93 Ranger 4x4

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Just found out the hood won't close properly. The cable is broke and someone remove the piece the bear claw latches onto. Here come hood pins....

Sent from my XT1032 using Tapatalk

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Found the gear ratio is 3.27, that sucks. Also fixed the grill. There isn't an straight panel on the truck, tho it's fairly rust free. So stitches seemed appropriate....

 

[RonD]

Very inventive

Although I am partial to bailing wire
But it does rust

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Got insurance on it today. It drives pretty good. The 3.27 gears aren't too bad in town with the 4.0 torque. And it's great on the freeway; 2200rpm @ 65mph/105kph.
But the rpm's are way too high, they are at 1800-2000 rpm. I'll have to swap the maf and see if that makes a difference, I believe that is the only piece that I didn't bring over from the racetruck. Also found another rad fluid leak, not exactly sure where from as it's too dark to see properly.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Fluid lead was from me forgetting to tighten one rad hose. It was barely hanging on but still had coolant in the rad....phew.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

I changed maf's and no difference. I then unhooked the iac and idle came down to 900-1000. So that means that I have a vacuum leak somewhere. I'll have to look another day as I'm changing the timing chain in my 77 f250 460ci work truck. The waterpump gasket sprang a leak awhile ago and it's gotten bad enough that I have to fix it now. That is being a bit of a pain too as I broke a bolt and the timing chain cover didn't want to come off. I got it after swearing it into submission, so it should go back together fairly quick tomorrow morning.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Well, par for the course, the work truck is still being worked on.

That bolt is missing the head, I cut it off. After removing the timing cover it unscrewed by hand, it was the rust holding it[emoji35]

I did do some home made hood pins. I ground down the ends of two bolts and drilled a 5/32" hole thru the end. Used some scrap to make some mounts. Pics;

Sent from my XT1032 using Tapatalk

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

After driving for a few days I decided I better replace the bald rear passenger tire. I picked up a pair of mud and snow tires on rims for a f150. I dismounted them and cleaned up a spare pair of rims. Got them mounted and balanced and threw them on. While swapping tires I noticed one spring was broke.... Today I just finished swapping in new springs. I left the main springs hooked up and replaced the broken one and all the rest with the bottom springs from a 97 f150. I ended up getting about 2-3" of lift, which is probably back to stock. Some pics;
Getting ready to cut the pin,

New pin install

The pin size is 7/16" by 7". I cut it down to fit after tightening everything up. Cost was ~$5.50/2

Also found the drivers side slave was leaking fluid. I'll leave that for another day.

Sent from my XT1032 using Tapatalk

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

So I made a round trip to visit my sister in BC back in Dec. I covered that in another thread where I had a problem with a whine when in 4x4 with hubs locked in. There was also darting feeling to the steering when in 4x4 hubs locked. I think I found what was causing the dartiness in the steering. The drivers side rotor was worn where the outer bearing sits. Found this after tracking down a squeak to the inner bearing on the same rotor. IMO; The steering was darting only when in 4x4 because the drive axles would supply power to one wheel or the other depending on torque bias and the drivers wheel would then point in a slightly different direction depending on load. This may also be the whine but I haven't tested it yet. I put in a new rotor and new inner and outer bearings and seal and also changed the needle bearing and seal in the spindle. I'll have to rebuild or swap out the caliper on this side because the dust boot on the piston is ripped. That will have to wait for some money. I thought I was getting slightly caught up but today received a registered letter from my auto insurance company.....so much for trying to catch up. Maybe one day.

 

[Mightyfordranger]

Well that sounds about like the boat I'm in too all my rbvs are quickly turning into garbage and I need a full size truck to tow with....never ends does it

sent while bored

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Welcome to the club boys! Lol.... one step forward and three back. I love my trucks, but it really sucks always being behind on them. I always figured if I could complete one full repair, I could get ahead a little....

Three times now I've swore that I'm going to complete my choptop, fix everything before it goes back on the road. Three times now, that didn't happen, lol. Ran out of time or money and it had to move because something else was no longer moving, lol.

Good luck with getting those problems sorted out though! Hope you do manage to start making progress instead of ending up with more problems


Sent from my kite using a trebuchet

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Thanks for the well wishes.

For posterity here are pics of the ecu tag;



And some pics of my topper with home made roof racks;



Loaded up;



And a socket and brace for the front for long loads;

 

[Mightyfordranger]

I like that

sent while bored

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Thanks.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

I think I posted in another thread about my rad fluid dis-appearing. I finally found the problem last week, it was the o-ring [passenger side] between the aluminum fins and the plastic tank of the radiator. After going thru a bunch that I had stockpiled [ install, pressure test, find the same problem ], I finally broke down and pulled the one from my 86 2.9 ranger. The leakage problem is gone now. However the temp gauge still swings from low to 3/4's hot on a slow cycle of about a minute or two. Sometimes when I stop and shut the engine off I'll hear bangs coming from under the hood. Originally I thought this was a symptom of the fluid loss, the system getting over pressured by combustion gasses. I thought this because this engine is out of my race truck and has been overheated [short terms of less than a 2 minutes at a time] numerous times because the water pump impeller came loose from the shaft. But this isn't the case. I was able to get under the hood quick enough to feel the hoses while the banging was happening and found the heater hoses "pulsing" in time with the bangs. I remember RonD explaining that the heater core has some influence on the cooling somehow and my next step is to replace the heater core and see what happens. The temps around here are supposed to get above freezing for the next week or so and hopefully I can change it then.

I forgot to mention I lucked out on kijiji and picked up four rims and decent tires ~9/32's for C$150.00. Finally have matching rims.... You can see them in the pics post 27.