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

[ekrampitzjr]

Tires came in the mail, shot em over to the tire shop and sheesh, it's been about 3 years since I last had a mount / balance / valve stem on 4 tires and it's doubled in price. Use to be around $90-100 for all four. Now I am getting charged $180 for all four. I understand though, tires are hard to make good money on, and they're a great little shop so I don't mind giving them business.

Off to the alignment shop tomorrow.

Might have been a lower price for mounting and balancing if you had bought the tires from the shop. My hunch is the shop jacks up the mount/balance price for customers furnishing their own tires. That way it makes the same amount of money whether you got the tires there or not.

 

[superj]

get an older beater truck, parking problem solved.

thats why i have the ranger. its my dump run and junkyard run truck


i do tire mounting and balancing on base. its still 12 dollars a tire

 

[JoshT]

Would flipping the front hangers drop the spring down? I’m trying to think of how the hanger sits on the frame. I think where the spring bolts on sits higher but I’m not sure. I’ve paid more attention to the rear hangers than the front since that is where the bulk of the issues are. So, I might be wrong.

That would lower it more, the opposite of what he wants to do.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Would flipping the front hangers drop the spring down? I’m trying to think of how the hanger sits on the frame. I think where the spring bolts on sits higher but I’m not sure. I’ve paid more attention to the rear hangers than the front since that is where the bulk of the issues are. So, I might be wrong.

Nope, flipping the front hangers would not work, they hang down just below the frame rail, but at the top of the angled section. So if I can lower them, I have a few inches before it even comes close to the lowest thing on the vehicle. Flipping it would be going the wrong direction and I don’t think the bed would allow you to do that.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

You will need to drop the back of the leaf about 2" to get the axle to drop 1" as a result. (iirc, the length of spring ahead of the axle and behind the axle are about equal.)

I already have extended shackles in the rear and still need more drop, but the more I drop the rear, the worse my pinion angle gets. Lowering the front would make my pinion angle better, but I don’t know if it’s the same ratio as the rear since the spring is shorter towards the front.

 

[99 XLT]

Might have been a lower price for mounting and balancing if you had bought the tires from the shop. My hunch is the shop jacks up the mount/balance price for customers furnishing their own tires. That way it makes the same amount of money whether you got the tires there or not.

It's absolutely why.

But, to be fair to me, I got these tires online for $106 a tire. If I tried to get similar style tires through them, they'd charged me $200+ per tire.

So in the end, I still come out ahead, and they do too. I have no problems with people needing to make money.

The karma was good today, I called my buddy for an alignment and he said bring it in and he'd get it done today. Sure as shit he got 'er done today, and when I went to pay he charged me $50. That's $100 less than any other place in town. He nailed the alignment too. No troubles. Also the other ship did a great job balancing these bastard tires. No vibrations at any speed.

I am willing to pay for quality labor and in a timely fashion. Both these people went above and beyond in my opinion.

 

[99 XLT]

Makes me glad that I don't bother with trying to buy tires online and get installed locally. If I had to pay $180 on top of the tire price I would hardly save anything.

I think I'll keep buying through the local Discount Tire. Between mount and balance, tire disposal fees, and and the road hazard warranty it's worth it. I've had to use the road hazard enough times with my car to make it worth the cost. Could probably find slightly better prices at other tire shops, but I can find a Discount (or America's) Tire almost anywhere in the country that I'm likely to visit.

I paid $106 per tire shipped online for these.

Can't beat that at ANY tire shop that's brick and mortar.

 

[JoshT]

Yeah, I wouldn't have paid 106 for a bastard tire online or in store. I have a bad enough time with tires that know their daddy, no bastard tires for me.

My track record with tires says that paying 212/tire, plus a few more bucks for a road hazard warranty, at a local store comes out to be cheaper. If you saw how many tires my car killed (not wore out, killed) you'd wonder why I still have the car. Dropping from the factory 17" wheels to a 16" wheel mostly cured that issue, but not completely.

 

[Rick W]

Hey strangers, it’s Rick W from Hotlanta. Between health and overseas work and who wants to hear my sad stories anyway, I pretty much dropped out of site mid summer 2021. Good or bad, I’m back. I missed TRS, but I continued to work on the junk yard.

If anyone remembers I have an 87 2.9 4WD 2.5” lift short short that I was “Lincolnizing” from extra square body late eighties Town Car parts I accumulated as spares for the two I own. It’s been a slow go with the bad health, recovery and returning travel, but it’s been on the road for a out a year, no more dragging it behind Big Red. Gets a little better mileage than Big Red so it gets used a lot.

The other project was a 97 4.0 5sp long cab short bed 2WD, the project being to add a tag axle and mock up a mini semi. We’ll that one is on the road now too for about a month, but more to do on that one. I’ll be starting on the matching trailer (from a 16 camper) shortly.

& remember my philosophy and approach is cheap: garage sales and Craigslist and materials stored in my shed of miracles for 40 years!

