2007 American Racing Ford Ranger - front Bumper - Photo 9132788

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The front bumper was fabricated by Desolate Motorsports and runs dual Lightforce 10-inch 240 Blitz off-road lights. Desolate was also put in charge of fabricating the rear bumper as well as installing all of the suspension on the truck in only a few weeks, just in time for its debut at the SEMA Show.

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After taking delivery of its new project vehicle, American Racing sent the truck to its engineering department to get fitted with a set of American Racing ATX Chamber PRO beadlock wheels. The new wheels currently come only in 17x8.5 with 4.5 inches of backspacing. They have a -6mm offset and look great surrounded by 315/70R17 Yokohama Geolandar A/T-S tires.

Beard Super Sport racing seats were mounted alongside a custom-made center console (also built by Desolate) containing the controls for the PCI Race Radios intercom system and a Lowrance GlobalMap GPS. As we mentioned earlier, this vehicle was made to race, so AR needed a seat that was not only comfortable but capable of running a 5-point race harness. Once the cab cage is completed, both seats will be tied into the chassis.

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Camburg's '07 Ford Ranger long-travel suspension was installed and included a full box-construction lower arm with upper 1-1/2-inch uniballs and 1-inch uniballs for the lower-arm pivots. The upper arm is made with 1-1/2-inch, 0.120-wall tube in order to make space for the shocks.

The system also comes with a fully stainless steel steering system, 17-4 stainless inner clevis and spacers, along with stainless tie rods. The final width measurement when installed was 83 inches, with travel measuring a more-than-generous 19 inches.

American Racing also chose to go with the Camburg billet-aluminum hub kit with larger Wilwood forged disc brakes. For those of you wondering about the strength of this kit, it was tested thoroughly by Camburg in its Ranger Edge race truck during the 2005 and 2006 Baja 1000 races.

The front bumper was fabricated by Desolate Motorsports and runs dual Lightforce 10-inch 240 Blitz off-road lights. Desolate was also put in charge of fabricating the rear bumper as well as installing all of the suspension on the truck in only a few weeks, just in time for its debut at the SEMA Show.

Rear lights are just as important in the desert as front off-road lights are. You never know who may come up on you, and depending upon their speed, there is always the potential of getting hit hard. A Direct Concept Engineering lightbar has additional red brake lamps and an amber lamp to aid in breaking through dust. The higher you mount them, the more visible they are through a thick cloud of dust.

The bed cage allows a 32- to 35-inch tire to be mounted with the Camburg tire mount.

For the rear suspension, American Racing chose to run the bolt-on Camburg Ranger rear bed cage. Using 2.5x16-inch Sway-A-Way RaceRunner shocks and Deaver F-23 L/T springs, the rear has the ability to pull 16 to 17 inches of controlled wheel travel.

The bed cage's design easily allows for integration of a cab cage into the bed cage's structure and adds additional strength to the chassis, reducing frame flex, due to multiple mounting points and extensive diagonal support. The cage was built using 1.75-inch, 0.120-wall tubing MIG-welded for optimum fit and strength. It also came equipped with powdercoated lower-shock-mount spring plates available in both 1-1/4-inch and 1-1/2-inch shock spacing.

This shot from underneath reveals the Deaver F-23 L/T springs in place as well as the Camburg lower-shock-mount spring plates.

The JBA Evol after-cat exhaust system was tucked between the driveshaft and gas tank to minimize potential damage.

After the front suspension was installed, Desolate fabricated an engine shock hoop to tie in both sides of the suspension and bring increased stability to the vehicle's handling.

The tubing chosen was 1.5-inch, 0.120-wall DOM tube.

Glassworks Unlimited provided both the front fenders and the rear bedsides for the project. Spin Imaging in Long Beach, California, created one of the most unique sticker designs we've seen on an off-road vehicle in a long time.

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