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

[Rick W]

Got my ranger out of the garage and drove to the lake for most of the day on Saturday. It was Rebecca's birthday...in her honor and my loyalty to her I went into nature to spend time. When she was alive, we spent alot time in nature. Only took a couple of pictures.

She was there, misses you too. All His blessings.

 

[Rick W]

Got it back on the road after a charging issue still need to mess with the hydraulic clutch though and repaint it for Carlisle in August.

View attachment 112307

View attachment 112308

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Dare I say it again?

Rustoleum w/30% mineral metal spirits and a foam roller. $50

 

[Roert42]

You don’t need to repaint it, it’s fine.

Last year at Carlisle, someone yelled “ I’ve seen better stuff at the junkyard, what the bell is that doing here”. Then the ratchet strap holding the tailgate up broke and I had to get out and fix it.

 

[Rick W]

Progress report. Hmm, well, a report….

Did a test drive all over the place today, no rattles at all, drives like a dream. A heavy stiff dream. With the new interior and carpet, it’s almost like a normal vehicle. Well, ok, maybe not. It did attract a few females at the grocery, which was nice.

It had a little pull to the right before I fixed the radius arm bushing, now it’s pulling a little more & the steering wheel is tilted a little. I’ll do the DDS&B alignment method I used on the Missing Link

And, Before:

One of the missing pieces was inside the hole:

It’s missing the pin on the right hand side. I used that as a template on a piece of scrap gray interior I had (part of a door panel?) and cut out the two pieces and sanded them.

After:

It looks pretty again, but it doesn’t work right. I can open and close it, move wind up and down, but can’t direct the wind left or right. I have to find one in the scrapyard, the right color, or any color and I can make a good one.

And finally:

I didn’t like any of the stickers, so I had a bicycle lic plate made.

& they sent me the wrong accumulator/drier. With some help from @snoranger (thanks again) and a few videos, I bought the correct accumulator/drier with the o rings and the expansion tube.

Question: a lot of times on old fittings, O-rings or compression or whatever, I replace the parts, but I also put a little smear of silicone seal on them to get the micro holes. That or the E 6000/goop stuff. Is that a good idea or a bad idea on this thing?

Three days shipping from 2 miles away. I almost melted during the test drives, so I want to do this right the first time as soon as possible.

Question #2: when I redid the dash and got all the lights working, I don’t have the back lighting on the new (for me) OEM am fm cd cassette. When I had the dash open, you could see there were extra wires in there. When I bought it, it had a stock radio, but it looks like somebody put something more deluxe in there, but then took it out before I got it. Does anybody know what color wire I am looking for on the radio to get the lights working? And what color wire might be coming from under the dash to feed that wire?

As always, all comments appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

[JoshT]

Progress report. Hmm, well, a report….

Did a test drive all over the place today, no rattles at all, drives like a dream. A heavy stiff dream. With the new interior and carpet, it’s almost like a normal vehicle. Well, ok, maybe not. It did attract a few females at the grocery, which was nice.

It had a little pull to the right before I fixed the radius arm bushing, now it’s pulling a little more & the steering wheel is tilted a little. I’ll do the DDS&B alignment method I used on the Missing Link

And, Before:

View attachment 112325

One of the missing pieces was inside the hole:

View attachment 112326

It’s missing the pin on the right hand side. I used that as a template on a piece of scrap gray interior I had (part of a door panel?) and cut out the two pieces and sanded them.

After:

View attachment 112327

It looks pretty again, but it doesn’t work right. I can open and close it, move wind up and down, but can’t direct the wind left or right. I have to find one in the scrapyard, the right color, or any color and I can make a good one.

And finally:

View attachment 112328

I didn’t like any of the stickers, so I had a bicycle lic plate made.

& they sent me the wrong accumulator/drier. With some help from @snoranger (thanks again) and a few videos, I bought the correct accumulator/drier with the o rings and the expansion tube.

View attachment 112329

Question: a lot of times on old fittings, O-rings or compression or whatever, I replace the parts, but I also put a little smear of silicone seal on them to get the micro holes. That or the E 6000/goop stuff. Is that a good idea or a bad idea on this thing?

Three days shipping from 2 miles away. I almost melted during the test drives, so I want to do this right the first time as soon as possible.

Question #2: when I redid the dash and got all the lights working, I don’t have the back lighting on the new (for me) OEM am fm cd cassette. When I had the dash open, you could see there were extra wires in there. When I bought it, it had a stock radio, but it looks like somebody put something more deluxe in there, but then took it out before I got it. Does anybody know what color wire I am looking for on the radio to get the lights working? And what color wire might be coming from under the dash to feed that wire?

