Chase truck. Prerunner. Daily driver. Impossible to combine in a single vehicle. Or is it?
 The dimple-died tranny crossmember...  The dimple-died tranny crossmember clears the front driveshaft as well as the exhaust system. |  Complementing the quartet...  Complementing the quartet atop the cab, a trio of Pro Comp lights adorns a Desolate-built front bumper. |  The pass-through window for...  The pass-through window for the axleshaft has been enlarged so it will clear the shaft in all positions of bump and droop travel. |
Greg Gilbert's '97 4WD Ford Ranger is the perfect platform for this trifold buildup. The SuperCab body configuration gives extra interior room, so it's more comfortable for everyday use. The four-wheel-drive function provides the ability to traverse sketchy terrain at low or high speeds, which is necessary for proper race chasing. The long-travel front and rear suspension swallows up big and small bumps alike in the dirt just like any other prerunner.
 King coilovers of the 2.5-inch-diameter,...  King coilovers of the 2.5-inch-diameter, 12-inch-stroke variety do duty up front in concert with a pair of King bumpstops and Pyrotect limit straps. |  Greg's shock hoop ties into...  Greg's shock hoop ties into the steering-box mount on the driver side. The triangular gusset on the hoop's left leg supports a battery tray that's infinitely stronger than the stock sheetmetal tray. |  A Ford 8.8 rearend was retrieved...  A Ford 8.8 rearend was retrieved from a wrecking yard and set into place underneath Deaver spring packs. The fullsize 8.8's width adds stability to the Ranger chassis. |
Greg started with a bone-stock truck - clean, functional, and drab. Greg's shop, Desolate Motorsports, has been racing and chasing for several years, teaming with both the Class 8 effort of Langan Racing and the Class 7S program of Mike and Erin Wahl. Greg didn't need another race truck. Although the Desolate stable includes a 4WD Super Duty that's good for towing and chasing, the SD is a bit too portly for some of the trails and roads used to access the racecourse during competition.
 A switch inside the cab raises...  A switch inside the cab raises and lowers the lightbar. The lightbar and the roof rack were both fabricated by Greg and the crew at Desolate Motorsports. |  Up close with the driver-side...  Up close with the driver-side TTB housing, it's easy to see all the strength built into the McNeil Off-Road front end. Note the doubler plate that reinforces the housing's lower edge against high-speed encounters with rogue rocks. |  Early in the buildup, Greg...  Early in the buildup, Greg mocked up and partially fabricated a low-profile cantilever shock system, but it was hard to beat the time-saving simplicity of an S.I. Motorsports bolt-on bed cage. Greg bolted a pair of 2.5-inch-diameter King bypass shocks between the S.I. bed cage and the lower shock mounts. |
Outfitting the Ranger for race chasing was instinctual, since Desolate Motorsports specializes in custom metal fabrication. A utility box was fastened into place on the bed floor, and other chase-vehicle essentials were mounted around the box. A fire extinguisher tucks in just underneath the bedrail. An 11-gallon fuel dump can has its own home next to the utility box. A Power Tank is easily accessible, mounted alongside the fuel dump can. The biggest standout, however, is not in the bed. It's on the roof. Desolate created a roof rack that's sturdy enough for bags of tools, camping gear, or whatever else can be lashed into place.
 Driving around with loose...  Driving around with loose cargo in the bed works most of the time on the pavement, but at prerunning speeds in the dirt things need to be securely fastened. Desolate Motorsports fabricated mounts for spare quarts of oil, a fire extinguisher, a jack, a Power Tank, the spare tire, and a fuel dump can. Plenty of air was caught during our photo shoot, and the cargo didn't move an inch. |  Flexy suspensions aren't the...  Flexy suspensions aren't the exclusive domain of hardcore trail rigs and dedicated rockcrawling machines. Thanks to long-travel desert-bred suspension and four-wheel drive, this Ranger can pull dual duty as a low-speed trail machine. Thirty-five-inch Yokohama Geolandars wrapped around American Racing AR-23 wheels connect the suspension with the dirt. |  Flipping the rear shackles...  Flipping the rear shackles lets the rear suspension dive deeper into bumptravel without going into a negative arc. Deaver Spring offers several different leaf-spring options for the Ranger. This particular Deaver pack bolts right into the stock mounts. |
Making the Ranger a functional prerunner was a matter of setting long-travel suspension in place and enclosing the newfound track width behind fiberglass fenders and bedsides. McNeil Off-Road's long-travel front suspension fit the bill. Chad McNeil's suspension kit includes widened Twin-Traction Beam housings, a custom axleshaft, extended radius arms, radius-arm pivot brackets, a tranny crossmember that ties the pivot brackets to each other, brake lines, a dropped pitman arm, and extended tie rods. Two-and-a-half-inch King coilovers and King bumpstops control the action up front. Rear suspension duties are handled by a pair of leaf spring packs from Deaver Spring and King shocks attached to an S.I. Motorsports bed cage. Thirty-five-inch Yokohama Geolandar tires mounted to American Racing AR-23 wheels cycle up and down beneath Hannemann fiberglass fenders and bedsides.
