4x4 conversion with tranny swap

Natedog · Aug 7, 2007

I just bought a 87 Ranger Xtracab 4x4 2.9L, A4LD, electric push-button transfer case and am going to swap the body from my 87 2 wheel drive.

My 2 wheel drive is also an Xtracab, but it has dual fuel tanks, receiver hitch, trailer wiring and brake box that I want to swap all to the 4x4. Later I'm going to swap to a 5-speed manual tranny. Any tips and tricks are appreciated. BTW, both pinks are clean and legit, but I'm thinking it would be easier to keep the pink from the 4x2 for the 4x4...

southernlifttruck41 · Aug 15, 2007

Sounds like you are going to have fun......lol You are going to have to swap your wiring from the 4x4 to the 2 WD ....Dash too to have all your bells and jingles and your push - button. Get a wiring diagram for your truck. Also recheck everything before you put a battery to it..... Now for the good news.... Most of it will just plug in or bolt on. Good luck with CA inspection. It all has to be there and working, or it won't pass visual inspection.

projectnitemare · Aug 16, 2007

That should be too bad. Most all the connections will unplug somewhere along the line. Most should plug back in on the other truck as well and most of the wiring should be there too, both being 87s the wiring and connectors shouldn't vary much. Every vehicle isn't custom from the factory so there most of the harness should be close. If you desire a manual trans or t-case now is the time to be honest. Everything is exposed and easy to get to. Just get a manual to check the wiring. You may actually have to R-title the truck depending on how gay your inspection gets. If they wanted they could pull the 2wd VIN and say you have a 4x4 truck and make you re-title it. Check on that as well.

Matt

BobR · Aug 16, 2007

for the visual inspection everything has to appear to be there.

cut wires and vacuum tubes are a sure way to fail. one guy here got his durasparked engine past it by leaving all the wires there and gluing some of the conectors to the carburator.

to remove a wire or vacuum tube completly (and sometimes the device it was attached to ) looks less tampered than a cut wire or tube.

Bob

Natedog · Aug 16, 2007

Thanks for all the help guys! I'm waist deep in this swap now...rotflmao! Don't know if I'd do it this way again, prolly shoulda bought a whole truck EXACTLY how I wanted it, but you know how that goes, just get tired of all the work somedays.

Yeah taking my cab and wiring harness along with my dual tanks and receiver hitch(aftermarket). Keeping the a4ld and electric tcase for now, but have an FM146 and manual tcase that need checked out and prolly rebuilt before they go in. That will be later once it's running, even though it would be easier now.

Not even going to bother wiring the electric tcase in.....will do the manual swap soon.

Would ya'll rebuild my Fm146 tranny or look for a M5R1 to rebuild instead? Will my manual tcase bolt to my a4ld?

I have a 2.8 flywheel and clutch that came with my FM146, will the 2.8 flywheel and clutch fit my 2.9 or is it different?

Should I use the computer that came in my 2wd or the one from the 4x4, or does it matter?

Natedog · Aug 17, 2007

Test lifted the cab corner by myself last night...puppy is HEAVY....LOL! Going to borrow some rack/shelving beams like they use in warehouses and build a four-legged lift frame and then hang my chain hoist from it. Going to pull the old crusty cab first, roll the 4x4 chassi out from under it. and then set the cab down on friend's trailer. Then use floor jacks to move my 4x2 (non-rolling) chassis under the lift frame. Lift the good cab off, drag the chassis minus wheels/tires, rear axle and springs onto the trailer with a come along. Then roll the 4x4 under the lift and lower the good cab onto it.

southernlifttruck41 · Aug 21, 2007

PLEASE BE CAREFULL. It will be alot easyer if you put tires under your frame before you try to pull it onto your friends trailer. He might let you borrow it later if you don't tear the floor up by dragging sharp metel accross his floor. Double check that rack before your lift. You don't want that heavy cab to fall . Good luck....

Natedog · Aug 21, 2007

His trailer is all steel deck and has had many cars without wheels etc on it before, no problem there...lol. Just don't want to tear up my concrete, so floor jacks or moving dollys or something will go under it. Few pics from last weekend:

Old cab on top of old bed, mounted on other old shortbed 4x4 roller chassis (prolly going to be a trailer and cut the front axle out for spare parts):

Shot of my lifting rig from a different angle (buy that 2.8 in the old 4x4 shortbed...lol):

My 'new' 4x4 ready to string the wiring harness from stem to stern and set the cab on:

My poor ol 2wd with cab ready to lift off (and FM145 and manual tcase next to it):

Natedog · Sep 4, 2007

IT'S ALIVE!!!

