adsm08's Ranger build up

[adsm08]

Yeah, I am familiar with the Ship of Theseus.

As for my cab, both of my doors and fenders are shot. One fender might be salvageable, but that will be a down the road thing. Additionally the cab would need cut and patch work in other spots.

For me, I think it will be hard letting the old body go no matter what. Even after I have upgraded power-train items that were just worn out and not worth anything I let them sit in the garage for months or years because I couldn't let go. I still have the original t-case.

But at the end of all this the most important thing is that I have the truck I want, and that I built it. That is what makes it mine more than anything.

I have sat down, and over the course of my 7 year association with this site, and in no small part due to the people and knowledge on this site, picked out the things I want this truck to be. Then I have gathered parts, engine, trans, axles, and installed them piece by piece, and made this truck into almost exactly what I want.

There are a lot of custom made parts, particularly in the wiring, that will be brought along to the final product. Stuff that never existed that I have sat down and made or re-made myself to make certain parts that were never used together work and play together as if it was factory.

All said and done, this will always be my truck.


My wife has even floated the idea of using the unused cab as a sort of play house for the kids. Take the glass out so they can't get trapped inside, leave a steering wheel, sand box in the engine bay. The only reason I'm not all in on that is because I think some pieces of the black cab, core support and inner fenders, can be salvaged to fix the front end damage on my BII.

 

[ericbphoto]

In these kinds of projects, the "history" is just as much a part of the truck as any other part. Of course you have to let the law weigh in on the issue at times. But otherwise, the labor of love is the most important part.

 

[adsm08]

Actually, under PA law by the time I am done with all this (even now really) I could probably apply for a specially constructed vehicle title and VIN it however I want.

 

[adsm08]

Alright, a little progress over the last week or so. I tried to get it out of the garage last weekend and it wouldn't sit still if started in gear or go into gear if started in neutral. I played with it for an hour before deciding the tranny had to come out.

That's when I found this:


And this:


And these:



So I got this:

I saw mixed reviews about the brand but given what I just did to one of our generally beloved Luk units, I figured I'd give it a shot since it was similarly priced from our friends over at Rock Auto. It is advertised as being for "high torque" applications or just people with a heavy foot. I am undecided yet (only driven about 20 miles)on it. It is a bit grabby at low speeds, and it has a very light spring on the pressure plate. It disengages properly, just not as much pedal effort as I am accustomed to.

The clutch itself does seem pretty good. It is a 6-puck ceramic friction material and the body of it is pretty heavy. It is much more solid than a standard duty clutch, literally more solid, it doesn't have a lot of the empty space in it, and it has 6 small dampers instead of the 4 big ones on a standard clutch.

Then I did this:





The pictures don't do it justice. It looks so much better in person.


In other news, the tax refund came in Monday, and we closed the sale on our other house today, walked away from the table with $2500. That bought the clutch, some parts for the Explorer, and the wife let me get this:

http://www.nationaltoolwarehouse.com/Master-Cam-Tool-Set-P32488.aspx?ref=shopping&utm_source=shopping&utm_medium=cse&utm_content=otc6489&utm_campaign=feed&zmam=31282435&zmas=50&zmac=749&zmap=OTC6489

I need to do timing chains on my SOHC engine, and my options for the tools were

A) 4.0 SOHC cam tools from Amazon for $200-something and it ships "in 2-5 months"

B) 4.0 SOHC tools on eBay for $600-something and have it in a week or so

C) Get all the Ford cam alignment and syncro tools $400. The only thing I think it is missing is the crank tools for the 4.6/5.4, and a few other crank alignment tools that aren't really needed if you know what you are doing.

 

[Rowdy Fitzgerald]

Congrats on the house bud!

That bed looks good on her! I've got the brackets for the axel beams if you're wanting to level it out?
They're 4" lift brackets. The coils and crossmember brackets were stolen from me a few years back. But they would be easy to make. And you could just get a set of jeep springs!


