Ford Ranger Frame Use?

game, set, and match!!!

 

Exactly what I did. Original frame was rusted through and running gear had been cobbled together.
Still had to pinch it so as not to have to cut the cab, move the diff 8" forward and cut about a foot off the front....all in all a LOT of work if there is an option to find an original....

(Yes, it will still get paint. No, I don't really care much about your opinion of me driving it in it's current state)

 

I drive a two year old Ranger every day and it's slow as ****. Seems like it waould make a pretty boring ride.

 

Fcks are only slow if you are an old fart.

 

EEEEERRRRRRR.... or if your a way young guy that hasn't driven too many things that go fast...

My major complaint with this platform would be that gawd-awfull front suspension! I have never driven a twin - I beam truck that DIDN'T try to kill me when I had to do something quickly to avoid others stupidity. There seems to be no breakaway point where you know you stepped over line, it just goes to hell. in my humble (and somewhat eductated) opinion the original F-1 beam axle is a much better, more predictable unit even if just based on camber "curve" alone. (Hint, there is none on the solid I-beam, versus a wacky, scary, cartoon physics one on the twin I-beam...)

 

Yeah but for so many, if you already have the parts you should use them. Even if they are total ****

 

"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.

Damn!!!!!! I like this dude. He's got my response style.

 

And yet conviently left out the fact that this is a gl*** cab designed for a ranger frame. Makes the whole thing rather moot. And yes it's a very nice truck. Sits pretty high for my taste, but I'm sure lowering a twin I beam is pretty cheap

 

Hello again! The cab has been correctly identified as being from US body and they make some pretty rugged gl*** stuff. In their earliest catalog listings, they say that the cab was designed to fit a Ranger ch***is. Now they say it will work on other small truck Ch***is.
Having built this truck in my own garage, I can tell you that it does not "fit" a Ranger ch***is... it has a reasonable copy of a Ranger floor in it, that's where any compatibility with a Ranger ends. In order to fit that cab to that ch***is, I had to remove all the cab mounts from the frame, rework and relocate the rears and fabricate entirely new front ones and I made all of the mounts to accept Chevy s-10 cab rubber mounts. So, as one poster said, "use the frame that fits the body" couldn't be farther from the case. Anyone who is familiar with the US body 40 should also note that the cab of that truck is the only US body part on the truck and it's the only US body component of their package the even remotely duplicates a 40 Pickup, the rest of their stuff makes so many concessions to the limitations of fibergl*** mold design it's rather cartoonish looking.

Another poster says the truck looks like it was designed for Ranger stuff. So far he's the only one who has seen it that has made that comment. The truck has original Henry steel for the hood, doors, running boards, chin panel, headlight buckets and upper grille brace. The black grille panels are also from an original 40 Ford. It has reproduction parts (parts that fit an original 40 Ford) for the inner fenders, inner fender splash shields,all the exterior trim and bumpers, bumper brackets and bed and tailgate. The wheelbase is the same as an original. All the window rubbers, fuzzies and gl*** runs are a 40 Ford. The radiator is a repop of a flattie radiator from a 40 and it even mounts to the inner fenders with the original Ford brackets. The fenders are from Wescotts and also are exact duplicates of the original stuff. The hood hinges on the Ford hinges and the original latch ***embly is used and even the safety catch functions. Just wanted folks to know that this was no kit and I have built other trucks that were rods that took 1/10 the work this did. I basically built it to see if I could. Plus it gave me a chance to apply my out of date 40 years ago autobody training to see if I still had what it takes. It seems the mind was all with it but my arms are still bothering me!

There was another post about the suspension, you will never get me to defend the twin I beam setup/ I had a Ranger with it and never had any complaints, I had an F-250 with it and it was the biggest piece of tire-shredding **** that ever rolled out of Dearborn. So, I'm taking my chances here. By the time I sold off all the Ranger parts I didn't need and completely refurbed the frame and rebuilt all the suspension and brakes, I was out a total of about 300 bucks...cheap enough and while the ride and handling may not be stellar, it will be predictable and that's more comforting to me than any home grown suspension and brakes I could could come up with on my own. Some of you guys are masters at that kind of stuff, me, not so much.
Another post mentioned how much of a slug this truck would be to drive... It has a Chevy 4.3 V6 , a 700R4 and 3.45 gears and it weighs next to nothing. I'm not too worried about the scoot factor. And it should turn in some reasonable MPG numbers too since I hope to drive it a lot and cover some serious ground with it.

Some folks like the ride height others think it's too tall. The rear is several inches lower than stock, but stock was designed to haul milk cans over rutted dirt roads. The front is where it ended up since I had no real way of predicting the ride height till the truck was ***embled and "wet". The running boards are parallel to the ground and that's what I was looking for.

I appreciate all of the posts! lots of great comments and critique. Most of what you guys do to your rides is WAY beyond my capabilities. But I believe every hot rod should be an expression of the builders vision, talent and limitations. Thanks!

 

Your truck is not traditional as most here, but turned out nice....I'd be proud to drive it!!!

I've had a few non-trad "rods" that drove great and was proud and would drive them again!!!

Nice work

 

I,m confused is this stuff traditonal, did they have 85 rangers in the 50,s that the problem its good for some but not all I see this **** all the time at suppose to be trad shows wow far out I thought the 60,s and 70,s was fun hummmmmmm?

 

Punctuation is traditional.

 

I never meant to p*** this truck off as traditional, that's why although I love the H.A.M.B, I don't post much about this truck here. The purpose of my post was to show that you can stuff just about any frame under any body and the wackier you are the more out-there you can get As for frame swaps, they're as traditional as you can get...An A body on 32 rails comes to mind. Building something from the stuff you have around or what you can scrounge, that's pretty traditional too. Doing the best work you know how to do will always be traditional.

I'm not trying to pose or whine that my truck is traditional enough for the H.A.M.B. I've been here long enough to know what the limits are (I have the yanked threads to prove it)

 

No, but they did have 50 rangers in the 80's

 

Same ol ******* match...

We didn't build the '42 to be traditional, I have 3 other "traditional" projects that are waiting on money/parts and time. With less than $3700 total into it, 4000+ miles of daily driver and weekend abuse, it fits the purpose.

 

1great40, your truck is cool for sure, but my point was the ease of using original frame for ease of ***embly. As you said yourself, it was a lot of work to put the cab on the frame. I put my cab on my F1 frame in about 6 minutes. It is probably no more difficult to install disc brakes and an overdrive in an original frame as it was to do the modifications you did to your truck. I guess it mostly comes down to personal preference and what you have access to. So.... I prefer the original stuff.

JW

 

Hear ya, loud n' clear! I forgot to add that although I had a 40 PU, it was a body only, the frame had been sold out from under it...don't know why. Up here in MA, good rust free stuff is near impossible to find but I may have mentioned before that not 3 weeks after the 'gl*** cab was delivered, a 40 cab with doors hung and floors and firewall all done turned up about 4 miles away from here!!! And there was no cash in the till to grab it That sort of influenced the direction of this build for sure!

Possibly if I had the skills to do the suspension and brake upgrades to a 35-40 original frame, things may have turned out different!

 

I went the opposite route, I had a sweet deal come up on a frame that I couldn't p*** up, here's a link to the build. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=774370
And a week later a guy called me about wanting to sell a body because he wanted to keep his frame, so..... here we go. Now I have even more stuff to do.

JW

 

A '50s Ranger...