Mugatu's Ranger Build

[Mugatu]

Broken OEM Driver's CV Axle & RCV CV Axle, Cracked oil pan, Bent Front Differential Mounts, Realignement Attempt

Son of a... biscuit....

While wheeling with a buddy out in Mendocino National Forest, my inboard driver's side CV axle grenaded itself. This happened while climbing out of a rutted trail on a decent incline. Of course I had an audience of Jeepers and plenty of Tacos. After blocking the trail for a few min, I finally was able to get up to the top and move out of the way for the folks behind me. The tripod bearings had ripped themselves out and were laying on the trail.

I'm not entirely sure what happened, but I do know that the drive side wheel was at full droop. I was in 4Low, I had some slippage while the wheels tried to gain traction. I also remember slightly turning the steering a few degrees either way. I "think" advantrak was on, but don't remember sure. Rear locker was on for sure.

I of course was stuck about 40 miles deep into the national forest on top of a old fire look out a top of Hull Mountain. On top of that, I was about 200 miles overall from home. Fortunately it was only noon, but I absolutely had to be out of there before the end of the day to start a new job. Talk about pressure.

Fortunately, the truck was movable albiet slowly. Of course during the course of trying to get a recovery, no one would come get us unless we were closer to the main road 40 miles away. I wish I could've called Matt's Offroad Recovery!

Long story short, we made it to civilization and FINALLY got someone who was willing to come get my truck. We made it home just past midnight and I was able to start my new job the following day thanks to my buddy, the folks at Soda Creek Store, and a few other friendly offroaders along the way.

At the time I heard that the early model rangers (2019) all had tripod inboard bearings which were known to fail in a higher percentage versus the updated models that came with dual rzeppas. The photo below: top CV axle is the updated dual rzeppa, and the bottom one is the early model with the tripod bearing on the inboard side. Just below that I think is my dead CV.

During this time, parts were hard to get. But fortunately APG had teamed up with RCV to create APG specific CV Axles, so I ordered a pair of those. Dual Rzeppa forged goodness!

Until I broke this one too.

A few months later, I was out on another trip out to Usal Beach with a caravan of folks (the same trip where my adaptive cruise control wigged out). We rolled out to the beach area which was pretty sandy. A good number of people got stuck and had to be pulled out. I had my full overland load out with RTT and equipment in the bed etc. The last day we were there, we planned to do a group photo by the water. When I packed up and pulled out the driver side CV popped out. Again I had an audience of toyotas etc and had to be recovered.

Sigh... Man, that was a rough day.

I eventually made it home, but the hits kept coming. I had taken the truck to my friends at APG who discovered that the root cause of my issue wasn't the CV axle, but the alignment of the front drive unit (front differential). Apparently when the original axle broke, even at low speeds everytime the knuckle on the shaft hit the rim of the race it had enough force to jostle the mounts on the FDU to go side to side. The repeated force going back and forth was enough to bend the mounts towards the passenger side and slightly puncture the top of the oil pan with the head bolts from the differential.

With APG's help, I was able to get the oil pan sealed up again and out of the way. APG went above and beyond dropping everything to attempt to realign the mounts for the differential. They threw everything at it, but ultimately it was still off enough that any CV axle that I put in there is too close to the edge of the plunge and could pop out at full droop. But they were able to get me street worthy again.

It's not easy to see from the photo, but this mount is bent pretty badly. This is the driver side mounting tab that is bent towards the passenger side.

Same thing on this photo. Hard to see the bend, but the ears are shifted over and the rubber bushing is shot.

No photos of the punctured oil pan, but it was only weeping a little. The bolts on the FDU had impacted the side of the oil pan at the top close to where it mounts to the bottom of the block. Got it sealed with JB Weld.

Ultimately, the general consensus at the time was that I needed to have the mounts completely redone to fix the diff alignment problem. Fortunately with the truck in a running state, it bought me time until I can figure out how to solve the problem. I needed to find a shop with fabrication skills to make it offroad worthy again.

A big shot out to George and Kenny of APG for going out of their way dumping a lot of time into my truck to get me road worthy again. Can't thank them enough.

