'85 Ranger Restomod

[Dirtman]

Ill give ya tree fiddy

Get out of here you damn loch ness monster!

 

[PetroleumJunkie412]

tree fiddy five

 

[Curious Hound]

It already has tree fiddy one. You’ll have to go higher

Oops. I too slow

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Not exactly the look I was going for...



Things are looking up:



Much better:



The truck is freaky to drive now. It is like dead silent going down the road unless I am on the throttle and is so velvety smooth. The Firestones did good though, they were made in 09/10 and had been on the truck since 2011. Still had great tread but they were starting to get checked and running for hours loaded last year I was queasy waiting for one to let go. I doubt they healed any a year later...

General Grabber AT2 spare vs the new General Grabber ATx



And the cockpit is cleaned:

 

[1qaz]

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

First leg down, made it to Albia for the night.

It has been kinda fun noticing all the little crap I have changed since last year. The headlights, thermometer/auto dimming mirror, cup holders, parking brakes, rear sway bar... have made it night and day so far compared to last year. In addition to new tires and an actual functioning rear suspension.

 

[Curious Hound]

F

First leg down, made it to Albia for the night.

It has been kinda fun noticing all the little crap I have changed since last year. The headlights, thermometer/auto dimming mirror, cup holders, parking brakes, rear sway bar... have made it night and day so far compared to last year. In addition to new tires and an actual functioning rear suspension.

View attachment 48085

Fancy campground, there, partner.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Fancy campground, there, partner.

It was rough but we survived.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Made it!

 

[Dirtman]

Silly drunken hobos...

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Silly drunken hobos...

Tomorrow we pretend we are hobos in a undeveloped country with bad roads!

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Cheated tonight, 2.5 hours from home and snagged a hotel. Everybody was ready to get out of a truck for awhile.

 

[Dirtman]

Oooooh classy.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Made it home!

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

At the roundup @97RangerXLT asked me what was next, I didn't really give much of an answer but after ruminating about I have come up with a couple things. In no particular order but #3 is probably the least concerning.

1. Hot starts. It starts great cold, it restarts great hot. If I let it sit for 10 minutes to 2 hours the gas evaporates out of the carb and floods the engine so I have to crank and crank to get it cleared out. Ever since I went to the different air cleaner and had to lose the thick spacer. I bumped the idle down from last year and it helped but it is still a thorn in my side. But day to day it is pretty much a non-issue. Either I run in the store to grab something quick or it sits half a day/all day in front of work so it is easy to forget about it. On a trail ride... it sucks. @Uncle Gump suggested lowering the floats which I haven't ruled out... I wish somebody made a offset carb spacer. It currently has the .320" or whatever Edelbrock spacer which is better than just a gasket but is obviously less than ideal.

1a. Stupid thought that just hit me. Since I tipped the powertrain up with the different trans crossmember I wonder if I might have room for the thicker spacer again. Before with the bigger air filter housing it the firewall. I need to revisit that.

2. Radio. My CB had pathetic range. Fine in the line up but I don't know if I could hear more than half a mile when we went off on our own. For future trail rides that is a point to improve. Really leaning towards GMRS.

3. Steering. The camper really highlighted it and now it bugs me. It isn't really bad but there is some play in the steering box. It would be nice to get that tightened up.

4. Exhaust/Front Driveshaft. Putting the driveshaft in when I want 4wd is really annoying and a PITA. I need to reroute the DS down pipe so if the driveshaft is in place it won't melt the driveshaft boot. Or find something different for a driveshaft. Or something else I haven't thought of yet because I do not like the current state of affairs in that department.