The daily driver with enough mods and improvements to get us outdoors on the weekend. 

Planned upcoming changes:

- Dechroming mirrors, handles and front grill. 
- Adding spotties and/or a light bar.
- Roof rack (maybe?) for those longer trips and trips where I need to store snowboards/skis out of the way. 
- Tub to tray. For a more configurable and extensible setup to support camping, mountain biking, motocross and the snow seasons. 

Ford

Ranger

2018 Ford Ranger PX2

Dobinsons

Dobinsons 1.5-3" IMS Suspension Kit for Ford Ranger 4X4 PX / T7 MK3 2018-onwards

Jacob Bednarz

Complete suspension kit for 4x4 Off Road Use, fine tuned to match the vehicle
Fully re-buildable and re-valvable
vZero shock fade in all terrains with full load
Superior Designed Nitro Gas Monotube Shocks, thicker walls, longer travel
Corrosion resistant (EDP Surface Protection)
Direct, bolt-on replacement for easy fitment
2.2" Precision Honed Shock Body
50mm hi-flow CNC 6061 Billet alloy piston
Heavy duty single piece lower leg
Japanese NOK Multi-Lip seals, Fuchs German shock absorber oil, Natural Rubber Bushings for reduced noise vibration and flexibility
High Quality Australian-made coil springs, heat treated, fully scragged, powder coated
Includes 2 Front Struts, 2 Rear Shocks, 2 Front Coil Springs, 2 Rear Coils
Dobinsons offer this complete suspension system for the 2013-On Isuzu MU-X designed to give a great ride front and rear, for stock vehicles looking for lift, with standard load in the rear. 

2022 Isuzu MU-X

Complete suspension kit for 4x4 Off Road Use, fine tuned to match the vehicle
Fully re-buildable and re-valvable
vZero shock fade in all terrains with full load
Superior Designed Nitro Gas Monotube Shocks, thicker walls, longer travel
Corrosion resistant (EDP Surface Protection)
Direct, bolt-on replacement for easy fitment
2.2" Precision Honed Shock Body
50mm hi-flow CNC 6061 Billet alloy piston
Heavy duty single piece lower leg
Japanese NOK Multi-Lip seals, Fuchs German shock absorber oil, Natural Rubber Bushings for reduced noise vibration and flexibility
High Quality Australian-made coil springs, heat treated, fully scragged, powder coated

I bought this car brand new and kept it stock for the first year to test the capabilities of an off the shelf Ranger.
I instantly tested all the functions including 4WD Hi and Lo, Rear Diff Lock, Traction Control, Hill Decent. It was surprisingly capable of most tracks I sent it up and down. The Ranger really stood out on the sand up at Stockton. It handles sand very easily on the stock height and wheels. I had bought myself Maxxtrax to assist if I managed to get stuck. Which I never ended up using.

The first upgrade I did to the Ranger was installing Recovery points. I ended up going with the Roadsafe pair of recovery points. I then had Blue Flame Automotive Narrabeen on the Northern Beaches install these points after I struggled to do them myself in my garage on the ground.

The next upgrades I focused on was the bar work and winch. I ordered this through BarsNRacks Brookvale. I went for the Ironman Commercial hooped bullbar, brush bars and side steps. Then went with the Runva 11XP winch with synthetic rope, with isolator. On top of all this I wanted to keep everything underneath the car safe, so opted for the Iron Man underbody steel protection kit.

I will note that adding the bar work, winch and underbody protection notably made the car heavier and in turn my litres per km went up by at least 1L/km.

I quickly found that as soon as the tracks started to get more technical my stock ride height, tyres and size where holding me back. I would get hung up or seesaw on my chassis.

My next purchases were lift, wheels and tyres which were ordered and installed by Blue Flame Automotive in Wyoming on the Central Coast.
I opted for Dobsons 2inch Monotube due to conversations I had on the trails and with Blue Flame regarding a good renowned brand with lots of reviews.

I was originally looking at the Method Wheels 308 Roost's but due to the cost per rim being around $500 it was going to be quite an expensive purchase. 
Instead I opted for a cheaper brand with a good enough rep on the trails. I chose to get the Dirty Life DT2 17X9 with 0% Offset. I was lucky enough to see another PX3 ranger with the same size and offset wheels so I could really sure I was going to get a good amount of poke without looking like a Texan F-450. 
When it came to choosing my tyres, I went with feedback from peers which lead me to purchasing the Maxxis Razors. I was unsure if I should go the mud terrain or all terrain. Given I don't drive much during the week, I opted for the mud terrains to give me that slight advantage on the technical trails on the weekend.

I started to use the Ranger for more overnight/weekend trips with the family and found the open tub tray a bit limiting and time consuming trying to keep dry. So I went round to ARB and checked out the ARB Accent canopies. I loved the style and the central locking ability for all windows.
I went online and found a second hand canopy from a wreckers that was in perfect nick for half the price of a new one.
I then carried out majority of the install myself but needed the wiring kit to be ordered and installed. I reached out to an old mate who now owns a renowned auto electrician shop in Brookvale on the Northern Beaches called Pez's Automotive. He did a great deal and helped with the final parts to get the canopy ready to hit the trails.

Recently I went on a tour exploring the areas between Capertee and Sofala where my walkie talkie ran out of battery and left me using my daughters walkie talkie to communicate with the rest of the tour group. 
When I returned from that trip, the first thing I did was click and collected from Anaconda the GME XRS™ CONNECT 4WD PACK. Apart from running the wiring the kit was fairly straight forward to connect up and have running.

Another thing from the trip that started to annoy me was scrubbing in my front guards from my wheels. This pushed me to order the Dobinsons Upper Control Arms and have Blue Flame Automotive install them and wind my front suspension up to 3 inch. 

I tested this setup off road yesterday at Dora Creek and it was perfect. No scrubbing whatsoever. So safe to say, if you are going 32s or 33s on your Ranger, you're going to want to have a 3inch lift.

With all the added weight of the vehicle I wanted a quick way to get a bit more punch off the mark and quicker throttle response, so I opted for a second hand Ultimate9 evcX Throttle Controller. I cannot believe the difference and wish I had done this earlier.

Dobinsons

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