1947 ford ranger...

[Dez]

Dec 18, 2019 12:54:34 GMT sasquar said:

far too late to be of any help at all, but we ran a '02 ranger for for work about 15 years up until a few months back, things like those bushes you ordered from the states were available direct from ford dealer, cheap as chips...... obvioulsy wont last as long as the poly replacements, but i was always suprised how much was available and how reasonable the prices were from ford.....

Great progress, I'm treating this as a 'what ive got in store for me' kind of tutorial regarding the chassis, as the one i mention is now sat in the corner waiting for me to have some 'fun time' with it in a similar mannor to you.....

Ford where unhelpful when I rang them tbh. Might just be the local branch is a bit pants, but they didn’t seem interested in selling parts.

More people should definately be building these. The chassis is so well suited. It basically incorporates as standard all the things people go for when modifying trucks, except a v8!

[Dez]

Made these today.

First this turned up, i just bought a short 250mm length off eBay for £12 delivered as it’s an odd size and I didn’t think I’d use any of it again for anything so no point buying a length.
It’s 100x60x5rhs. That’s rectangular hollow section for the uninitiated.
100mm wide (same as spring pads on axle are long)
60mm deep (same width as the springs)
And 5mm wall. A little overkill but I couldn’t find anyone stocking a lesser wall thickness.


Cut down to two 4” lengths. You never make lowering blocks taller than they are long, so that is maximum lowering available with the spring pads the size they are.


The next most important thing, and the reason that ‘universal’ lowering blocks are somewhere between junk and downright dangerous, is the locator pin size. It HAS to be a tight fit into the spring pad, and likewise the pin on the spring has to be a tight fit into the hole on the bottom of the block, or the axle can wander about and it’ll be terrible to drive. So there’s no such thing as universal. The blocks need to be a specific, good fit to the locators.
Mine needed to be 14mm, which meant the 13mm OD head on an m8 Allen cap was too small, so I had to use m10 ones and turn them down a bit on the lathe. And yes they’re recycled VW CV joint bolts!




Next, make the endplates. I used 6mm, again a bit overkill but I didn’t have anything between 3mm and 6mm and the former was too thin. I Welded the Allen bolts on from the backside and cut off the excess thread. You can tap em and screw em in if you want but there’s not much point unless you don’t know the pin size.


Tacked in-


Welded and ground up-


And with the necessary longer U-bolts.


I had a batch of these made up so can supply if you’re looking for some.

Then I chucked the springs back on the chassis with everything done up loosely, and bolted it all up. It’ll come back off and all be greased up and the paint touched in before I’m finished.






The reason I did this is I need to check the axle centreline location for the bit I need to do next.
And lower=betterer, obvs.

[07lilredwagon]

such nice work!

now I have a use for all those VW cv joint bolts I have saved over the years!

What will the stance look like when you are done?.....


JP

[Dez]

I thought I’d posted these pics previously, but can’t see them in the thread.
This is unlowered so about 4” lower than this😆

[jamesd1972]

Looks like decent clearance to th chassis rails - how much movement before bump stops hit ?
Nice progress
James

[Dez]

There’s still 4.5” to the rails over the axle as it is. That’ll go down a bit with some weight on it though.

I’ve levelled the chassis this morning as part of doing the next bit, and measured a few clearances, which Ill note here for reference. The front kickup of the chassis is 5” from the main rails under the cab, to where the front crossmember mounts. At the back the sweep of the rails is a whopping 9-3/4” at its highest point above the axle!
According to the frame drawings I have, a stock 47 ford 1/2ton chassis has 2” of sweep, so that’s essentially 7-3/4” of free lowering, before I’ve even lowered it. Not hard to see why it sits how it does.

[mylittletony]

Dec 19, 2019 13:59:02 GMT Dez said:

essentially 7-3/4” of free lowering

Plus a 4" block = 1 entire foot of drop.

Heroic!

[Morris63]

Just sat here and read the whole thread; absolutely lovely stuff (although was sorry to read about the fire).

It just seems to fit together so "right".

[Dez]

Dec 19, 2019 14:12:42 GMT mylittletony said:

Dec 19, 2019 13:59:02 GMT Dez said:

essentially 7-3/4” of free lowering

Plus a 4" block = 1 entire foot of drop.

Heroic!

Well, if you consider how high a stocker is-

[glenanderson]

Are you going to be able to keep a useable/useful payload going that low, or aren’t you too bothered about it?

[Dez]

Next bit. Unsurprisingly it’s more chassis welding. Although this is marginally more interesting than replacing gammy bits as it involves some thought and planning.

First, more postal presents.
A length of 45mm CDS. 45mm cos that’s what diameter the fuel tank crossmember is.


I’m going to be adding a crossmember. Not to do anything with right now, but for future use. Itll be behind the axle by the same distance the fuel tank one is in front. Which is 130mm. This is entirely DOOVLA legal, I can add within the original perimeter of the chassis, but not take away 😉

First, level the chassis-


I was fairly certain these holes signifies axle centreline, but the reason I reassembled the axle and springs was to double check-


Marking up the distance back from the axle CL-


Then I had to mark up for the centre of the crossmember vertically. A little trickier, but it all dropped into place when I realised the top of the tank crossmember was level with the top of the rear crossmember. So I could just use the level to draw a line and then mark 22.5mm down from that (half the tube diameter to give me the centre).




