Ford Ranger - Pre Runner

Today on trucks. Stacy's going from this to this as he finishes up. Project Prerunner by adding a 5.5 inch lift front and rear.

Then it's mad max revisited. We're taking the blown street sweeper out to do a little pavement cleaning.

And finally, Stacy's taking us out to a truck show to check out new parts in truck gear.

That's all today on trucks.

Anybody interested in a 69 Camaro

got the pink slip right here.

What was the guy thinking? There's a blower sticking 2 ft out of the hood.

Hey, welcome to trucks more on the street sweeper. Later on

last week, we started Project Prerunner, which is a 95 Ford Ranger. We're gonna do a whole desert treatment on it. Now, the first thing we did is pull off all four fenders put on these big flared fiberglass guys to give us some room for big tires and suspension.

That's what we're gonna deal with today. Tires and suspension. Now, for those of you that don't know,

the Prerunner or desert style truck is an awesome off road vehicle, but it's a complete departure off roading. Now, here's probably what you're used to

riding or rock crawling is usually about conquering impossible obstacles

and of course going where no one else can. This involves slow speed,

big old tires and of course low gearing,

get you some

pre runners. On the other hand, are all about speed, ground clearance and massive wheel travel.

They have to be able to run fast and hit everything from rocks to bushes

to deep trenches and gullies and keep on going.

Now, that sounds like a pretty tall order and it is, but we've got it covered and I'm gonna show you how after I get this thing in the air and get the tires off of it.

All right, the kit that I'm gonna use is from Fab

Tech motor sports and it's gonna give us a 5.5 inch lift

and that's a lot for a Ford Ranger. Now, the kit comes with two massive eye beams,

extended radius arms and their mounting brackets,

coil springs,

new coil spring buckets and integral dual shock hoops,

performance shocks and of course, a whole bunch of hardware. Now, I know this looks like a pretty difficult install, but it's really not that bad and I'm gonna prove it to you.

The first thing that we'll do is unhook this brake line

because we're gonna need longer hoses. And those come with the kit,

just make sure that you kept the line. So you don't have brake fluid dripping all over the place.

Then support the I beam with the floor jack.

Next, pull out the shocks

and remove

the sway bar.

Now, separate the tie rod ends from the spindles,

finally separate the spindle assembly from the eye beam

and set it out of the way.

Now, we're ready to get those coil springs out of there.

And that is very easy because on this application, you don't need a spring compressor because the spring is bolted to the eye beam. So once you have the nut loose, go ahead and lower the jack.

Notice how the spring releases

and just take off the nut

and remove the spring.

Then

on both the I beam

and remove it from the truck,

finally

out comes the radius arm.

The last thing that we'll do

is take off this tie rod in

so we can remove this adjuster sleeve and replace it with this much larger one that comes with the kit.

All right, this is where things get a little more serious because we have to get rid of these original coil spring buckets to make room for the new ones. So using a grinder, gonna knock off the heads of all these rivets and then we'll be able to just pry it out

the new coil spring bucket bolts right to the frame rail, using these original holes from the old rivets, check this out

nice clean installation. But before you bolt it on,

make sure that you paint the frame with a good rust inhibit of paint, especially where you have bare metal because moisture get back there behind that bucket cause the frame to rust

with the main bolts in place. All you have to do is come out here, drill down through these holes bolting on that takes care of the shock hoops

and the spring cup. Now,

you wanna make sure that there are no fuel lines inside the frame rail before you start drilling. Also,

if you're gonna use any kind of shrouding in here, make sure it tucks back behind the shock hoops.

Next, we're ready for the new radius arms. Now, check this out

there is no way that these new ones are gonna fit where these whole stockers were. These are considerably longer and that's gonna give us way more wheel travel and I'll explain a little more of that here in a minute.

What I wanna show you right now

is the difference in design and construction of these two parts.

This because of its tubular design is gonna be way stronger and of course, it looks a lot better too.

Ok? To relocate the radius arm, this old cross members got to come out,

which means out comes the trusty grinder

to knock off the heads of these rivets. Now

getting a grinder up into some of these tight spots is gonna be a little tough. So

if you have access to an air chisel, now's the time to use it,

then we'll clamp the new bracket in place

according to the measurements from Fab

Tech,

that's right on the money.

Then we'll just drill the holes, bolt it on

next, we'll grease up the urethane bushings to keep them from squeaking,

then lightly bolt the radius arms on and that brings us up to the break. But after the break, we're gonna put on those great big eye beams and finish this thing up. So you got about two minutes to go to the bathroom and get a drink and then get back here. And if you don't make it, I'm gonna start without you.

Next. More cool parts are on tap for project prerunner as we get closer to finishing.

