Thread: Gerry Lindsey's 4x4 Mid Travel 99 Ranger Build

So as of a few days ago my new project had officially started. 1999 Ford Ranger Super Cab 4x4, 4.0, 5 Spd auto. This is the second tome i have owned this truck i sold it about 2 years ago to a friend of my dads. I liked the truck so much i bought it back off him a few months ago and now the build starts. As of today the truck has
-Stereo System
-JBA Headers
-40 Series Flowmaster
-Yellow Top Optima
-Kurtz Kustomz Mass Airflow Meter Intake Adapter
-K&N Cone Filter

In the last week i have ordered my Dixon Bros 4x4 Kit, which is my Christmas present to myself. This kit comes with everything and Arron(sp) seems to be a great guy to work with. Dixon Bros 4x4 Long Travel. For Shocks I am using a set of SAW 8" stroke coilovers in the front. The Rear will have the Deaver Race pack and 14" SAW triple bypasses. Since I have been collecting parts for this build for a while the shocks as well as the Deavers are used but i recently ordered some new stuff for them from Camburg. My Camburg purchase included single rate coilover kit for the 8" SAW. I also ordered the 16" x 500 Eibach coils. I picked up some new misalignment spacers for both front and rear shocks. I also ordered 4 of camburgs billet shock mounts. So that should cover the suspension. I am living in San Diego right now going to school at UCSD but i am am returning home to good ol Santa Paula on the 15 to start my build my goal is in the 15 days i have till new years i will be installing the front suspension and the rear suspension as well as fabbing up a bed cage. I am gonna be posting progress pics as i go along so i can get feedback and also some tips.

I am heading down stairs right now to try and see if the fiberglass i have will fit my truck i will post pictures in a little bit. I hope they fit because if not i am gonna have to pull out my best friend, the charge card. Heres a thread on what fiberglass i am trying to make fit. Ranger 89-92 to 98-? Coversion Front 3 Piece Fiberglass

Originally Posted by GerryinSP

In the last week i have ordered my Dixon Bros 4x4 Kit, which is my Christmas present to myself. This kit comes with everything and Arron(sp) seems to be a great guy to work with. Dixon Bros 4x4 Long Travel. For Shocks I am using a set of SAW 8" stroke coilovers in the front. The Rear will have the Deaver Race pack and 14" SAW triple bypasses. Since I have been collecting parts for this build for a while the shocks as well as the Deavers are used but i recently ordered some new stuff for them from Camburg. My Camburg purchase included single rate coilover kit for the 8" SAW. I also ordered the 16" x 500 Eibach coils. I picked up some new misalignment spacers for both front and rear shocks. I also ordered 4 of camburgs billet shock mounts. So that should cover the suspension. I am living in San Diego right now going to school at UCSD but i am am returning home to good ol Santa Paula on the 15 to start my build my goal is in the 15 days i have till new years i will be installing the front suspension and the rear suspension as well as fabbing up a bed cage. I am gonna be posting progress pics as i go along so i can get feedback and also some tips.

I am heading down stairs right now to try and see if the fiberglass i have will fit my truck i will post pictures in a little bit. I hope they fit because if not i am gonna have to pull out my best friend, the charge card. Heres a thread on what fiberglass i am trying to make fit. Ranger 89-92 to 98-? Coversion Front 3 Piece Fiberglass

Don't slack 15 days sounds like a long time, but it isn't I assure you. My Truck was supposed to take a week, but things don't always just bolt right up. Good luck with your build and post lots of pictures.

Mike

So here is a picture of the stock truck and then some pictures of the conversion glass which i just tried to make fit. The Glass I have doesn't fit so i am gonna have to buy some new glass tomorrow.

yea that 15 days will get eaten up real quick! Especially if you take the time to make sure you do everything perfect.

Oh, and good luck with the build!

Keep us posted, good luck.

So, you're going to design and make a bed cage, engine cage, mount your front and rear suspension, and front glass in 15 days? Do you plan to mount rear glass, or are you just going to keep the bed? Are you going to be working in that time too? Can't wait to see the progress pics.

u better get er done, your truck will look a little stupid out in pismo all mad max style lol. let me know if u need a hand, ill make the drive.

