With all of the trucks hucking, people cheering, and drivers getting sense knocked into them, it’s no small wonder that Jump Champs has become such a huge hit here in Southern California. The third Jump Champs took place just last Saturday, and with it were some special rigs that looked ready to rock.

One of them was this 1998 Ford Ranger, owned by Jason Burford. The young man found his match on Race-Dezert, where the vehicle was listed in the Classifieds.

“I spotted it on the website, and saw it was located in San Diego,” said Jason. “It was about an hour and a half from my house. I liked that it had the 4.0-liter V6, and it was an extended cab. It also had a lot of suspension ready to go: I-beams, King shocks, things like that.”

Still, Jason wanted to get the Ranger built up the way he wanted it. Slowly but surely, he saved money to put toward the project truck. “I added a full roll cage, changed the fiberglass, put on some new tires, rebuilt the shocks, replaced the seats, and put in a new rearend, as well as new leaf springs.”

Trouble came when the transmission started acting up. “It was a pain in the ass for a little while,” said Jason. “I had issues with getting the right torque converter, or the right flexplate, and piecing it together. But now, it’s pretty dialed-in.”

The Ranger has reached a state of “good enough” for now, but Jason wants to go next-level on a few items. These include the motor, which he hopes to swap to an LS V8, as well as the get the paint done. He would also like to four-link the rear axle.

Today, the truck has reached a balanced state, but Jason still has a few plans to take care of. “It’ll never be finished,” he chuckled. “I want to eventually get the rear four-linked, and I’m going to look into doing a V8 swap. A paint job would be nice too.”

The paint, in Jason’s mind, would have to be white. “I like white,” he said simply.

Unfortunately, as we were doing our interview with Jason, the call of Jump Champs was going on behind us. We cut short our chat and let him and his friends go check out the action, which you can read about soon in our upcoming Top 5 Trucks article.

What do you think about Jason’s sweet little Ranger? Let us know in the comments below.

The Ranger has seen its fair share of off-roading, here in the dirt-slinging, sand-shooting mecca that is Southern California. “I’ve taken it everywhere around San Bernardino,” said Jason. “Barstow, Lucerne Valley, Glamis, Pismo Beach. I was El Mirage the other week. I still have yet to make it Ocotillo Wells, though.”