93 Ford Ranger - The Postrunner

[CowbroPhil]

'I've been post-running since pre-runnin' was race-running'

Everyone loves talking about their trucks, right? So why not a build thread to cover the last 20 years. This month marks 20 years of ownership of my little red Ranger. Back in 03 she was bone stock with a camper shell. I added a body lift and some 33's and made it through college like that.


After college she got a little neglected for a few years, I built up a 5.0 Bronco2 rock crawler. Then a 93 Ranger short box Rock Crawler.


I always wanted a prerunner, so the red truck got fiberglass fenders, deavers, d44 full width beams and 35s. Eventually some King 2.5x8 resi's up front and some SAW 2.5s out back and single swing steering.





After 5 or 6 years of having two '93 Rangers, one rock crawler and one prerunner, i decided that was silly and took all the good rock crawling parts off of the black ranger and swapped them onto the red one including the stock steel front fenders and step-side bed so i wouldn't smash up the fiberglass on the rocks.

Currently she sits like this:

Full specs:
4.0v6 - Stock
5speed manual
Atlas2 t-case 5:1 ratio
Front end:
D44 TTB cut and turned,
2" drop brackets
4" lift coils
2.5x8 King resis
2x2 Fox Air bumps
ARB locker and 4.88s
Rear end:
Explorer 8.8
ARB locker and 4.88s
Yukon Chromo Shafts and c-clip eliminator
Deaver F31 Springs
SAW 2.5x14 resi shocks
Custom bumpers front and rear
9000lb winch
Rock sliders
heavy duty t-case skid plate
37" Firestone MT's
17x8 Steel wheels
Rock lights, small light bar up front.
Interior is mostly stock aside from some Corbeau reclining seats.

 

[Baconcreekmetal]

I like that!
How do you like the 37s with the 4.88s and the 4.0?

 

[Baconcreekmetal]

I keep opening this back up on my phone checking it out. Great looking Ranger.

 

[CowbroPhil]

I like that!
How do you like the 37s with the 4.88s and the 4.0?

Overall the gearing is as good as it gets. I'm at ~2500rpms at 65mph which is good for about 15-16mpgs. This is with a 5 speed. With an automatic, I would go one step lower to 5.13s since the overdrive gear on the auto is higher than the manual. With the 35s and 4.88s it was just a little too buzzy on the highway, I think 4.56s would have been better.

I have certainly been tempted to do a 5.0 or sohc swap to help cruising up the hill to the rubicon at 6000'+ elevation loaded down with camping gear. But it runs great, I've owned it for 20 years and have taken good care of it and not abused it so I'll probably just keep it as is for now.

 

[CowbroPhil]

I keep opening this back up on my phone checking it out. Great looking Ranger.

Thanks! I'll get some more pics up.

I also ordered some uniballs for the beam pivots. The rubber bushings are toast after that mojave road trip. Time for a full front end prep this weekend.

 

[CowbroPhil]

Well, I dropped the front end out to give it a "full prep". I knew the pivot bushings were toast, but holy shit, i picked a good time to dive in. The cross shaft in the front ARB was broke into 3 pieces. Luckily the ring gear kept the broken pieces from ejecting themselves from the carrier and wrecking the whole deal. The diff still worked fine, locked and unlocked properly. $35 for a new cross shaft and i'll be back in business. But thats not all, apparently I am not as nice to the truck as i thought and the driver side beam was cracked all across the bottom. When i built this set of beams for the truck 5 years ago i had intentions of plating them and beefing them up, but i never did. I guess now is the time. lol.

Here is everyones reminder to not wait 4 years between front end rebuilds. lol.

 

[Heard’s4x4]

This thing is cool! I have a d44ttb ranger also. Seems like your truck works awesome for everything you throw at it.

 

[Kellyex1450]

I'm planning on putting D44 TTB's on an upcoming project, I would love to hear your thoughts on how they fare on difficult 4x4 trails, the flex, weak links and what difficult 4x4 trails you have done with them. There is a bunch of info on the TTBs for desert use but it's limited for difficult 4x4 trails, I like both terrains like you.

 

[alec]

makes me miss my stepside, nice ranger

 

[LoganB]

The ranger is so perfect! I’d love some more info on your d44 swap with coil springs/2” drop pivots. I have been contemplating the exact same thing for my explorer.

 

[5.0fox]

nice compromise between a crawler and a go fast offroad truck.

 

[whiteranger50]

Dude this truck is sick. I meed your motivation to finish my ranger.haha