'85 Ranger Restomod

[85_Ranger4x4]

They have rubber plugs in them from the factory, if i remember correctly

They have vents a couple inches off the bottom so moisture can evaporate out, I am not really sure why they go so easy though.

I suppose they fill up with dirt that holds moisture and never really dry out.

 

[ThatOneGuy]

Im glad that your happy with them, looking at them i kinda wish i had been a little more precise in getting them identical. However a 40 lb gas powered 14in abrasive saw, is not a precision plasma cutter lol.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Drove it up to my inlaws last night, my '85 finally got to meet my FIL's '91 that I got the seats out of.





Anyway my wife's grandfather bought the '91 new. When her grandfather passed away her uncle who was the only descendant that lived in that state ended up with the truck. He apparently continued to baby it until he passed away last April. So now my FIL has a pretty straight/clean '91 Ranger XLT 4.0 4wd automatic std cab longbox with a topper that only has 66k miles on it. It needs bumpers and has a couple scrapes that may or may not buff out but it is otherwise a creampuff.





It almost hurts to look under it, everything is just so dang clean and purty.



Anyway, we had a Ranger wrenching party. I replaced my Sirius antenna and rewired my CB radio so it was constant on rather than on with the key (I lost my station every time I shut the truck off at the roundup and it got incredibly annoying) That required pulling the battery, loosening the radiator and loosening the overflow jug to get the harness out for my accessory stuff to add to it. Meanwhile my FIL is putting Explorer buckets in his Ranger and is converting it to full power seats, so he worked on building tracks while I played with wires.

The truck ran the hour each way great, new front shocks are due to be delivered tomorrow and the bottom of my sliders are painted... so it is kinda slowly making progress. Both nights were beautiful weather for a cruise.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

The slider project is hereby deemed DONE!

 

[ThatOneGuy]

Ive always loved your truck them sliders really look great. Just so you know i have da fenders if thats something you have trouble finding locally

 

[Dirtman]

Ive always loved your truck them sliders really look great. Just so you know i have da fenders if thats something you have trouble finding locally

Don't suck up to him! He doesn't even have keys to the company pool!

 

[snoranger]

Don't suck up to him! He doesn't even have keys to the company pool!

Keys?! What kind of operation do you think we’re running here? There’s a full time staff of guards at the door to grant you access...Oh wait, Are you talking about the guest pool?

 

[ericbphoto]

Keys?! What kind of operation do you think we’re running here? There’s a full time staff of guards at the door to grant you access...Oh wait, Are you talking about the guest pool?

What did you say? My phone gets all fogged up over here in the sauna.

 

[Fast Eddie]

Keys?! What kind of operation do you think we’re running here? There’s a full time staff of guards at the door to grant you access...Oh wait, Are you talking about the guest pool?

The kiddie pool. Ya know, for the goat?

 

[snoranger]

What did you say? My phone gets all fogged up over here in the sauna.

I’ll send one of my personal assistants over to tell one of your assistants, so he can tell you what I said.
I’d throw that phone away and pick up a new one at the front desk.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Going to Indiana last year the front end felt more "busy" than it should be on certain roads. On my trip to Omaha last weekend there was one stretch of road I actually had to slow down on. Shocks were already ordered and were delivered Monday. So today I got them stuck on.



Demo is done. I am also swapping to the BII/Extended cab/later sway bar design with the bar ahead of the axle so I can disconnect it for offroading to kinda make up for having a rear sway bar.

Well I wonder if they will make a difference...



Of course I couldn't find the good used center bushings for the sway bar. Nobody in town had them, should have them Monday so I can get it finished then. And find my used bushings on Tuesday...

 

[Bird76Mojo]

Let me know how those Bilsteins end up working out for you. Especially on highways with lots of rough cracks that have been patched, etc. I've been meaning to buy a set for ages now for my V8 truck, but I'm sure that I'll never get it to ride smooth ever again with the low profile tires. Plus the price tag is awfully hard to swallow at $76 each.

 

[Shran]

I put bilsteins on the front of my explorer - HUGE improvement. Had some medium grade Sachs shocks on it previously. I think you'll like em.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Its a low bar but it rides much better with functioning shocks. The old ones were 11 years old but pretty low miles. I have but 2k on the truck since right before we left for Indiana last year and there is no way I was putting that many miles on it for all the years leading up to the Ohio trip.



Anyway my bushings turned up. They were directly behind the truck and I couldn't see them with the truck parked there.



And it all fits!



Truck handles the same which I am fine with... but now I can pull a link off to regain some of the articulation that I lost by adding the rear sway bar (that you can't really just pull a link off of)

And my ebay seat covers came in. Don't look too bad, I got the ones for the opening console figuring I would end up with one at some point so that is a little funky. Rather impressed with how it mounts, better than the normal seat covers I have had before. They still need some tweaking but much better than the dingy gray.







And I greased the steering, front balljoints, rear driveshaft and rear springs/shackles. Also checked the oil in the axles, t-case and trans in preparation for another Indiana run.

 

[BlackBII]

Seat covers look good and like they might actually stay in place. I've bought AutoZone ones before and they just move around underneath you. Missing the front driveshaft?