The heart of our 2019 Ford Ranger SEMA Build is its suspension system, and we needed something that would give us enough ride height to clear 33" tires and the off-road performance we needed to hit the trails. That's why we went with our very own Fox Stage 1 Suspension Package. Our Fox Stage 1 Kit includes a set of Fox 2.0 Front Coilovers and a pair of Fox 2.0 Rear Shocks that work together to give our SEMA Ranger awesome on-road handling and stability while providing enough off-road performance to handle nearly any adventure. The Fox 2.0 coilovers provide up to 3" of front leveling, and are set at around 2" out of the box, which gave us plenty of clearance to mount up our Ranger's wheel and tire combination. The rear shocks can handle up to 1.5" of rear lift and greatly improve rear end handling and help to eliminate the Ranger's notorious rear-end instability. Read more on the Fox Stage 1 Performance Package!
A SEMA truck just isn't a SEMA truck without an aggressive set of wheels, so we swapped out our factory wheels and our previously-installed 1.50" wheel spacers for a full set of 2019 Ranger 17x9.5" Black Rhino Armory Wheels in a Gun Black Finish and 6mm offset. The offset gave our SEMA Ranger more or less the same stance as our stock wheels and the wheel spacers, though with a far more aggressive look than the factory wheels. The Armory Wheels feature a wicked, military-style design that look like they fell straight out of a deuce and-a-half. The offset and backspacing of these wheels push our tires just outside of our Ranger's wheel wells and make our Ranger look big, bad, tough, and mean. Read more on the 2019 Ranger Black Rhino Armory Wheel!
One of the few things we kept from the previous iteration of our 2019 Ranger build were its LT285/70R17 BFG KO2 All-Terrain Tires. These nearly 33" tall tires gave our Ranger a nice bump in ground clearance that made it easier for our Ranger to get over obstacles and clear tough terrain. The extra ground clearance is paired with the KO2's excellent and unique tread pattern that provides excellent grip both on and off-road along with a near-silent on-road ride that makes these tires an awesome choice for both dedicated trail trucks and daily driven Rangers. We did end up having to trim the crash bars to clear this tire, but the end result was worth the effort. However, we no longer carry these specific tires from BFG. Check out our inventory of other Off-Road Tires that will carry you anywhere.
Our Ranger didn't come with side steps or any other sort of side and rocker protection that we knew we were going to desperately need when we headed off the beaten path. To rectify the situation, we turned to ADD's Rock Slider Side Steps. While not true Rock Sliders that can hold the entire weight of our 2019 SEMA Ranger, the Rock Slider Steps are a beefy upgrade for your Ranger, featuring a thick steel construction with a tubular frame and welded-on steel plates that make them incredibly durable. The Rock Slider Steps also feature an angular, menacing design that adds a great look to practically any 2019 Ranger build. Each step even comes with an LED running light that you can set up to add an extra bit of flair to your Ranger. We no longer sell these side steps, but that doesn't mean you can't have easy access to your truck without style. Check out our inventory of similar Side Steps.
The first step of transforming our rather bare bones Ranger Build into an overland adventure truck was to improve its storage capabilities, and to that end we installed a DECKED Bed Drawer System. We've always been huge fans of DECKED's bed drawers, and their system for the 5ft Bed Rangers (a 6ft version is also available) gave our SEMA Ranger a ton of secure bed storage thanks to its big bed drawers that also make your gear easier to access thanks to how far they slide out from the bed. The DECKED system can also handle a bunch of load, which still allows you to get a lot of use out of your bed and carry just about any gear you can potentially need. The DECKED system can even come with optional upgrades that let you get even more utility out of your Ranger's bed, including optional dividers, storage boxes, and tie-down rails. Read more about the Ranger DECKED 5ft. Bed Drawer System!
In order to really transform our Ranger into a true overland machine, we needed a bed rack system to help carry all our gear. The rack we chose was the RCI Universal 12" Bed Rack Kit. RCI's 12" Bed Rack features an adjustable design that allows it to fit practically any width and length of bed and securely bolts or clamps to your bed rails. The RCI 12" Bed Rack places the upper cross bars below our cab's roof line, which gives us some space to mount up a roof top tent (more on that in a bit) without it being totally exposed to the wind. The RCI Rack itself is made out of durable steel and comes with universal mounts sprinkled around its uprights that allow you to throw on nearly any mounting system for any gear that you need to bring with you on your next adventure. The RCI Rack also looks awesome, so there's that. Unfortunately, we no longer have this bed rack from RCI in stock, but check out our inventory of comparable Bed Racks.
