Ford Ranger 4x4 Prelander Build

Well the truck made it to the desert. Full prep? Nope, but enough not to break down. Flaunt helped me bleed the brakes, literally whipped some extra grease on the front wheel bearings because they were already night and tight and only had the last Pismo trip on them, got enough wiring done to drive it to the desert: radio, 1 headset, GPS and dust light. Checked the oil (it was there) and it was good to go.Ended up putting 600 miles on the truck basically driving it straight to Primm and then dirt to Victorville. Another awesome trip for sure with great people. This was the trucks first time in the desert with the front and rear 'done' on it and it handled amazing. I still want to do an excessive amount of shock tuning on it but I was very surprised on how well it handled everything with just a generalized valving set up and only turning in the tubes once in Pismo.When we got to Primm I got all excited to hit the dike jump. After a warm up run I went back to California for my run up... Hit it at close to 70mph. The last I looked it was at 67. Sent it and it felt great. Did it again and then decided that was enough if I wanted to drive it the rest of the weekend.Some pictures to help share the story.

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I wanted to add more storage next. The truck works well offroad and now its time to focus on the utility of it. I stole this idea off a guy in AZ with a 4 runner who needed more storage. He built an under the cab and between the frame storage bin which I'm completely copying. The goal with the storage bin is to be able to store items I use rarely but will not leave on a trip without. Oils/tow strap/fuel filter/ect. Stuff I don't need to get at often but get in the way everytime I need to access my Jack or whatever. More proper storage is better... So the goal is to have a more or less sealed storage space under the far rear of the bed with a drop down access when I need to get to it. I'm not 100% sure on how I want to latch it down but I want to make sure its fairly secure and not ejecting itself through a whoop section. Its going to fairly simple with an angle iron top frame and the main storage box will be 1" mild tubing and then aluminum plate enclosing the box. On that note.... pictures of the start of the build.

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The storage bin actually is actually bigger then I thought it would be. The plan right now is to mount 1 ammo can towards the back that will hold 3 quarts of oil. I'm going to have to cut down and weld a new bottom on the second ammo can which will be mounted perpendicular to the can thats holding the oil. It has to be cut down to follow the angle of the bin. That second ammo can will hold a spare alternator, leaf spring hanger bushings, and some other random items. From there I don't know what else will go in... I may put a tow strap in there and probably luggage for trips. I have a dry bag that I can use just incase the oil decides to leak and go everywhere.
 
Well I took my first trip down to Mexico with the truck. Went down to check out what prerunning is all about for the Baja 1000. I have done a tiny bit of Prerunning with a TT team but its a whole new experience in your own truck and truly experiencing it for yourself. The Turtle Truck was missing a bed, bedcage, shocks, gas tank, fuel pump, storage bin, drive shaft and randomness on Thursday night. I took Friday off and got after it. Saturday afternoon it was ready to run at about 4 pm when my buddy Scott handed me the final touches of brand new U-bolts for the drive shaft which he picked up from Coast Driveline in Ventura (Spicer) and we packed up the remaining gear, I took a shower and we hit the road. Drove straight into Mexico, through Ensenada and straight to the beach section where we camped. Honestly didn't know what we were going to do and had zero plans other then get to Mexico, eat some Taco's and drink some beer. We didn't have any fire wood so we scavenged the beach fire bits for a tiny little bit of wood which made for some cool night shots. After 5 hours of driving on the street and about an hour of dirt we were done after the photo sesh. Woke up the next day and ran about 100 + miles of the course eventually making it to San Felipe via the highway. The course was beat to $h1t.... I also wanted to skip to the silt and any river crossing because we went down there completely solo (with a SAT phone) and I just wanted to avoid any serious issues. We did try out zoo road (not a TT) and we did see a lot of epic places as well as eating some amazing tacos. It was a rad experience and something i've been waiting to check off of the bucket list. It was more amazing that we did it solo in the Turtle Truck and ended up having zero issues in Mexico. After we left Mexico on Monday morning (sitting in the 2 hour border crossing of Monday morning border traffic) we drove straight to Ocotillo and went for another mini adventure. The idea was to drive dirt across and check out Borrego and then jump on the 78/79. Once we got to Borrego I started having issues shifting the truck. At first it was just getting it into 1st and reverse and then basically all gears. I figured the resivore had a leak and was low but luckily I didn't pack any fluid.... We managed to drive it most of the way to Temecula before hitting up a gas station and assessing the situation (knowing I didn't have brake fluid to fix anything). Found out quickly that the resivore hose had split and was off of the master cylinder. Cut the line, bought and added fluid, quickly bled the lines and we were on our way. Ruff shifting but we were on our way and made it home with zero issues after that. The truck probably ran about 1000 miles total and we just had a blast. I have some pictures from the first night uploaded and will post more later on... The goal as always, build the truck and adventure.

