To straight axle a Ranger. My lady wants a ranger but she wants it a little bigger than all the rest. Well I figure why not go all out and convert it to a straight axle front end. I figure it will be either a late 80's or an early 90's model. I am thinking 35" meets that will get her around town and down the highway. It will look good sitting next to My Super Duty and the soon to be trail rig sitting up in the Dakotas. Is this to big for a daily driver??? What will I lose in driving characteristics by doing the conversion?? I have converted a fullsize Chev* but I have never worked on a Mid-sized truck. Am I getting myself into a tight situation??? Help me out guys and hell for this I might be interested in letting someone else do the conversion for me for a reasonable price. I already have too many projects and work keeps me busy all the time.

A ranger with 35's isnt a great dd mostly becasue of gas mileage....it gets pretty crappy. For a solid axle youll probably want either a d44 from an EB with disc brakes or a d30. Coils will do the trick for suspension and a 3 link front is not that difficult to set up.

Thanks for the reply. Does anybody have a article on doing the swap. It would even be better if pics came with the article. I know there are some guys that have done this to there trucks so help me out. PLEASE :D :D :D

Solid axle Ranger's are becoming more common. The axle of choice is an Early Bronco D44. The 76-77 variety is the best, due to disc brakes. Other D44's from earlier EB's (73-75, i think) have drums, but can be converted over to disc's using some chebby parts.
You'll need the D44 axle, the radius arms, and some radius arm drop brackets from someone like James Duff. I think Radius Arm brackets from 70ish F-150's could work also. You'll need to fab a trac-bar drop mount, and just make sure it's extra beefy, this seems to be a breakage point for a few of the swaps I have seen. For the coils, the James Duff 3.5" VR coils seem to be popular. I personally want to use the 5.5" James Duff. I would think the 5.5" coils would provide enough clearence for 35's. If not, you could either trim the fenders, or run fiberglass fenders.
I think that's enough info to get you going. I can't really think of anything else.

Oh yeah, you can use the stock coil buckets also. I think you only need to slightly modify them.

ps. As far as bad gas milage is concerned, my Ranger on 35's w/ 4.56 gears and a hacked air box would get 15 around town, and 18 on the hwy. I didn't really have any issues when I drove it daily, just make sure everything in the suspension it TIGHT. Spindle nuts will back off, and hurt the drivability also. As will worn ball joints, tie rods, etc.

Good Luck!! :D :smokin:

HEy squanto thanks for the reply. I see in your sig that the big one is for sale. How about some info or a link to the for-sale page. I'll take a fixer uper if it is just body damage. Hell for the right price I will take anything. :flipoff2: :flipoff2:

hmmm...if its for the old lady...build her a straight axle explorer!!! hehe

me and a buddy of mine built ours at about the same time. his sc ranger and my sploder. he is currently running 35's with 4.88 gears. even though the motor runs higher rpm's that way, its in its power ranger. this way the motor will be running more freely and gets better mileage. so i think a setup like your talking about would be an ok daily driver. a good way to do it is like tx said...an early bronco front. then you won't have to narrow it at all....well anyway..ill quit talkin and show ya some of my pics.....

left side + steering - Click Here (http://albums.photopoint.com/j/ViewPhoto?u=1354130&a=12421073&p=45554770&f=0)

coil adapter - Click Here (http://albums.photopoint.com/j/ViewPhoto?u=1354130&a=12421073&p=46107521&f=0)

right side + steering - http://imagep.webphotos.iwon.com//1000012709/299589.jpg

semi-decent shot of the axle - http://www.fototime.com/{E0E096A1-2845-43A8-BEBD-86A9BD7A405E}/picture.JPG

radius arm mounts - http://www.fototime.com/{2709016B-CB78-4CCC-A3D9-745235CBA957}/picture.JPG

if ya have any questions...shoot away!!

When I did my SAS I ran a search on Yahoo, and a couiple other engines. I came up with at least three good articles, and lots of pics......but, I can't find them right now, nor can I find the articles that I printed....sorry. The swap is reall easy, I was very suprised. The only thing that no one mentioned, was having to cut away at the crossmember to clear the trac-bar, and maybe in the rear to clear the diff(depending on how well you get it to flex).

Brian--

I didn't have to hack the engine crossmember at all, and it runs down the street great. Extremely easy swap. I think some rangers came with a narrow engine crossmember that results in clearance issues.

I have a half assed write up on my website with some pics. Maybe I'll finish someday, maybe not. Should be enough to give you an idea what to expect.

http://home.earthlink.net/~mattsara/bb/biiflex1.jpg

http://home.earthlink.net/~mattsara/bb/biiflex2.jpg

http://home.earthlink.net/~mattsara/bb/biiflex3.jpg

Thanks for the great info guys. I gusee now it is time to start doing the research cause I think I have her talked into the swap. I wont be online again until monday but keep the info coming. If you find any good articles then send them my way. And any helpfull tips are always appreciated :D . I guess I will have to sart looking for the front axle. I am kicking myself cause I traded one of those axles off for a stereo last year and the stereo is shot now.

I have early 80's chevy dualie with the Dana 60 front and the 14 bolt rear and a 400 engine and the automatic that is sitting up in South Dakota. Should I go get it and swap the axles and make a full width ranger or should I stay narrow??

chevy has the passenger side drop for the t-case....yer ranger is a drivers side drop. a high pinion 44 out of a 70's ford 1/2 or 3/4 ton would be your best shot. the high pinion 60 comes in the 1 ton fords.