Better Late Then Never

[zukirider21]

Alright well, I've been stankin up the general discussions forum for a while now with all of my 4wd swap nonsense, so i figured i would start a build thread. Plus i think it would be pretty cool to keep track of the progress.

I started taking pictures a little late, but really all that was missed was disassembly (cutting/unbolting shit, and LOTS of cursing and frustration).

Basically, the story starts with my 89 302/C6 2wd ranger. I blew the trans (was rushing tossing in a filter and ended up with a little pan leak, never fixed it and forgot about it) and the motor was a complete hunk of crap (not worth putting another trans on). instead of screwing around with another v8 setup, since I needed the truck SOON to haul my quads and dirtbikes to races, I originally planned on just getting another 2.9 and tossing it in (i preserved all the original efi wiring THANK GOD) along with my old 2wd a4ld that I never managed to sell. But, I ended up getting an entire 91 D354wd/2.9/m5 truck off of another forum member (markraftco).

heres a few pics of the donor:

a very nice truck that's straight as an arrow and runs like a top (only 115k on it) for only $425. only problem is it's hard to get into reverse and the rust is just plain scary.

Now, I'm doing the dreaded 4wd crossmember swap that everyone says isnt worth it

here's a few pics of recent progress:

out with the old

...and in with the new!

mock up:

i chewed up alot of material cutting the welds on the xmember so i had to make these little plates:

all welded up, reinforced, painted, and bolted with grade 8 hardware:

lots and lots and lots of goodies! and alot more is on it's way!

look at the angle of this spring, and tell me if its something to worry about. keep in mind theres no drivetrain in there right now, and the arm is barely compressed (probably within an inch of full droop).

here's where I'm at now, clears that 31 like a little donut!

let me know what ya think, any constructive criticism would be good. more updates coming very soon as I'm aiming to be driving this thing within 2 weeks.

 

[Bennybooster]

Is it lifted?

 

[93 Ohio Ranger]

Is it lifted?

If you look theres a 3inch body lift. And 2in coil spacers.

 

[zukirider21]

yeah 3" BL and 2" coil spacers up front with fx4 springs and factory blocks in the rear. i'm hoping and praying i'll be able to clear 33's when its all done...

 

[177CIOfPureLove]

Wow, I like the color of your parts truck there. are you parting it out by chance? And I like the fact your swapping your other truck over to 4x4. I personally would have done the same thing despite the extra work. Sometimes the truck means enough to do it to ya know? Where are you in NJ?

 

[zukirider21]

Wow, I like the color of your parts truck there. are you parting it out by chance? And I like the fact your swapping your other truck over to 4x4. I personally would have done the same thing despite the extra work. Sometimes the truck means enough to do it to ya know? Where are you in NJ?

im in northern nj, zip 07444. if there's anything you want off the donor truck, let me know. if i havent already snatched it for my black truck (which is nearly everything haha), you're welcome to it.

and yeah everyone says its not worth it, but every once in a while there's an exception, and this is it. my black truck is nearly mint in terms of rust, and I already have all the parts in front of me to do the swap. its just a matter of doing the work, and while i am a little crunched on time, im gonna make it happen.

 

[177CIOfPureLove]

Yeah, I have thought about doing the very same swap to my 89 and selling my 88. Everyone makes such a big deal about the x member swap, like you said, it really isn't that big of a deal. I am not scared. Glad to see it done with the same attitude! I have been looking for a gen 2 front fenders and hood to make both make my 31's clear (gen 2 fenders = bigger opening than gen 1, don't want to trim them and ruin lines) and update the truck. And sadly after all this time I much prefer the look of the gen 2's.... Very nice work man.

And yeah, I wish you weren't 2 hours away. I would like to get my hands on a few parts.

 

[snoranger]

Yeah, I have thought about doing the very same swap to my 89 and selling my 88. Everyone makes such a big deal about the x member swap, like you said, it really isn't that big of a deal. I am not scared. Glad to see it done with the same attitude! I have been looking for a gen 2 front fenders and hood to make both make my 31's clear (gen 2 fenders = bigger opening than gen 1, don't want to trim them and ruin lines) and update the truck. And sadly after all this time I much prefer the look of the gen 2's.... Very nice work man.

And yeah, I wish you weren't 2 hours away. I would like to get my hands on a few parts.

Its not that bad, its just time consuming because you have to pull the engine.

On a side note, I'm going to be stripping my '90 in a few weeks. You may be interested in some body panels.

 

[zukirider21]

yeah its really not bad at all. a big factor in me deciding to do it was the fact that i would be pulling the entire drivetrain from the red truck to put into the black one. the only part thats a real pain in the ass is cutting the damn welds INSIDE the c-channel, and then getting the plate off that goes behind the steering box and boxes in the frame wasnt much fun either.

otherwise its just lots of unbolting rusted ass fasteners and cutting lots of those damn frame rivets.

 

[zukirider21]

oh and a little update- didnt get anything really picture worthy done today, but i did get alot of important stuff out of the way.

swapped over the manual instrument cluster, manual steering column, clutch/brake pedal assembly, and 4wd speedo cable into the black truck.

now all i gotta do is find that damn transfer case plug on the 2wd truck and a few other small things and its ready for the drivetrain

 

[1986fordranger]

it looks cool , by the way did you use a mig welder to weld the k member back in , and how long do you think it took you to do the k member swap , i plan to do the same swap on my 86 ranger this summer , thanks

 

[zukirider21]

yeah just plain old-school FCAW (stronger than GMAW contrary to popular belief) welder at about 100amps with .035 wire. not pretty but does the job. there's also lots of extra bracing on there.

 

[1986fordranger]

thanks

 

[zukirider21]

oh i just noticed i never answered you about how long it took lol. honestly, its really tough to say since i've been working on it on and off for many weeks now, but if you had the two trucks side by side in a nice warm garage (i've had to deal with the elements outside), i'd say no more than 3 weeks start to finish.

 

[1986fordranger]

ok thanks , by the way did you use the passenger side frame rail boxing plate off the 4x4 ,i see that all 2wds dont have them and i was woundering if anyone uses it , also are those straps all that you welded in on the crossmember or is there more that i can't see , thanks