2006 Mazda B2300 Build Thread

[LWD601]

Had an 08 ranger with a 2.3 great truck. I had an explorer 8.8 axle on mine with 4.88's 31" general red labels and a limited slip. Performed great offroad. If you want to run something similar though I would recommend either a 4.56 ratio or at least a 33" tire. The 4.88s were just too tall of a gear for highway driving with 31s. I would also look into flipping your rear shackle instead of blocks. You'll have to lower where it mounts to the frame as well but it will give you way better articulation in the rear especially if you switch to a better spring in the rear. The stock leaf packs are just too dang stiff for the weight of the truck in my opinion anyway. Great looking truck.

 

[LWD601]

Oh and I would suggest sticking with an lsd. Lockers are great off road but if it's mostly hwy driving you're gonna hate cornering. Plus with an lsd you can tighten down the clutches to get pretty damn close to a full locker

 

[LWD601]

Had an 08 ranger with a 2.3 great truck. I had an explorer 8.8 axle on mine with 4.88's 31" general red labels and a limited slip. Performed great offroad. If you want to run something similar though I would recommend either a 4.56 ratio or at least a 33" tire. The 4.88s were just too tall of a gear for highway driving with 31s. I would also look into flipping your rear shackle instead of blocks. You'll have to lower where it mounts to the frame as well but it will give you way better articulation in the rear especially if you switch to a better spring in the rear. The stock leaf packs are just too dang stiff for the weight of the truck in my opinion anyway. Great looking truck.

 

[UltraHDGames]

Had an 08 ranger with a 2.3 great truck. I had an explorer 8.8 axle on mine with 4.88's 31" general red labels and a limited slip. Performed great offroad. If you want to run something similar though I would recommend either a 4.56 ratio or at least a 33" tire. The 4.88s were just too tall of a gear for highway driving with 31s. I would also look into flipping your rear shackle instead of blocks. You'll have to lower where it mounts to the frame as well but it will give you way better articulation in the rear especially if you switch to a better spring in the rear. The stock leaf packs are just too dang stiff for the weight of the truck in my opinion anyway. Great looking truck.

For now I plan on staying with the 4:10's and 31 but in the future I'll consider something like 32's and 4:56 Gears. I have no plans of ditching the lsd as I did try it the other day crossing a steep muddy ditch and it preformed flawless, as for the blocks and shackles deal I think I'll stick with the set up I have, I know blocks aren't typically recommended but these are Oem from a 4x4 so I'm not worried about using them. For me I find the leafs to be too soft actually, and that's with an extra leaf thrown in but it does enough now with the blocks jacking up that booty haha

 

[LWD601]

I've known a number of people that have run blocks on the rear and never had an issue with them at all. I think it comes down more to the quality you buy and what you expect out of them. As far as the leafs I wish I had ones like yours then. Back end of my truck always felt like it was going to flip *** over tea kettle

 

[UltraHDGames]

I've known a number of people that have run blocks on the rear and never had an issue with them at all. I think it comes down more to the quality you buy and what you expect out of them. As far as the leafs I wish I had ones like yours then. Back end of my truck always felt like it was going to flip *** over tea kettle

Like I previously mentioned these are factory 4x4 blocks from an 04 so I'm not worried about build quality, granted with these and a limited slip i might get some axle wrap and wheel hop but I'll test that this weekend

 

[LWD601]

And if you do its just a good reason to make a set of traction bars for the truck lol

 

[UltraHDGames]

And if you do its just a good reason to make a set of traction bars for the truck lol

Very true! We'll see how she handles on Saturday

 

[gotme1]

Looking good. Need to find myself a LSD!

 

[UltraHDGames]

Alright so its been awhile and I got some updates, during my week off I re painted both bumpers and my grill and hurculined my rockers and fender lips. During this time I also used sem paint on my interior interior, the results do look really good to my self but I do see why they recommend adhesive promoter for it as on the bottom of my door panels some paint was chipped, oh well when I eventually get xlt panels(with map pockets) I'll do it again proper. Sadly I don't have interior pics right now but here we go with others
My Buddy helping sand

Hurculiner came out great, seems WAAYY stronger then the previous duplicolour crap I used last summer

Colour matched booty, Haven't got around to installing the rear spacers yet


Then yesterday me and few friends went off road, the limited slip worked absolutely awesome and paired with these tires made me go places I thought unreachable with a 2wd, hill climbs were much easier as with any off angle sections