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WHOOPS - Update - I wrecked the truck. Lack of skill, lots of skinny peddle, and a lot of mud put me into the Wall at jump champs on the second turn haha. Since then I've been making phone calls and getting stuff ordered up to upgrade it as well as improve on the 4x4 capabilities. The aftermath of the accident was that the steering was slightly bent, the passenger side beam bracket broke off, the hub/snout assembly is all gone. Other then that the beam and radius seem straight. Now I'm upgrading the front to the D44 hybrid set up. Because of the 5x5.5 bolt pattern change I'll be changing out the wheels and rear axles to match. I will also be upgrading to 5/8" studs.

 
o I went ahead and purchased the larger steering from the ambulance packaged F350. Got it mocked up last night and it seems like it will work perfectly. All of the ball joints are the same size taper and the length is very close to where it needs to be for the 4.5" over beams on the ranger. In other news I'm basically done with all of the work I've put into the ranger on this front end upgrade. Dana 35/Dana 44 hybrid for all that aren't aware. I plated the crossmember because it was cracking, made a new beam bracket to replace the one I ripped apart, put together the D44 on the D35 stuff, added 5/8 studs, got new MR101 beadlocks which I had powdered coated gold, got the new general X3 tires in 35", added new brake lines that run down the Radius arms, replaced all of uniballs, heims, seals, bearings, and did a whole bunch of cleaning. It has taken me way to long and sadly I'm still not done but very close now. The front end is just about ready. Now I get to swap out the 3rd member on the rear of the truck and install the new 35 spline currie axles I had to buy because of the bolt pattern change - 5x5.5". I had to change out the rear disk brakes and I will have to remount the bracket. This is because Wilwood doesn't make a hat for a 5x5.5" bolt pattern that works with my set up.

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BUMP. So the truck is a running and working truck now. After a bunch of a little issues like grounding out the main power wire and causing a small fire the truck is back on the road. I was able to take it to Colorado for the FJ summit and I've been daily driving it since. Some how its my only vehicle at the moment. The alignments been off but thanks to a convo with TT motorsports last night I found out that the drivers side Caster is way off and I will be adjusting that today. ------- The FJ Summit, which is held in Ouray, CO, was a blast. The area is like nothing else and it was the most I've ever driver this truck in 4x4. Basically driving on the side of a mountain for 4 days straight. The views are epic and the elavation is not something easy to get used to. Most mornings we were setting up work stuff and having breakfast at 13k feet. Other then the drivers side break caliper pin trying to eject itself all weekend the truck had no issues. Having a window would have been nice during the hail storms but maybe I'll put one of those in next year. Here are some pictures of the trip. Hopefully I'll be updating this thread a little more often now that the truck is out of the garage and the future projects on it should be relatively small.

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And the following picture was basically when she was in her glory stage. She was beautiful in my eyes and the only thing she needed was more miles under her belt.

Under powered and over axle... She had plenty of shock, lots of test miles, designated tool storage, and plenty of spare parts on board. This makes the most sense for having a fun and reliable truck for long excursions.

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Some will say that all good things come to an end.

Ending are actually new Beginnings.

The following videos will tell the story of an epic solo adventure.

We had prepped for a week of camping but ended up staying with friends or hotels due to fowl weather and circumstances.





 
The trip to the Grand Canyon was EPIC. The following week we were till high up from the week prior and decided to go out to the TERRA Crew event they were hosting in Victorville.

Things changed forever for the truck from here.

Everything was great until it wasn't. I sent the truck off the 'big' jump a few times. All things are good.

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The wife had rolled the truck soon after this shot was taken.

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Luckily I'm dump and love this stupid old truck. So I bought another broken truck to fix the broken truck!!!! We bought the red truck in Portland Oregon and drove it home from Copart.

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That puts us closer to today's date. She is in the process of getting rebuilt. I FORTUNATELY had a beautiful little girl that has taken up basically my whole world. I have since had my buddy Brian aka Mai Tai take on the project of rebuilding the Turtle Truck. I'll be updating it here shortly!
 

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Brian and I got busy tearing here apart within a few weekends of dropping her off. Since then Brian has been the dude making all the progress happen.

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I plan to make this rebuild as simple as possible. We're going to keep the rear back half as is. Leaf Sprung 64 kit with the same bedcage/bed set up. Front engine cage will be getting rebuilt.

We're ditching all of the creature comforts. No AC/Heater, no brake booster and very little dash. I've purchased a JuanCO ECU and trimmed down wiring harness from a member off of this forum. And I'll be running a wiring harness from Painless for everything else none ECU related. They are rad since the wires are labeled every 12 inches. Also purchased a Racepak dash to run for gauges.

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Mikey from the Fablab had shown me this dash from Dualsport_Bronco and it's what I'll be going with. Simple, affordable and lots of leg room i hope.

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This picture popped up on my Facebook page (do people still use facebook haha)

10 years ago. My dog Mufasa's getting about as white as those fenders.

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