This is the TRS-1 1983 Ford Ranger 4×4. When I bought this truck, I didn’t buy it to be an off-road vehicle. I bought it back around 1991/1992 because I needed a small truck to tow my Yamaha Waverunner to the lake and back. I wasn’t getting many opportunities to ride the Waverunner and eventually sold it.

The Ranger started life as a red standard cab Ford Ranger with a 2.8L V8 and 5-speed manual transmission. Someone had done Bondo work on the bed and then re-painted the whole truck. Over time those areas began to swell and the rust spread. I eventually found a used rust-free bed and replaced the rusted one. The new bed was ‘Light Chestnut’, so it by no means matched.

I added a Lund visor, did some bodywork on the truck, and sent it to a paint shop to have it painted dark red. I told them I had done the body work but that it would still need a final sanding before paint. They apparently didn’t give it a final sanding because when I got it back you could see some of the sanding scratches under the paint.

I added a Performance Accessories 3-inch body lift and Skyjacker 2-inch front leveling coils to the Ranger which made room for some 31×10.50×15 Trailhandler Radial A-T tires on 15×8 chrome modular wheels. I made a template for a grill guard and a friend of my father’s made it for me out of 1/4″ steel plate and two steel tubes. I mounted a pair of 6-inch KC off-road lights to the grill guard.

The 2.8L V6 seemed underpowered, so I bought a running 302 CID V8 from a 1970 Ford Mustang along with its C4 automatic transmission. I had a transmission shop install an output shaft and adapter so I could bolt my BW1351 manual transfer case to it. I also added a B&M shift kit to it as well. Since the engine seemed to be in good shape, I just replaced the oil pump and timing chain and installed it.

I had become really displeased with the paint job. I hated seeing the sanding scratches under the finish, so after reading a few how-to articles in some car magazines, I decided that I was going to re-paint the Ranger myself. I struggled trying to decide how I wanted to paint it, but I knew that I really liked the look of the Ford Rough Riders desert racing trucks. I went to Sears and bought an air compressor and paint tools and then went to my local paint supply to buy paint and materials. I was surprised at how helpful they were when I told them that I hadn’t painted anything before. I had read that Dupont Imron was very durable, so after looking through the color book I chose Pepsi Blue and White. Imron is a single stage and doesn’t require a clearcoat.

My wife probably thought I was crazy when I started sanding off a fairly new paint job. But I followed the advice in articles, took my time, and I was surprised at how great it turned out. I painted a Lund Fast Back cab spoiler to match and added it and added a set of chrome KC 6×9 off-road lights. I got a roll of red vinyl tape and ran a red stripe down the side.

I didn’t like the Rangers stance, so I decided to install a Trailmaster 4-Inch suspension lift. The 4-inch lift made room for 33×12.50×15 Sentry Sport tires. I knew they wouldn’t fit on the chrome wheels I had, so I mounted them on a set of used 15×10 white ‘Wagon Wheels’. I also decided to ditch the rear step bumper for a Lund Tailmate which was basically a fiberglass panel that filled in the gap between the bedsides under the tailgate.

While at the 4-Wheel Jamboree in Lima Ohio I found someone making custom vinyl decals, so I had him make me a blue Ford Oval and a red ‘Motorsports’ logo to go on each side of the bed. The truck had really come alive and was starting to get attention. In 1997 I submitted the Ranger to the Readers Rides section of 4×4 Power Magazine and they posted it in their April and December editions.

In the fall of 1998, I purchased a Compaq home computer and began looking for other Ford Rangers on the Internet. Although I was able to find some, I couldn’t find any websites focused on off-road Ford Rangers, so I decided to create one. In 1999 The Ranger Station was born.

The steering received an upgrade thanks to a Superlift Superrunner steering setup, and the suspension gained more wheel travel thanks to a pair of Skyjacker extended radius arms. I changed out a dual front shock mount I had for a pair of Desert Steel shock hoops and Skyjacker shocks. There was also a dual shock kit on the rear, so the Ranger had 2-shocks at each wheel. It’s funny because multi shock setup use to be common, but you hardly see them anymore. The Ranger now had Trailmaster, Superlift, and Skyjacker components under it.

I managed to get a deal on a Warn XD9000i winch and needed a place to mount it. My friend Bob Osborn and I took a rear step bumper, added a receiver hitch under the front of it, attached my grill guard to it, and mounted the whole thing to the front of the Ranger. We then mounted the winch onto a winch plate welded to a receiver and mounted it to the truck. I used 1/0-gauge welding cable with quick disconnects so that I could remove the winch, and added a receiver hitch to the rear so I could winch from the back if I wanted to.

