a friend of mine has a 94 ranger 2wd. it has the 4L V6, at trann, and infamous crossover ford suspension.
im thinking about picking it up from him if it can be a relatively cheap prerunner.
i have very little knowledge about fords. what is commonly done? disconnect the swaybar and a little fabwork on the lca and coilovers?
thanks

dump your trans for either a fm146, or m5od

deavers in the rear w/ bed cage and some sort of bent or extended beams in the front. ls or locker. tube bumpers, pulled bed sides and fiber glass front end with 31's-33's should work pretty good. exploder rear axle would be good too. might wanna box the frame or add a roll cage if you wanna jump it alot. manual tranny and 3.73's to 4.10's would be a good idea.

If you want cheap and fun, here is my standard response:

-F-150 coils up front
-Add a leaf in rear
-Longer shackle
-F-250 shock mounts up front
-Halfway decent shocks (bilstien 5100s or better)
-Cut front fenders
-Pull or cut bedsides
-31" tires
-Weld the rear

You can do all this for a couple hundred and have a blast with it. We did this to my buddy's 2wd ranger and it handled very well. Everything came out of the junkyard except the 5100s. My ranger is set up very similar except i've got a bedcage and 14" shocks in the rear.

If you are talking coilovers and stuff, you're way out of my price range and cant give you any advice there.

Oh yea, and for info and classifieds in case you havent been there

http://www.dezertrangers.com/
http://www.race-dezert.com

cool great info.
is there a specific axle under these trucks that are better than others? if i remember correctly, the '94 was on of the first years of its body style. in example, when nissan switched body styles from '98-00 to 01-04, they began to put a much more durable axle in the rear. what is desired under this ranger?
also, a common trait of nissans are cracked exhaust manifolds. what are the common things to go wrong with the engines that were put in these trucks?

i live in huntington beach and see fords with the crossover suspension all the time with a great pre runner stance with what appears to be just basic mods.
i just want to jump it a little.

cool great info.
is there a specific axle under these trucks that are better than others? if i remember correctly, the '94 was on of the first years of its body style. in example, when nissan switched body styles from '98-00 to 01-04, they began to put a much more durable axle in the rear. what is desired under this ranger?
also, a common trait of nissans are cracked exhaust manifolds. what are the common things to go wrong with the engines that were put in these trucks?

i live in huntington beach and see fords with the crossover suspension all the time with a great pre runner stance with what appears to be just basic mods.
i just want to jump it a little.

Actually '93 was the first year for the model, and if I am not mistaken, options (such as engine size and cab) dictated what axle you got. If you have the 4.0, you should have a Ford 8.8, the other axle option is a Ford 7.5 which is not worth upgrading. What gears are you running now? An easy way to get 4.10's in a Ranger is to swap in a rear off of a '98-'01 explorer (4.10's are a readily available option, not standard for these years). In addition to getting 4.10's, you also get disc brakes and 31 spline axle shafts. The axle will be slightly wider, but that's should be an issue. You can also swap in a rear out of an FX4 Ranger as some of them have 4.10's and 31 spline shafts as well, but no disc brakes.

As for engine issues, I have 220,000 on mine and I beat it like a red-headed step child, no issues as of yet.


hick

All you need to know about stock shit - http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/index.php

Oh and the correct term is twin I-beam or just "beams" if you want to sound cool. All the bros in the dezert will look at you funny if you call it "crossover suspension"

Used in context- "Dude, brah, i've got a sicky gnar beamed ranger"

dump your trans for a m5od manual
Fixed. The FM 146 will blow up within it's first week of 4.0 punishment.

I got a set of F31 Deavers that would be perfect for the back end of that thing....:D

dont use f150 springs in the front, there too much work involved, get some jeep springs you will get plenty of down travel and up travel with a softer ride, and the best part is they pretty much just bolt in with no cutting.

Theres guys out there running the fm146, they use the clutch from a 91-94 sploder, but the m5 is the best option and all the weak points have been taken care of so you wouldn't have to worry about blowing your trans

dont use f150 springs in the front, there too much work involved, get some jeep springs you will get plenty of down travel and up travel with a softer ride, and the best part is they pretty much just bolt in with no cutting.

WTF are you talking about? The F150 coils bolt right in. The jeep springs dont even really fit right. The lower retainer doesnt hold the coil correct and the coil doesnt sit in the bucket like the ranger springs.

I put some 3" Rancho cherokee springs in for one desert trip and took them out as soon as i got home. They are way to soft for any kind of jumping or whoops unless you are running some kind of bypasses or a kickass 2.5" shock.

I realize at the professional level spring is mostly for setting ride height and the majority of your setup comes from damping. But he said budget- a stiffer coil is a way to get around dropping thousands of dollars on expensive shocks. It is not the correct way, but a way that has worked for me.

Jeep coils would suck on a 2wd prerunner... they would bottom out and coil bind on every landing.

Desert use is way different setup wise than trail crawling.

WTF are you talking about? The F150 coils bolt right in. The jeep springs dont even really fit right. The lower retainer doesnt hold the coil correct and the coil doesnt sit in the bucket like the ranger springs.

I put some 3" Rancho cherokee springs in for one desert trip and took them out as soon as i got home. They are way to soft for any kind of jumping or whoops unless you are running some kind of bypasses or a kickass 2.5" shock.

I realize at the professional level spring is mostly for setting ride height and the majority of your setup comes from damping. But he said budget- a stiffer coil is a way to get around dropping thousands of dollars on expensive shocks. It is not the correct way, but a way that has worked for me.


when you did the f150 springs you had to cut your tabs and try to mount it square right? thats why i didn't bother with it, why go and booty fab it together when its just more safer and have a better spring option to use f150 buckets.

Did you use the jeep retaining bolt? i've read that guys are using it to seat the coil properly. Rancho 9000xl's will help with stiffen up the ride with there adjustable valve.

But if you want cheap and know of a friend with a twin ibeam f150 sitting in a field grab the coil buckets and springs for now; cause later you can always find a used set of eb coils, for there spring rating is between the ranger and heep coil rates

That truck can be a great prerunner. you get more travel for less money from that truck than any other small truck. start out with an autofab bent beam kit for the front and the rear get some decent springs, reverse the rear shackle and run the autofab 2 link.

i didn't end up picking this truck up. thinking about it, i don't need another money pit.