Armadillon's FW Ranger D44/Ford 9"

[dieseldane]

That sucks dane, or does it? Doesn't take long to destroy a body in rugby, maybe the shoulder injury saved you from dying in a match

The way that summer went? I might have died in a match. Wrecked my katana going about 45 when a kid turned left in front of me at a stoplight on a highway and destoyed my shoulder. Just started healing from that and went through a barb wire fence on a four-wheeler to avoid hitting a buddy head on going about 60. Went to the hospital, getting all stitched up and realized I was missing about an hour of time and my friend found me unconcious in the shower after that. Tried to get the doctor to give me a cat scan or mri to see if I was gonna be ok to run in a demolition derby the next weekend. He just called me a dumbass and told me to go home. Tried to file a complaint but no one believed me.

I've been told I'm a little wreckless, I don't see why...

/end hijack

 

[armadillon]

Hahaha there's no hijacking on my thread since I haven't been making any progress.

Although UPDATE: Finally picked up some spicer U-Joints so I can finish rebuilding the axles. I have everything for the project except DOM, shocks, brake lines and some gaskets.

 

[armadillon]

UPDATE: Man! Two updates in a month. You guys are lucky

So I picked up 6ft of 1 1/4" OD 1/8" wall DOM tube for my steering. I also got 8 feet of 2" OD 1/4" wall DOM tube for my radius arms! FINALLY.

I think it all equaled to about $12.35 a foot. Obviously the 2" was more expensive.

I also put in an order at RockAuto:
Inner Seals for D44
Outer Seals for D44
Diff Cover gaskets for both axles
new brake pads for the front and new shoes for the rear
wheel cylinders
brake hardware
brake lines for front (3 sets)
brake line for rear (Just the center junction, the rest is all hardline I'll get from VatoZone)
Trackbar bushing
Distributor cap and rotor
New Bosch Plat Plus plugs
Bosch plug wires
air filter and wiper blades

Also got a driver side mirror because some buggering arsehole took a bat to it. If I find who did it (and I won't I'm sure *sadface*) I'll be sure to touch their vehicle in naughty places.




The more-of-a-more-betterer welder brother is coming over for a late Christmas on Saturday and I hope we can get a bit done!

 

[brinker88]

No offense but you're going to want something a little better than 1/8" wall for your steering. It's going to have all kinds of deflection while wheeling. I'd definitely bump it up to 1.5 OD 1/4" wall. <--- That's just my .02 though.

Builds looking great bro!

 

[RangerSVT]

Agreed on the dom, but you will want to throw those new Bosch plugs in the garbage as soon as you get them, they are junk in all fords...


SVT

 

[armadillon]

SVT, they seem to be doing ok so far We'll see how long they last though. Shoulda seen the crap that came out of it!

Yeah, everyone keeps saying that about the DOM. Grrr, if only I didn't spend $50 on it. Always frustrating purchasing something you can't return.

 

[RangerSVT]

What you can do is get the next largest size and sleeve it, giving you .250 wall thickness. It's not the same as .250 wall, but its better than .125...

SVT

 

[scooter]

What you can do is get the next largest size and sleeve it, giving you .250 wall thickness. It's not the same as .250 wall, but its better than .125...

SVT

Lol^^^
Thats EXACTLY what i did.

 

[armadillon]

So it's been almost exactly 1 year since I updated this thread. To answer a few questions you may have:

I'm still around.
I still have my Ranger and I now have a backup vehicle (97 Chevy K1500 105k miles!) so the Ranger is now sitting in the garage without a front end.

I ripped out all the crap in front and I've welded up the radius arms and a crossmember for them.

The welds are not pretty but using my brother's Millermatic 252 they were burned in pretty hot. My welding skills are lacking so I deferred to his better judgment on if they'd hold.

Pics of my horrible lack of space I got creative and stored shit on top of the Ranger. Also, you can see where I got into a small fender bender. Now I won't be skurred to beat up the rest of it/cut fenders!

 

[armadillon]

Anyway, it's great to be back.

 

[FordRanger1991]

Looking good man! Can't wait to see more!! Get that thing done so we can all see it!!

 

[AgPete139]

Lookin good, man! My skills are definitely lacking, too, but we're practicing!

 

[armadillon]

Update: FINALLY, and I mean FINALLY, got the radius arms and axle mounted underneath. No coils/steering/trac-bar just yet.

Ended up having to put lateral bends in the radius arms to get them to mount properly. Unfortunately the bends aren't the same on each, but I used p-bobs and measurement to make sure the axle was where I wanted it in relation to the frame.

I'm guessing I can correct any errors with a proper alignment later.

I'm also loving my new DeWalt Impact Driver. Parents got me the 18V XRP version for Christmas and it's a lifesaver. I sheared off a 1/2" drive socket adapter yesterday though. Decided I'd pick up a couple more since the driver only has a 1/4" shank.

 

[RangerSVT]

Ive got one of those, you need to pick up the Dewalt brand impact adapter set. Its a little more $$, but they dont snap no where near like the regular adapters...

SVT

 

[armadillon]

I grabbed a DeWalt 1/2" impact adapter for sure. Also got a Makita 15* impact swivel one. It doesn't work as well because the extra looseness doesn't allow it to hit hard enough, so the tighter fitting one seems to work much better.