Natedog · Sep 8, 2007

So it's running and driving now...but has a few bugs to work out.

Bolted the bed down tight and was going to do the cab too when I noticed that the right left side of the cab is about 1/4" higher than the bed. Thinkin about just tightening the cab bolts and seeing if it works out...or...

Tachometer didn't work until after I replaced the fuel lines from the injector area to the filter and the resorvoir on the frame. Had to move the wires and plugs around, but didn't unplug any of them.

After this, the tach worked a couple times and the right turn signal wouldn't work??!!? Now both turn signals work, but the tach doesn't. However the turn signals seem to blink a little too fast.

Previous owner installed steel spacers under front springs....3/8" on driver's side and 1/4" or a bit more on the passenger side. Drivers' side spring insulator at the bottom of spring is torn and half fell out.

A4LD is not shifting quite right, gotta find an M5R1 sooner than I thought. It drove better a lil overfull on fluid.

Any suggestions?

Natedog · Sep 16, 2007

Natedog said:
...Previous owner installed steel spacers under front springs....3/8" on driver's side and 1/4" or a bit more on the passenger side. Drivers' side spring insulator at the bottom of spring is torn and half fell out.

A4LD is not shifting quite right, gotta find an M5R1 sooner than I thought. It drove better way overfull on fluid.

Any suggestions?

Removed the two factory body shims and used a couple 1/16" large fender washers...now all is good and body is bolted down all nice and lined up.

Going to junkyard tomorrwo to hunt for 5 speed manual tranny.

Looks great,but not sure I like it with the front spring spacers...

What a bitch, will never do this again on a late model truck with so many damn wires and sensors.

Was running terribly....was looking for my gas can and matches last night.

Turned out to be a bad ignition coil!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It had a kinda rough hit and miss idle and would act like the power was being turned off intermittently under light throttle while cruising on the freeway was the most noticeable. Last night and this morning I was swapping parts from my parts truck and was about to swap the engine wire harness again. Thank God, now that it runs good again I'm looking for a tranny. Wasn't going to spend more money on it otherwise.

Natedog · Sep 26, 2007

Tranny I found needs lots of parts unfortunately so thsi is costing alot more than it was supposed to. Dropped my front driveshaft off at shop last weekend for new joints, slip-yoke, and a balance job. M5R1 tranny rebuild has started. Need to pull my automatic pos...

What's the best place to find a new shift stick? Mines missing.

Couldn't find any M5R1 bellhousing bolts at the wreckers last weekend to check em out.

Will my A4LD bellhousing bolts work with my M5R1 or are the M5R1 bolts longer?

Natedog · Oct 2, 2007

Front fender and lower air deflector (rubbery black plastic thing below the bumper) trim for extra tire clearance. Besides that's just extra metal to weight my truck down and get bent on the trail! This is much easier with the bumper removed, but those four dang carriage bolts are a bother! Taping both sides of the cut to save the paint. This is as high as I could cut and still have the valance piece securely bolted to both fenders. Would have liked to go about 1/2" higher:

After the cut, ready for touch up trim to round the corner...my cut is straight with the body lines....looks like a drunk put the striping tape on at the factory

:

All trimmed up and protective tape removed, bumper bolted on.

:

You can see the lower air deflector better here. Thought about just unbolting it and tossing it, but it probably helps mileage and cooling at high speed:

Finished cutting, I like it much better:

The inner and outer fender pieces and screws that I cut off:

Natedog · Oct 2, 2007

My front driveshaft (longer one with bigger joints from the 1987 truck) and the shorter small joint shaft from the 1985 shortbed. Also my tcase shifter:

2.9 flywheel, clutch assy, and flywheel bolts pulled from old tranny:

Dang forgot to get pressure plate bolts...anybody know what size they are supposed to be?

Natedog · Oct 4, 2007

Is the skidplate for the BII different than the Ranger one? They look to be, but I haven't found one for my rear tank to compare with the BII.

I have the original tranny crossmember that bolts to the outside of the frame rails via the rubber bushings in the brackets, but I also have an inside the frame rail crossmember from I think and 83-85 model year Ranger. Early style crossmember is bent up in a nice curve to clear the front driveshaft and doesn't hang down as low.

I like the idea of 2" extra ground clearance and I'm thinking about using the early style instead, but will need to grind the rivets and remove the original 1987 xmember mounts. Any comments on my idea?

4x4 conversion with tranny swap

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