1997 Ford Ranger Axle - Ultimate Danger Ranger

We knew that 35s and a full-time locker were going to be tough on our steering so we went with one of the easiest steering upgrades available for the Dana 30-the TeraFlex high-steer system complete with knuckle, drag link, and HD tie rod. The only modification we made was to drill out the pitman arm to fit the larger taper.

Considering the coilover towers were designed for a Wrangler, it was amazing how little we had to do to make them work for our '97 Ranger. About a half inch will need to be cut off the back of the tower brace to allow the tower to seat firmly against the frame.

We ran into a little coilover bind due to how the original coilover tabs bolted the shock into the tower. To correct this we used a plasma cutter to remove the original tabs and replaced them with a set of weld-on mounts from Poly Performance. This keeps the ball inside of the coilover eyelet from becoming overstressed or damaged during extreme articulation.

It's welding time! Since this kit is almost entirely weld-on, we must stress how important your welds are. We suggest going to a certified welder if you think your skills are not quite up to the task. Heat will be your friend here as the brackets are all relatively thick. Good penetration is not always something you can see, so double- and triple-check your welds to make certain you are burning in both metals.

Rock Krawler will be happy to make you a track bar the length you need once you figure out all your measurements. Due to time constraints and knowing that they would have the parts on the shelf, we opted to let Poly Performance whip us up a track bar to get the Ranger moving in a timely fashion.

We swapped out our original 7.5-inch rear for the stronger 8.8-inch axle out of a '99 Ranger. A quick tip for removing the emergency-brake cable is to slide a box-end wrench over the retainer and then pull the cable out. At this point we opted to swap our original soft line with a steel braided one from Skyjacker. This will allow our axle plenty of droop without fear of overextending the line.

Staying with the simple theme, we bolted on a set of 6-inch Toyota mini-truck rear leaves from All Pro Off-Road. This netted the Ranger around 9 inches of lift in conjunction with the factory rear block and moved the wheelbase back around 2 inches. One thing to note is that the factory Ford springs are a little wider than the Toyota packs. To adjust for this we slid in a set of beefy industrial washers that allowed the springs to bolt properly in place.

For coils and shocks we chose a set of 10-inch Sway-A-Way race runner shocks with Eibach springs. Two of the main factors to look at when dialing in your coils is the vehicle weight and the type of wheeling that you intend to do. We went a little heavy with our rate, running a 300/350 with the addition of a tender coil. Due to the mounting position of the shock we were limited to around 4 inches of uptravel. Normally you want as even a balance as possible (i.e., 5 inches of up and 5 inches of down for a 10-inch travel shock).

Here's a teaser shot of the finished front end. In next month's issue we tackle the drivetrain and finish up the last-minute details to make the Ultimate Danger Ranger adventure ready!