Nope can't be done! Just give me your stuff..... Actually we should do our bed cages at the same time so i can learn from YOUR mistakes.

yeah i am going to be starting on the 17th and i am testing the suspension in pismo for new years weekend. The engine cage comes with the kit I am already gonna have the front glass mounted before i start i am ordering it today. 6" flair glassworks unlimited fenders for the front and in the near future it will have the glassworks trophy style bed sides. I will not being working while i am doing this build just a solid 2 weeks of fabrication and installation. I am ditching the whole bed and will be building a bed cage. The only problem i foresee is mounting the rear glass but i am just gonna duct tape the tailights to the bed cage for while. I dont even have the rear glass yet so it wouldnt matter if i started trying to get it to fit.

keep us posted. just don't rush yourself , cuz thats when people tend to forget shit or take short cuts that they regret later.

Don't duct tape zip ties!! thats how they are on my truck right now!!!

I got my new fiberglass today heres some pics.

Any updates?

Yea Gerry hows the truck going??? Oh wait you are at Disneyland instead of working on it you homo!!

New front fiberglass installed.

Ok so wanna hear a sad story, due to a misunderstanding at Dixon Bros, my suspension still has not shipped out to me yet. Aaron contacted me by dezert rangers pm today to tell me he lost my cell number and needed to talk to me. I guess he didn't have the lower a arms welded up till today and is gonna send them to the powder coater tomorrow. So i don't know when they will get back to Aaron, and then get back to me. Since i only have access to my shop (welder, bender, power tools, etc) till the first week of January this has put a real dampener on my project. There is hope though I just got home from Disneyland today and my box from Camburg was here with my coilover kit and coils so i started getting all my parts laid out and i am gonna start the bed cage and rear suspension tomorrow. So all hope is not lost i hope Aaron can get the lift out to me in time for me to put the front on because if not i am gonna be long travel in the rear and stock in the front for like 4 months which is the next time i will have access to my shop. So without further ado here is the parts i have to work with right now.

Heres my coilovers for the front they are 8" Stroke Sway-A-Way 2.5's with eibach 16" x 600 lbs coils.



Here is all my rear suspension i got Deavers, 14" Sway-A-Way triple bypasses, Camburg shackles, pyrotec limit straps, and polyurethane cone bum stops.



Here are the 33x12.50x15 BFG All Terrains with 15x7 Outlaw 2 style rims



Here are the sick Camburg shock mounts that i am gonna make into my bed cage so my bypasses are double shear.

nice update.Hope u get everything soon!..pm me how much u paid for the DBR kit please!

I believe I have the same exact rima.

So you went with the 12.5 inch BFG ??? Any reason behind this?

I was going to go with 10.5 because of rim width.. and the fact i have stock 2wd bearings, 4cylinder, etc...

Oh and good luck getting those parts in time... sounds like a stretch. bummer deal. Just the way things work out on these projects though

Originally Posted by FasterNU

I believe I have the same exact rims.

So you went with the 12.5 inch BFG ??? Any reason behind this?

I was going to go with 10.5 because of rim width.. and the fact i have stock 2wd bearings, 4cylinder, etc...

Yeah these rims are old stock rims off of rangers and broncos from like the late 80s - early 90s. I got these rims at a junk yard and they are my go to rim for my projects when i run out of money and cant afford new rims yet. I have ran this same size rim many times with the 12.50 tire they seem to work great. The main reason i went with this rims and the width was because i already had them. I will eventually be purchasing a 15x8 rim when i get money.

I could be wrong but you shouldn't have any problem with the 7" rim and a 12.50 tire there isn't any disadvantage i can see except for maybe when u air down you're tires for the sand it might make it a little more likely that you would blow a bead but i could be wrong on this and i have ran 8 lbs of air with this same set up with no problems.

Gerry, is there any reason you went with a 16" spring. Is that what Aaron recommended?

I was told to get an 18" spring. Im glad I did because my truck still sits low and is nose diving about an inch. We have cranked down the coils once and need to do it again.