As always, all comments appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Q1) PAG oil, same stuff they are going to pour in to lube the compressor. For all other o-rings, I'd go by the system. Most engine and fuel stuff I'd use something petroleum based, like engine oil or vaseline. Seriously vaseline, dad has had a tube on the shelf for decades for that very purpose and we use an industrial version to lube new seals and o-rings being installed on airplanes fuel systems. Door seal and weatherstripping type stuff, silicone based.

Also silicone for oxygen systems IIRC, didn't work with that much as there was a separate shop that handled most of those sytems. I wouldn't even mentioned it as that is something that most people wouldn't touch without special training, but I seem to recall someone around acquiring a whole truck load of oxygen cylinders. He's also got this weird attachment to a coffin so who knows what he's likely to try. Just never know with some people.

Q2)

 

[Ramcharger90]

Dare I say it again?

Rustoleum w/30% mineral metal spirits and a foam roller. $50

Or just roller and rustoleum and a case of beer.

Like6-7 years ago.

 

[ben_2_go]

Progress report. Hmm, well, a report….

Did a test drive all over the place today, no rattles at all, drives like a dream. A heavy stiff dream. With the new interior and carpet, it’s almost like a normal vehicle. Well, ok, maybe not. It did attract a few females at the grocery, which was nice.

It had a little pull to the right before I fixed the radius arm bushing, now it’s pulling a little more & the steering wheel is tilted a little. I’ll do the DDS&B alignment method I used on the Missing Link

And, Before:

View attachment 112325

One of the missing pieces was inside the hole:

View attachment 112326

It’s missing the pin on the right hand side. I used that as a template on a piece of scrap gray interior I had (part of a door panel?) and cut out the two pieces and sanded them.

After:

View attachment 112327

It looks pretty again, but it doesn’t work right. I can open and close it, move wind up and down, but can’t direct the wind left or right. I have to find one in the scrapyard, the right color, or any color and I can make a good one.

And finally:

View attachment 112328

I didn’t like any of the stickers, so I had a bicycle lic plate made.

& they sent me the wrong accumulator/drier. With some help from @snoranger (thanks again) and a few videos, I bought the correct accumulator/drier with the o rings and the expansion tube.

View attachment 112329

Question: a lot of times on old fittings, O-rings or compression or whatever, I replace the parts, but I also put a little smear of silicone seal on them to get the micro holes. That or the E 6000/goop stuff. Is that a good idea or a bad idea on this thing?

Three days shipping from 2 miles away. I almost melted during the test drives, so I want to do this right the first time as soon as possible.

Question #2: when I redid the dash and got all the lights working, I don’t have the back lighting on the new (for me) OEM am fm cd cassette. When I had the dash open, you could see there were extra wires in there. When I bought it, it had a stock radio, but it looks like somebody put something more deluxe in there, but then took it out before I got it. Does anybody know what color wire I am looking for on the radio to get the lights working? And what color wire might be coming from under the dash to feed that wire?

As always, all comments appreciated. Thanks in advance!

PAG oil on the O-rings. No sillycun geese. I poured enough clean oil out of the lines to use to lube my O-rings before I installed them. Remember to sit your compressor on the clutch while you work. The oil will flow down and around the front seal and help prevent any leaks. It also stops the oil from puking out of the back of the comp when you take the cover off.

 

[Rick W]

Thank you thank you!

On the PAG oil/silicon issue: I was thinking of silicone more along the lines of sealing any possible pin holes around the O-rings in this 316,000 miles system. When it’s fresh, it helps it slide together, and when it sets, it should plug any holes from corrosion or such.

Is there anything chemically in the silicone that would interfere with the AC mechanism and chemicals? I know there are other parts of the engines where you can’t use silicone because it interferes with the sensors.

Yes/no?

 

[Rick W]

Or just roller and rustoleum and a case of beer.

View attachment 112331

Like6-7 years ago.

Never underestimate the value of a few pinstripes. Whenever I get a little dent in something, the first thing I do is put a pin stripe on it. People’s eyes are drawn to the pinstripe and don’t see the dent.

I was inspired for the yellow pinstripe when I put masking tape down the side of the truck to paint the black after I had painted the red. The lower red pinstripe was to mimic the OEM design. Both are reflective.

You can also buy stencils for stuff like the flag for pennies on the eBay (get the plastic ones and you can reuse them), and the stripes were done with a little bit of masking tape.

Having said all that, I really like the way you laid out the paint on your thing. Unusual, but it looks great.

