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

[pjtoledo]

on the 2000 4x4 while investigating an occasional crunching sound I discovered the front right caliper was hitting the internal stick-on weights.
I'll have to move the weights closer to the front of the wheel to totally clear the calipers.
this Ranger has 12" front rotors, the 15" wheels are from a 2010 Sport and have just enough room for the big brakes, but not the weights.
checked the left side, weights OK there but the outer brake pad was sticking in the bracket. couple swipes with a file cleared out the rust and all is good now.


then I opened up the '97 manual tcase that I recently purchased. it looks good inside.
I'm going to see about replacing the front yolk with a CV flange.

 

[Curious Hound]

Went to my favorite metal supplier today and found a brand new front bumper on the racks. Some fabrication may be required.

 

[Snoranger]

Went to my favorite metal supplier today and found a brand new front bumper on the racks. Some fabrication may be required.

View attachment 92882

Where’d you go, IKEA?

 

[sgtsandman]

Where’d you go, IKEA?

The same thought crossed my mind but I refrained from asking.

 

[Curious Hound]

The same thought crossed my mind but I refrained from asking.

I went to the "cheap guy's store". That's $100 worth of steel. Add some mig wire, gas, electricity and Rustoleum and I'll have my new bumper for less than $150, maybe $175 once you add in some grinder discs, a portaband blade and disposable paint brushes.

 

[racsan]

Ive drove it all week with no bed & no back shocks. Its awful, hit a bump in the road or go over a culvert bridge and it feels like im in the hhr with its handling problems. First day of work I forgot about the lack of weight on the back & as I went around a corner in 2nd I floored it like Ive always done, right rear breaks loose and from the feel & sounds of things I had some serious wheel hop going on. Some parts came in today, shocks & the top shock mounts. Fri or sat I can start the patching job and get some shocks back on it. Right now I have the ugliest flatbed ever.

 

[scotts90ranger]

Eric, at least it's clean metal, the semi localish place where I go that sells random stuff (and buys scrap) is stored outside for the most part so it's all rusty and the price last I was there a few months ago was $1/pound... it was $.55/lb for steel for a long time... and their selection is worse than it's been in a long time... I did get a surface prep thing from HFT a few months ago and it's pretty magical though...

 

[Curious Hound]

I went to a regular metal supply place. I actually bought 20ft pieces of all that. I just cut that much off as a healthy guess of what I need for the bumper. I have 2 sources. This place is an old mom&pop company that is friendly and reasonably priced. I also have a "Metal Supermarkets" location about 4 miles from the house.

 

[Rick W]

Went to my favorite metal supplier today and found a brand new front bumper on the racks. Some fabrication may be required.

View attachment 92882

Wow.

I like my craigslist bargains and other discounts, and I love my projects, but I never thought about kneeling in front of them…

 

[Blmpkn]

Wow.

I like my craigslist bargains and other discounts, and I love my projects, but I never thought about kneeling in front of them…

He's kneeling in front of the metal messiah, wishing for protection from those damn heathen trees and boulders!


Although... with all his awesome work... mabey it's the STEEL that's kneeling before HIM

 

[RangerBilly]

For years, I had been having a problem with the rear tailgate handle not retracting properly, often resulting in the tailgate dropping down when the truck hit a really bad speed-bump. So I finally removed the eight T30 Torx screws from the access panel, removed the panel, and expected to see a broken spring, bent rods, or worse. I was relieved to see that the mechanism, which operated like a pair of scissors, was simply clogged with greasy dirt!

Used up a can of BrakeKleen spraying the filth out, then a few dabs of Lucas Red 'N' Tacky Grease in there while working the handle. The nice thing about this grease is that it won't drip out like oil would, because when the tailgate is closed, the sliding parts are vertically oriented.

Works like NEW!

Now I can load those sacks of potting soil in the back on my next shopping trip to the garden supply store without a worry. Dozens of vegetable seedlings are waiting...

 

[Uncle Gump]

I actually drove mine for the first time in exactly 4 weeks. My mom is here and she has trouble getting in it so her car is at the end of the driveway and I just been driving it.

Local gas station had gas for 40 cents a gallon off today's price for a few hours today. So I drove it there and filled up and also did two 5 gallon fuel jugs.

 

[pjtoledo]

a nearby Circle K had the 40 cents off deal today. I passed because of the lines.

 

[Uncle Gump]

a nearby Circle K had the 40 cents off deal today. I passed because of the lines.

This was a Circle K too. I wouldn't have waited out on the street... I ended up next person to the pump. Getting out was way harder. Fuel truck pulled in and had me pretty well block in.

 

[sgtsandman]

I fueled up and loaded up the 2011 for a bit of camping 2 hours North East. Fuel prices went down a bit but I'm still experimenting with 89 octane to see how the truck performs compared to 87. I'm not seeing much of a difference, considering the jump in price compared to 87 but I want to run a few tanks through the truck before I make a final determination. 91 has a definite power boost and bit of a mpg increase but not worth the $0.70 jump in price for every day driving. Power is still a bit better with 89 but fuel mileage seems to be about the same as 87 at this point. At $0.40 a gallon more, I don't think I'll be running it all the time. I'll be getting some highway miles on this tank. So we'll see how it does there.