Project: Moose-Knuckle

[Staggering_Genius]

It's been a while since I posted. I parted my Jeep ZJ project over the last few weeks due to my HOA being a bunch of Nazis. All the fun shtuff is getting stuffed under my Ranger. I'm done with the ass half, now time to start on the front. Here's the run down:

2000 Ford Ranger
3.slOw / 4r44w / some times shift on the fly 4wd

Rear:
Full Width Ford 9" / 4.30:1 / Molly Shafts
63" Chebby Leafs / 2" shackle / 2" block

Front:
Full Width HP Dana44 / 4.30 / Mollys
Built Ranger Rear Pack / 2" Shackle / custom hangers


After the axle swap I'm building up a 4.0, and looking for a manual transfer case or two, if you catch my drift.

Here she was stock w/ a set of 33x12.5s stuffed under:
http://a442.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/84/l_d97b6dab60d9a05122a29948c46a8f99.jpg


Here she is with just the torsion bar crank:
http://a192.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/89/l_fbf3356d1e9db78b3f4f4914df86566f.jpg


Here she is with a 3" body lift and some bolt ons:
http://a351.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/48/l_c52ec174851c42766b117b380389acee.jpg


Here she is on some 35x15.5 TSLs:
http://a782.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/94/l_e43d7b99dd1a36203942d00d1a53d75d.jpg



Here's the 9" all painted up:
http://a851.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/63/l_5c1c921a1048df60bc22151b33a0d4aa.jpg

[Staggering_Genius]

Yankin out the Exploder 8.8" I stuffed in a few months ago. What a waste:
http://a528.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/29/l_d88e6d9790b01cf1edbb9161170c8ee7.jpg



First time out flexin:
http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/33/l_173f1ffcf2b1457189ad515af010721f.jpg


http://c1.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/52/l_8c6f9b41e9d5481d8194c52d577de538.jpg



http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/64/l_daf3596e21ec45c1969b2ff18e02e4bf.jpg



http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/55/l_97e6e0ccb51b4ce4a4ce2526a448fedd.jpg

[Staggering_Genius]

http://c3.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/45/l_6bcae26986c44291ac512e5c6d10df16.jpg



http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/57/l_34afdedc3ec24a4199b2bd2bcc73a4f7.jpg



I'm digging into the front next week, hacking out the IFS, setting up hangers and shackles, leafs, etc.

[PaleBlue90]

be shure to post pics here on on trs, i want to see the front progress

[rocwagon]

Looking good can't wait to see the progress. :thumbsup:

Ya know you have to be done befor the 25 Oct. :idea: so you can go flog that beast at CORE..:popcorn:

[crawlin91]

good to see ya over here too, SAS'd rangers are sick. Cant wait to wheel with ya.

[1freaky1]

turning out pretty saweet! cant wait to see the front done on her.

[mattadams]

http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/64/l_daf3596e21ec45c1969b2ff18e02e4bf.jpg
Hard to tell from this pic, but is that a rollbar and a tonneau on there, or is that just the glare from the bed?

[1freaky1]

Matt he has a rollbar in there look back up at a few of the pics.

[Digger]

This is your project? :D :eek:

http://www.pimpwiz.com/uploaded_images/moose_20knuckle-736128.jpg

[SparkyXplorer]

Matt he has a rollbar in there look back up at a few of the pics.

He is asking if he has a rollbar AND a tonneau cover at the same time...

[mattadams]

yeah I knew he had a rollbar, just curious if there was a tonneau as well. i did the rollbar/tonneau combo on my truck but you don't see it often (mainly because it's ahrd to do, LOL)

[Staggering_Genius]

PROGRESS!

I'm using a reduced leaf pack from a early 80's Chebby 3/4 ton 2wd. I'm nettin close to 8" lift in the rear and 10" up front. A little extreme but thats how I roll!

The front's in progress, just down to u-bolts, fabbing up spring plates, and a tie rod that locates the drag link in the inner side of the leaves. I can't afford high steer and with a 6-9" extreme drop bronco pitman arm drag link angles should be fine enough to handle the bump steer.

I have a set of 27" long brake hoses commin in the mail. I'm lookin for a manual t-case but finding one paired with a 3.0 and a 4r44e is out of the question.

I think I'm going to look for a wrecked fx4 level 2 with the manual t case and the 4.0 to one day swap in.

Also looking into doubler possibilities.

I'll have more pictures of progress when it's light and sitting on it's own weight tomorrow night.


I don't know how the hell I'm going to get it out of the garage, besides airing the tires down to nothing, and having 15 friends sit in the bed and on the hood.

