97 TTB Ranger

[Caidan97]

I finished the setting up the rear suspension. Getting 15-16” of travel with a 14” bypass. The bedcage bolts in with the stock front bed bolts and some 1/2 bolts right above the bump stops. I ended up shortening the wheel base in the back 1/2” and shortening the driveshaft 1.5”. I need to make a bumper mount, however the shackles are in the way. Might just box the frame and extend it.

Now i'm on to the cage design. All 2” dom with the red tubes being 0.125” wall and the green 0.095”. At this time I’m not planning on doing intrusion bars but i’ll see.

 

[UR_Mawm69]

BADASS man. good fucking job so far! Keep it up!
jealous of the SW drawing skills. or w/e program that is. 3d edge or, i dont fucking know whats out there nowadays. hah

 

[Caidan97]

BADASS man. good fucking job so far! Keep it up!
jealous of the SW drawing skills. or w/e program that is. 3d edge or, i dont fucking know whats out there nowadays. hah

Thanks! and yeah its Solidworks.

 

[UR_Mawm69]

Thanks! and yeah its Solidworks.

(personal post, read if you want/dont, i dgaf hah)

Nice! i actually got an Associates Degree in Mechanical Drafting. we used AutoCAD at school and after i graduated i got a job using AutoCAD still and i was FUCKING PRO & FAST AS SHIT with that program. always wanted to learn and be good at SW though. now, i cant remember anything that was close to my death experience and just go off what people tell me but, my old boss says that i had actually been using SW a lot and i had gotten pretty good at it right before i decided to faceplant on a minivan. problem was..... then i fucking died. then i fucking forgot EVERYTHING. so i dont remember much of it anymore.
i mean, i use it at my current job and ive gotten OK with it (for the stuff we do at work at least, nothing else. hah). but ive always wanted to do exactly what youre posting pics of and be able to draw out a full cage inside a truck. problem 2 is, yoga has taken over my life and i dont have any desire to draw cool truck shit on SW anymore. i think i could have been a really good draftsman if, well.... if if if...... you know how that goes. hah

ok personal story over, back to truck pics and good SW drawings. haha

 

[FasterNU]

leave spring bushing might be alittle too soft for singer pivots...

 

[Caidan97]

leave spring bushing might be alittle too soft for singer pivots...

Yeah I don’t love the idea. What do you use?

 

[shi_thead__]

Yeah I don’t love the idea. What do you use?

Delrin maybe?
Wouldn’t want any steering flex there.
Unless there’s some slight misalignment that happens that I’m not thinking of.

 

[RSP Shock Prep]

Yeah I don’t love the idea. What do you use?

Delrin, Bearing Bronze/Brass, roller bearing or uni-balls all are good options, but the firs two are much simpler.

 

[FasterNU]

^^ exactly. Delrin

Black Delrin Pivot Bushing 3/4" Inside Diameter 1-1/4" Outside Diameter 1-1/8" Total Length - Kartek Off-Road

Black Delrin Pivot Bushing 3/4" Inside Diameter 1-1/4" Outside Diameter 1-1/8" Total Length for a sandrail, rock Crawler, KOH, Ultra4, truck, UTV, side-by-side, dune buggy, mini buggy, manx, king of the hammers, 4x4, or Jeep

www.kartek.com

 

[85Yota]

I have used urethane bushings for swinger pivots before and they work BUT i cut the hats off some and make the tube full of bushings from edge to edge to help with stiffness. Now I run Delrin because I needed new ones.

 

[Caidan97]

I took the ranger out to ocotillo for the morning to give the rear suspension a test. It worked much better but was still rough and a little unpredictable. It was jarring in the rear and the bump steer from the front seemed to get me sideways quite a lot in whoops. I haven’t done much to the bypasses but speed up the rebound. I think I need to open the short compression and close the long compression but I only have the weight of one spare which is likely the problem.

