BT50/Ford Ranger Extension

Honestly think you are asking for trouble if you extend any dual cab by that much. If you are adding a camper as well, I reckon you would be needing to do a GVM upgrade. Would not recommend airbags in the rear of a dual cab. Lots and lots of horror stories about broken chassis on dual cabs with air bags.

I know there have been conversions done. Yes I would upgrade shocks and springs and no bags. Heavier items ,water ,fridge, all in front of rear axle

have 2014 twin cab ranger,arb do a 100 kilo upgrade on suspension,plus cost of engineers report,i have not had this done,watch your gvm weights,my ranger at the moment weights 2.46 ton,fitted with bullbar rear bar,bash plates ,side rails and steps aluminium tray ,have now put on a slide on camper on 420 ks plus,have not been back to the weigh bridge yet,3.2 tonnes is the gvm max weight,not much to play with,for beer and jacks straps etc,its an 3.2 automatic loves the fuel in 5th and 4th gear hope this helps barry

Hi Tuck,

I think what you are suggesting is a reasonable way to accomodate the extra equipment you wish to carry. As always more knowledge of anticipated weight and overhang is essential (to your engineer) to offer sound advice.
A wheelbase extension with the appropriate chassis extension should give you the overall capacity you require and should be reliable, however I do think you would have a pretty long vehicle that might be a handful in the bush and on sand dunes, so depending on what you expect there could be other consideratoons.

In such a discussion I think you need to carefully think of the vehicles original design, in this case say medium duty 4wd, and look at what it is you expect, and you really are heading into heavy duty 4wd, so maybe a rethink of the vehicle choice or accomodation is required.
Our experience with dual cab utes (std w.base) was with a camper trailer and we did have one or two chassis issues in heavy 4 wd terrain.

Hope these thoughts are of interst to you.

Rgds,

Rob.

Not what you asked Tuck, but we had a 100 series Toyota done by Creative Conversions in Brendale(Brisbane). Added 500mm and chopped the arse off to make a dual cab.

Came out pretty well, but did have some dramas initially. Attention to wiring at rear was slapdash, and the dual diesel tank filler didn't!!! Unless you were prepared to take your time.

No dramas with chassis extension. The tail shaft had an extension added, and a centre bearing fitted. This caused some grief, and we were replacing c/bearings roughly every 12 months. Must say at this point that the vehicle spent 90% of its life on station roads and tracks.

Once you add that half a metre it becomes a different vehicle. Heavier, almost cumbersome and vastly increased turning circle......tend to lose their nimbleness. Probably increased fuel use too.

If you're going to go ahead with the cut 'n shut, then forget any steel trays........stick to alloy. Beef up rear suspension and if you fit air bags...........well, you've had some sensible advice above.

Hope you something sorted, and it gives you good service,

Bob

Thanks BobY
Actually agree with most of your details. We had a Patrol stretched,did 250 k without any problems. Only sold during to age and ks .Did most deserts,cape ,Kimberley's.The new Mazda,Rangers have stronger chassis ,weight would come in on maximum but would be increased margins by better suspensionjust wondering lf anyone out there has done a NT or Ranger

There,s an extended chassis PX ranger forsale on gumtree.com.au I'm sure the seller could answer a lot of your questions

Its not my vehicle but a good friend...he went out a baught a brand new BT50 dual cab and a slide on camper to match.
This guy is an engineer and thaught he had done the math.

Well....not long after he was off getting the chassis stretched and an extra axle put under the back of it.

These vehicles suffer the same issues that ALL the dual cab utes suffer and that is there is almost no tray infront of the rear wheels and anything you put in the tray has this unfavorable leverage that puts a lot of weight on the rear axle and a lot of stress on the rear chassis.

Personally I loathe and detest dual cab utes mostly because they load up so very unfavorably.

You may think dual cabs are wonderfull.....but you need to understand that there are some very hard/ expensive issues to deal with due to the unfavorable way they load up.

cheers

No problem with our Toyota 790 Series Dual, made for the job. But worth noting discussions on GVM always need to take account of both front and rear axle weight limitations.

Cheers, Baz - The Landy

I had my BT50 done by 'Specialised Vehicles' (check out their website) near Orangeville NSW. Great job- GVM increase etc. 4 pages of engineers specs.
However- NOT cheap !!

I talked to the RTA earlier this yr they gave me a list of six companies that you can get GVM upgraded springs from legally I can't find the list but ARB, Lovells springs are on it just ring the RTA. I would talk to one of the suspension suppliers about your requirements before you start the extension because you will definitely need a decent GVM upgrade get a bit heavier than what you think and don't be afraid of heavy springs like most people are because if you get the correct shocks to match you'll get a good ride. Don't forget to add peoples weight on as well plus extras you will add on later down the line. Use an alloy tray to keep the weight down.

Thanks to all the Replies. Have taken on board a lot of suggestions .