A roof top tent is practically a must-have for an overland adventure truck, and we went with one of the most high-quality tents on the market. The Freespirit Recreation 55" High Country Edition Roof Top Tent features a high-quality construction and an easy, fold-out design that lets you get your mobile campsite set up and torn down in minutes. Each High Country Series tents has a fold-out design that gives it much more interior volume than Freespirit's standard tents, but still has an extremely easy set up. The High Country Series Tent comes with a built-in matress, a complete rainfly, and a universal bottom mount system that allows it to be installed onto practically any rack system on the market (including our RCI bed rack). The High Country Series Tent makes a great addition to your SEMA Ranger. Its level of comfort, roomy interior, and easy set up makes it an excellent choice for practically any overland build. See more about the Freespirit 55" High Country Tent.
Our SEMA Ranger wouldn't be a Stage 3 Project Build without a few lighting upgrades, but we did want to keep our Ranger looking clean while improving output. The first step of that process was a Baja Designs SAE/DOT Approved Amber Squadron Sport Fog Light Kit. Baja Design's Kit comes with a pair of street-legal, amber Squadron Sport LED lights that drop right into place of the factory fog lights thanks to the combination of included brackets and wiring adapters for the stock body harness that lets us turn the Squadron Sports on using the stock switch. We went with amber to help give us lighting in the frequently dusty conditions we find out here in Arizona, and the end result is an awesome look, excellent levels of light output, and superb penetration of actual dust and fog. The kit features an extremely straightforward and hassle-free install that let us get the amber Squadrons up and running in almost no time. Check out the Baja Designs SAE/DOT Amber Squadron Sport Kit.
While street-legal lighting is all well and good, but our SEMA Ranger also needed something more potent for hitting those off-road trails after the sun goes down. To get our 2019 Ranger huge output while still keeping a clean look, we turned to Baja Design's 2019 Ranger Squadron Sport A-Pillar Kit. This awesome kit positions a pair of Squadron Sport Spot Beam off-road LED lights right in front of our Ranger's A-Pillars using drop-in hood hinge brackets. The small size of the Squadrons doesn't distract from the rest of our Ranger's good looks, while their excellent output and long-range beam let us see a good ways down the trail when we're out in the bush after dark. The brackets position the Squadrons nicely and get the lights far enough above the hood so that there isn't a ton of glare coming back into the windshield. Take a look at the 2019 Ford Ranger Baja Designs Squadron Sport A-Pillar Light Kit!
We here at Stage 3 typically value function over form, but we got pretty jelly of our overseas compatriots who can get the Ranger Raptor. To assuage our envy at least slightly, we grabbed ourselves a Ranger Raptor-Style Grille for our 2019 SEMA Ranger Build. With it's optional lettering kit, this grille added a mean, aggressive look that the rest of the world gets to enjoy as part of the Ranger Raptor on our very own USDM Ranger. The Raptor-Style grille also fit in better with our styling theme and our custom wrap (more on that later), so it was a good upgrade, despite not being incredibly necessary. As great as this grille looks on our build, we sadly no longer have it in stock. Check out our selection of similar Ranger grilles.
Another little aesthetic upgrade we made to our 2019 Ranger SEMA Build was a Grille Light Kit for our Raptor-Style Grille. This grille light kit perfectly positions a trio of amber LED lights in the upper slots of the Raptor Grille, which provides an aggressive and complete look to a Raptor-Style grille. The amber LEDs fit in extremely well with our Ranger's front end and its entire styling theme. The grille light kit features a bolt-on, drop-in install and has wiring that taps into the stock side marker lights and works off your Ranger's parking light circuit so that you can avoid custom wiring. Unfortunately, we no longer carry these specific grille lights, but if you love this look just as much as we do, we have a selection of similar Raptor-Style Grille Light Kit.
You should never go full SEMA, but what's done is done. We threw a custom vinyl wrap on our 2019 SEMA Ranger Project Truck, which was beautifully done by the folks over at Arizona Color. We decided on a military-style theme that fit in with the wheels and a gold, black, and grey color scheme that made all of our Ranger's modifications and styling components really pop. Arizona Color did a great job making our dream become a reality, and we could not be more pleased with the end result.