[mattadams]

Get some cheapo harbor freight wheel dollies, pop the tires off and lower it onto the dollies... wheel it out of the garage on the dollies, pop the tires back on, good to go! :)

[Staggering_Genius]

Damn good idea!

Like dolly man! The dude who got a boot by the HOA Nazis and just put the car on a dolly and wheeled it up into the garage.

[Staggering_Genius]

She's on all 4 feet tonight.
Holy hell is all I have to say.
I'll let the pictures do the talking.
http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/33/l_2e2a4c60dfbf4a66853385cf6d8372cd.jpg
http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/59/l_dbde5003cb5b4c8e91f9da316f8cdaa5.jpg
http://c1.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/34/l_496132e7dfd24183a73cf7e2cc8c493c.jpg
http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/22/l_32dee8e13c0c4e0c909c5608d2c48005.jpg

My girlfriend's dad has a stock 01 Ranger, so I'm going to measure lift against that. I have no clue what I'm at. But it's 51" to the top of the fender, and there's 16" from the top of the tire to the fender. It's a little taller then I wanted, but eh. After the winter I might drop it an inch or two.
Tomorrow we're fabbing up steering, filling the diff, and workin on a square tube front d-dhaft.
My pinion angle isn't going to be the best, but how often will the front really be locked in.
Welcome to the sickness that's known as MOOSE KNUCKLE

[bronc_17113]

explain to me why the 18 yr old kid is posing beer on his truck again?

[mattadams]

:laughing:
Looking sharp, though we really need to get you a new camera... :)

[1freaky1]

Looking really good! Be good to see some nice pics of it in the day time.

[Hunter]

Sweet.

going to CORE on the 25th?

[Staggering_Genius]

explain to me why the 18 yr old kid is posing beer on his truck again?

Just giving a better visual of the clearence between the fender and top of the tire.

[Staggering_Genius]

I had a few kinks to work out. The power steering box from my donor only had power to the left, and the pitman arm was in the way of the leaf pack.

So I pulled a PS box from an 8 lug ford van. It's going in tomorrow.

I'm down to mounting my front shocks, having my drive shaft balenced, alignment, a new drag link, and a front drive shaft.

My current t case uses a CV style end. I'm trying to figure out a conversion to a yoke end.

But all is going well. I'll be hittin the trails with you all next spring

[dannan_w]

looks sweet now all u have to do is go break stuff...

[Staggering_Genius]

http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/3/l_24cc80931599443aa6ef67cd20698c25.jpg

http://c3.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/47/l_5e0b06c2b9f14e508c8d98ef63383dde.jpg

http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/15/l_b99f508bb78b4f97b60e9ccc2897ddc9.jpg

http://c1.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/13/l_7886e3da67b84f4c9fd7c4ef14c0ba60.jpg


I took her out for a little rear wheel drive flex testin. She held up great. Tons more travel then I expected and great road handeling, especially for a home brew tie rod and drag link.

Yes, I know the steering is a little funky. I'm plannin on high steer when I one day bolt up a D60 front. The drag link is 1.25" rod sleeved in 1.75" OD DOM with .25" wall. I'm not too worried about the bends I had to make to clear the leaf springs. Absolutetly NO bump steer even with out shocks/steering stabelizer. The steering is a mixture of TTB/I beam and solid axle jeep styles. As you can see the drag link actually runs all the way to the knuckle on the passenger side and the tie rod intercepts the drag link near the passenger side leaf pack. I'm a little cautious of that TRE being so near the ground but it'd be the same with standard cross over.

The PS box is from a 2wd 1982 8 lug ford van. I got a pitman arm with about 2" of drop from another van at the junk yard.

It's close!

[bronc_17113]

wow i have now been flipped off by a kid on the net

[PaleBlue90]

its comeing together nicely adam, i cant wait to see it wheel:D

[Staggering_Genius]

Shit's come together. Just need a front drive shaft and a cv/u joint conversion for the t-case.

19" of front suspension travel
21" of rear suspension travel
130" wheel base


Pics:
http://c3.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/58/l_d5706d46dba646b1acca6b4af1d816da.jpg

http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/52/l_6762573a108245edace9cd4cd3512a3b.jpg

http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/59/l_e0620f73877449e18ab41a39bdf75abf.jpg

[Jimmeh]

Looks BAD ASS!

[Staggering_Genius]

http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/56/l_38c1b1064ea14a709248931d8121b6b1.jpg

http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/13/l_4629e9608175497fbffcdc88dbff0353.jpg

http://c3.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/38/l_5d88f7b858b649b3acd1c8e67309edba.jpg

[Tilt168]

this is a beast....its not even a ranger anymore....my bronco is a short fat linebacker in comparison to your ranger...good stuff!