Oh, and I’m 70% done making a matching trailer for the 87 from an 88 short bed. Just the box, modified harbor freight frame underneath with a beefed up axle to hold 14” bullet hole wheels to match the trucks’ 15” wheels.

Any way, I just wanted to check in and I’ll post pictures upgrades and issues piece by piece.

Glad to be back & see what’s going on!

 

[97RangerXLT]

Hey strangers, it’s Rick W from Hotlanta. Between health and overseas work and who wants to hear my sad stories anyway, I pretty much dropped out of site mid summer 2021. Good or bad, I’m back. I missed TRS, but I continued to work on the junk yard.

If anyone remembers I have an 87 2.9 4WD 2.5” lift short short that I was “Lincolnizing” from extra square body late eighties Town Car parts I accumulated as spares for the two I own. It’s been a slow go with the bad health, recovery and returning travel, but it’s been on the road for a out a year, no more dragging it behind Big Red. Gets a little better mileage than Big Red so it gets used a lot.

The other project was a 97 4.0 5sp long cab short bed 2WD, the project being to add a tag axle and mock up a mini semi. We’ll that one is on the road now too for about a month, but more to do on that one. I’ll be starting on the matching trailer (from a 16 camper) shortly.

& remember my philosophy and approach is cheap: garage sales and Craigslist and materials stored in my shed of miracles for 40 years!

Oh, and I’m 70% done making a matching trailer for the 87 from an 88 short bed. Just the box, modified harbor freight frame underneath with a beefed up axle to hold 14” bullet hole wheels to match the trucks’ 15” wheels.

Any way, I just wanted to check in and I’ll post pictures upgrades and issues piece by piece.

Glad to be back & see what’s going on!

Welcome back stranger!

I wondered what happened to you, glad things are still kicking for you healthwise. definitely regale us with stories and pictures of the fleet that you are working on.

How goes the war with the land developers that you were battling?

again, good to see you back.

AJ

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Hey strangers, it’s Rick W from Hotlanta. Between health and overseas work and who wants to hear my sad stories anyway, I pretty much dropped out of site mid summer 2021. Good or bad, I’m back. I missed TRS, but I continued to work on the junk yard.

If anyone remembers I have an 87 2.9 4WD 2.5” lift short short that I was “Lincolnizing” from extra square body late eighties Town Car parts I accumulated as spares for the two I own. It’s been a slow go with the bad health, recovery and returning travel, but it’s been on the road for a out a year, no more dragging it behind Big Red. Gets a little better mileage than Big Red so it gets used a lot.

The other project was a 97 4.0 5sp long cab short bed 2WD, the project being to add a tag axle and mock up a mini semi. We’ll that one is on the road now too for about a month, but more to do on that one. I’ll be starting on the matching trailer (from a 16 camper) shortly.

& remember my philosophy and approach is cheap: garage sales and Craigslist and materials stored in my shed of miracles for 40 years!

Oh, and I’m 70% done making a matching trailer for the 87 from an 88 short bed. Just the box, modified harbor freight frame underneath with a beefed up axle to hold 14” bullet hole wheels to match the trucks’ 15” wheels.

Any way, I just wanted to check in and I’ll post pictures upgrades and issues piece by piece.

Glad to be back & see what’s going on!

Glad to see you back, been wondering what happened to you!

 

[Roert42]

Hey strangers, it’s Rick W from Hotlanta. Between health and overseas work and who wants to hear my sad stories anyway, I pretty much dropped out of site mid summer 2021. Good or bad, I’m back. I missed TRS, but I continued to work on the junk yard.

If anyone remembers I have an 87 2.9 4WD 2.5” lift short short that I was “Lincolnizing” from extra square body late eighties Town Car parts I accumulated as spares for the two I own. It’s been a slow go with the bad health, recovery and returning travel, but it’s been on the road for a out a year, no more dragging it behind Big Red. Gets a little better mileage than Big Red so it gets used a lot.

The other project was a 97 4.0 5sp long cab short bed 2WD, the project being to add a tag axle and mock up a mini semi. We’ll that one is on the road now too for about a month, but more to do on that one. I’ll be starting on the matching trailer (from a 16 camper) shortly.

& remember my philosophy and approach is cheap: garage sales and Craigslist and materials stored in my shed of miracles for 40 years!

Oh, and I’m 70% done making a matching trailer for the 87 from an 88 short bed. Just the box, modified harbor freight frame underneath with a beefed up axle to hold 14” bullet hole wheels to match the trucks’ 15” wheels.

Any way, I just wanted to check in and I’ll post pictures upgrades and issues piece by piece.

Glad to be back & see what’s going on!

I was just thinking about that double axel ranger you were building. Starting to think something happened to you. Glad to hear from you.

 

[Rick W]

Thank you, thank you, thank you, I’ll respond in pieces shortly

 

[Rick W]

Thank you, thank you, thank you, I’ll respond in pieces shortly

Afterthought, life happened!

 

[Gary DuBois]

Looked at it and smiled

I sometimes look at my ranger and also at the same time smile