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[Mugatu]

Redline Goods Leather E-Brake Boot, Course Motorsports Phone Holder, Roush Cold Air Intake Kit, Quikr Hitch Mount Bike Rack, Painted Explorer Steering Wheel Trim

While I was looking into options/solutions to my FDU alignment issue, I picked up a few things to install.

After four years my ebrake boot finally ripped on me, so I replaced it with a nice leather piece from Redline Goods in EU.

Pretty straight forward update/refresh.

I also picked up a new Samsung Z Fold so I needed a better phone mount solution. Picked out the Course Motorsports mount.

The mount actually secures to the screws behind the screen shroud, and the end is the standard ball style mount. Since my new (to me) Samsung is pretty thiccc, I had this "Anwas" amazon special I put on to secure the phone.

I saw a good price for a Roush CAI kit, so I picked up one of those to install.

Pretty easy install as well. Wish they were all that easy!

I also found a Explorer Steering wheel front cover to repaint. I was able to paint it, but haven't installed it yet. I still need to wet sand it a little before putting some clear coat, but it turned out pretty well.

I ended up selling my Yakima Bed Racks (overhaul, and outpost) along with the Yakima accessories. I also sold my RTT as well, but needed to find a good solution for my heavy ebikes. I found Quikr online, and thought they had a real solid piece that was cheaper than an equivalent Kuat model. I think the Quikr model could probably hold a Sur Ron bike seeing how well built it is.

Plan is to do some riding out in Utah while visiting some family, one day hopefully next year.

 

[Mugatu]

Rear M220 4.70:1 Gears / Ford Performance Diff Cover

At the time, a well known shop/fabricator in the area had recently moved into my neighborhood, Shaffer's Offroad. They weren't too far from me before, but now that they were so close I had to go and visit. Shaffer's Offroad is a fabrication and truck shop where the owner and team actively competes in Baja 1000 and various offroad events. They have also partnered with automotive journalists for projects such as Motortrend, and Ultimate Adventures. These guys know their stuff.

Talking to the team at Shaffer's, I showed them my bent mounts and explained my sob story to them. At this time, getting parts were tough, but the Bronco has been out for a short while and the suggestion was made to just swap in the Bronco FDU w/ locker. With my truck having longer upper and lower control arms for long travel, it seemed like a good idea. I'd need to source all the parts, and figure out how to get a set of CV Axles to work.

There was a long wait for parts, so we installed what was available at the time which was the rear gears, and diff cover.

I was able to update my speedo using Forscan. 33" tires and 4.70:1 gearing is pretty short, and made for a very "sprinty" off the line feel. 10th gear is actually being utilized now that I have shorter gearing.

 

[Mugatu]

My "pièce de résistance": Bronco M210 elocker (from Sasquatch Package) complete Front Drive Unit differential, Branik Motorsports Custom Length Axle Shafts, BDS Rear Shackle, Switchpro SP-9100

Based on what I've learned from the research I done on the bronco M210, the M210 is a bit beefier than the stock M190.

As I understand it, the 190 and 210 numbers represent the gear ring size, 190mm and 210mm respectively. The M210 is a little wider, about an inch or two, than the M190 due to the electronic locker. In addition, the pumkin is made of steel/iron versus aluminum like the M190 unit giving it more strength. Driver's side mounts appear to be the same as the M190, but the passenger side mounting point is different which will need to be addressed. The M210 inboard bearings are both male ends, where as the M190 has one male, and the other female. The front drive shaft is also the same between the M190 and M220, though they "technically" have different part numbers.

Bronco CV axles are almost completely different. The outboard bearing is actually the same as the Ranger one so for my case I didn't have to worry about getting a Ranger specific bearing on the outboard side. The CV Axle length is longer than the OEM Ranger, and too short for my extended upper and lower control arms.

Front elocker plug. I plan to use a simple switch to control this. I ended up ditching my Lighting Force console switch gang in favor of a Switchpro SP9100.

I unfortunately don't have any side by side photos of the M210 and the M190, but if you look at the M210, the mounting point on the left side (passenger side) is the biggest difference with the M190. The M190 mount is closer to the end of the shaft.

