Relocating the battery to the rear.

[Sheepdog]

There is another point- most 2019+ 4x4 Rangers do not have a locking rear axle- they have open differentials that send the power to the wheel with the LEAST traction.

So if you're attempting to cross something at an angle, and unweight two diagonal wheels, you can get stuck pretty easy. I have seen poorly modified 4x4 trucks (coil spacer lifted, which actually REDUCES suspension travel as compared to stock), get stuck trying to enter a paved driveway at an angle, from a paved street.

Our 4x2 Ranger has the optional Electronic Locking Rear Differential, which when engaged sends the power to BOTH rear wheels regardless of whether one is even touching the ground or not.

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[Sheepdog]

And if we ever decide to do fiberglass fenders and bedsides to go up to 35" tires, we will need to regear.

On our 4x2, that basically involves replacing the ring & pinion. On a 4x4, that would involve replacing TWO ring & pinion sets. And if the 4x4 was not built with the optional Electronic Locking Rear Differential, it will involve replacing two ring & pinion sets AND the rear differential, because the non-locker trucks have the stock rear ring gear welded to the diff.

I don't know if the front one is welded or not, but either way, we're talking about the difference between a couple hundred dollars for a locker-equipped 4x2 and a couple THOUSAND dollars for a 4x4...

 

[Sheepdog]

My wife's last prerunner was a 4x2 F150 with 35" tires, and it performed MUCH better off road than a stock 4x4...

 

[slowmachine]

On the battery relocation, since you are talking prerunner, it seems better to place the battery near the center of the truck where the motion is less violent at speed. Since you have an XL, you might find enough room behind the rear seat to place one or more batteries to replace the stock setup. What comes to mind is the common "emergency start" portable batteries that are popular for jump-starting dead vehicles. The thin form factor is the attractive feature. The thin profile could work toward placement in front of the fuel tank, but I suspect that the economics and intended use of this type of battery may not support horizontal mounting.

 

[Sheepdog]

Yeah, centralizing mass is always a good idea, but the weight bias is so bad on stock pickups, that moving it as far back as possible may actually help more.

One of the purposes of prerunning, is for teams to be able to view the course beforehand, because locals tend to build jumps on the course without permission, for the purpose of photographing Trophy Trucks in the air and then selling the pictures to motorsports media outlets.

A Trophy truck encountering an unexpected kicker, may simply result in a little unintended flight time. A nearly-stock pickup encountering that same unexpected kicker, even at what would otherwise be a safe pace, could result in landing like a lawn dart.

With no cage, helmets, HANS devices, containment seats, SFI 16.1 harnesses, window nets, or wrist restraints, that could be a big deal.

 

[slowmachine]

Yeah, centralizing mass is always a good idea, but the weight bias is so bad on stock pickups, that moving it as far back as possible may actually help more...

Its a trade-off, for sure. Battery longevity vs. weight distribution. Factory trucks are built to go fast OR off-road. To go fast AND off-road is outside the design envelope. I'm looking forward to seeing your solution.

 

[Sheepdog]

my only comment, as i have no experience with this, is if it is worth the time and effort for such little gains? specifically when you take the battery move as a stand alone change.

I would get it if this will be a major build with alot of changes because that makes sense overall.

That's a fair question.

Moving a lead-acid battery from the front end of the vehicle to the rear, improves the weight distribution as much as relocating the entire engine and transmission about a foot back, but obviously moving the battery is MUCH less expensive to do.

 

[slowmachine]

Another thought: You want to retain the factory spare tire location, but you could change the spare tire mount/retention system to one that supports the spare from below. This could create a protected space above the tire to locate a battery (or batteries) while also eliminating the weaknesses of the "fast OR off-road" spare tire lift/mount.

 

[MTB-BRUH]

Yikes, that seems like a lot of work for such little gain. Give it a try though and let us know how it goes

 

[Superdannyboy]

I'm slowly building mine into a prerunner too, and I didn't even know there was an off-road section!! Nice! I typically don't talk about prerunning because that is like 5% of the owners on this site.

I do believe this is a great start for us because other forums such as dezert rangers don't have much on the 5G. Why not long travel? I have the Bajakits but I won't put kings on until next year, and I just ordered my deavers today.

Maybe you could fab up a bed cage and mount the battery to it??

 

[Superdannyboy]

https://www.kibbetech.com/collections/batteries-trays

 

[Sheepdog]

I'm slowly building mine into a prerunner too, and I didn't even know there was an off-road section!! Nice! I typically don't talk about prerunning because that is like 5% of the owners on this site.