And later it was inspired by a movie, but there are no special effects. It's the street sweeper and it's all horsepower.

Hey, you made it.

Welcome back to trucks and Project Prerunner. We're doing a 5.5 inch lift on a Ford Ranger. Now, like I said before the break, it is now time for these big custom eye beams.

As you can see, these are a lot bigger than anything that came stock on a little Ford Ranger.

They've also got greasy bushing so you get good maintenance and long life there. But unlike these custom radius arms, they have their own special mount,

these guys bolt right in place of the stock.

All right. Now, a lot of people are not real familiar with the twin I beam style suspension and it's definitely got its pros and cons. So

I'm gonna fill you in on it a little bit.

Now, Ford built this style suspension from the sixties all the way into the nineties and it's a good suspension.

Unless you wanted to modify it, then it was kind of a pain in the butt. And here's why

your camber was set from the factory at ride height. So if you try to lower the truck,

your camera goes way negative. Now that not only looks bad and it doesn't ride very well either.

Now, if you tried to lift the truck, same thing, the camera went way positive.

So the only way to do it right is to put on custom eye beams. And of course, those are expensive.

Those are the cons. Now, the pros

as the strength of this I beam radius arm configuration and also

the amazing amounts of wheel travel that you can get. Now, those are both important when you got four wheels in the air

with the new I beam and the radius arm in place. It's time for the new coil springs. Now, just like everything else with this kit. These absolutely dwarf what came in here originally? If you need a little reminder, check this out,

man. That's sick. I love it.

All right. With the spring in place, just rotate it to seed it into the pocket up here

and then bolt it in at the bottom,

then

jack up the eye beam

and mount the J clip

to the top of the spring bucket.

Now, this keeps the spring from coming out of the pocket.

Even if you're airborne

and the suspensions at full droop.

The next thing to go on are the shocks and they run side by side from the radius arm all the way up to the hoop.

Now we're ready to install the spindle assembly

and the new alignment cam. Now you've got to have one of these because that's how you adjust your caster and camera.

And of course,

it also comes with the kit.

Now, a couple things here,

you wanna make sure and rega

your bottom ball joint

and also now is a good time to check your brakes and replace them. If they're bad,

looks like we need a brake job

moving on. We'll reconnect the tie rod end,

make sure that you grease. This thing

finally

put on the longer braided stainless steel brake hoses. Now make sure that you wire tie these up out of the way because you don't want your tire to get into them when you turn it.

Now, that will pretty much take care of this side. All you have to do is exactly the same thing over on the other side.

I'll tell you what, while I finish up here. Why don't you step back? Take a really good look at what a difference. A 5.5 inch lift makes over stock.

Once the front end is lifted, it's time to tackle the rear and it is gonna be a breeze, especially since we've got the bed off this thing. Now, the first thing that you always do

is put a jack under the rear end to support it,

then

remove the sway bar

shocks.

So

then pop off the U

bolts

and finally

remove the leaf springs.

The fab tech kit gets its whole left in the rear

with just a set of springs. I mean, no blocks, no extended shackles, just springs. As you can see, they don't even look like they're for the same truck.

Now, the old ones have three leaves, the new ones have six leaves and they also have a military style double wrap on the front for safety.

You can see that the bushings are already installed. So

putting these in is a matter of just

putting them in.

Follow that with the new shocks

and that takes care of the lift on the rear. See

easy.

You're not completely done yet. You do need to check a few things. So with the rear end at full droop, you need to make sure you don't have any binding in your brake hoses or your emergency brake cables.

That looks good.

All right. Now, we come to one of my favorite parts of any build up and that is the wheels and tires because that is such a major part of the whole look and attitude of a truck and when it's right. Oh, man, it's right when it's bad. Dorky.

So to make ours right. We went to Weld racing and got a set of their

super strong side winders. Now, the size is 15 by eight. Back spacing is three and five eights. And this is important because

if you go any bigger, believe it or not, you're gonna have some clearance problems.

Now, we

also gives you some choices for center caps

for that. We're gonna use this really cool dome style that covers the lug nuts. That looks awesome.

Now, for tires, we went to Mickey Thompson got a set of these Baha

radial mtxs the size 33 1250.

Now these are a great all around tire and they should be able to handle anything I throw at them.

All right, with the new wheels and tires on and the spare in the bed and the bed back on the truck. You can see that the body and suspension are done on the prerunner except for paint. But these things are awesome, man. I love these things and they're a ball to drive and I'm gonna show that to you here in the next few weeks. The question is, would you rather have cool

or stock?

Next Stacy's got his hands full as he's raw. Hiding that big bad blown street sweeper.

Just can't get enough of trucks. Check us out online at trucks, tv.com.