[Digger]

That's sick looking!:thumbsup:

[Staggering_Genius]

Thanks for the good words guys. I'm plannin on goin to the Rock Zombies shin dig commin up. I know the steering looks jankety but I'm in the process of workin it all out.

1" solid bar tie rod, and a 1.5" solid bar drag link drilled and tapped for TREs. And I built a power steering box brace too. I built a front drive shaft and fixed my hubs, so I should be ready to rock.

http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/5871/0117091711biz6.jpg
Note: My buddy Rob is 6 foot two

http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/6301/0117091715sj4.jpg

http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/1069/0117091715bnv6.jpg

The new steering set up runs a tie rod knuckle to knuckle, and the drag link just has a 20 ish degree bend. What ever.

[mattadams]

we really need to get you a decent camera, LOL. Looking great though.

[Staggering_Genius]

It's been a while and a lot's gone one. Forgive me for my lack of posting.

I had it on the road for about 1000 miles.

I planned on redoing my Z link with 1.5" cold rolled bar drilled and tapped for TREs. Well the machine shop boned me and wanted a few hundred dollars so I decided to scrap that plan. (they had to buy new left hand thread taps at 100 a piece, my cost, + shop hours)

Me and a bud fabbed a new x/member out of 4x6 tube with .250" wall notched so it sits up in the chassis. We made new hangers that mounted them to the x/member. The plan was to go SUA and avoid the entire high steer bullshit. The x/member was to help make up for the lift lost by going SUA. I had it originally been set up for SOA.

My axle sat way too close to the chassis. Most of my lift came from my thick leaf pack, which was too stiff for my taste. SO, We ran the front SOA again, pulled a few leaves from the pack, and decided to go high steer.

Instead of having a passenger flat top knuckle drilled and tapped for a high steer block/arm, I did something horrible.

On my driver's side, is now, a Chevy part. I'm running a 3/4 ton D44 knuckle, spindle, and all internal shit, a 6 lug burban brake backing plate, a 6 lug rotor and an aftermarket caliper. This knuck is already drilled and tapped for a high steer arm. Now I'm just waiting on some more DOM and the arm I bought from Sky. The plan is to run the drag link from the pitman arm to the driver side knuckle.

I kept ripping my PS box off of the frame cause there was an issue with the wholes drilled and the style of the box. So I built a brace for it out of some C channel and square tube that cups the round gear box perfectly so it actually sits flush. Hopefully I don't take it off again or else I'm going hydro.

So all in all, its down to runnin the ps box send and return lines, fabbing up a drag link, installing a cv in the front and shortening my driveshaft, (I maxed out the single U joint on a flex test) and installing another CV in the rear.

Here's the link to a vid of me and a buddy rockin the truck side to side. Shit it's soft with the 52" leaf pack.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZrm0bqVWQU


It's close but not quite done. At least it's done the right way now. Live and learn.

[mattadams]

Needs more RMFTC stickers... :)

[Staggering_Genius]

It's been quite a while. I figured I'd update. I got bored and things kind of just got out of hand.

Softened up my front spring pack and rebuilt/redesigned the front x member.

Built a new front bumper

Built some sliders

Hacked off about a yard of frame

Shortened the wheel base from 130 to 112 (Factory was 126, stretched to 130, then shortened)

33 gallon fuel tank added

Bed with a few goodies added

Some exhaust work done

And some other doodads.

Here's just some shots of the progress:

http://c1.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/41/l_e830983f8d00444aa35551f919af7660.jpg

http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/86/l_7046657bfc3b4d68903e4198ef6debc7.jpg

http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/40/l_e0b89008266747d6be2df78bf27c035d.jpg

http://c3.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/25/l_a658f8fcee294be59722909bca6d4e8a.jpg



Still workin on shocks for the rear, diamond plating the bed, building a new rear bumper, and another spare carrier cause I'm just that cool.

Workin on pickin up lockers and gears too.

Lookin forward to some wheelin trips this summer.

[Warrlord]

I'm moving the above posts to the Chinns Lake Thread (http://www.rmftc.com/forums/showthread.php?p=76795#post76795) so we can keep his build thread as his build thread.

[Hypoid]

Last update: http://www.therangerstation.com/forums/showpost.php?p=902597&postcount=166

It's kinda sad to me. I see a lot of blood, sweat, and tears in that project.

[bronc_17113]

looks like it is right where it belongs.

[Tilt168]

WTF happend?

[bronc_17113]

sounds like ghetto fab killed another

[dannan_w]

sounds like ghetto fab killed another

:scratch: agree looks like it was gonna be nice!