I’m a Christian, so I hesitate to offer this, but there’s a whole cult of strange people with cars who do something with soap and water. something about a ritual with well endowed women in T-shirts. I’m not that familiar with it, but you might want to look into it. I’ve been told to look into it several times…

 

[JoshT]

Thank you thank you!

On the PAG oil/silicon issue: I was thinking of silicone more along the lines of sealing any possible pin holes around the O-rings in this 316,000 miles system. When it’s fresh, it helps it slide together, and when it sets, it should plug any holes from corrosion or such.

Is there anything chemically in the silicone that would interfere with the AC mechanism and chemicals? I know there are other parts of the engines where you can’t use silicone because it interferes with the sensors.

Yes/no?

You're talking about RTV or Caulk type silicone? I wouldn't do it. Install new o-rings and vacuum the system down to see if it leaks. If it does then something else needs to be fixed/replaced. If the lines are leaking through pinholes then they need to be replaced, not patched with silicone. Not worth even trying to get around it. Pretty sure if who ever services it sees that, they won't service it anyway.

I don't know the condition of your system. Honestly if I were working on a nonfunctional system and suspected a leaking hose, I'd replace them. Get on RockAuto and they ain't that expensive. Even if you DIY the charge, by the time you've recharged it a couple times the hoses will be cheaper than R134.

 

[Rick W]

You're talking about RTV or Caulk type silicone? I wouldn't do it. Install new o-rings and vacuum the system down to see if it leaks. If it does then something else needs to be fixed/replaced. If the lines are leaking through pinholes then they need to be replaced, not patched with silicone. Not worth even trying to get around it. Pretty sure if who ever services it sees that, they won't service it anyway.

I don't know the condition of your system. Honestly if I were working on a nonfunctional system and suspected a leaking hose, I'd replace them. Get on RockAuto and they ain't that expensive. Even if you DIY the charge, by the time you've recharged it a couple times the hoses will be cheaper than R134.

I wasn’t thinking of patching hoses in the lines with the silicone, just as an overkill around the new O-rings in case the fittings aren’t perfect. When I bought it, it would get cold if you put Freon in it, but it would leak down.

I truly appreciate all the advice. It’s 50-50 if I get it done before Carlisle, I would really like to, I’ll just have to see what it looks like when I start pulling it apart. I know the big hose on the back of the compressor that goes from side to side was leaking, and I’m just going to change all the other O-rings due to the age, just in case.

If a line is leaking in the middle somewhere, I have a whole bunch of vinyl tape. No, scratch that…

& BTW, I fixed about a dozen things, and I’m down to 33 items now…

 

[JoshT]

You're checking them off the list, and I'm adding them to it. Block machining....

Got the call from the machine shop today. Crank is good at stock size, polished and ready to go. Rods should be G2G. Looks like they left my block out in the rain because they said that they recommend going 30 over to clean up some rust pitting in the bores. The bores were clean when I dropped it off.

They actually said something along the lines of it could probably be cleaned up with just honing and if it were a fix and flip that would probably be good enough to get it gone, but if I wanted to do it right or were planning to keep it they recommended boring. I gave boring to 0.030 over a green light, now I have to figure out what pistons and them in so they can measure for final hone. I'll make another thread about that.

 

[Lefty]

I did nothing to my Ranger today. Nothing! But all of a sudden one of my dashboard lights came back on. It's been off eversince I bought the Ranger 3 years ago. I never fixed it because I did want to take the whole dash apart just to replace it.

 

[Uncle Gump]

I had to put a battery in mine. I had to charge it to get running... then put about 25 miles on it... left me stranded in the parking lot.

I'm not sure why I can't keep a battery in there for long. I'm not convinced my truck isn't wearing them out honestly. Charge rate could be a little high... it sits alot... but I've put a battery about every 16 or 18 months since I've owned it. I had bought one and had free replacement for 3 years. The guy told me if this one quits before November it will still have free replacement. I just put the second replacement in it.

 

[Lefty]

I had to put a battery in mine. I had to charge it to get running... then put about 25 miles on it... left me stranded in the parking lot.

I'm not sure why I can't keep a battery in there for long. I'm not convinced my truck isn't wearing them out honestly. Charge rate could be a little high... it sits alot... but I've put a battery about every 16 or 18 months since I've owned it. I had bought one and had free replacement for 3 years. The guy told me if this one quits before November it will still have free replacement. I just put the second replacement in it.

I've had very similae struggles: replaced the alternator only to replace that one, replaced the battery only to replace it too. Batteries and alternators don't seem to be as reliable as they once were. Also I found two different parasitic leaks. Now I've got a third. So I tavel with a fully charged jump battery