 To give the Kings a home,...  To give the Kings a home, Greg put his fabrication equipment to work. This engine cage successfully clears all of the vital components in the engine bay, including the air conditioning's accumulator bottle. When it's time to extract the 4.0 V-6 for an overhaul, the crossbar unbolts for proper engine access. |  Long and strong are two words...  Long and strong are two words that sum up the construction of the McNeil Off-Road radius arms. Lengthened radius arms allow the TTB housings to droop farther, which nets extra suspension travel. Chrome-moly tubing is used to create the arms. The entire suspension kit comes powdercoated. Chad offers several powdercoat color options, but plain old gloss black worked perfectly on Greg Gilbert's '97. |  Extended radius arms provide...  Extended radius arms provide more suspension travel with less caster change. Note the clean brake-line routing. A short flex line ties in with a hard line that runs the length of the radius arm. At the front of the arm, a short flex line connects to the brake caliper. This brake-line routing method keeps the brake line from getting snagged by terra firma, suspension, and rolling stock. |
The daily-driver facet of this truck was handled by leaving the stock interior in place and creating an engine cage that allowed the air-conditioning parts under the hood to stay put and stay fully functional. When building a multitasking truck, it's easy to go too far in one or more directions and sacrifice the civility and comfort needed for proper daily driving duties. This Ranger's creature comforts are all present and accounted for.
Yes, there are chase trucks that can carry more tools and spare parts. Yes, there are faster prerunners. It doesn't matter. This Ranger is a standout because it successfully combines several trucks into one. It's right in the sweet spot.
 Here's the passengers-side...  Here's the passengers-side housing. The open sides of the housing have been boxed in, and reinforcing plates were added to the outer edge of the housing. The McNeil TTB housings are designed to align using a 0-degree alignment cam with 5 inches of lift. Chad moves the lower ball joint's mounting bore to compensate for the lift. These housings pivot in the stock pivot brackets. Retaining the stock pivot points and avoiding big-inch drop brackets nets a stronger front end compared to using drop brackets. Drop brackets create extra leverage on the frame, which can fatigue the frame and cause cracking. |  The heart of the buildup is...  The heart of the buildup is the McNeil Off-Road long-travel front suspension kit. Chad McNeil has put hundreds of Baja miles on his own long-travel Dana 35 Twin-Traction Beam (TTB) front end and used his racing experience to develop what he fabricates and sells to the rest of us. The housings have been extended 4 inches per side and have received substantial gusseting. Extended radius arms pivot on big-boy 1.25-inch rod ends. Custom radius-arm pivot brackets bolt to the frame, and a custom dimple-died tranny crossmember gives the drivetrain a place to perch while tying the pivot brackets together. Not shown but included with the kit is a custom-length axleshaft and extended tie rods. This kit is capable of 20 inches of real-world travel when used with a McNeil Off-Road crossover steering kit. Using the stock steering linkage and extended tie rods limits the travel just a bit to 17 inches. This kit is designed to conform to Score track-width requirements and only requires one custom axleshaft. |  The Dana 35 centersection...  The Dana 35 centersection is cast in lightweight aluminum. The high-pinion design nets superior ground clearance as well as stronger gears when used in a front differential. The TTB front suspension combines the best features of solid-axle and A-arm IFS suspension systems. The differential goes up and down with suspension movement just like a solid axle, and the wheels are free to move independently as with A-arm IFS systems. Exceptional ride quality and durability are the windfall. Front and rear ring-and-pinion sets were installed by American Gear Shop. |