I installed my 4wd Dixon kit this weekend on an 04 ranger. It went real smooth and painless. I had some guys from the team help me out and everyone commented on how easily everything came togethor. We installed the kit, steering clevis kit, mounted resevoirs, installed JBA Ceramic coated headers, installed 6" fiberglass fenders, replaced front brake pads with new ones, trimmed the bumper, and aligned the new front end. Took about 10 hours on Saturday.

As you can see in the last pic Im missing the boot on one upper arm. ANyone know where to get the correct piece?

damn that looks good

Micah you got any pictures of the truck on all 4's with the kit?

not yet, i cannot let anyone know im driving around with white fenders on a gray truck

Ahahahahha don't wanna be one of THOSE guys huh. Looks good man. Say what up to the crew for me!

Originally Posted by baja619

Gerry, is there any reason you went with a 16" spring. Is that what Aaron recommended?

I was told to get an 18" spring. I'm glad I did because my truck still sits low and is nose diving about an inch. We have cranked down the coils once and need to do it again.

I installed my 4wd Dixon kit this weekend on an 04 ranger. It went real smooth and painless. I had some guys from the team help me out and everyone commented on how easily everything came together. We installed the kit, steering clevis kit, mounted reservoirs, installed JBA Ceramic coated headers, installed 6" fiberglass fenders, replaced front brake pads with new ones, trimmed the bumper, and aligned the new front end. Took about 10 hours on Saturday.

Man that front end looks sick i am so stoked on this kit it looks awesome. The reason i went with the 16 was because Aaron told me with my 8" SAW that i needed a 16" I think he said the 18" was to big, i could be wrong on all this so don't quote me.

So since you have already done this, was there any snags you came on like did you have to move anything in the engine compartment for the engine cage, did u have to cut into any of the stock inner fender for the coilovers to clear. as i figured the stock shock mount has to be cut out, was there any other things that had to be modified from stock to make the kit work. Also did the engine cage line up real easy, like did all the places that were supposed to be welded to the frame all line up with a set spot. Ok well i cant think of anything else i am hoping my front end install goes as smoothly as your's did, I have been known to turn 6 hour fabtech lift installs into 3 day missions of testing my patience with stuff not fitting correctly or getting half way through and realizing that i don't have a tool that i need at 10:30 at night on the night before a holiday were i cant get the tool for like 2 days, just crap like that. Ok well i am rambling you're suspension looks sick and i am hoping that this DBR kit sees a lot more use since Aaron seems like a good guy and the kit looks amazing.

The passenger side in the engine compartment was a little tight.



I took the battery out to access on the driver side. I temporarily removed the washer tank and another gizmo which all went back on after the kit install was complete. The vacuum canister was moved up to the front and I mounted that on my AEM air filter plate that blocks the filter into its own compartment against the inner fender and washer fluid tank. You will have to find some place to mount the vacuum canister.

We used a plasma cutter and sawzall to cut the tower out, and then cleaned everything up with a 90 sander. Be sure to leave the A-arm pivot brackets intact.

The shock towers line up real easy and its hard to miss. Basically there is 3 plates that you weld to the frame (weld on all sides). After grinding off the OEM FORD metal / frame treatment /sealer you will mock up the tower. The middle plate that sits on top of the frame has a contour cut to match the profile of the top of the frame (where the shock tower was removed.) You will use this to match up and position where the tower goes. DAMN! I need to tape everything off and paint the shock towers and frame where needed before it gets all rusty.

If you have the bump can pre-installed with the kit, You will need to remove the stock rubber bumpstop, the bracket can stay but it will look cleaner if cut off. I still have mine on.

The upper arm needs to be muscled into the stock pivot brackets. We used a big hammer and a block of wood to push it into the brackets.

I would suggest two buddies who are mechanically inclined, a decent set of standard tools, a hanging light to help see around the whats going on in there, an 18 pack 4 starters, and leave the looky lous who stand around and get in the way at home.

baja619 what tires are you going to be running? and what size fiberglass too? and do you have any pics of it on all 4s yet?

