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

[JoshT]

I found the cause of the clicking/grinding noise….. CB boot has left the chat. About 3 millimeters of up and down play in the joint now. Any suggestions for brand of joint? I know dorman makes one but I haven’t had the best luck with them lately.View attachment 108810

LOL! Just went through this myself. Twice. On the same dreiveshaft.

Did some studying prior to purchasing the first joint. It doesn't seem to matter what brand you use, they are all basically the same joint in a different package. Consenses seems to be that Dorman is the "best" but not so much better to demand twice the price of the off brands sold througheBay and Amazon.

First time around I was replacing because the driveshaft was out for engine swap and it had a torn boot. Only way I found to get a replacement boot for these was to order a complete joint. Ordered that one off eBay, was delivered and everything appeared to be good quality. In about 200 miles of driving the joint was toast, but I'd have to say it wasn;t the joint's fault. It appeared that the bolts weren;t tight enough to keep the joint sealed, as the grease got hot it slung all of it out between the boot and the joint body. No joint is going to last long when it runs dry at 70 miles per hour.

Second one I bought was from Amazon. Just cleaned the old-new grease off the bottom of the truck yesterday, reinstalled the shaft, it and drove it a bit to hopefully get it to settle in more. Will retorque the bolts tomorrow and hopefully be good to go.

Lessons I can pass on...

1) Make sure you get your bolts installed tight when reinstalling the driveshaft. Also recheck them after driving a bit.
2) Make sure the boot is resting in the groove on the driveshaft. Dad installed the second joint on the shaft and had the boot pulled all the way up to the shoulder, looked right, but would have torn it in short order.
3) Align the boot with the joint before you tighten down the clamp. That's how I've heard about several people tearing the boots during instrallation.

 

[JoshT]

Not sure if this helps, but these are the brands RockAuto offers: https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/ford,2003,ranger,4.0l+v6,1438311,drivetrain,drive+shaft,2308

Don't replace the shaft, just replace the joint. If you want to use RockAuto: https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/ford,2003,ranger,4.0l+v6,1438311,drivetrain,cv+joint,2292

I didn't use RA for that part because I didn't want to pay the additional shipping and wait longer.

 

[sgtsandman]

Don't replace the shaft, just replace the joint. If you want to use RockAuto: https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/ford,2003,ranger,4.0l+v6,1438311,drivetrain,cv+joint,2292

I didn't use RA for that part because I didn't want to pay the additional shipping and wait longer.

Out of curiosity, I checked for my local area. I would have to order it regardless and only Advance Auto Parts had one to order, AutoZone, and O'Reily's were either out of stock or didn't even list it. Even just the joint wasn't cheap but I imagine shipping would be better for the joint over the whole drive shaft.

 

[CamTheHedgehog]

Don't replace the shaft, just replace the joint. If you want to use RockAuto: https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/ford,2003,ranger,4.0l+v6,1438311,drivetrain,cv+joint,2292

I didn't use RA for that part because I didn't want to pay the additional shipping and wait longer.

I think I'm going to go for the Spicer joint- it is after all the OE part. Best outcome is that it is better quality, worst is that it is the same as all the others. But at only $10 more than the generics, I figured I'll give it a shot. And thank you for the tips!

 

[Rick W]

For stuff too far from an outlet have y'all considered a cheap solar panel. A 25-30 watt panel is going to put out about the same as those little trickle chargers and should be enough for maintaining a battery.

I’ve been feeling embarrassed and guilty from mocking @JoshT about his suggestion to charge your vehicles with a solar panel. I felt so bad. I actually went out and bought one and I hooked it up to my car the other day.

Well, today, I went out after lunch to check it, and it wasn’t charging! I should know to follow my instincts, and stand my ground on my initial thought!

And then sweet pea smacked me in the head, and said remember this

 

[JoshT]

I’ve been feeling embarrassed and guilty from mocking @JoshT about his suggestion to charge your vehicles with a solar panel. I felt so bad. I actually went out and bought one and I hooked it up to my car the other day.

Well, today, I went out after lunch to check it, and it wasn’t charging! I should know to follow my instincts, and stand my ground on my initial thought!

And then sweet pea smacked me in the head, and said remember this

View attachment 108886

That didn't help, but considering where you live (right down the road from the Rocket Man) I don't think you are really in the use case I was referring to. I may be wrong about that. Either way If it works as I think it would, it's still a maintenance charge that won't be on your electric bill.

 

[sgtsandman]

The 2011 got new front brake pads and rotors (I get to bed them in on the way to work tomorrow morning), rear parking brake cables (both sides were worn through the cable housing, explaining why water was getting in them to freeze), and a complete set of new O2 sensors (it's a good thing I got that thread chasing tool, some of the bungs were pretty rough). While working on the O2 sensors, I noticed the top of the transmission was wet. It looks like it's getting about time to replace those plugs on the top of the transmission. Other than that, the truck is about done for the Spring maintenance. It just needs some new oil and a oil filter change.

 

[rubydist]

Did oil and filter change (Mobil1 high mileage and Motorcraft filter) and replaced a broken front sway bar link. If I ever did offroading in this truck, I would remove the sway bar link, but since it is virtually always on the highway, I like how it corners with the sway bar.

 

[broncc]

I partied too hard and broke it

I went up to the Canadian border to watch the eclipse in totality and have a good time with some friends. It was awesome. I was able to see other planets and solar flares with the naked eye!


I wanted to test out how longer trips would work so I slept inside the Bronco while I was there. It's definitely doable and wouldn't need much more to be a comfortable experience.


The weather was warm but there was tons of snow and mud to get stuck on. The questionable auto hubs and lunchbox were a little too much for the long suffering bearings in either my transfer case or transmission and they are groaning for a rebuild too loudly to ignore.


The muddy roads soaked my air filter and I had to drive home with like 100hp because none of the three parts stores within 90 minutes of driving had a replacement air filter. (Any improvement advice that maintain most of the stock airbox are welcome.)


I'm going to find some NOS Warn manual hubs on ebay because it seems everyone has abandoned supporting this platform.


A bit of random chance in the woods; I met a fellow novelty truck license plate haver from New York.

 

[scotts90ranger]

A little thing to help keep some stuff out of the stock airbox is found on first gen explorers, there's a little piece of trim on the front of the core support to help air go to the radiator but it also blocks stuff coming up from the bottom into the intake... I've stuffed my airbox with snow before but not since I added that baffle thing...

 

[2011Supercab]

Traded it in on a 2023 Tacoma 4x4 V-6 Limited Nightshade Edition

 

[GrandpaSquid]

Installed a warn trans4mer grille guard and winch plate.

1993 ranger 4x4 stx

www.therangerstation.com

 

[sgtsandman]

Did an engine oil and filter change and retrained the TPMS sensors in the tires on the 2011.

 

[CamTheHedgehog]

Did an engine oil and filter change and retrained the TPMS sensors in the tires on the 2011.

I got a TPMS system.... It's called my air gauge in the glovebox.

 

[Dantheman1540]

I think I caught mine on fire, this happened once before over a year ago. I started the truck up with the heater set to on, and smoke immediately pours out the vents. Try changing settings and nothing, rolled the windows and drove the rest of my 5 mins to work the entire time smoke was coming out the vents fairly strongly. I probably looked like I was hot boxing the hell out of it but with campfire smoke instead of dope.

I’m guessing my blower motor has leaves build up in it maybe? Anyone else have this problem ever?