89’ Ranger 4x4

[GahnRacing]

1989 Ford Ranger 4WD
2.9l M5OD Manual BW1354 Swap
1.75 4130 Cage
3 link
DirtTech Full Float Rear End
TTB D35/D44 Hybrid

I started this build back in 2013 from a stock truck with 5th gear destroyed, but lost all my photos in the great photobucket purge of 17’. Here is where I started back up again, half way through the backhalf... enjoy.

Progress has been stupid slow, getting some dough together for the cell was holding me back for awhile. Doing little things here and there to keep me busy. It has to pass smog next month so I'm gonna have to buckle down hard and get this thing done

 

[GahnRacing]

Figured I'd post a little bit of an update. I've almost completed the fuel cell mount and now I'm moving onto my links. The swaybar is in its final position just needs finishing touches and mounts for the rear end
Just about finished making my second set of links

 

[GahnRacing]

I'm just gonna dump some photos of the progress

 

[theycallmeWALLY]

You know I love your build...

I am curious though about that bench top mill... I've been wanting to buy something to get rid of my shitty Home Depot Drill Press and give my garage a little fab shop ability. What brand and would you recommend?

 

[GahnRacing]

Here are some more, a couple duplicates

 

[GahnRacing]

Slowly but surely knowing out the little things. Added in some upper link pocket supports, mounted the bedsides 100%, wrapped the front link pivots, made some new bump pads and sway bar link pockets. Also picked up a Mitler Brothers bead roller

 

[GahnRacing]

You know I love your build...

I am curious though about that bench top mill... I've been wanting to buy something to get rid of my shitty Home Depot Drill Press and give my garage a little fab shop ability. What brand and would you recommend?

I would recommend it in a heartbeat. That being said, I no longer see it for sale at Harbor Freight. They used to carry it for $1300+ freight. I found mine on Craigslist Bakersfield for $900 and talked them down to $500. I really just use it for a drill press. It’s nice to simply clamp your piece and use the mill top to locate your holes. Hole-sawing is a cake walk.

Edit: Central Machinery, I will get the model when I get back home.

 

[GahnRacing]

I swear I've been working on the truck.. just seems as if there's a million little things to do. I reworked the brake lines.

Built a bell pan skid

Installed the flight industries modified knuckles courtesy of DemonPrerunners (CJ Moody)

Rebuilt my swing steering

And if anybody has any insite on how to fit 2 seats in the back of an extended cab ranger, I'm all ears

 

[GahnRacing]

Steering is just about wrapped up. Rebuilt the tierods out of 4130

Added in the Solo Motorsports sector shaft double sheer nut/adapter

Also I decided to buy one of those rear light bar things. This one was a lot cheaper than baja designs

 

[GahnRacing]

So I pretty much said fuck it and decided to try and finish my truck




More pics with of the light rack



I'll get some videos of me getting sideways in this thing as soon as the neighborhood adjacent to mine thinks the Ken Block wannabe is gone.. I'm extremely surprised how well the truck handles with merely adding the sway bar. I'm really liking the 2.9... never thought I'd say that

 

[GahnRacing]

Just got my intake tube back from my buddy Max at Built Industries. Gonna make all the horsepowers now lol

 

[GahnRacing]

So I went ahead and decided to fuck my passenger side door up, because I don't have the ability to just tack shit on and see if I like it. No, I had to burn it the fuck in to figure out it was too low. Anyways drivers side came out okay

 

[GahnRacing]

No crazy updates from me, just painted my bedsides

And I thought I was having a fuel pressure issue, the truck was dying on me when in 3rd at a low rpm. Turns out I did have a fuel pressure issue lol...

It took another 4 gallons after that fill. Turns out you have to put gas in these things.. dumb

 

[GahnRacing]

It's a Christmas miracle!!! Andddddd... I tore my truck apart again... lol

They should call me butter cause I'm on a roll

Mas... I made some tabs to connect a hitch/receiver for towing my boat

 

[GahnRacing]

I've said it before but I'll say it again, I hate spray painting..

