Ranger Prerunner Rocks the California Desert in Cayman Blue
Built for bashing through the dusty trail, Ranger prerunner still has its stock V6.
It won’t be too long until someone buys a new Ranger, and transforms it into a prerunner ready to burn up the desert at a moment’s notice. We’re sure there’s a few Australian versions already tearing it up somewhere in the Outback, but we can’t wait to see one rock the sands of the Southwest and Baja California.
Until that day, though, we can enjoy an old-school Ranger prerunner like the one featured by YouTuber Christian Ewing (one-half of Wings World with his brother, Jake), and owned by Nick Gardner. It’s a definitely a beast.
“This is called Cayman Blue,” explains Gardner in the clip. “It is a Ford factory color on the Rangers and the Explorers… The front end is the Threat Motorsports Dana 44 [with] equal-length beams. It’s also got the Threat Motorsports crossover steering, 2.5 by 14 [inch] King coilovers, 3.0 by 14 [inch] King three-tube bypass. Dana 44 spindles, obviously.”
The Ranger was originally built for Gardner by TT Motorsports, and he owned the truck between 2015 and 2016 before handing it off to one of his friends to bash the desert with before it recently returned to Gardner. He plans to race his prerunner, but only after some needed upgrades, beginning with the motor.
“Unfortunately, not many bald eagles under here,” Gardner said. “It’s the original motor, 4.0-liter V6. It’s got… a custom intake, GBA headers, Flowmaster exhaust… Original motor, original tranny — tranny was rebuilt at about 150,000 miles. Now, it’s got about [170,000 miles] on it. It’s all the original drivetrain.”
Gardner plans to ditch the V6 and its five-speed auto for an 5.3-liter LS swap with a 4L80 transmission to help better motivate the 15-inch wheel/35-inch tire combo on all the corners, but only after the V6 finally dies, which might be a while; Gardner says it’s held up despite everything it’s been put through over the years. He did think of using a Ford 5.0-liter V8, but feels the LS is the way to go.
The front of Gardner’s Ranger prerunner is protected by a custom front bumper with trail lights and skid plate. The whole affair runs above the stock grill and headlights through the hood into the engine bay, providing much-needed safety and strength to the party. The headlights and turn signals have been upgraded to HID and LED units respectively, offering plenty of light no matter where Gardner goes.
“I got a three-year-old daughter, so she wants to have some fun, too,” Gardner said. Thus, he installed a seat in between the two big racing buckets to make everything family trip a wild adventure shared between all in the cab.
Speaking of, the interior comes with a full race-legal cage, the AC was removed and replaced with a custom toggle-switch setup for his lights and trans cooler, and a major GPS unit hangs out on the passenger side to make sure no one gets lost along the way to Grandma’s house. It’ll soon have carpet for some civility, as well as a custom carbon fiber console to tie it all together.
“It’s a full tube back half,” said Gardner of the rear of the Ranger. “The frame was cut off right at the back of the cab. [TT Motorsports] built a full two back cap for the back… It’s got a little storage area between the shocks… a little cooler mount here so I can strap the Yeti down.”
The rear setup includes a trick fold-back row of off-road lights, which Gardner says are necessary so as to not draw the wrong attention from the police. The setup also has a spare driveshaft in case things go wrong, a pair of full-size spares (again, in case things go wrong), a pair of fire extinguishers (if things go really wrong), and a mean attitude all around. All in all, this is one Ranger we’d like to hang out with.
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