Baja Bashing Ranger Prerunner

In the November issue of Prerunner Maniac we showed you the carnage of Eric’s prerunner in our Prerunner Carnage Column on his first trip to Baja. We felt a truck of this caliber deserved a feature to show you just what this prerunner is capable of.

Eric got into off-roading at the ripe old age of 16 where he bought a 98 4cyl Toyota Tacoma Prerunner and drove it pretty hard. Now 21 he bought this ’96 Extra-Cab Ford Ranger, and later found out what he truly bought.

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"I bought this truck about 2 years ago. The front suspension was sort of hacked together, the engine cage needed to be replaced, and the front suspension geometry was off. It had a crappy front bumper with rusting Bolt lights. The rear leaf pack was missing leafs, de-arched, stock shackles, haggard shock hoops, and had rusting kings. The bedsides had been flared too much and was pulling the bedsides away from the cab. The wiring was a mess, the whole truck needed way more work than I was willing to put in. The problem was that most of this stuff I found out about after I bought the truck."

Knowing there was no turning back Eric decided to rebuild the truck the right way.

He started off by putting the entire rear end of the truck together: leafs, shackles, bedcage, bedside supports, shocks, spring plates, etc. Driving his truck is a 8.8 rear-end, with an Eaton Posi and 4.11 gears.

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With the help of his good friend Rob he rebuilt the engine cage and fixed all of the problematic front suspension geometry. The front suspension is comprised of Equal Length Marks Fab Shop +4 4130 J-beams, all on 1.25inch heims. Soaking up the bumps are a pair of 14 x 2.5 in Sway-A-Way Coilovers, 2.0 Fox air bumps, and for support a custom engine cage/crossmember. Pyrotect limit straps keep the shocks from over-extending when Eric decides to leave the ground.

Next he fixed all the wiring and painted everything himself which included Glassworks 4.5 in front fenders, and 3 in fiberglass bedsides.

He had Brent Mullen of Mullen Fabworks build the bumper, incorporating large tabs to house his huge HIDs. He bought the rear shocks and Lightforce HIDs from Jerry at Camburg and got them at a really good price.

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The interior of Eric’s Ranger prerunner features Beard Seats and a Sony head unit. Future interior mods will include a full cage and 5-point seat belts.

The motor is a 4.0 V-6 with a custom intake, and spent gases are exited through a Spintech exhaust.

Eric reports the truck has seen no major problems since he completed it. He has had only one minor problem while off-roading and that was caused by the ABS module coming loose and broke a hard line.

Since Eric is a resident of California he has put thousands of miles on his prerunner in places like: El mirage, Gorman, Lancaster, Johnson Valley, Barstow, Lucerne, Ocotillo, and his most recent trip to Baja (See the carnage).

Along with building this very functional prerunner Eric has made a few movies of his adventures. He is a film major at Cal State Long Beach and has made a couple movies recapping highlights of MDR Races and 2 DVDs of he and his friends. If Eric puts the same effort and heart into his movie making as he has with his prerunner we might just be looking at the next Martin Scorsese.