 

[GahnRacing]

The trip started out great. Got to camp thinking we'd be in some nasty stormy conditions. Turned out to be super sunny. Decided we aught to do a little froading before it got dark. Got as far as I could down the trail and ended up stuck on my way back through

Took about an hour to get unstuck and headed back to camp. By now it was dark as shit. I blew passed a turn and ended up down a hill side about 150-200ft. Instead of looking for a different way back to the trail I decided to do a u turn and head back up hill. Ended up on my side after sliding off some slick slanted rock. After trying to retrieve the truck for a couple hours that night, we decided to leave it and recruit some help in the morning.

Turns out the trail continued a little further down that hill. If I would have just looked for an alternate route, I'd have been in the clear. All of the fiberglass ended up destroyed. I'm still unsure why the drivers side had damage. The only body damage was due to me being an idiot and trying to use my floor jack to tip the truck over

 

[GahnRacing]

Just over here working on the nonessential essentials

Well, I figured out the HID issue. My 2 outer Hellas (old Xenons) had broken ground wiring, swap meet specials. The other 2 were something in which, if I hadn't seen with my own eyes, I wouldn't believe. I changed up a lot of the wiring from, ballast to bulb, to make the ballasts removable from the light with a weather proof plug. Apparently, the HIDs have a special kind of wire (looks to be double shielded) that keeps it from arching through the insulator. I changed all of it out, within the light itself, for standard 12 and 16 gauge wire. I could see multiple archs through the 12 gauge wire to the housing. I will be ordering new ballast kits, seems how I've cut these ones to bits. I did however, use some heat shrink to double insulate the current setup for the time being

Mounted my pumper, I'll hardly use it, but I got it for free and was tired of kicking it around the garage. Mounted via hose clamp, for the bitches.

Oh and picked up this thing, tent camping is a thing of the past

 

[GahnRacing]

Finally got myself a decent alternator. My old stock 65amp just wasn't cutting it with all the lights/accessories on. It was charging at 11.8V with everything going. Upgraded to a 200amp from San Juanquin Electric. It's charging at 14.1V with everything running.

Old and busted

New and improved

 

[GahnRacing]

Well I took the family and truck out to Pismo this last weekend for the Terra Takeover. I didn't take one damn picture for whatever reason, but I ended up having a blast running around with a couple of buddies. Met up with stevyboy and he hooked me up with a free hat, thanks again. Truck did great, only issue was the ram assist nut that decided to hop off the bolt. Luckily, Tim (Uselesschase) had a plethora of them and hooked me up.

Cleaned up before taking off

CJ got a nice video of my weak ass jump.



And then a video of my buddy Tony endowing a barrowed RZR, that Andrew luckily caught on his
GoPro



And somehow nobody got the video of the stock 4x4 Tacoma that sent it to the moon and looked as if he broke his back. The guy was hammered drunk so I'm sure he's feeling it this week

Found a pic on Instagram

 

[GahnRacing]

Small update. Installed a marine radio and some 6x9’s that I’ve been kicking around in my garage since Nam. I have more updates, but no pics. I’ll save them for another post.



I got around to changing up my spring rates. After doing the alignment I found I had 1” of toe in and that was how my truck was at the ride height I wanted. After fixing the toe issue I had to put 2 1/2” of preload in the front to get the same desired ride height.

Went from 350/350 to 350/500, one inch of preload, and set the crossovers to catch at the last inch of shock travel. Hopefully this will keep me from bottoming hard, without having to open up the coilovers.

The rear I also changed up from 350/450 to 450/450 equal length springs and ran the crossovers out of the way and not use them.

I also finally got my hands on a Baja Designs actuator from PSDirtracer that I’m itching to install soon

My daughter Claire all buckled up and ready to ride