel drive This was going to lead to more money, I would need bigger tires. In the meantime I had to replace my fuel filler neck. took the box off and replaced the fuel pump while I was in there.
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Of course a couple of months later I had to replace the gas tank!!

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So to fit these under the 4 inch lift requires a little work. I did the Belltech rear shackle install and the the Skyjacker 136 6" springs into the 4" lift trick. The install was a bitch.




I have a bunch of work still coming as I found bent center hinge brackets with gimped bushings while getting ready to do my radius arm bushings.
Guess I will post a list of what this money whore has made me do

Winch
Winch bumper
100 watt driving lights
Sylvania Xtra Vision bulbs
Stabilizer shock
Trailmaster 4-6" travel shocks
Steering box re seal
Calipers/rotors/slave cylinders/pads/shoes
Both front spindles, one twice
Wheel bearings x2 in 2 years
Both stub axles
Intermediate axle and slip joint
Radiator
Fan
Water Pump
Thermostat
ECC relay
Power steering pump
Starter
Alternator
Idler pulleys x2
Idle air control valve
Plugs /wires
Air filter box
K&N air filter
PCV valve
Brake vacuum booster grommet
O2 sensor
Speedometer gear
Intake air temp sensor

Removed cat
Various u-joints
Skyjacker #136 coil springs
Belltech 6400 shackles
Gas tank
Fuel pump
Fuel filler neck
Tires 2 1/2 years Hankook's only ones new MTZ current summer boots $400 75 & 66 % fr/rear
- Michelin IceX 235's
- Hankook I Pikes 235's
- Big O Bigfoot X/T 31's
- TrXus M/T 33's
- Mikey Thompson Baja MTZ 33's
Passenger seat recliner
Shifter bushing kit
Center hinge brackets, Skyjacker Stage II
Beam bushings, polyurethane
Radius arm bushings (also poly)
Front sway bar quick disconnects
Ball joint
Camber cone

SOON

Body bushings.. poly got them.. real lazy
Manual T case out of the parts truck swapped for the electric
Explorer springs (got) to get rid of block

nice work!!!

Looking good! I like how you gave us all that history. It looks like it's been a fun journey (and relatively cheap) so far!

Thanks, I'll post pictures of the spring install and the shackles in a day or two......

Shackles........ hhmmm took the box off..wrote a article that got combined with another guys in the magazine.Had to cut a bolt we broke out.

A little about springs, if you do the Skyjacker 136 spring into 4" lift swap do not get stiff (real 6" ) springs. I tried a set of Superlift 6" ( the longer ones) but they were to long. Little did I know in a year I would be getting true 6" lift hinges so I sold them and bought the proper Skyjackers. Which are not a real 6", they are as long as my Trailmaster 4" just a firmer spring rate. Here is the 4 to 6 comparison
Was ok once I got the right springs.Long arms and Waggy springs in the future though.

Here it is in action! Need a snorkel

Slowly updating this thread..did a whole bunch of stuff... 4.56 gears, Spartan locker , Skyjacker long arms...she is going to get a performance built 4.0L w/headers and a chip in a month or so!

The chip was a bust and the built 4.0 ohv developed a loose lower intake , also flooded the engine with muddy water..still runs but had a hell of a detonation problem until lately. Still uncertain if I am going to pull it out ......

Here is a "glamour shot"
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here is the rescue ranger in action in about 2' of late April snow

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why was the chip a bust? Nice truck though. I just bought a 91 ext cab 4x4 4.0L

swaping out the a4ld for the 5 speed and putting lockers in it

Well, the guy that flashed the chip was not so good at his work, though now I have a new engine I might be tempted to try it....

Tuning is a tricky deal. Personally I would get a SCT tuner and do it myself figuring out what works and what does not along the way.