I tried calling RCV for a set of custom axles, but at the time they said they don't have an option available yet for Bronco specific bearings, so I couldn't even order anything from them. So I opted to go with OEM Bronco CVs and have the center shafts extended to fit.

With the APG track width being 3 inches wider, the OEM Bronco CVs were about 1.5 (ish) inches too short.

The CV on the left is the APG spec RCV CV Axle, and the one on the right is the OEM Bronco CV.

We went with Branik Motorsports in Indiana who have a state of the art fabrication facility to build us a set of axles that were the right length for my truck.

It took a lot of time for the parts and to coordinate scheduling, but here's the final result that brings us to present day:

This was a simplified version of the process. We still need to wire up the elocker (I ordered the wrong pigtail). It was a long time coming, but I am really happy with the results. I still need to do a proper shake down but so far so good!

Huge thanks to Mike, Annie, Alex, and the entire Shaffer's Offroad staff for making the impossible possible!

For anyone curious, these are the parts and part numbers I used for the project (custom axle shaft aside):

M-4209-470 - M220 4.70:1 Ring and Pinion
M4033R - Rear Differential Cover
M-3002-470BF - Dana M210 AdvanTek Bronco FDU 4.70:1 Gear w/ elocker complete (Sasquatch)
MB3Z-3A427-A - Driver side CV axle
MB3Z-3A428-A - Passenger side CV axle
2U2Z-14S411-BB - Wire pigtail for elocker

I also had a set of BDS 1" shackles installed in the rear. Unfortunately interfered with my Gibson Performance Exhaust piping at the rear. I was able to to remove those, and have them put some turn downs at the muffler.

The truck is a little louder than I'd prefer, but I got the rake I like back. Prior to that install it felt like the truck was squating a little bit, especially with any load in the back.

Switchpro installed, using the kit from SDHQ w/ the custom mount brackets in the engine bay and center console.

 

[Colo_Ranger]

Man, the M210 conversion is high on my list of wants. Mostly for the gearing. Sick build. I’ll be looking at the parts list in more detail.

can you share an estimated cost for the diff swap? I don’t have the long travel, but I’d still need custom axles to make it work.

 

[Mugatu]

Man, the M210 conversion is high on my list of wants. Mostly for the gearing. Sick build. I’ll be looking at the parts list in more detail.

can you share an estimated cost for the diff swap? I don’t have the long travel, but I’d still need custom axles to make it work.

Thanks for the complement, it certainly has a cool factor.

For the parts list I listed, at the time I paid roughly around $3k, including the rear diff cover. The custom axle shafts I had ordered through Branik, was roughly $1k. For the fabrication/ install of the axles and M210 by Shaffer's $2800 or so. All the parts aside from the custom axle shafts, I ordered through Steeda at the time. They had the best pricing that was available online.

So roughly $6k all in all. The upgrade may not make sense for everyone, certainly did in my situation with the busted/bent FDU mounts. For OEM width Rangers, I would assume that the OEM Bronco CVs would need to be shortened by an inch or so.

I'm not a fabricator or mechanic, but my inference from talking with Shaffer's team, mounting the M210 wasn't too big of a challenge. The biggest challenge during the process (in my opinion) was the long wait times for parts.

Hope this helps!

 

[Mugatu]

F150 Raptor OEM Floor Jack w/ Bronco Raptor Spacer

With my truck leveled from the APG conversion on 33s, and now the BDS rear shackle lift in the rear the OEM floor jack is pretty useless. I know most folks have been using various bottle jacks, and floor jacks I wanted to try and keep things OEM ish for the truck. I found that the F150 Raptors and the new Broncos have a neat trick for their floor jacks that I wanted to test out.

The F150 floor jack is a little taller to start with.

The Floor Jack kit I found online came bundled together with a mounting base, scissor jack, and all the necessary hardware including the tire iron. Which is handy since it uses slightly different pieces than the Ranger.

It's party trick though is this add on piece that stacks atop of the jack and secured by a cross bolt for an additional 2-3 inches.

