High mileage trailer trash.

[A Tale Of Two Rangers]

That's a lot of towing.
In late 2013 I purchased my younger brother's 1999 4 x 4 Ranger XLT with tow package. He put 248,000 miles on it in 14 years. He towed an Interstate Cargo Load Runner. 12 foot toy hauler with dual axels. He had the trailer filled with plumbing tools and household stuff. Towed it from California to Colorado to Washington and back to California.
I still have the truck. It now has 270,000 miles on the clock. Everything works. CD, cassette, AM/FM, AC, power windows. The only modification is I put manual hub lockers when the pneumatic/vacuum hub lockers failed.

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[jpisdamaged]

That's a lot of towing.
In late 2013 I purchased my younger brother's 1999 4 x 4 Ranger XLT with tow package. He put 248,000 miles on it in 14 years. He towed an Interstate Cargo Load Runner. 12 foot toy hauler with dual axels. He had the trailer filled with plumbing tools and household stuff. Towed it from California to Colorado to Washington and back to California.
I still have the truck. It now has 270,000 miles on the clock. Everything works. CD, cassette, AM/FM, AC, power windows. The only modification is I put manual hub lockers when the pneumatic/vacuum hub lockers failed.

Hello, ranger 5g.

I figured starting a "build" thread would be a good place to organize some of my thoughts and maybe meet some like-minded truck people.

My vehicular circumstances changed abruptly last year as my pride and joy Xj Cherokee started giving me mechanical trouble that I was no longer in a position to continue to maintain, it started as a second play rig then turned into an only vehicle daily driver and was not up to the task of miles to be traveled or things to tow. I had owned a Mazda b4000 long ago and was waiting on the next Gen ranger forever.. gave up on that idea, but when the 2019's came back stateside I figured that was the truck for me and one day hoped to buy a Ranger Raptor whenever that came out... Well, no Ranger Raptor release and no budget for it anyway. Ran into the last straw moment with the Jeep and jumped online to look at new trucks... found a ranger last year in Sept; an iconic silver 4 door 4x4 sport with a tow package and locking rear diff (something that was a must after the jeep) there were rebates and stuff and the deal made sense so I jumped on it... Srry TLDNR

day 1:

day2:
I think the owner's book said to make sure and tow for the first 1k miles for proper badassness.

3/4ton

then I bought my first trailer ? .....and promptly sold it as it was a pile.

First snow for me of the year in MT..

then tuned and added a turbo smart BOV with the vent to atmosphere chu chu.

Sand Hallow UT

Waiting for the tunnel to open at Zion NP...

Glam shot with a real camera somewhere in NV

because aliens...

2nd trailer ? 5x8 cargo from interstate.

removed stickers..

More driving.. lots of driving..

tired of driving..

5X8 Trailer conversion begins...

folding bed 32"

curved joint to maximize bed and bench..

dirty hippy vodo power..

Tow's super nice like

Also at this point added some Bilstine 4600 to the ranger rear, which helped a lot with towing stability. (oh and it's now tinted up 5% rear and like 20 i think front and low pro tuxedo tonoue cover thing). I have since added the 4600 to the front along with a super lift 2-inch spacer and it is trash, really not happy with the ride or the bilstine's at all. Ordered Eibach 2.0 coils.

Present status, 265/17/70? General Graber ATx, 2 inch superlift level spacer, and bilstine 4600's.. ride is like hot garbage, crashes over potholes, and no fun offroad. This is probably the

Hello, ranger 5g.

I figured starting a "build" thread would be a good place to organize some of my thoughts and maybe meet some like-minded truck people.


Converting a trailer can be a bit of an addiction. The Ranger tugs them around beautifully. Stock shocks feel like a bouncing tigger, my only complaint. Would like to see your finished trailer when you get done. Been working on mine for two years. Getting close?

 

[Chris M]

Nicely done!

 

[Phil's Ranger]

What was the weight of the travel trailer and did you have any problems pulling it?

 

[a33maxi]

Good call on the caution sign. I had to add some foam padding above my side door.

 

[JohnKolander]

Such a gorgeous build!! I love the Kitchen space, bed, and attention to detail, a beautiful job!!!

 

[JohnKolander]

Some quality aftermarket shocks in the rear will help with the towing bounce. When I was towing with the oem shocks, a dip or bump on the freeway would allow the rear to make an up-down up-down sorta wiggle motion, overall just felt unsettled not to the point of dangerous but not great, after putting on the bilstine 4600 in just the rear, that really settled things down, a bump would have one motion and then stay planted, I noticed the oem shocks had no rebound left when I took them off.. like if you pushed them in they would stay in and not re-extend.
That said I was looking for Bilstine 5100's but couldn't find any in stock, the 4600 and 5100's as it turns out are valved quite a bit different to the point that I would not recommend the 4600's.. overly stiff for light off-road use.

 

[jpisdamaged]

What was the weight of the travel trailer and did you have any problems pulling it?

I haven’t weighed it yet. Once I get it done I’ll pull it over the scales. It is noticeably heavier than it was. I’m usually loaded with fire wood on our trips also. The Ranger doesn’t flinch at all. The rear springs don’t sag. Most expressive is how it pulls up
the hills.

 

[jpisdamaged]

Some quality aftermarket shocks in the rear will help with the towing bounce. When I was towing with the oem shocks, a dip or bump on the freeway would allow the rear to make an up-down up-down sorta wiggle motion, overall just felt unsettled not to the point of dangerous but not great, after putting on the bilstine 4600 in just the rear, that really settled things down, a bump would have one motion and then stay planted, I noticed the oem shocks had no rebound left when I took them off.. like if you pushed them in they would stay in and not re-extend.
That said I was looking for Bilstine 5100's but couldn't find any in stock, the 4600 and 5100's as it turns out are valved quite a bit different to the point that I would not recommend the 4600's.. overly stiff for light off-road use.

I’ll look into the shocks. It seems to move front and rear to much. I’ll start with the rear and se how it does.

 

[jpisdamaged]

Such a gorgeous build!! I love the Kitchen space, bed, and attention to detail, a beautiful job!!!

Thank you. It’s been fun and still going ?

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