 

[Caidan97]

I started on a roll cage and progress has been steady. The first thing I did after pulling the interior is make a dash tube that fits snug behind the defroster. This tube will be welded to the cab on either side. Next was drilling the holes in the back of the cab, I placed the tubes 46” apart and tucked them as high as possible. I had to cut out all the sheet metal completely to let the roof/ a pillar tubes go all the way against the door jam sheet metal, there is no room to spare. Along with that I also cut out the main structure of the a pillar to again tuck to tube tight. The rigidity will be regained with new plate work to the a pillar. Next I made the main roof tubes. I landed the brow bar half way on the non bent section of tubing up top instead of in the middle of the bend for the added strength. However, I will likely re do the brow tube and tuck it further forward for a better intrusion bar angle. Next I bent up some simple c pillar tubes and cut holes in the floor to run them to the frame. Now i’m on to the b pillar tubes. I started by drilling a hole at the appropriate angle and location so I can easily place the b pillar tube. Next is the b pillar its self but I progress may be delayed with the incoming hurricane.

 

[Caidan97]

Finished all of the tubes, I'm not doing intrusion bars for now. I will probably add them when I tie in my engine cage but my daily driver is about to blow up and its almost desert season so the engine cage will have to wait.

I also put some kill mat in on the back and sides aswell as the doors. I only used 1/4th of it so i’m going to do the entire floor and firewall.

I trimmed the dash out while I’m waiting for my new welder so I can weld the cage. The defroster and all ac vents work. It looks like I won’t have to cut into the side window defrost vents but there is no way to route the defrost tube/hose to them.

Next is to make gussets for the a pillar/window, cut the roof off, weld, and start welding the cab to the cage.

 

[Caidan97]

Here are some pictures from when I finished the cage a while back. I’ve taken it out a few times sense then. I managed to cut the roof off, weld the cage, paint it, killmat every square inch of the cab, weld the roof back on, install the interior, get the glass installed and make the mitered down tubes all in 5 days to make it to the desert in time. Loaded up and rolled out right after finishing the down tubes lol

I immediately noticed how to rigidity from the cage and the down tubes. This and the extra weight made a huge difference on handling. As usual the truck broke Saturday evening. Something in the wiring went back causing a diode to go bad, still don’t know what caused this. Luckily my boss Justin Tex was going home with an empty trailer and was able to tow my truck home.

 

[Caidan97]

I took it out for Halloween and had a great trip, drove the shit out of the truck for 3 days.
The truck made it home with out any major issues. However, the beams cracked again and an axle seal began leaking a few days later. A few weeks ago I tore apart the axle to replace the seals and outer bearings but was surprised to find that all of the bearings where destroyed including the pinion bearings. I got lucky and have minimal wear on the ring and pinion but it made me realize I want a bigger axle then a 28 spline 8.8. I picked up a bronco 8.8 to get me rolling temporarily but the gearing was so far off I’m just going to have to swap gears or rebuild a rear end either way. Planning on ordering a rebuild kit for the ranger 8.8 tonight to get it going again.

I also obtained a 9” new style big bearing housing that is 62” wide from end to end, which should put me at the 65”wms I’m looking for. Planning on doing a strange nodular iron pro n case from quick performance with the nodular iron Daytona support, billet steel 1350 yolk and their 35HD drag spool. What im not sure on is if I should do 35 spline or 40 spline and if I should have them gun drilled or not. Any opinions?

I’m running 35s with a stock 4.0ohv but will be putting a v8 in down the road.

 

[UR_Mawm69]

do want moar pics/info on the OBS 7.3 dually with, it kinda looks like, a newer 2010 and up front susp/radius arm/whatnot?

im in love with that thing.

good fucking job on the cage though, too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[charlie brown]

do want moar pics/info on the OBS 7.3 dually with, it kinda looks like, a newer 2010 and up front susp/radius arm/whatnot?

im in love with that thing.

good fucking job on the cage though, too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

its the wide rear