Thread: Rescue Ranger

My friend Reno asked me to post this up for him since he isn't very computer savvy. His username is "-RENO-"... and I'm sure he'll be posting in here some.

We call it the Rescue Ranger because Reno always comes to the rescue. He always has the right tool for the job... not to mention he knows a lot about trucks cause he used to work for Ford as a mechanic. He has saved our asses out in the desert countless times.

The truck is an 02 Ranger XLT with the 4.0 SOHC. Truck was purchased back in 2001, he immediately put on a fabtech 5.5 kit in the front.

This picture was taken 3 days after he had the truck, sticker still in the window on his way to glamis.


Shortly there after he decided to go with a long travel kit. He purchased the Camburg long travel kit through SDHQ as well as buying a deaver F23 pack, camburg shackles, kartek drop hanger, Dixon Bros. bolt in bedcage, and 16" SAW smoothbodies. He decided to install the rear suspension himself, and have OC offroad install the front suspension.




The work that OC offroad did (shock hoops, front bumper, cutting/plating frame), pics courtesy of Helton









Just after OC offroad was done with the truck, at this point he had hannemann fiberglass all around.



He installed a PWR trans cooler behind the grill, also made a custom center console with a couple gauges including trans temp. He made a trans crossmember to replace the stock unit. And he later replaced the Hannemann glass with Glassworks 6" up front and GW 4.5" in the rear.






After having the front end on the truck for 2 or 3 years he had noticed the shock hoop had began to crack, so he decided to ditch the stock hood and run a hood from a Ranger Edge. This gave him enough clearance to run a removable tube over the engine to give the shock hoops some more support, and also added some gussets to the shock hoop.




Edge Hood bolted on, also he added 3 Hella 4000's and later added HID conversions.



Next thing on his list, was to redue his rearend. He decided to go with an explorer rearend. At first he was running the factory limited slip and higher gears. Down the road he had to replace some bearings that had worn out and he then decided to upgrade it a little more. He added a truss to it, installed a detroit locker, regeared to 4.56, and also installed the Superior Axle Super 88 kit. The super 88 kit eliminates the C clip, adds a little width, and also give you the option of going with 5 on 4.5 or 5 on 5.5 lug pattern.





This is taking way longer than I thought.... And I have to go run some errands, so I will be back on later to show the rest of the build including new hubs up front, 64's and a new bedcage.

Reno's next upgrade was to ditch the stock hubs and go with the Camburg Race hubs they offer for his kit. This required new uprights, steering, wilwood calipers, rotors, etc. The picture with the bearings shows the difference between the stock bearings and the new ones. This kit is setup with the 5 on 5.5 lug pattern so he switched his wheels/tires to 15x7 AR outlaw II's and 33x12.5x15 Goodyear MTR's. His rearend with the Super 88 kit came in handy as he was easily able to convert the rear to the new lug pattern.







At some point I skipped the fact that he ditched the Deaver F-23 pack and went with the Giant 64" kit. He originally ran the kit with his SAW smoothbodies and Dixon Bros. Bedcage. Shortly after he got a set of the GIANT link killer shocks, which he also ran on the Dixon Bros. Bedcage.

Most recently he decided to ditch the stock bed completely and build a bedcage. We built the bedcage at my shop in Lake Mathews, and he had the cage welded by a friend of his at a different location. The bedcage is constructed from 1.5 .120 DOM. He designed the bedcage with a spot for a 32 gallon fuel cell. However he has since decided to keep his stock tank and build a toolbox in that spot. He also swapped out his Glassworks 4.5" bedsides for Fiberwerx 6" bedsides. He wanted the flare to match the front as well as eliminate the gas cover. In these pictures the bedsides are only mocked up. They required a lot of fine tuning and twisting compared to the glassworks. He hasn't completed, but plans to mount his jack, 2 optima batteries, and relocated his trans cooler to the rear of the truck.

WOW, One hell of a build up. Clean truck

DAMNNN that is a nice truck. good job

Cool Build. At what point are you guys going to consider a roll cage....??