Hole one. The sheets are to keep the oily cutting fluid off the paint as I’ll be giving it a second coat later.


Hole two-


Onto number three, marked and piloted.


Cut-


Then I Deburred and opened the holes up a fraction with a carbide burr- I only had a 44mm holecutter. That holecutter is a beast though, I bought it to do the roll hoop in my first bug, 18 years ago, and it’s still going strong! Gets a lot of use too.

Only one thing for it, slip ‘er in and see how it’s going-


Good so far. My tape measure work is strong. Had to have a little rest here as 3 batteries in the drill was getting a little warm! So teabreak, then onto the the last hole-


Success! Fits perfectly, the level touches all 3 crossmembers at both sides, and it sits parallel to the tank crossmember.




Did some welds/


And a few more-


Outers were flapped back a bit to match the finish of the ones on the other crossmember.


And there we have it. Like I say, does nothing at the moment but may do in future, and it means I won’t need to take the bed off again like I would if I added it further down the line.

[norfolkshire]

Always nice to see the consummate professional wielding the hot-glue gun.

2nd cross member, future proofing for possible air suspension perchance?

[düdo]

Fantastic work as always Dez and well recorded.

[Dez]

Dec 20, 2019 12:22:02 GMT glenanderson said:

Are you going to be able to keep a useable/useful payload going that low, or aren’t you too bothered about it?

Nearly missed that tucked away between bigger posts!

It’ll still hold a fair bit as it is. For really heavy loads I’ll use a trailer, and further down the line I won’t have to worry about it because of air suspension as alluded to.

[Dez]

Dec 20, 2019 14:12:31 GMT norfolkshire said:

Always nice to see the consummate professional wielding the hot-glue gun.

2nd cross member, future proofing for possible air suspension perchance?

Thanks, and yes that’s the long term plan. I don’t want to do it now as it’ll delay getting it on the road and I want the truck done ASAP, but anything that reduces the amount of work later on has been accounted for. Here’s a little mockup of how much room there is-

[Dez]

Dec 20, 2019 17:04:36 GMT düdo said:

Fantastic work as always Dez and well recorded.

Thanks. Tbh I’m a little out of practice on my photo taking at the right times, I haven’t done build threads for a while so it drops out of the thought process. Hence the odd gaps here and there in the photo record.

[Deleted]

Still enjoying following along Dez.
Can't wait to see how it turns out man

[Dez]

Big, big update.

I was getting so fed up of welding this bloody chassis. I’d done loads of work and there was still plenty left. I still had to do the back 2-1/2 foot of inner rail, which was the worst, most holed bits. To do this I had to cut off the other shock mount, which are a $hit to get off without damaging them, and cut the rear crossmember out. Eugh.
I was flagging on it but I knew the way to overcome this was just get on with it. With this lot turning up I could procrastinate no further-


So, this bit got removed. Some tricky air saw and chisel work involved to get into the corners.


Another great big bit of chassis rail was chopped out. I’ve cleaned up inside and ground out all the old weld where it meets the gusset bit here.


Made a bit.


Welded it in-


Ground it up-


Realised I had to do it all again on the other side. Lost the will to live. Went home. Watched magnet fishing videos on YouTube.
Went to bed.

Got up, went to the workshop, drank tea for a bit then forced myself to get on with the other side.
Hacked off the shock mount, didn’t give a curse word about the rail so mangled it to keep the shock mount decent.


Shock mount cleaned up-


The very grotty bit of inner rail. Proably the worst section out the lot-


Missed out photos of me doing all this side, but hold the last few from above up to the mirror and it’s close enough.

Put shock mount back onto new rail once I’d ground it up-


Rest of the rail-


Woo it feels like I’m getting somewhere!
One last push and it’ll be done.


That last push is literal as well as psychological, as when I chopped the crossmember out, the rails sprung together about 1/4”. I fully expected this, which is why I cut it where I did leaving a bit of the top crossmember tabs attached to the rails as a reference.
Hi-tech solution-


That’s a £8 Aldi bottle jack and a cut down pallet bearer! Push until gaps between crossmember and the remaining tabs on the rails are exactly a cutting disc wide, then weld.

Last bit is a patch on the crossmember. These always rot here as the dirt sits on top of them.


Made a bit and tacked it in. Bolt is where I welded on a captive nut, it’s the earthing point for the rear lights. Dunno what other hole is for but I added it so it matches the other side.


Welded and ground-


FIN.


Stand back and say thank fuuuurk that cooontin’ job is over. At least I won’t have to worry about the strength or condition of it when I loading it up or dragging bits on the floor!

Only bit of welding left is to put in some threaded bosses for the cab mount bolts. Then more paint will go on and it can be waxed inside and built up.

Was a ton of work I didn’t want, but it suffered a lot sat outside uncovered for a year. Also, when the truck you buy is nearly 2k less than market value for a reasonable one, you expect a bit of extra work here and there....

[NudgerSS]

Some epic work there. Well done on sticking at it. Onto the fun stuff now then.

[vitesseefi]

And it's given us the enjoyment of seeing you make it as good as new again Some classy repairs there.

Nick