Thread: Very mild '94 Ranger build

Originally Posted by jeepspeed

i dont have a nissan? ahaha. you dont seem to upset about the roll at all. props to your outlook aswell

Ooops, confused you with jeepprerunner!

Just got home from buying a daily driver... 1989 Toyota reg cab 4x4 with a 22RE and a 5 speed for $1500! Pictures tomorrow. Plan is to drive the Yota for the summer while sorting out the Ranger.

Windshield is bad, more pics of that and the cab damage tomorrow as well.

The roll might be the end of the truck, but it's just a truck. My friend and I are both 100% ok, and I didn't have too much $ dumped into it. But I definitely learned a ton with the build, the maintenance, and the driving! Sure it rolled, but it didn't get t-boned at an intersecting by some blind old lady. Better to burn out quickly than fade out slowly. I got to follow behind my truck today, and sure enough, the frame looks to be bent a couple inches off the passenger side. So there's that. Does a bent frame really even matter that much? Very Mild #2 might just be the plan for the summer!

what makes you think the frame is bent? your best bet might be stripping this thing down and buy an old beater with a decent body to put your suspension etc on.

I doubt the frame bent, it doesnt look like you rolled it that bad. Trucks with widened front ends and stock rears always look crooked and appear to be crabwalking when following from behind.

Originally Posted by Desertbound

I doubt the frame bent, it doesnt look like you rolled it that bad. Trucks with widened front ends and stock rears always look crooked and appear to be crabwalking when following from behind.

thats what i was going to say next. it will look bent the opposite direction if you look at it from the other side.

While we were sliding on the passenger side of the truck, the radius arm actually bent a whole bunch. This is why I thought the frame was bent. Castor was super off, and the truck drove all funky. Sometimes it takes a few days to notice something so obvious!

After the roll:


Now:


Gotta get a longer bolt for the beam/radius arm/coil. Does anyone know the length of the stock bolt? Is it 5/8" by 6"?

A local fab shop helped me out a ton. They fixed the radius arm, and they also got me a smokin' deal on a new windshield which they installed for me. They even hit the radiator support and hood hinges with the portapower after they got my cab back into square. Super nice guys who totally went above and beyond and did a great job.

Driving to Tahoe this weekend, hopefully the truck can makes it and can enjoy some high performance driving on some dusty roads!

so youre gonna keep the thing!

so no trans issues?

....congrats man super cool build cuz its so simple glad ur keeping it!

Nice man, just read through the whole thing. Looks good! i like the simpleness.

Thanks for the props guys! Not many folks see her and realize that there's more than just knobby tires under her. Truck has now seen a few thousand miles since the roll. It drives almost as well as it used to, but I think something in the rear end is bit off. It almost feels like a shock shaft is bent or something. Still drives straight on the freeway, averages 17-18 MPG and hitting 19 MPG on extended freeway drives.

List of fixed/replaced parts since the roll:

New radiator ($150)
New windshield ($110 plus intsall)
New rear and side view mirrors ($30)
New hood ($45)
New bed/tailgate/lights ($60!)
New driver's side door ($50)
Fixed radius arm
New air filter/PCV valve ($18)

Not too bad considering, but it needs a new passenger side door as well.

Trans is either burning fluid (?) or leaking somewhere. I'm guessing that when the radiator/core support was portapowered into submission that a cooling line got hit or crimped, but I can't find where the issue lies. It burns about 4 oz of fluid every 1000 miles, just enough to make it struggle to get into gear. I've got a brand new B&M cooler and a huge fan, but it's prime mountain bike season so I won't be installing it any time soon. Adding fluid is easy enough.

In other news, the Yota finally passed smog yesterday! Those Toyota Check Engine lights are just as reliable as the Toyota motors. 20mpg or so around town is pretty sweet though, and I think the Yota will be a super fun little rig.

I call her Golden Snow:

But some folks think White Gold is a better name. I've got a white driver's side fender that I'll mount up one day. For now I'm just going to tell people that it's a fiberglass hood to save weight.

And here's the new truck, which is a lot of fun but has already been towed home once and left me stranded twice. Those old issues are *probably* fixed now.

you gonna paint it one of those colors?

I have stock blue fenders if ur interested. Make it more colorful.

glad to see your still giving love to the ranger

Hey Tumbleweed, is this truck still running? Will I see it at Parkfield? Where are the updates?
Just drove the old Hardbody up TV Tower tonight, it could use some more travel.