Originally Posted by paintballplayer1313

baja619 what tires are you going to be running? and what size fiberglass too? and do you have any pics of it on all 4s yet?

33x12.5x15 bfg T/A's and 6" flare 4" rise fenders... no pics yet cuz he doesnt want people seeing him drive a truck with unpainted fenders.

reading is a good talent

You may have confused me with the guy Gerry that started the tread.

Im running 33"X10.50" Toyo Open Country M/T on a 16" KMC.
I chose 10.50 becuase they are pretty much as big or bigger then a BFG 33"X12.50"

The fenders are FiberwerX 6" and look good on this setup.

First off i just want to thank Aaron Dixon for stepping up big time for me. When we had talked last week he had barely finished welding up the lower A-Arm on Monday and was gonna take the arms to get them powder coated Tuesday. He got my arms back from the powder coater Friday and gave them to his dad who lives about 45 minutes from me in Santa Barbara. I was able to drive up and pick them up Friday night. Since Aaron did this it helped me avoid the problem with shipping during the Christmas holidays which would have put me back till like the 28th or 29th for starting the installation. So I just wont to thank Aaron again for the great customer service, I have dealt with a lot of different companies in the off road industry and it is always great to see top notch customer service like this.

I started the installation Saturday at around 11:00 AM and by the time i left my shop at 8:00 i was almost completely done. I didn't receive the limit straps, the steering, or the new half shafts yet from Dixon Bros but i am gonna call Aaron tomorrow to find out about that stuff. As Baja619 was saying about all the installation everything went incredibly smooth and the hardest part of the whole thing for me was cutting the stock shock tower out. I do not have a plasma cutter so for one side i used a air cut off wheel and the a grinder to clean up the surface. on the other we started with a sawzall and then switched to the acetelyne torch which kept catching everything on fire. so we eventually went back to the air cutoff wheel and then the angle grinder to clean up the frame. everything else went together smoothly, except once all the welding was done we went to fit the cross bar between the 2 coilover towers and it is off by about 2 inches. I am gonna have to look at that more today, I am thinking possibly cut the center and move it closer together and then sleeve it and reweld it. I am heading down right now to finish putting all the passenger side together and to paint my fiberglass, I am figuring that besides steering the front end will be done by this afternoon.

Here is all the parts i picked up from DBR.



Heres my friend trying to light my truck on fire.



My other friend and I on fire watch.



Heres what i got done to the drivers side last night.

Originally Posted by GerryinSP

Man that front end looks sick i am so stoked on this kit it looks awesome. The reason i went with the 16 was because Aaron told me with my 8" SAW that i needed a 16" I think he said the 18" was to big, i could be wrong on all this so don't quote me.

Just FYI and for future reference, 18" springs do infact fit on an 8" SAW coilover.

I'm running SAW shocks on my truck and with my Dixon kit I have the 8" SAW with an 18" 600lb spring.

In fully extended form the spring is too long, BUT after using a coil compressor to fit it and the hardware on it equates to about 1/2"-3/4" of pre-load. With the amount they (the springs) sagged when they broke in my truck sits at about the same ride hight as a bone stock 4x4 Ranger.

Anyway, truck looks awesome! You're going to love it!

you welded the towers in without the crossbar? no wonder it doesnt fit. why wouldnt you bolt the crossbar in while the hoops were positioned before you welded it?

Yeah we mocke up the kit including bolting the cross member on both sides before welding.

I had my fenders painted the weekend. The paint color is off so we will need to redo everything.

Originally Posted by baja619

Yeah we mocke up the kit including bolting the cross member on both sides before welding.

I had my fenders painted the weekend. The paint color is off so we will need to redo everything.

they're just gonna get scrathed and chipped up anyways! haha. im the guy that worked on your truck at trueline, its lookin nice.

I mostly have the front suspension done and i got my tires and rims mounted and balanced today so i threw a tire on to check for bump fender clearance. My jack and mallet combo was maxed out and i still could prolly jack it up like 1" more but you get the idea. Also i put on my freshly painted fiberglass with the pimp spray can flat black paint job, hey it looks better than white fiberglass on the black truck.