The problem is, when I say "prerunner" here, it seems like most people don't even know what that is. It makes no sense to the millenial that just wants to install 33" mud tires on chrome wheels with a 3" spacer lift in the front and colored light bulbs on his heavily-financed 4x4 Ranger, to try to pick up high school girls at the mall. It makes no sense to the old guy that just wants to install a bug screen, running boards, a tonneau cover, Hello Kitty mudflaps, monogrammed floor mats, a padded Betty Boop steering wheel cover, a CB radio antenna, a personalized license plate frame, and every other non-functional cosmetic doo-dad he can order out of the J.C. Whitney catalog.

I do believe this is a great start for us because other forums such as dezert rangers don't have much on the 5G.

And if I were to say "prerunner" on Dezert Rangers, most people would assume that I'm talking about a $100K truck with fiberglass bedsides and fenders, full roll cage, fuel cell, bed cage, external triple-bypass Kings all the way around, a spooled full-floating fabricated 9" on a 3-link in the back, a long-travel setup a foot wider than stock up front, 37" Baja T/As on beadlock wheels, and so on. Plus, Dezert Rangers is full of guys who want to build the ultimate prerunner Ranger, but they have no interest in actually prerunning, they just want to huck it at Glamis or something, and they also only have about 5% of the money they'd need to actually complete their plans since they're a 22 year old greeter at Walmart, so they buy an old 4x2 Ranger, take it apart, cut it up, strip it out, and then never complete it.

I'm a retired cop, with a healthy pension- I can afford to buy and build just about anything I want- before I retired, my work commuter was a Porsche convertible that I custom-ordered new. My wife's daily driver is a BMW Track Pack car that I let her custom order new, and then we flew to Munich Germany to pick it up at the factory. We park our $250K motorhome inside the 2,300 square foot workshop on our ranch in Texas. My motorcycle is a hand-built MV Agusta- we toured the factory in northern Italy before I bought it. A vacation to us is spending a month in Europe every year, doing dinner in the Eiffel Tower and stuff like that. A simple $30K Ranger with $10K in upgrades, is really not a big deal to us. Like all of our vehicles, owning them is not the goal- the goal is to gain certain life experiences, and the vehicle is simply the tool that we use to gain those life experiences.

Why not long travel? I have the Bajakits but I won't put kings on until next year, and I just ordered my deavers today.

Maybe you could fab up a bed cage and mount the battery to it??

We're looking at doing something much more conservative, discreet, and economical. We actually intend to prerun in Mexico. Not every prerunner in Mexico is a $200K race truck with license plates- some people even pre-run in stock vehicles. We'd like to do something in between those two extremes. We'd like a new vehicle with A/C and cruise. We'd like it to be more comfortable, faster, and safer than a stock vehicle. We'd like it to be less conspicuous than a wide-body long-travel prerunner. We'd like it to be a little bit of a sleeper. We will probably carry only one spare, and we'll probably carry it in the stock location underneath. I'd even run the stock front bumper, but I think a proper frame-cut prerunner bumper and skid plate would be a lot safer. We were planning to order a new F150 Raptor, but a new 2021 4x2 SuperCrew Ranger with Electronic Locking Rear Differential, 33" tires on grey colored wheels, and a mid-travel Camburg suspension with King 2.5s and reservoirs made more sense to us. We may even spray the Kings flat black with Plasti-Dip before we go.

 

[Superdannyboy]

Nice! I get it man, the mid travel isn't bad. There is a video by APG that somewhat compares a stock, a mid travel, and long travel ranger going over the same section at different speeds.

I was waiting for the Ranger raptor but decided to take it upon myself because I'm an advanced manufacturer and mechanical engineering student so the build to me is what I love to do and I admit I have just passed 10,000 in upgrades. I can afford it I am adding to my 401k, saving for a house, and I worked hard to be in the position I'm at. I'm in my mid twenties I spend quite a bit of time in my truck, I want to enjoy it, and I am happy when I see my truck and get in and go.

My goal is to go to Texplex every month and fart around out there and I am going to prerun in Baja, maybe never race, but I want to go out there and experience it. All of the midwest in fact.

I'm all for the full cage, fiberglass, fuel cell, dual spares, triple bypasses, and beadlocks and that is my ultimate goal after I buy a house. You seem to have your mind made up about a sleeper mid travel, and that's cool too.

 

[JoeC]

This post is oozing something. Not quite sure yet, but its dripping with it

Yea.
Well, for one thing, I simply had no idea cops retired so well.
I knew they did ok, but daymn.

And, I don't know what all that had to do with about moving a battery, but who cares.
I sure learned a lot about 'prerunning'!

 

[sbacpo]

That's a fair question.

Moving a lead-acid battery from the front end of the vehicle to the rear, improves the weight distribution as much as relocating the entire engine and transmission about a foot back, but obviously moving the battery is MUCH less expensive to do.

I'd love to see the math that proves that.

Edit - the weight distro part, not the expense part.

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