What are all the modifications I needed to do to make this frame fit under my 38 truck?

 

I've never done a 38 before, but for a 46 the cab mounts all have to be moved. The Ranger cab mounts have to be cut away, and I welded some square stock that fit into the channels of the 46 cab so that I could move the mounts over the frame.

The Radiator won't fit in the Ranger frame, and the whole front clip will have to be made to fit.

This is a long and difficult task. If you decide to do it go for a newer Ranger chassis. The I-beams on the older ones make it hard to adjust the Finished Ride height.

Write back if you have any specific questions, I will try to answer them. There is just too much to cover in one message.

 

Fix ,thank you for answering and will follow on what you wrote. I do have many questions and I"ll take each slowly.

The ranger I'm getting is a 89 RWD with a 4 cylinder and standard shift. This was a $1.00 sale and I have to take the 82 F150 with the ranger.

First, do I need to change the rearend? If so what is recommended for easy fit?

Do I need to keep the floor pan and firewall?

Would I need to upgrade to power steering?

What size tires and rims are you using on your 46 that enhance the prefect look, you desire for you truck?

I'm willing to take the long and difficult task. again thank you for answering and will ask more as time goes by.

Fix, what I have is a 38 Ford with more 39 & 40 parts used to up grade. A sbc adapted to the old drive train and they are shot. I have bought things on ebay to keep me going, but we in Hawaii pay dearly for any parts that we order through catalouge companies. Reason is many companies uses fedex and UPS and we do not have ground and must order everything overnite or 2nd day. (I once ordered 2 parts for a total of $100 and the s/h was $60 2nd day.) Cheapest gas price is $2.97 and expected to go up next week.

So, up grading with ifs, rearend and trans might be more costly than it's worth.

 

Measure the wheel base on the Ranger. They come in several different lengths. The long bed works best for the 46 I'm working on, but I only had a shortbed Ranger, so I will be moving the rear fenders forward three inches and shortening the wheelbase. It seems like the longbed Rangers had a 113 inch wheelbase or something, but my memory isn't that good so check that.

Changing the rearend depends on what engine you are planning to use. They do sell adapter kits that make it possible to put small block ford engines in the Ranger trucks, and the rearend ussually works for those, but you might want to upgrade to something with positrac.

For my truck I'm keeping the four cylinder engine, rearend and manual trans from the Ranger. I like the 30 miles per gallon that the 2.3 liters get. I'm just going to add a turbo unit for more horse power. (see my gallery).

If you plan on using any of the stuff from the ranger, keep the firewall. The pedal setup and hydraulic clutch slave cylinder work very well. There is a plate from the Ranger fire wall that can be welded right into the older fire wall to make all of this fit really easily. The Ranger trans clears the floor in my 46 without and trans tunnel modification, but I think the 40 and older trucks were lower and might require some trimming.

The ranger should have power steering. If it doesn't an upgrade would be easy with the body removed. The Ranger pump and steering gear should work fine. The older truck will weigh about the same as the Ranger.

I'm going with 15 inch wheels from a Ranger Splash for my truck. The 14 inch wheels look a little too small with the larger cab.

If money is an object, I would try to use as much of the Ranger as possible. You can always upgrade some of the stuff later. If the rearend or trans fails you could swap them out after you've been driving it for awhile.
If you have the longbed Ranger the steel bed floor can be cut for a weld in replacement where the 38 wooden bed used to be (if you plan on using this truck). The Ranger roof sheet metal makes pretty good patch panels for repairing rust. ( it all depends on how much money you want to save)

If gas prices are going to be a problem, I would highly recomend keeping the 2.3 liter in it. I drive one everyday that has almost 200,000 miles on it and it still runs like new. These little engines are bullet proof.

Feel free to ask more questions, I haven't finished my project yet, but I have overcome some of the problems already.

 

WOW! The infor that you have given me is more than expected and hope others viewing this forum will benefit also.

I plan to keep the 4 banger and all its running gears especially the thought of 30 mpg and 200,000 miles. That itself is knowing that I'm making the right decision.

I'll be picking up the ranger today and I can't wait to start comparing measuements between the two vehicle and than I'll get a more visual on what you have mention up till now and the modification I need to do.