Sweet ranger he's got going on there.

It will get caged at one point. I like that it is quiet in the cab i drive it everyday. I just dont no if i want to strip the cab and take everything out like the a/c and do a full cage or just do a simple cab cage and keep everything.

very nice truck!! do a simple cab cage and keep the interior. i really regret stripping everything out of my cab.. makes it no fun to drive everyday... very nice build

i've always liked your truck reno. it's come a long way!

whoa! very snug

Ya it was a really tight fit.... but I just moved it out back now

Originally Posted by -RENO-

Ya it was a really tight fit.... but I just moved it out back now

that fitting with the sender on it...is it for pressure or temp?

Its just a sensor that turns the fan on and off

Awsome build..thnx for the stock hood! Haha

I want this truck! Hahaha

Man I'm jealous! Truck looks great.

Definitely a bad ass truck. I like everything about it!

Here's a few more pictures Reno sent me to post on here....

Mounted jack and trans cooler in the back, plumbed the cooler, added a wilwood proportioning valve, mounted the charcoal canister and finished up his bedside mounts.

i like how you ran hard line to and from the tranny. looks awesome, now finish the damn expedition

Wow really clean man... Looks hot.

unreal..... loooks amazing

anymore pics of that center console? looks just like the one i have been working on i wood shop

Really clean ranger.....gl with the rest of the build

Wat did u use to get the frame to bare metal? Jus wire wheel or somethin?

It took him a while, but I'm pretty sure he just used a wire wheel on an angle grinder... Of course it was a lot easier for him since there was nothing on the frame rails to get in his way.

Are you prepping your truck for paint? I would just use sand paper, and then hit it with scrotchbrite and wd40, then primer and paint. It's gonna be a lot of agonizing work to grind down your whole frame and bedcage.

Originally Posted by TheTequilaWorms

Wat did u use to get the frame to bare metal? Jus wire wheel or somethin?

hands down best method (minus sandblasting) is some red scotchbrite, Wd40, and elbow grease. Spray, let soak, scrub, spray, scrub, wipe, DONE.

will it go thru existing paint n all?

thanks ryan

Originally Posted by RCinqMars

hands down best method (minus sandblasting) is some red scotchbrite, Wd40, and elbow grease. Spray, let soak, scrub, spray, scrub, wipe, DONE.

Another great method without all the elbow grease. Go to the 99 cents store and get a few cans of oven cleaner and some thick yellow Mom rubber gloves. Hell a respirator might not be a bad idea too. Spray the shit on the frame, wait a minute or two then hit it with a red scotch bright pad, should come right off. Be careful not to get that shit on your hands though, it will start to eat right though your sKin. Ask me how I know.

Mike

sounds like a plan.. thanks! didnt mean to jack the thread....

Reno has been busy finishing up a few more things on the truck.

He took the truck out to his place in Johnson Valley for its first true test since finishing the bedcage. Pretty much as soon as he hit the dirt his back window cracked. So he decided to swap it out with a 1/4" thick Lexan window.




He also relocated his battery to the rear. Now running a dual battery setup with a battery isolator and switch. They used the tractor to test clearance for the battery boxes. And lastly he took out the ABS module.

that back window looks sik with the lexan. any more pics on that and how he did it

i think i saw this truck at the mdr 400 clean truck.

were do you get a Lexan piece like that?

I got the lexan from a glass shop cut it out the same shape as the glass and painted a black trim around the edge on the inside.

no weather stripping/rtv? kinda hard to see..

It has some of that sticky weather strip between the lexan and cab.

how is the lexan installed. any pics of it from inside

i was gonna use the stock window trim and put the lexan in that but that was a pain so i cut the lexan the same as the glass drilled holes in it and used carriage bolts to bolt it in was a lot easier then i expected

dude I want to know more about the lexan, how much did it cost, where did you buy it, and was it hard to install

Here is a picture of the lexan before it was painted. As you can see it looks a hell of a lot better with the black trim.

looks tits dude!!! i want this truck!! hahaha