'85 Ranger Restomod

85_Ranger4x4 · Mar 8, 2017

Truck is ready for the battery tray but the battery tray isn't ready for the truck.

What I thought looked like what really nasty rust on the bottom gusset of the battery tray support was caked on road dirt on top of perfectly painted steel. Luckily I hit that with the wire brush on a angle grinder to upset that balance of preservation.

Spot welds are gone:

Two mounting holes are drilled in the inner fender:

Quick coat of hunter green to tide it over until the off chance I can repaint the truck sometime.

85_Ranger4x4 · Mar 16, 2017

Picked up a new garage assistant last week, Bullitt (to go with my fience's cavapoo Roush) Not very good at helping do much except making messes so far, he tries though.

(he has came a long ways in a week though)

RangerFabWorks · Mar 16, 2017

Just like mine and my wife's companion. Although he is afraid of the garage lol. ZEPHYR

85_Ranger4x4 · Mar 17, 2017

Hopefully he likes the garage, it has been too cold since we got him to do much in there. He isn't really scared of anything yet... ignorance is bliss I guess.

85_Ranger4x4 · Mar 25, 2017

I finally got it back together today.

I despise the cheap POS rubber hold down but it was about all I could find at a parts store. They had equally cheesy metal ones with little tin clips for the bolts to go thru.

Alt is tight, I will have to watch if I will need to take some off the corner of the tray.

85_Ranger4x4 · Mar 28, 2017

I now have in the back of my F150 a M5ODR2 out of a 2004 F-150 4wd Heritage that had a 4.2 :yahoo:

Got a good start on it Sunday, was going to come up next weekend to finish but it was bugging me if it would still be there for as much work as we had done. So I took half a day off to nab it. Nobody had touched it, dropped the tcase, slipped it off the engine and left in about an hour. Soon to be father in law had the afternoon off and was key in helping. :icon_thumby:

85_Ranger4x4 · Mar 28, 2017

Twister · Mar 31, 2017

Woot woot, glad you were able to pick that up. I am always on the look out for them when i go to u pull it, I usually always check each and ever f150, as i know those transmissions are kind of hard to find.

Sent from my SM-N910P using Tapatalk

85_Ranger4x4 · Mar 31, 2017

Twister said:
Woot woot, glad you were able to pick that up. I am always on the look out for them when i go to u pull it, I usually always check each and ever f150, as i know those transmissions are kind of hard to find.

Sent from my SM-N910P using Tapatalk

Much appreciated too.

I think you only found two for me in a JY, the other one was 4.5 years ago right after I bought my house. And then the one last summer the guy wanted $250 for. They are pretty scarce around here, I never found one in my travels (although I did drive one about 10 years ago)

Kinda made me worried, I started down the row you said it was in and there was a white F-150 the right vintage there with a 5 speed but it was 2wd. I was like "oh heck no, he wouldn't..." Then I see it was an '01 so I continue down and the '04 4x4 was hiding behind a big van. :yahoo:

85_Ranger4x4 · Apr 2, 2017

There be unicorns in that there yard! :clapping:

Went back to grab the separator plate from that truck (forgot at the time I didn't have a manual thickness one) and while I was there I was going to try putting a Ranger shifter on the 2wd F-150 that was near my donor to see how it worked. I had found a place that sold new FX4 gear shifters for $80 and wanted to try it before I bought one. Walking down the row and I see a sonic blue late model one that took a hard hit to the nose. Peek around and I see it is not only a FX4 but a Level II. No way. Open the door with fingers crossed, both pretty chrome gear shift levers are still in it. :yahoo:

Someone had already grabbed the knobs which I was ok with since the pattern for a BW1354 is not the same as a NP208. They didn't do the bezel any favors but I think it would look ok if used again. I doubt the shifters will come out in the right spots in my truck but I figured they would be good for templates to make new ones. The leather boots are neglected but intact and will come around with a good cleaning and some oil.

Finding a NP208 knob for 12mm threads should be fun...

85_Ranger4x4 · Apr 2, 2017

I am having too good of a week, I need to hide in the basement for awhile before I get hit by lightning or something.

I stuck the trans on my engine stand and popped the cover to see just what I drug home.

The two syncros on the front of the shift collars have very minimal wear, I can't see any wear anywhere else.

Shift forks are good, one side I can barely catch a finger nail on otherwise the rest are shined up from wear.

Even the shifter is nice shape, the plastic bushings and spring washers are there and intact. Pins have minimal wear, I am going to rebuild it anyway, the kit is only like $15.

Oil was dark but still red (which I like, it means nobody has had to mess with it and it hasn't been ran low) and roughly up to the fill plug.

I am just thinking the shifter kit and a gasket/seal kit for this thing so far...

turbo91xlt · Apr 2, 2017

Damnnnn nice scores!!

bobbywalter · Apr 2, 2017

that m5 will change the level of abuse substantially.

i would consider a jeep 208 to hang off of it. they still like a body lift but are light and have a better low then the 205.

85_Ranger4x4 · Apr 2, 2017

bobbywalter said:
i would consider a jeep 208 to hang off of it. they still like a body lift but are light and have a better low then the 205.

I snagged a NP208 out of a Bronco a few years ago with the fixed rear output. :icon_thumby:

Kinda striking out on knobs. Older Nissan Exterra had the 5 speed with the same t-case pattern but were 10mm threads. FX4 LVII is 12MM threads.

6gun · Apr 6, 2017

Helicoil the shifter knob

I made a custom shift knob for a friend many years ago by simply drilling out the hole barely big enough to lightly thread the insert of the correct size in. Lightly epoxied it before screwing into the wood. Still holding and shifting gears over 10yrs later.

'85 Ranger Restomod

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