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Page 1: General
Page 2: Interior
Page 3: Interior Mods
Page 4: Exterior Mods
Page 5: Chassis Mods<<
Page 6: V8 Swap / Supercharger
Page 7: Centralia
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Bilstein 7100 reservoir shocks
Bilstein front shock conversion with custom lower mounts and limiting straps.
Driver side rear 7100 and reservoir installation.
Passenger side installation.
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Rear disc brake conversion
Factory Ranger 10" drum brake.
11 1/4" Mustang SVO vented rear rotors with Cadillac Eldorado calipers.
Here are the major conversion components. The caliper mounting brackets and splash shields were fabricated from steel stock. Calipers, rotors and hoses are from eBay.
The Eldorado calipers have built-in parking brakes. Adapters were machined to allow them to work with the Ranger parking brake cables.
The finished installation.
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Aussie locker
This Aussie Locker is now installed in the front differential case.
The installation.
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Traction Bars
This is a set of traction bars made by James Duff. They are good quality at a very good price. Since the catalog listed these for a 82~97, I knew they would probably need to be adapted for my 2003 which has a different spring plate and U-bolt spacing. (In the time since I installed my JD bars, the company has introduced bars designed for the 98+ Rangers. It is now a bolt-on installation.)
A little grinding was necessary on the bottom to make the L-brackets fit the Ranger spring plates. The holes were also slotted for the wider U-bolt spacing of the 31-spline axle used on the FX4 Level II.
The James Duff L-brackets are quite tall and can allow the bar ends to strike the pinch weld on the bottom of the bed. To avoid possible contact, the bracket was shortened by 1 inch and the pivot hole was redrilled. I made a second set of L-brackets to match the modified originals. The traction bar brackets are now attached to both U-bolts at each wheel instead of one and the pivot bolt is now supported at both sides.
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Chevy spring swap
These leaf springs are from a full size Chevy C1500 pickup. They provide some lift and are stronger than the OE Ranger springs.
The key to this swap is the relocation of the leaf spring hangers. They have been moved 6" forward.
Taller bumpstops from an 06 F350 prevent the Bilstein shocks from bottoming internally on full compression. In this photo, the truck is carrying 2400 pounds of rock and the suspension still has an inch of travel available before contacting the stop.
The James Duff traction bars needed to be lengthened to match the new spring hanger location. Forward mount on relocated spring hanger.
Finished installation of the lengthened bar.
Page 1: General
Page 2: Interior
Page 3: Interior Mods
Page 4: Exterior Mods
Page 5: Chassis Mods<<
Page 6: V8 Swap / Supercharger
Page 7: Centralia