The 302 had come with a 2-barrel carburetor and intake, so I decided to rebuild the engine again and install an Edelbrock Performer intake manifold, Summit Racing camshaft, Holley Avenger 4BBL carb and an MSD ignition. I also installed a Griffen aluminum radiator and Flex-A-Lite electric fan to keep it cool. I also removed the hood scoop and added a snorkel made out of PVC. I didn’t like the hood scoop because it created a vision obstruction when I would drive over embankments.

In the photo below you’ll see that there is a pair of Unity spotlights on both windshield posts. It was like having another pair of round KC 6-inch 100-watt off-road lights, but directional. These were great because we would do a lot of night wheeling that would have some sharp switchbacks, and the directional light allowed you to see where you were going to be going. They also made it easier to point light at an area of a vehicle if you had to do a trail repair in the dark.

It’s funny, but I started referring to the Ranger online as TRS-1 even though there wasn’t a TRS-2, or any plans for one. Now that I had The Ranger Station, I removed the Ford Motorsports logo and added TheRangerStation.com to the truck.

In 2002 I had a sign shop help me come up with the TRS logo and eventually added it to the Ranger’s bedside. As the owner of The Ranger Station, I was hosting spring and fall ‘Round Ups’ which were weekend off-road gatherings. One of the friends I made online that came out to these events sold me a pair of Interco 33×12.50×15 Super Swampers and a pair of Interco 33x14x15 Boggers on Mickey Thompson Baja wheels. I had also ditched the Dana 28 front axle and Ford 7.5-inch rear axle for a Dana 35 front and a 31-spline Ford 8.8-inch rear. The rear came with a Trac Lok and my friend John Steinbinder installed a set of Yukon 4.56 gears. He also installed a set of Yukon 4.56 gears in the front with a Lock-Rite locker. The combination of the V8, 4.56 gears, and those Boggers made this a really fun truck to play in the mud with. I ended up trimming an inch out of the fenders because my tires kept hitting them.

The TRS-1 1983 Ford Ranger 4×4 ended up as a featured truck in the December 2003 issue of Off-Road Adventures Magazine. The story is called ‘Practical Ranger’.

In 2004 I would begin building the TRS-2 1996 Ford Ranger 4×4. Trs-2 was a far superior Ranger because of everything I had learned up to that point. As a result, this truck would start seeing less use until it just wasn’t driven anymore. Age, mud and rust had taken its toll on the Ranger, and I eventually salvaged the good parts out of it and scrapped it.

TRS-1 Ranger Specifications:

Engine/Drivetrain:

  • 1970 Ford 302cid V-8 Bored .030 Over
  • Edelbrock Performer Intake
  • Holley Avenger 4bbl Carburetor
  • Summit Racing Camshaft
  • Complete MSD Ignition
  • Intake Snorkel
  • Griffen Aluminum Radiator
  • 16-Inch Electrical Pusher Fan
  • Flex-A-Lite Engine Fan
  • 1970 C-4 Automatic Transmission
  • Dual Tranny Coolers
  • B&M Shift Kit
  • BW1350 Transfer Case
  • Explorer 8.8 Axle With 31-Spline Axles
  • Dana 35 Front Axle
  • Yukon 4.56 Gears
  • Trac-Lok Rear
  • Lock-Right Front Locker

Suspension/Tires:

  • Trailmaster 4-Inch Suspension Lift
  • 5/8-Inch Front Spacer Under Coil Seat
  • Skyjacker Extended Radius Arms
  • Desert Steel Shock Hoops
  • Superlift Superrunner Steering System
  • Skyjacker Steering Stabilizer
  • (2) Skyjacker Hydro Shocks Per Wheel
  • Dual Rear Shock Mount
  • TRS Heavy Duty Differential Cover
  • Desert Steel Traction Bars
  • Extended Rubber Brake Lines
  • 33x14x15 Inch Boggers in rear
  • 33×12.5×15 Inch Swampers in front
  • Mickey Thompson Baja wheels

Body:

  • 1983 Cab
  • 1988 Bed
  • 3-Inch Body Lift
  • Lund Cab Spoiler
  • Lund Visor
  • Lund Roll Pan
  • Custom Grill/Brush Bumper/Guard
  • Fenders Trimmed
  • Dupont Imron Paint
  • Duplicolor Brush On Bedliner In Bed
  • Duplicolor Brush On Bedliner On Cab Floor
  • Plasticote Spray On Bedliner On Rocker panels and top of bedrails
  • Bucket Seats
  • Custom Center Console

Miscellaneous:

  • Warn XD9000i Winch
  • KC Lights
  • Unity Spotlights
  • Hi-Lift Jack
  • Front/Rear Tow Hooks
  • Powertank On Board Air
  • 33-Inch Spare Tire
  • Shovel
  • Fire Extinguisher
  • First Aid Kit

Photo Gallery:

Click the images to enlarge.