Where things went downhill...don't ask me why but I got dumb going cross wise through ruts..and surprising it was going! Until I stopped for my friend in the xj to pass and I got high centered on my frame. At this point the Dakota had gone home and it was jus me and the xj, he tried yanking me for about half an hour and after breaking two two straps we gave up, called his buddy in a big ole Ram
Well that plan also back fired, he turned down the gravel road before the one we were on, he then thought he could just follow the powerlines to us as we were in sight...well this is what happened

He's standing on solid ground there with water in the cab
So we called the Dakota back out to try and get the Ram out since the Xj couldn't get any of out still and we broke a third tow strap. He showed up, backed up to the ram and hooked on, gave one good yank and slide slide side ways from dry grass into muck and sank real quick(No pics). At that point we gave up and went back to town with the xj and got a tractor which got us all out, only took about 5+ hours for this to all get sorted out
The aftermath


Now I'm strongly considering trying to find a used jeep tj/yj etc tube bumper with a winch as they're about the same width and can just get welded right on as with a pair of maxtraxs, my hi lift did slightly help but I was the only one with a good tow rope to pull with using it, all of theirs were pretty junk and would just stretch out a bit and snap so I might be getting some chains for use with the hi lift

 

[Buddha.]

Sounds like you all need some good straps.

 

[UltraHDGames]

Sounds like you all need some good straps.

I agree, Mine and the dakota are good ones(or have been for quite some time now) but I'm going to encouraging my other friends to get higher quality ones in the future

 

[UltraHDGames]

Changed the engine oil yesterday, put on the rear wheel spacers also, the 1.5" spidertrax spacers made for a perfect match width with the front

Also locked my self out earlier this week so I took the cap off to go through the back window, too me it looks super goofy without the cap



With the spacers and cap back on


Mud flaps are pretty useless at this point

Near perfect I'd say


Things left for the summer
-Finish spare tire carrier (friend building it has been extremely busy with work)
-Roof Basket, rage powersport low profile. Going to mount 2 led pods facing backwards and one on each side facing downwards to help light up campsite, then mount my hi lift and axe/shovel on the sides as with a pair of smitty bilt traction aids inside it
-Jeep tj/yj winch tube bumper. After last weekend I realize I definitely need front tow hooks and a winch and jeep bumpers are MUCH cheaper, not an exact fit but it's been done before

I'm not exactly sure how I'll set up a light situation but I'm thinking of getting another pair of hella 500's but in the true "Fog" version and get a pair of black magic covers and sticking them overtop of the winch spot as shown in the picture and put my normal black magics on the roof in front of the basket. this is the bumper I'm looking at, Smittybuilt for $350 Canadian so it's a great deal. I'll most likely get a 8500 pound winch(Again smittybilt, they seem like a good value compared to Warn ones) so I have enough power to help other bigger trucks if need be

 

[UltraHDGames]

Went to the beach yesterday so it gave me a reason to throw the girlfriends raft on my roof, got 35% tint on my side windows the other day, not too dark but very nice and noticable when driving, shouldn't get hassled by police I hope


Then later in the day I found some more mud at a friends farm. The rear wheel spacers defiantly make things a bit messy but yet again I was super impressed with how this thing did. Limited slip and these 31's really plow through mud

Funny thing is all that mud on the chevy was from me roosting him when he got stuck in the same hole i had been doing donuts in and I had to stop and pull him through the mud


Fender flares are defiantly on my list, even though I know Oem Mazda flares won't cover all the tire it's got to be better then this

 

[UltraHDGames]

More photo dumping

The whip hit every overhead support beam, my roof rails just cleared the entrance door, got lots of looks as the whip was rocking back and forth banging around



Decided to test my flex a bit, mainly to see if the tires would clear my fenders now with the spacers in the back. The front was right on the bumpstop, back right was drooped out and just stouching the ground. Back left wasn't quite compressed all the way, still had at least 3-4" before hitting the bumpstop so I assume under full compression the sidewalls will rub


Better pictures of the tint job, super happy I got 35%, its the prefect amount, Very relaxing while driving and looks killer


Also picked these up this morning, bad quality picture from the ad but they're mint! From an 07 Fx4, the seller said the air bag plug might be different then mine so we'll see about that, I know I need 93-97 Ext Cab rails to bolt in so I'll be making a junkyard run shortyl