Ford Ranger Frame Use?

Has anyone used a 80's-90's Ford Ranger frame for an early
Ford F1 swap? If so pics please....

KJ

 

Nope, the F1 frame works just fine....

 

The Ford Ranger frame with all it's weired shapes is just too much trouble for a swap of any kind, it's easier to stick with the F1 frame.

 

I have one under my Ranger


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Check here. HRP

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/group.php?groupid=646

 

Wow, so do I

 

That is a f&%king mess. Please run a regular old F1 frame please. You can make them drive just fine, and they are easy to lower if you want. Also, the F1 body will bolt right up with no modifications whatsoever.

JW

 

Yeah, you would never be able to do this...
and take a bunch of old and repop Ford parts like this...
And somehow fit them together like this....
And you wouldn't be able to fit the rest of it like this...
And then it wouldn't be possible to get a result anywhere near this.... 'cause a Ford Ranger frame has too many weird shapes.

 

Oh Snap!

 

It's gonna get quiet now.

 

Another option is an 80's Mazda frame. It is pretty simple and has torsion bars. Worth considering if the original setup isnt available.

 

If you can find a 98 or newer frame you'll find the ride is much nicer.

 

Dont have pics but Draggon Breath has a 47 IHC on a Ranger frame. Turned out nice.

 

Cool, now 80's-90's Ford Rangers are traditional..

 

P/M sent

 

You will have a early F1 Fazda.

 

I knew it would never work

I should have read this before Greg and I wasted 4 whole days using a running ranger as a donor... and now I'm too busy driving it to go back and change my evil ways

 

what rear end did you use on the 47 ford ? I
have a 47 ford and looking to put in a new rear axle

 

Those trucks don't count...they aren't F1's! LoL

Isn't/wasn't there already a big thread about this exact swap?
I'd do it if the truck/frame were rusted really bad or something...but mods to the original frame are easy so a good truck I'd reuse the original.

 

Yup, all ya gotta do is tell some back yard dude who has been hiding his skills that it cant be done!

 

That's a pretty truck. I didn't know anybody built a 'gl*** '40 truck cab, you did a great job.

Brian

 

That's a U.S. body source cab that's designed to fit a Ranger ch***is (they have a complete 40 Ford PU body kit to fit a Ranger ch***is). U.S. body source does make some good fibergl*** (and some steel) products http://usbodysource.com/

 

No drama intended here or needed. But an F-1 Frame is a really good foundation for the F-1 truck. The mint green one is a really pretty truck, but it also took a totally different frame on a Ford one, and that truck looks like it was designed for the Ranger stuff. The '46-'47 turned out great as well, but if you have an F-1 with an F-1 Frame you are already ahead of it.

Tim

 

Thats pretty smart!
Ford did the exact same thing when they designed the original F1 frame!
Hard to go wrong when you use a frame and body designed for each other.

 

So, you'd have to cut up an original cab for it to work?

 

No wonder it fit the lumpy Ranger frame so well. So, the lesson here still is, use the frame that fits the body, unless you want to lots of needless work, or have a body with no floor or body mounts left.

Brian

 

I'm not totally anti frame swap. But why would you choose a twin I beam? I worked on these when I did heavy collision. If that frame didn't have so many bends and lumps it wouldn't be able to hold up it's own weight. The dreaded S10 is a far better design.

 

I doubt we could have managed to end up with a running, driving, PB, PS 5 speed daily driver, stock seat, stock floor, etc... in less than 50 hours no matter how "cherry" the frame started out.

For me this was a simple short cut, I needed a quick cheap replacement daily driver. This left me more time and money to work on the '32 for my dad and my '52.

It helps that Greg has done several of these swaps and has the recipe pretty well down.

The S-10 would have required firewall, lower cowl and floor channel work for fitment where the frame flares to the front suspension.

 

I don't care how easy it may be or how nice it might drive, I just like using the original stuff. I have a 51 F1 all stock, drums all around, and a 51 F1 with a 9 inch rear and my own homemade disc brake conversion on the front on an original frame. Personal preference I guess.

 

S10's are traditional because they came with a SBC 4.3