Welcome. Back to trucks. You know, people are always asking how do you build a really cool truck?

Something that'll win some shows, but more importantly, that'll just knock people's socks off when they see it.

Well, the secret is to have a direction or a theme for the build up. So you don't just have a hodgepodge of parts that don't really work together. Now, a prime example of how to do that right is with Larry and Sandy Henniger

insanely wicked 71 Ranchero.

Now, the direction behind the build up on this truck was very simple. Next, snapping brute force and an over the top in your face attitude

pretty much like the V8 interceptor vehicle in the movie. Mad Max

Larry started by taking a truck with an already evil looking front end

and shaved off the front bumper and blended it all in slick as glass

and rumbling under the hood is a very nasty 351 Cleveland Hesler

racing engine

that so dominates the engine bay that you almost forget to notice just how detailed everything is almost.

Of course, on the other side of the hood is the rest of the engine that towers 2 ft above the hood line

in the form of a 671 huffer and dual quads.

Now, this motor combination from both sides of the hood cranks out over 600 horsepower to about three miles to the gallon,

which means this truck will pretty much pass everything but a gas station

still not enough attitude for you. Well, the massive blower is further enhanced by a subtle three inch chop and shaved door handles

inside those doors are black leather bucket seats, flame door panels and a custom dash and console stuffed with gauges to keep you informed when you need that gas station.

A wild wild butterfly steering wheel gives the pilot something to hold on to when he uncorks this stuff.

Of course, the wood grain siding that once ran down the side of this truck has been discarded and all 100 and 26 holes were welded up and finished to perfection. For a smooth glassy look. The smoothness continues into the rear with a custom roll pan and tail lights and a message just in case you're wondering

now, a wooden bed floor is not usually found in a ranchero,

but one was added to put just the right finishing touch on the tail end.

The best part about this truck though is the effect that it has on people. When they see it,

they'll stare, they'll point some will drool, others will try to look away and you can't because this thing just draws them like a magnet.

And should anybody be crazy enough to try a challenge? Well,

they'll quickly find out this thing definitely has the muscle to go with the look. As a matter of fact, if I had to describe this truck in just two words,

I'd use two right from the movie Mad Max

Blower. The blower.

After the break, Stacy hits the truck show circuit to find what's cool and what's hot in truck gear.

And now truck gear, parts, tools and equipment for pickups and sport utilities.

Hey, for today's truck gear. I thought we'd do something a little different and take you out of the studio and show you what you'd find out of the truck show

like this. I need this,

uh,

too expensive.

Now, if you're thinking about putting an independent suspension in the rear of your truck, you need to check this out from Heights Hot Rod shop.

Now, for those of you in the know, you might think it looks kind of like an old jag set up with coil over shocks and inboard brakes, but

they make their own center chunk which holds the center section of a nine inch Ford and you know how strong those are. Now the magic of this kit is, it comes with the cross members that makes mountain this in the frame a whole lot easier than putting

in an old jag or Corvette set up.

Now, the price will start at these just under 4000 bucks. Heights hot rod shop is where you got to go.

Now, you've all heard of the product that you supposedly can paint right over rust and it'll stop it dead in its tracks. Well, does it exist? Yes. It's called Por 15. Por stands for paint over rust. Now, as you can see, this piece is rusted to the point of being pitted.

Now, it's been sprayed with Por 15

and you can literally beat the crap out of that and still not have it chip off.

That's also very flexible. So it won't come off even if the metal bends. Now, Por 15 is not cheap. It's 88 bucks a gallon. But you get what you pay for.

All right. So you need an engine for your new project and you got to have a Chevy. Well, if you go to GM Performance parts, you can get the 330 horsepower crate motor

or you can get the 350 horsepower fuel injected 350 crate motor or if that's not enough, you got the 385 horsepower 350. Now, of course, if you believe that bigger is better check out the new 502502.

Now, everybody's always telling me how they love to build a street rod pickup but

there's no steel bodies out there. Well, you're in luck because Brookville Roasters now has an all steel

3031 Ford Roadster pick up body. Now, this thing's been extended six inches in the cab area to give you a little bit more leg room.

But the bed's been shortened. So it still fits on a stock chassis and it looks a lot better this way too.

Now, the bed and body combination goes for about 5200 bucks and for an all steel body, that's a smoking deal.

Well, what do you think of that?

I thought you'd like it. But if you thought that was cool, you wait till you see what I got for you. Next week,

next week on trucks, it's one of the most popular projects Stacy has ever built and you've waited a long time to see it finished. So next week is your chance

on roads, mud and even water. We're pushing project Wicked Willies to the very edge to see if it will run as good as it looks.

That's all next week on trucks

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