making a game plan

so after this weekend at Dropt N Destroyed ive decided im gonna drastically alter my truck this winter. im starting to form a plan on doing a SFBD on it this winter. i talked to a guy at the show who built his own frame and he gave me plenty of ideas and told me lots of info. very helpful guy!! i also talked to a guy with SFBD Ranger at the show (Greg from RPS....Paco, CJ and Matt know who im talking about) about his so im sure i can ask him alot of questions when i really start digging in and going to town on this thing. me and my buddy Phil are gonna do alot of work as well as anyone else who wants to pitch in and help too. beer will be provided as well as a place to crash if need be. so in the next few weeks, me and Phil are gonna sit down and make a list of everything i wanna do/what needs to be done as well as sketches of what i wanna do. ive got a few ideas in mind right now. im also going to pick up a tube bender, sawzall blades, grinding discs, cutoff wheels and whatever else i can think of im going to need. so if anyone has any pointers, warnings, what-ever else....please post them. this is gonna get interesting...lol.

werd!

yeah so hopefully it will live up to the project name i gave it...its gonna be called Lemon Laid. i hope that name aint taken...lol.

oh and the truck in question is a 1995 Ford Ranger Splash and will be bagged and sfbd on i-beams. just not sure if i wanna make it lay on 18s or 20s. im gonna be really worried about the wheels touching the flare sides when its laid out all the way....

stick with 18's or you will have to move the flares up,
best advice I can give is take your time, dont get in a hurry and have patience...
measure everything then re-measure- write it all down and measure again to make sure its right...if your using a point as a reference, mark it, take a picture of it and write a reference about it down..., take pictures and draw out diagrams, use tape to label everything and did i mention measure and remeasure?
use baggies for your bolts and label them for each thing you take them out of...
Take a lot of pics for reference and be sure to measure and recheck your measurements

do i need to measure and remeasure, Paco?? i dont think you made it all that clear! LMMFAO!! dont worry, plenty of pics WILL be taken. besides i know everyone wants to see progress pics of it when i get started. oh hey Paco, message me when you get a chance. i got some ideas i wanna across about this.

Good look with that! Paco is right, have lots of patience and TAKE YOUR TIME! Don't rush it! It's a lot of work, a lot of stress, but all in all when it's finished it will be well worth it!!! If you have a bad day, or your not feelin it that day, don't work on it, becuase you will just get frustrated with it, and lose interest... Just speaking from experience.

Good luck! I can't wait to see progress pics, and the finished product!

thanks for the awesome advice everyone. since i dont drive this truck every day, i do plan on taking my time with it. i want it all done right and i HOPE to have it ready to drive by ITB next year. i dont think that will be a problem.

first on the agenda is to clean my garage. its a 3 bay garage. i need to put stuff away and clean the floor up real good and haul out a bunch of crap thats needs to be gettin rid of. i'll post pics of it soon.

oh, whats good to use as a frame "table" to set up the new frame on?

Can u run 19's and stll clear the flares just a thought not many trucks out there on 19's.

i have no clue man. i should ask over on a Ranger forum im on...

I built my frame table out of mostly 3x3.

ok phase 1 is complete...cleaning out the garage! i spent nearly 3 hours cleaning it out and filled up a huge trash can of crap to throw out. so anyways, heres the pics of the garage with a little discription:

this is standing at the side door looking inside. you can see a big long work bench on the right side:


another one from that side, looking towards one of the bay doors:


shelf of stuff (sorry for the dark pic):


pic from the opposite side of the garage:


and finally, heres the truck im gonna do the SFBD on:

why is your truck still in one peice?
start tearing that shit down.

soon Paco...soon. i got some tools and supplies to get first before i start cutting stuff up.

another note: i talked to the guy thats gonna help me out with welding and everything, he said i should do the new frame section from the firewall back. im not sure how well that would do. i was thinking of doing it from the frame horn back. any thoughts?

THATS A BAD ASS GARAGE, JUST ONE PROBLEM........... I DIDNT SEE ANY TOOLS IN THERE TO WORK ON IT

oh i got tools!!

firewall back would be the easiest way to go Brian...no need to go from the horns back unless you are going to do a custom C'arm front suspension...speaking of you could come down and pick up a 98+ front clip from down the road andswitch it over, wouldnt be any more work..

my buddy was also saying to use 2"x3" 3/16" wall tubing. i was thinking 1/4" wall to make it sturdy as hell. would the 3/16" wall be fine or too weak? im not gonna do any hopping with the truck.

i think 3/16 is what everyone uses...stock frame is 3/16 c-channel..so 3/16 box tubing is stronger than that

aight. cool. thanks for the info Paco. i went and looked at a tube bender at Harbor Freight that i think ima pick up in a couple weeks as well as some other things....

3/16" is plenty. 1/4" is just alot harder to cut.