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[bobbywalter]

yeah....broke a few 4.0 clutches.





these days i prefer to suggest complete removal of the members for preservation that will actually work...it is the only reason my truck exists at all....

though the cab corners are rough....its just metal....hack the shit out and replace it.


if you rework it, it will be stronger....maybe not as pretty...but it will be stronger. and you can make it the way you want it.


i prefer the mini truck for general stuff, but i have to admit i been eyeballing the gen 2 sport tracs lately......duramax with my bed and the 60's....

but, i would not call it a ranger...or "my" ranger. the idea of shit canning this pos i drive spooks me....

i agree its not the same truck i bought....but at the same time...it is.



i collapsed my cab a few winters ago pulling an excursion off the lake...i had to put floors in it after that it really cut down on the wind noise and did wonders for the cab heat in the winter.


so to me....yup....your truck is still your truck any way you go with your parts compilation.


just really think thru your mod list....making a custom bed is one thing i wish i would have done the day i got my truck. so if you want your floor lower or taller or sections removable for future maintenance now is the time.

 

[adsm08]

Had a minor setback this week. I couldn't get the air compressor to build pressure, no matter what I did I couldn't get the drain to seal. So I went to TSC looking for a wing-nut style replacement because I like those a lot better than the knurled nut style. They didn't have any. They did have this:



Very happy.


Then I got to this stuff. The lighting in some of these is terrible.

No seats:


Helper:



He stole my light. I ran into the house to get another one and when I got back he had cleaned up all my tools and put them in the cargo net.

No carpet:



And..... No paint.


Lots of little rust spots though.


I treated the rust, and did not take pictures of that. It's late and I have been working on cars for 12 hours straight.

 

[1qaz]

You're little guy is getting big! Looks like he's having a blast helping you.

 

[adsm08]

Oh is he ever. He is over half as tall as my sister, who is 26 (and 5"2 in heels, which she never wears).

He is really starting to get into the car stuff now. He spends hours pretending to fix his toy cars every day because "the engine not working, gotta fix it". This morning I had to do ball joints on the other truck to get it ready for inspection and he was there with me most of the time asking what parts were and how they worked. He even managed to give me a pretty good explanation of how disc brakes work without me telling him first. He asked what the rotor was, I told him it was a rotor and its part of the brakes and he made a pincher with his hand like he does when he is pretending to be a crab and said "You squeeze it," then clamped his hand down.


He is unhappy about what I am doing to "his" red truck. Every time I do more to take it apart he gets mad and tells me he doesn't want to paint it black, he wants to make it run so we can drive it. He is good with numbers for his age, but I don't think he really understands when I tell him that at the end of this project we will only have one truck.

 

[1qaz]

That is so awesome! You're building great memories in addition to a nice truck...looking real good BTW. He'll be driving it before you know it!

 

[adsm08]

No bumpers:





I also got the body bolts out, and unhooked the last few items holding the body to the cab, but those didn't seem picture worthy.

I am going to try and get the cab off tomorrow. I'm just not sure how.

 

[adsm08]

That is so awesome! You're building great memories in addition to a nice truck...looking real good BTW. He'll be driving it before you know it!

He already tries. I think the only thing that stops him is his inability to reach the pedals.

So I was going to borrow a blast cabinet to do the smaller pieces of the frame and clean the main beams by hand.

Today I was talking about it at work and one of the guys told me his dad's one friend works for a local Cat service center and they have the big acid tank. It will fit 5 big-rig blocks at once, should fit a Ranger frame in pieces just fine.

I am a little worried about the rust treatment though. I checked it today and some spots had turned orange. I've never had that happen before.

 

[Rowdy Fitzgerald]

Too bad you're all the way out in Pa. I've got a clean frame I'd give you.


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[adsm08]

Thanks Rowdy, I would take you up on that if it wasn't for the 3000 miles in the way.

So I got some work done tonight.

WARNING: The following contains a lot of pictures, some of which are sketchier than a police drawing.







Somehow the picture of my rigging on the front got away. I had a ratchet strap hooked between the two big holes in the core support and picked up on it with the cherry picker.

And yes, four ratchet straps will hold up a Ranger cab.

After about an hour I had this:





And here is the crew, all three of them:



Talk about lowering your truck:



The frame looks a lot longer and narrower without the body:



Gonna have to repair a few body brackets:







Also found a present sitting against the front door today:







Timing set for the SOHC. $70 shipped. Took about four days to get here.

 

[bobbywalter]

that thing is in great shape....my shit was worse then that 20 years ago.