Can we get an update? I enjoyed slowly reading through this build/story so far. I am shocked the cab wasn't crushed in the roll. You and your friend are very lucky

Originally Posted by ramrod

Hey Tumbleweed, is this truck still running? Will I see it at Parkfield? Where are the updates?
Just drove the old Hardbody up TV Tower tonight, it could use some more travel.

Hahaha, if you hadn't left so early you'd have witnessed a sweet step up jump behind camp! Definitely the biggest jump to date in Golden Snow.

Well, it's been a lot of miles since the roll. Got the camper shell re-mounted via 4 aluminum strips with 2 bolts each instead of simply 6 bolts straight through the fiberglass. I want to do a bunch more to the shell to make it more conducive to camping so more pictures will follow. First off, some old close ups of the damage from the roll:





How she was sitting after the new panels:




The new hood closed correctly twice. After that it was impossible to get it to latch, so we added some Autofab hood pins. No photos, but they're just hood pins, nothing too exciting there.

Then we hit some whoops up in Tahoe and just mashed our way into oblivion. Drove all the way home noticing some chatter in the turns and noticed this:




We coulda sworn when we set up the bump stops that we got them in the right place with plenty of shock shaft showing even without any rubber bumpers in place at full bottom out, but it does look like we bottomed the shocks out at some point. The truck has hit a lot of things at speed and it's only a single shear mount, so it's sorta up for debate as to how it broke. I need to double check the bump stops and where they sit.

We cut out some tear drop pieces of plate and welded them over the torn plate.



I revalved the rear just a little and it made a world of difference. I went from stock Fox 40 compression/60 rebound to a double stack with 30 and 40 compression shims and left the rebound the same. It feels worlds better. The Fox guy said that a double stack is about the same as increasing by 15#, so that's probably about a 55# for compression. I have some 75# shims I want to try in the future.

Front valving is now at 60 compression, 75 rebound, and it feels pretty good. Might try a little stiffer still on the compression, but not much. I also have some 11" reservoirs that should help with overheating, but the little 8" resis don't get too hot on the fireroads that the truck does best on.

The rear is way too low and way too soft, probably due to no re-arching. I'm ordering a Harbor Freight Kinker in a few minutes to try to re-arch the springs. If that doesn't work, it'll probably just be time for some All Pro Baja leafs. I could flip the shackles back to the stock orientation, but then the springs go into negative arch way before bottom out, and that doesn't seem right at all. The truck handles a lot better when it sits level, and especially so when it's loaded with camping gear. In the photos it doesn't look too rear heavy, but now with the shell back on and the jack/shovel/pick and a spare tire, let alone water, food, camping gear, and bicycles, she's pretty ridiculous.

Got pulled over a few weeks ago on the basis that "Truck was lookin' a little catty-wampus, is it alright to drive on the road?" Once the officer saw my mustache he chilled out a little bit. Mustaches solve everything!

Ha! great update. That shock mount failure was probably due to fatigue, not overload. It would likely show more yielding if it was overloaded and would have failed on your first few bottom outs. You can also tell if you examine the fracture surfaces closely you might be able to tell how the crack propagated. That plate is seeing a bit of a bending load due to the overhung/single shear mounted shock. If you could weld another plate next to it on the other side of the shock end so the shock bolt is in double shear you could alleviate some of that bending. That's alot more involved though than the solution you have which looks a hell of alot better than the original setup. ++ for the sleeved/reinforced holes, looks good Dann's work?
Almost have a TC long travel kit lined up for the old Hardbody. Standby.

come on...you cant have beat on this thing very hard, you are still running stock front bump stops and everyone knows those break the first trip out

looking a lot better.

love the truck build man! its funny because my daily driver has been a 92 yota 22re for the past four years! I then picked up a 94 ranger 2wd extended cab from my buddy as a project. water in the oil.... so after the rebuild or new motor id like to do exactly what you've done with the suspension. i will have some ?s for you when i get into the suspension.

i really dig your ranger. this is what i am saving up parts for to do my ranger like yours. just need some cash...ha. you still running the unknown springs up front? i read earlier that you were wanting to buy camburg springs. i may just be a nooh but where do you get those? when ever i look for them all i can find are coils for c/o shocks