Old Girl Bit the Dust Today

bobbywalter · Jan 3, 2018

pretty sure I would drive it.

bobbywalter · Jan 3, 2018

Shran said:
Doesn't really matter what vehicle hit it, 1st gen Rangers and B2's are NOT designed to absorb crash impacts well.

My buddy's Ranger was rear ended at a relatively low speed and the frame was bent all the way up to the cab. We welded in the back half of another frame to fix it. My '86 was also wrecked when I got it - was hit on the passenger side front, frame bent just like this B2. I straightened it enough to be usable.

From what I can see I'd say that your B2 looks fixable, I have seen MUCH worse get straightened out. It is a bummer in any case and I sympathize, the truck I inherited from my grandpa has been hit twice. Just broke my heart both times.

my truck has been hit several times too. and looks like your saying because they are not built to absorb they holdup to be diy fixable to a higher degree.

at least that has been my experience.

85_Ranger4x4 · Jan 3, 2018

Trucks don't really like getting hit in the rear, especially with a receiver hitch.

91stranger · Jan 4, 2018

fix it and drive it til the wheels fall off. that's what I always do. I live in ohio so rust is the biggest factor with older vehicles here. normally you can't fix unrust a truck without replacing or patch welding. it honestly doesn't look bad though. fix the steering parts and get an alignment and get a headlight and a fender if it doesn't pound back out.

Rustbucket350 · Jan 12, 2018

Ah good news. The frame looks fine. It looks like it's just the passenger axle beam bracket that broke and twisted at the welds. I can fix that and reposition it. The core support is trashed and I don't care for the way they welded the whole thing together. After I fix the axle I'll cut the front core support off and beat the whole thing back into shape. I'll probably be putting this turbo kit I have on it too. I had decided not to because I didn't want to break something... but, that happened anyway. I might just pound this fender out and make a bumper out of some 3/16" square tube.

Shran · Jan 12, 2018

bobbywalter said:
and looks like your saying because they are not built to absorb they holdup to be diy fixable to a higher degree.

Yes. Vehicles with crumple zones are much harder to work with. But, cars are basically disposable things, and I think the tradeoff between safer and harder to repair is worthwhile.

85_Ranger4x4 · Jan 12, 2018

Shran said:
Yes. Vehicles with crumple zones are much harder to work with. But, cars are basically disposable things, and I think the tradeoff between safer and harder to repair is worthwhile.

RBV's are far from a '59 Caddy for heavy hard to crumple construction.

Rustbucket350 · Feb 17, 2018

Ha you guys were right. I cut the axle drop bracket apart, repositioned it, welded the piss out of it, and installed new tie rods and axle bushings. Then I cut the core support apart an pounded it into submission. It's coming along nicely. Nice enough that I may buy another new fender, add a body lift, and possibly paint it.

350danger_ranger · Feb 17, 2018

Being a twin I beam a lot of times in these situations it is the I beam that goes bad kinda like that whole saying the weakest link I've seen full size trucks with twin I beams that have had worse damage to the front end and shaped out the whole I beam and it was good to go it is a pain in the Ass to do but not as big a P. I. T. A as a whole frame swap.....good luck to ya

Rustbucket350 · Feb 17, 2018

I get what you're saying and I really don't care for the TTB at all anymore. It does have some things I like about it but its not the strongest setup. If I had any further damage to it I probably would have done a solid axle swap but it was easily salvageable. A lot of the front end was worn and in need of replacement anyway. I'm still trying to figure out why Ford decided to weld the front core support in and use threaded sleeves for the bushings. Holy hell the bushings were more difficult than pulling the passenger side two inches forward.

350danger_ranger · Feb 18, 2018

Money money money that's y any car manufacturer builds stupidly, take for instance GMs EVAP it's located behind the server-side rear wheel now if you live in a state that gets snow you can expect to change the vent solenoid every 6 months it's a stupid design and the engineers need to be slapped in the back of there heads looking at it from a mechanics point of view, however it was cheaper to use that design so there for millions of GM cars and trucks (that are gas jobs) are prone to a P440 code (major EVAP leak).

racsan · Feb 18, 2018

my 93 had frame damage and i drove it another 5 years before retiring it, had to remove the passenger side rear lift block for the back to be level. rust got the best of the front of the frame behind the shock/coil tower and with all the other issues it was having i let it go down the road.

Rustbucket350 · Mar 3, 2018

Well this is embarrassing but everything is done minus a new grille. I tried to upload a picture but oh well the internet sucks now that photobucket went pay to play.

1990RangerinSK · Mar 3, 2018

Rustbucket350 said:
Well this is embarrassing but everything is done minus a new grille. I tried to upload a picture but oh well the internet sucks now that photobucket went pay to play.

I've been using Flikr. I don't post many photos (not doing a build thread, although this spring I have to do brakes, and might want to post some pictures, and might have to do the fuel pump). However, when I have posted pictures, Flikr works really well.

pjtoledo · Mar 3, 2018

original

Rustbucket350 said:
Well this is embarrassing but everything is done minus a new grille. I tried to upload a picture but oh well the internet sucks now that photobucket went pay to play.

try editing the URL to add ~original between .jpg and [/img]

so it looks like:

........jpg~original[/img]

Old Girl Bit the Dust Today

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