Prerunner

96splash/09sport · #1 10-28-2009, 12:32 PM

anybody on here got any experience with building a prerunner ranger?......cuz im wanting to do one even tho i dont live near the desert i just like them alot......need to know how much it will cost and which model rangers are better ive seen both i beam and independent suspension rangers done as prerunners but cant find out which one is best and is 2wd or 4wd better?......any info is appreciated

surfer03133 · #2 10-28-2009, 12:37 PM

if your not by the desert, than it would probably be better (but more expensive) to do a 4wd prerunner. price wise, an ttb 2wd ranger would be cheapest to build. but with a 4wd prerunner with long travel, you'd also have built a capable rock crawler, so its like a 2-for-1 deal

96splash/09sport · #3 10-28-2009, 12:40 PM

yea thats what i was thinkin ......what you think it would cost tho?.....2000? 4000? or more

surfer03133 · #4 10-28-2009, 02:05 PM

for a 4wd? minus the cost of the truck, the kit is $3500 for front long travel, youd have to get rid of the bed and put some tubework there so you would need a tubing bender which is pricey. i think in reality, you could build a capable 4wd prerunner/rock crawler for 10-12 grand

chainfire · #5 10-28-2009, 11:37 PM

The kit is 3500 BEFORE shocks. Which will add a g note easily. Then you have to worry about steering, then the rear suspension. And if your going long front, then you might as well go long rear. Which means a bed cage.

I could see easily 10 g's with just bolt on stuff. Not much, if any custom work. And thats not including the truck

Alon · #6 10-29-2009, 12:12 AM

I build prerunners and race trucks all the time.

A prerunner is a truck used to PRE RUN the race course before the RACE TRUCK actually races.

You need to figure out what you want out of your truck. If you are building it for looks, don't build a prerunner. IF you want it lifted, go with just that... a lift. If you want to go out of your way to build a "prerunner" that will never actually be used, then there is no point to go all out and spend the money on it.

To build a true prerunner....
7-8k for suspension components
6k for shocks
5k for a cage
5k for all the random stuff, seats/harnasses, lights, etc

If you just want the "look" I say go for an I beam 2wd ranger, get a fabtech lift kit and fiberglass fenders and call it a day.

96splash/09sport · #7 10-29-2009, 11:39 AM

well now that youve showed me how much it costs i probably aint gonna build one now......if lived near the desert i would build one but im in tennesse...........thanks for all the advice tho....may do the 2wd thing your talkin bout tho

surfer03133 · #8 10-29-2009, 11:59 AM

you know, you could buy a pre runner for under 10 grand, i seem them a lot on dezertrangers, you'd just have to trailer it back to Tennessee, thats probably the cheapest way since everything would already be done

turboo · #9 10-29-2009, 12:24 PM

Yeah like Alon said, you could always build what they call a 'street runner' which is a 'street' version of a pre-runner. Just give it a little Cali lift in the front and shackles on the back, fiberglass it all, add a light bar in front and maybe on top, and toss some bigger tires on there. You'll be looking at about 5k if you want to do it cheap. It won't look bad or anything but you definitely won't want to be jumping it or anything crazy like that ahah.

Tom · #10 10-29-2009, 12:52 PM

Since you say you don't live near a desert and you "just like them" I'm guessing you are referring to the look of them? Prerunners are expensive because they use very high quality parts that can take an enormous amount of abuse. If you aren't going to abuse it and just want the look, then it shouldn't cost too much, all depends on how you want it to look.

96splash/09sport · #11 10-29-2009, 07:25 PM

yea if i lived in desert i would defintly use it cuz that looks like alot of fun but im just gonna go with the look idea......too bad there aint any deserts up here lol

turboo · #12 11-03-2009, 11:19 AM

For sure man! Come live out in the Az!

rangersports · #13 11-18-2009, 07:44 AM

I built a prerunner out of a 97 ranger. it takes time and lots of money, driving it on the road is unfun.

turboo · #14 11-28-2009, 04:33 PM

I thought about taking a wrecked 97 and building from the chassis up. Total 'tube truck'.

LittleBigFoot · #15 12-07-2009, 12:35 AM

Cut/turned full width I beams with coil overs, long ass radius arms, k style steering, some long travel leafs from deaver in the rear, and some work done to an 8.8" would get you in the air. Be prepaired to brake some shit though.

There's a few builds of tuning the D35ttb to get un-godly abounts of travel. Check out the Zimmerman Explorer in the tech library on TRS.

There's also swapping D44ttb into a Ranger. 4x4junkie did it i'm pretty sure. Takes some work though, just like everything kick ass.

There's also a guy on pirate using a D50 chunk, with 60 shafts, running TTB on a Jeep YJ. There's another guy on pirate running TTB in an avalanche.

If you can dream it, and it abides to logic and reason, you can do it.