Local Legend Vital Designs Regular Cab Ranger

[ChristianEwing]

Alright, so it’s time to take it back “old school” and start a build thread on this thing

This is a 1993 regular cab Ford Ranger with the 4.0/5 speed. This truck was my very first vehicle I bought when I was 15 from a family friend and drove for a number of years which brings some sentimental value to this whole thing. I sold it to the current owner, who is a good friend of mine Ryan that I am now building this truck for through my business Vital Designs. Back in 2019 I did a camburg unequal length kit on it with 2.5x14” coilovers and a super simple engine cage with glass on it. It’s been driven that way up until the end of 2022 when this new build process started.

This is how the truck was previously and a few of the parts going on it

 

[ChristianEwing]

When the truck got here, the first thing I started on was the cab cage and worked my way outwards towards the back. I got the cab and the back of the truck stripped down.

Another addition to this whole process, my brother and I have been filming update videos on our YT channel periodically. This was the first one we did overviewing the truck as well as the parts to go along with it

Wings World Episode 1

 

[ChristianEwing]

I got the main structure of the cab cage in the truck (whole truck is 2” .120 mains with 1.75/1.5” .095 stringers) basically just enough to where I could start on the external B pillar outside of the back of the cab. The reason I went with an external B pillar is because I knew with this being a regular cab we were going to start running out of room quickly, especially with helmets on. Safety is priority number one, so I did not want to have any tubing close to heads in the truck. After those tubes were ran, I got the frame cut off and pivot boxes in place, my own Vital trailing arms attached to the Camburg 3.5" housing, the B pillar tube structure in place and the front section of the backhalf built

Wings World Episode 2

 

[ChristianEwing]

Backhalf started going together, fuel cell found it’s home behind the axle and shocks started getting laid out to start on shock mounts. The one thing on this whole backhalf that I misjudged and I laugh at is when I stubbed the main tubes out of the top of the cab corners, I thought I left enough length for the miters to get done in the normal fashion. Once I got the tubes in for the B pillar though I realized real quickly that they didn’t come out far enough. So the miter had to be it’s own peice that sleeved into the main’s. There absolutely nothing wrong with it being done this way but was one of those things I didn’t know before hand and ran into just because I’ve never done a external B pillar before haha

This truck is running a full King Shock package from the boys at DownSouth Motorsports. The rear is running a 2.5x16” PR coilover and a 3.0x18” RS 5 tube overlapping layout piggyback bypass. I did make the mid compression tube on these the bigger 1” diameter, as well as a bigger diameter resi port off the body to help a bit with fluid flow for chatter bumps and Ryan balled out on the finned resi’s

Wings World Episode 3

 

[ChristianEwing]

Shock mounts got done, as well as the lower plate structure tying the fuel cell cradle into the front section of the backhalf. This truck has a theme going through it of 3 holes, weather it’s on an overlay or a through hole through things. All my trailing arms run 3 through holes in the front, the shock mounts have 3 holes in them, the pivot boxes have 3 holes in them on the overlays as well as other stuff that’s not been posted yet like the jack mount, fluid containers, trans mount, fuel cell hold down. Also got a few more tubes in the backhalf

Wings World Episode 4

 

[ChristianEwing]

Next was bumps and sway bar setup. Things got kinda tricky with this. When the housing was ordered, the plan was to run the camburg unequal length kit it had already so we set the overall width of the housing to work with that. The track width on the rear of this truck is 76” OUTSIDE TIRE to OUTSIDE TIRE, not WMS. The space I had to work with for sway bar and bump stops is tight. Another original plan was to do dual stand up spares on each side of the fuel cell. Both of those situations is what dictated where the sway bar went on the chassis. I built the arms myself, using the DIY Off-road machined splined sections, the arms are 13” long to package in between the shocks and the bumpstop. The linkages are running FK HRSMX8T heims since they come with built in misalignments and the mounting width is perfect for swaybar stuff. The truck is running a 1.5” 35 spline torsion bar, with how short the arms are I’m curious to see how this thing feels. I may end up machining the bar down after we drive it to soften the rate up a little bit. There was no possible way to get the sway bar to pass between the bumpstop and the inside of the tire to make them longer in length, which is what I would have preferred because of it helping with leverage as well as not limiting the travel numbers on the rear end. I got away with it on this setup, but I’m using the entire throw of this sway bar to the extremes of almost binding at bump and almost overextending at droop and going straight with the linkage. The bumps being used on the rear of this is a 2.5 diameter by 4” stroke

Wings World Episode 5

 

[Caidan97]

Looking good, i’m excited to see the front end updates.

 

[Klever]

Killer Fabwork, Christian! Great Job!

 

[marcytech]

I’m a huge fan of this truck and the killer work you’re doing dude. Great job and well thought out!
Holy shoot about the rear end being so narrow! What’s it gonna be like compared to the front?
- nothing wrong with it being narrow imo. I like the narrower trackwidths especially on single cabs

 

[dwphoto]

Dannnnnng Rad Build.. Thank you for sharing !

 

[Zwiley13]

You guys are crushing this truck much love

 

[ChristianEwing]

I’m a huge fan of this truck and the killer work you’re doing dude. Great job and well thought out!
Holy shoot about the rear end being so narrow! What’s it gonna be like compared to the front?
- nothing wrong with it being narrow imo. I like the narrower trackwidths especially on single cabs

The new kit on the front is 3" wider per side at 81" wide outside tire to outside tire. With how short the wheelbase is, it kinda fits the truck haha. I dont ever want to do another truck this narrow again, but just kinda the way the cookie crumbled on this one. 110" wheelbase and 81/76 trackwidth, the thing is a dang UTV!

Thanks for the comments guys! I'll get some more stuff in here soon when i have a second

 

[Cleandezert]

truck is going to be rad. the work you guys are doing is amazing.

 

[ChristianEwing]

Realized my math isn’t mathin in that last post, it was late and I just got done working the front end is actually 82” wide, not 81”.

Never the less, the next thing on the truck before I could go ahead and turn it around was bedsides and rear bumper. For big ticket things like that I like to have the truck faced towards the outside of the garage on whichever end I’m working on so I can step back a good distance and make sure things visually site properly.

The tube structures holding the bedsides on all bolt to the backhalf with hand made tabs, and then the structure is 1” .120/.095 mains with the 1.25” .120 on the ends to have a bigger surface area holding them on. I still need to build the stringers that come down and grab the front and back side of the wheel openings but I’ll get to that at some point. There is no bushings on these either, all metal to metal mounting. And for the rear bumper, I just matched the same setup I’ve done on pretty much everything I’ve built. Simple, to the point, and supports a single spare nicely

Wings World Episode 6

 

[ChristianEwing]

The truck was put on all 4’s for the first time with the new rear end setup to be pulled out and turned around! It was cool to be able to get it out in the open and be able to really step back and get a good perspective on the whole thing. You can kinda get an idea for how narrow the rear end is with these outside photos

 

[theycallmeWALLY]

Rad!

 

[UR_Mawm69]

SO FUCKING RAD!!!!

 

[FasterNU]

Finally some full size pics of this bish. Looks great.

Barely enough room to get back window out?

And did I read that right? 8" narrower in rear?

 

[Turboyota]

Am I seeing this correctly? Are the left and right link pockets different?

 

[GahnRacing]

Am I seeing this correctly? Are the left and right link pockets different?
View attachment 10615

Optical illusion..

You old bitch! Lol