Custom 2004 Ford Ranger - Sky High

When Steve Maxwell of Rancho Cucamonga, California, bought this brand-new '04 Ford Ranger, it was going to be his daily-driver to get him around town while he finished building his body-dropped '95 Astro van. Well, one rainy day, Steve decided to go play in a flooded street in the new Ranger. The water was a little deeper than he had expected, so with the high rpms on the engine, and the low height of the intake, the truck-that was not even out of warranty-was doomed. Now what? Rebuild the engine? Naaaawwww! This just gave Steve an excuse to build another truck.

Steve began to ponder how he would proceed with building the Ranger. He contemplated just body-dropping the truck on 20s and cruisin' it. But, then he realized it would be hard to stand out at the shows these days. So, after talking to his friend and boss, Jeff Davy of Devious Customs in Riverside, Steve decided to build one of the biggest and baddest lifted minis to hit the scene in years, and Jeff left the shop at Steve's disposal to get it done.

To get things started, Steve pulled the small-block Chevy and transmission out of his Astro, since he had his new project. New frame and crossmembers were built, so the V-8 would sit easily in its new home. Next, the body of the truck was removed, cab mounts were made, and three quick days later, the truck was on its way. Now that the truck had its powerplant taken care of, it was time to put the truck up in the air. Steve started off with a set of Chevy axles and welded cages, to hook up the front and back wishbone four-links, and then he added the plates for the triple bellow Contitech airbags and four Air-Zenith compressors were used to supply the air needs, to lift the truck to the sky. With the suspension dialed in, Steve wrapped 20x10-inch American Eagle wheels in 52-inch Michelin tires, which quickly dwarfed the wheels. With the wheels and tires mounted, Steve was looking at a total of 39 inches of lift , which left the rockers 5-1/2-feet higher than he had originally planned. This made for one of the tallest minitrucks in the world. With a little help from Brett "Daddy" Oakes to redo the truck wiring harness, the Monster came alive and made its first trip down the road.

Now that the insane suspension and motor side of Steve's Ranger was taken car of, it was time to turn to the cosmetic side of this beast. Jos Rodriguez and Adam Portello of Street Inspired Customs were called upon to save everything on the truck and spray the House of Kolor paint. Just a few days after the truck came out of the body shop, Steve packed up the Ranger because of a new job opportunity. He then headed out to Oklahoma for the third time in his life.

With only the interior left unfinished, Steve turned to some of his long-time Okie friends, Daniel and TLB at Pugz and Skagz Kustoms in Moore, Oklahoma. Everything was ripped out of the Ranger's cab and fiberglassed to hold all of the JBL audio equipment, which was powered by Kinetik's Cap Killer batteries to power the 4,000-watt sound system. Everything was painted to match the outside of the truck, and a set of bucket seats, wrapped in leather and suede, was installed to fill the guts of this beast. With more than 1,400 hours put into the build of this truck, the daily-driver is no more. The only word to describe this Ranger now is: Beast.