To get my front tires off the ground I needed 22 inches from a jack. I have a unijack that has been able to get me where I needed (with the help of a spare 2x4 plank) while at home. The F150 Raptor jack w/ the add one is just an inch or so shy of what I needed.

Looking at the Bronco's floor jack offerings, the parts are similar but just a little different. The add on piece is actually taller than the one used on the F150 so I picked up one of those to test with.

Too bad these aren't stackable, though it probably wouldn't be a safe thing to do.

Not quite the 22 inches I wanted but close enough. I usually put something in between the frame rail and the jack anyways so that would give me the extra lift I needed. This will definitely fit nicely behind the seat versus the unijack.

I just need to build a simple base to secure it to, but this is likely where it will live. Good thing I cleared out the old Subwoofer to make space.

For anyone interested, here are the part numbers.

F150 Floor Jack Kit - ML3V-17080-AA
Bronco Floor Jack Adapter - M2DZ-17A914-A

 

[MXGOLF]

WOW very nice build Everett. So it's taken 3 years to do all that. Pretty impressive. Thanks for the great build journal and pictures.

 

[MXGOLF]

WOW very nice build Everett. So it's taken 4 years to do all that. Pretty impressive. Thanks for the great build journal and pictures.

 

[Mugatu]

WOW very nice build Everett. So it's taken 3 years to do all that. Pretty impressive. Thanks for the great build journal and pictures.

Thank you for the complement and for checking out my build journal!

 

[got3fords]

Dang you got a lot bread in that build. I know you said you had to modify the Gibson exhaust, how did you like the sound before you changed it? I am really liking that exhaust. But don't want loud.

 

[Mugatu]

Dang you got a lot bread in that build. I know you said you had to modify the Gibson exhaust, how did you like the sound before you changed it? I am really liking that exhaust. But don't want loud.

The Gibson Dual exhaust wasn't that loud at all, quite mellow in fact. I would recommend it to folks who want the looks but not the sound.

The modification I did was just to remove the piping from the muffler back. I think part of the reason it sounds louder now (aside from the removal of the piping) is that with the turn downs the sound is bouncing off the ground underneath the truck. Just a guess on my part.

Oh, one thing the note though is if you are running aftermarket shocks that have a piggyback resevoir attached. The piping for the driver's side only clears standard shocks from what I can tell. You can still get it to fit, but it will be slightly off like how mine looked.

 

[HippoTrucker]

Very cool build and awesome job documenting it all!

 

[got3fords]

The Gibson Dual exhaust wasn't that loud at all, quite mellow in fact. I would recommend it to folks who want the looks but not the sound.

The modification I did was just to remove the piping from the muffler back. I think part of the reason it sounds louder now (aside from the removal of the piping) is that with the turn downs the sound is bouncing off the ground underneath the truck. Just a guess on my part.

Oh, one thing the note though is if you are running aftermarket shocks that have a piggyback resevoir attached. The piping for the driver's side only clears standard shocks from what I can tell. You can still get it to fit, but it will be slightly off like how mine looked.

Thanks for the feedback. I am running Eibach's which fit like standard shocks. Also, can you show a pic of the exhaust after the mod to clear the shocks? Thanks!

 

[Mugatu]

Thanks for the feedback. I am running Eibach's which fit like standard shocks. Also, can you show a pic of the exhaust after the mod to clear the shocks? Thanks!

I had to remove the piping because of the BDS Shackles hang lower than the OEM ones. Part of the hanger setup for the Gibson exhaust connects to that mounting point. After the shackle is installed, it locates the exhaust in a bad spot due to the hanger mount being lower. The leaf spring and the exhaust would occupy the same spot. This is what it looks like now.

There are slip on pipes that route it over the axle to the end of the truck. That's the portion I removed.

This is how it looked before I got the BDS Shackles installed. Note how the piggy back reservoir blocks the intended path of the designed piping for the drivers side. We made it fit, but if you look at the tips at the end, they are at different angles.

If you're rocking the stage one (? not too familiar with their line) Eibach kit I think you should be fine. The stage 2 looks a lot like how my King Shocks are laid out.

Hope this helps!

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