1997 Ford Ranger

Last month we showed you how to convert a TTB ( twin traction beam) series Rangerto a solid axle and revealed our goal of transforming this mild '97 Ford Ranger into a full-on Ultimate Adventure-ready rig that would have to stand up to some of the toughest trails that Texas has to offer. Although you've probably noticed by now that the Ultimate Danger Ranger made the trip, we wanted to show you the steps it took to get it there.

Most 3.0L-equipped Rangers are fitted with a 25-spline output shaft on the transmission, creating extremely limited options in terms of swapping transfer cases. The factory Borg-Warner 1354 isn't necessarily a weak case, but there simply isn't aftermarket demand for lower gears for that particular case. This left us with two options.

Option one would be to find another BW 1354 and create a homemade doubler. Option two would be to go with the only direct replacement transfer case available on the market at the time of print, an Advance Adapters Atlas II. Once we compared the two in terms of price, time, and feasibility, we decided that Atlas was the only logical way to go.

The Borg-Warner 1354 transfer case has a unique five-bolt mounting pattern common to Ford Rangers, Explorers, and Mazda midsized trucks. Once all sensors, shafts, and linkages are undone, you can remove the case. It will also be necessary to remove the factory transmission mount in order to slide out the last remaining case bolt.

Knowing how gutless our Ranger was in stock form, we figured that lower gears would be needed in the differentials as well as the transfer case. After crunching a few numbers we determined that with 35-inch tires, the 4.88 gears in the differential in addition to the Atlas 5.0:1 low would offer us all the gear selection we needed given the benefit of the factory five-speed transmission. With the truck still taking up space at Diesel Tech, we hammered down and began the complete drivetrain removal.

For the gear installation we called on our friend Dale Langdon, a certified technician with more than a decade's worth of gearing knowledge-and lucky for us, a true enthusiast that does gear installation on the side. Although we encourage you to familiarize yourself with the what's what of your differential, a gear install can be a bit overwhelming if you're not equipped with the right tools. If a dial indicator and crush sleeves sound foreign to you, it's probably best to leave the gear installation to the professionals. Be sure to check out next month's issue for our Ranger wrap-up and the ultimate fate of our little Danger Ranger.

With the case removed, measure from the center of the output shaft to the inside of the body. This will give you an idea beforehand of any interference you may encounter when installing the new Atlas and also give you an idea of whether you will need to clock the new case. Now is also a good time to determine where the twin-stick shifters will be positioned and how the floorpan will have to be modified to make room for the shifters to have a full range of motion. Advance Adapters does suggest the use of a 1-inch body lift when installing an Atlas, but we were already as high as we needed to go in terms of lift. Thus we cut up our floor a little more than if we had gone with the body lift.	Removal of the extension tube will be necessary when guiding the Atlas into place...	...Two of the biggest advantages of having an Atlas are the availability of 2-Lo and the addition of a super-low 5.0:1 transfer-case gear ratio that will allow the Ranger to crawl over most obstacles, since powering up really isn't an option.
Given the added torque of the geardriven low-range, we thought it would be a good idea to upgrade our original transmission crossmember. Rather than starting from scratch, we called Skyjacker and got one of its heavy-duty crossmembers that is used in conjunction with its Stage II TTB lift kit. The increased mounting surface and strength of the bar will help keep our framerails from twisting as much since the factory C-channel frame allows for more frame flex.	Before we could install our front ring-and-pinion, we needed to tear down our high-pinion Dana 30. This particular 30 was originally equipped with a vacuum-disconnect front axle that allows the front passenger-side axleshaft to disengage when the Jeep was in two-wheel drive. Since the vacuum disconnect is prone to be weak and problematic, we decided to remove the two-piece shaft in place of a set of one-piece shafts that slide directly into place with out any modifications. Once the disconnect feature was removed, we finished off the conversion by building a plate that would cover and replace the original disconnect actuator that bolted onto the back of the housing.	Since the original outer axle seal rests inside the disconnect housing that is no longer in use, we needed to find a seal that would fit inside the differential. Napa PN 11343 is the correct seal that you will need to keep all of the differential fluid from escaping out of the tube end.