What did you do to your Ranger today? (Part Deux!)

[racsan]

heat? its 70 here today, feels cold after nearly a month of 90+. Ive got a caliper hanging up on my ranger, guess I will replace both (they are original 94 parts as far as I can tell) may as well put new lines on as well, they dont look very good. Was working fine until I took things apart last week to add washers between the I-beam and coils. Im thinking about 2” taller coils, wonder if 2wd /4wd stock coils are the same height? if not then 2” taller 4wd coils could be too tall, then I will need to lift the butt some. Guess I need to do some research.

 

[pjtoledo]

raining today so off to the basement for some tool making.

first was to take a perfectly good used bolt and turn it (joke ha ha) into something smaller, rinse and repeat because I needed 2 of those gizmos.

did I mention last weeks project was custom fabricated push rod length testers?
I should have, made 12 of 'em.
the aluminum tubes are scrap left over from work years ago, cut down and threaded on one end.
the balls were extracted from some bearings from the same "old work scrap" stash.
had to break down and buy the nuts & socket screws, bummer.



why did I need those, those,,, things?

so I could accurately measure the pushrod length of course., I do need to drill .140" holes in the big ends to seat the balls.
need a 3.5mm drill bit, I'm afraid 9/64" will make too big of a hole.

for reference this is a '99 3.0 pushrod, they are quite short.

Comp Cams website says use .140" holes in the test gauge. the ball's oil holes and chamfer fit in the .140" holes. then measure between the thingies I made.

 

[4.0blue98]

Checked all the fluids. Was 105 in my garage so only did a little bit of welding on the Pontiac. Got an old "friend" back to keep the Ranger company in the driveway:

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

heat? its 70 here today, feels cold after nearly a month of 90+. Ive got a caliper hanging up on my ranger, guess I will replace both (they are original 94 parts as far as I can tell) may as well put new lines on as well, they dont look very good. Was working fine until I took things apart last week to add washers between the I-beam and coils. Im thinking about 2” taller coils, wonder if 2wd /4wd stock coils are the same height? if not then 2” taller 4wd coils could be too tall, then I will need to lift the butt some. Guess I need to do some research.

Not sure about Rangers, but the 2wd Bronco II had 2” taller coils than a 4x4. Ranger 4x4 coils are the same length as 4x4 B2 coils. IIRC, Explorer coils are a heavier spring rate and provide up to 1.5“ of lift

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I looked at my Ranger, but that was about it. Messed up my back Friday because I didn’t have enough help. So my project is on hold while I try to recover. I did put up a thread in the V-8 swap forum about it though

 

[Ramcharger90]

I looked at my Ranger, but that was about it. Messed up my back Friday because I didn’t have enough help. So my project is on hold while I try to recover. I did put up a thread in the V-8 swap forum about it though

Gotta start somewhere right

 

[Alan_nc]

Well: Ollie (the dog) and I went to the park both Sat and Sun to meet the guys and drink coffee. We try to solve all the worlds problems but haven't done very well lately. Floyd (the truck) seems to be running very well - at the moment.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Gotta start somewhere right

Yup, just wish I wouldn’t have hurt myself, need to get this project done ASAP because at the moment I have no truck to drive and I’ve been hauling my lawn tractor out to mow my girlfriends place every week or so, plus all the projects I end up involved with. So it can’t stay down for long or I have to fix one of the others.

2wd Ranger has been down for years, never got back to it after taking a tree to the grille.

88 is maybe a third of the way through a resto-mod.

Choptop blew up the 4.0 and that was my spare motor.

F-150 needs frame repair, behind the steering box. Plus I can see the road through the floor.

F-350 needs the heads pulled, valve guides are toast.

 

[Ramcharger90]

Yup, just wish I wouldn’t have hurt myself, need to get this project done ASAP because at the moment I have no truck to drive and I’ve been hauling my lawn tractor out to mow my girlfriends place every week or so, plus all the projects I end up involved with. So it can’t stay down for long or I have to fix one of the others.

2wd Ranger has been down for years, never got back to it after taking a tree to the grille.

88 is maybe a third of the way through a resto-mod.

Choptop blew up the 4.0 and that was my spare motor.

F-150 needs frame repair, behind the steering box. Plus I can see the road through the floor.

F-350 needs the heads pulled, valve guides are toast.

Sounds like you should sell most of them and get something for 0% interest for 84 months.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Sounds like you should sell most of them and get something for 0% interest for 84 months.

Can’t afford to, lol

 

[97RangerXLT]

well this past weekend I removed all of the bed bolts, three screws for the filler neck, and unhooked the lights. I am now waiting the availability of a second person to lift the bed off, where I will replace the rear shocks and the fuel filler neck (for the second time) and do some rust abatement on the frame and cross members.

I even unhooked the bottom of the shocks. the top bolts are a bit of a pain to get to from underneath, so I will address them from above once the bed is off.

Also ordered a brand new set of bed bolts... took me forever to remove the middle bolts. needed a cheater bar (had a nice 4 ft section of black pipe) and they fought me every damn turn. could not even use a ratchet on them until they had been mostly turned out with the breaker bar/ cheater. the other four weren't too bad. But damn those things must be made out of unicorn horns or something... 54 bucks for a complete set...

AJ

 

[1990RangerinSK]

well this past weekend I removed all of the bed bolts, three screws for the filler neck, and unhooked the lights. I am now waiting the availability of a second person to lift the bed off, where I will replace the rear shocks and the fuel filler neck (for the second time) and do some rust abatement on the frame and cross members.

You don't need a second person. You need four tie down straps, a tree (or one of the collar ties in the garage), and some rope:

1. attach four tie down straps to the four corners of the bed
2. string rope over collar tie or tree, above truck box
3. secure tie down straps to one end of rope
4. secure other end of rope to front bumper of truck
5. start truck
6. drive forward
7. to replace truck box, perform above steps in reverse order.

Voila. You have removed the truck box, all by yourself.

 

[justlexi]

I just finished installing the truck Tonneau cover that I bought online. Now, I am expecting an improvement in the fuel mileage of my Ranger.

 

[97RangerXLT]

You don't need a second person. You need four tie down straps, a tree (or one of the collar ties in the garage), and some rope:

1. attach four tie down straps to the four corners of the bed
2. string rope over collar tie or tree, above truck box
3. secure tie down straps to one end of rope
4. secure other end of rope to front bumper of truck
5. start truck
6. drive forward
7. to replace truck box, perform above steps in reverse order.

Voila. You have removed the truck box, all by yourself.

No tree in my yard big enough, and the garage won't work, too much crap in it and only a 8.5 ft ceiling. I have thought of buying a harbor freight engine hoist tho....

AJ

 

[racsan]

I used a engine hoist to pull my bed last year, just raised it up enough to roll the truck out from under it. the factory tie down loops in each corner of the bed ( bed is a 97 ) were what I used to lift from, used 5/16 chain.