'85 Ranger Restomod

[scotts90ranger]

I like my plasma cutter... it can make things pretty fancy looking, I haven't quite gotten enough practice to be good but I'm getting there...

On the welder, play with the settings more, I would turn the wire speed down some . Those cheapy welders will give you bad habbits but can get work done, I got pretty good with the stupid 100A flux core HFT welder, the welds are ugly but my mud flap brackets held up the rear suspension when the shackle mount broke... I had good luck putting the voltage on the high setting and using the wire speed backwards from normal convention... I'd lower the speed down to put more heat in the work until I got the penetration I wanted... Don't tell Dirtman though, he'd probably slap me with a pickle or put me in the basement for telling you do do stuff wrong

That said, I'd probably just tack with the flux welder then go after it with something bigger like your stick welder and some 6011...

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

So I pulled the plastic trim off an old ash tray and mounted a Ram base to it





And viola, I have a GPS and it ain't on my windshield!



I have been playing with this thing and I really like it, here is a little town called "Attica"





Has decent clearance in fifth which is the tightest





From the drivers seat it only really blocks the inside/outside control, I can kinda see the temp setting which doesn't get adjusted a whole lot. Of course it totally blocks the CB which again doesn't really get adjusted a whole lot.



The only possible getcha is the ash tray when retracted doesn't have anything to really hold it tight so there is a little wiggle. And there is nothing to really hold it shut either until it is open enough to catch the stop. For my cramped cockpit I think this spot is about as good as it so going to get though so I might have to do a little more figuring on how to brace it up and lock the ash tray in there better.

 

[dvdswan]

Nice.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Test fit the camper tie downs on my bumper.

Deployed:





Stowed:





Got to thinking about my slider thing and worrying about the body alignment or something being off so I stuck one up to the drivers side, it kicks out at the back too so the frame must just get wider back there. Interesting... and if it keeps with that trend it will make the very back mount easier since it has to go uphill to meet the frame as it kicks up over the rear axle.

 

[dvdswan]

So the thoughts on the tiedowns for the camper... after probably 2 years the bolts are going to rusty, gunked up, or hard to remove. Why not just weld it there? Or put a slot in the top and feed the strap through that and the top of the "R"?

Other than that, very cool.

The sliders, well maybe the cab narrows down like beds do. Aerodynamics. Streamline. Mine actually have a bump out at the rear to push the rear tire clear.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

They should hopefully get used a couple times a year and the truck doesn't see salt. Despite seeing salt for 20+ years aside from the tab nuts giving up on me where I can't get a wrench on the backside things generally don't come apart hard on it.

The "R" actually started out for doing what you say. But I decided to opt for as much "beef" for that top plate as I could get for the swing out hinge. Also the chain would limit access for the latch on the hinge when the swing out was open. So I went with the detachable thing instead that kicks the tie outs much farther relative to the swing out latch which leaves the end cap totally enclosed.

I liked the "R's" so they stayed lol.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Well after about 6 months the slider project is about 2/3 done.



Been working on the camper, haven't done much to the truck. I was getting tired of slider being in my way so I painted it and threw it on so I didn't have to keep moving it around the garage.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Well as everybody with a project vehicle knows... behind every good project vehicle is a good daily driver.

Most of you have heard of my rusty trusty sidekick, my 2002 F-150.



After 16 years and 169k miles it finally stranded me for the first time in a town a half an hour away and had to get hauled home.



My wife was working in a nearby town and they were having their annual car/tractor show. She got off at noon and the plan was to check out the show and go out for lunch. I get there and it was getting warmer than I liked for my little red haired son and it happened to be the city wide garage sale day. He is asleep in the truck so I figured I would just bounce around town and look for Coleman stuff from the truck without waking him up unless I found something.

On the way down the ABS light came on. Cool, another POS unit wheel bearing is dying. I go to turn and there is a rather startling grinding noise, I just assume it is from the front. But then it quits... ok wheel bearing is dying faster and more dramatic than normal, hopefully I can limp this thing back home because it is like the surface of the sun and I have my leatherman for tools... I really don't want to change it down here.

But the noise came back and it brought friends. It would get to popping/grinding/dragging. It would go away with the brakes which was really weird and the noise/vibration actually woke up my son. I get as close to my wife's work as I can stand, find a parking lot and pull in thinking maybe a front caliper lost a bolt or something. Cramp the wheels to see what I can see and jump out. As I walk around the back of the truck I smell hot gear oil... oh crap no...



Ok, we are done. Our goose is cooked, the doornail is dead etc. I back it away from the front door of the city library, call for a tow and whip the stroller out to start walking to my wife's work. 6 block hike south into the sun so I played frogger crossing the street trying to stay in the shade.

So I steal the wife's car and hit a farm store to walk around in A/C with kid and work on our vocabulary (it was fun) until she got off work. Set up this little scene for @Dirtman on my way out...



Talk to wrecker guy, truck would not move for him. He ended up dragging it on with the winch. But it rolled right off.

So I rip the cover off Monday night, carrier is scarred from the pinion hitting it, clearly something is wrong with the pinion bearings. Oil looked pretty good though as does everything visible with the axle assembled.

So tonight with a full set if pinion bearings en route for tomorrow just in case I blow the rear axle apart after work (where the truck was towed to) Get the driveshaft off and the pinion nut is VERY loose. Outer pinion bearing and looks perfect.



Inner pinion bearing and race is perfect.



Carrier bearings are perfect.



And after trying to make war with the carrier even the tip of the pinion looks fine.



I regeared the thing in 2012 100k miles ago, I know we used the pinion nut that came with the Motive gear set... it is just really weird it took this long for it to back off, it was almost off the pinion.

So maybe I can sneak out with just a pinion nut, pinion seal and fresh oil? Tune in tomorrow hopefully...

Dunno if the ABS light was related to the circus in the rear axle or if it is is a wheel bearing yet.

So anyway, not much for Ranger updates... it is too busy being the responsible one.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Ford pinion nut on left, Motive on right. My brother (sr master tech) has never seen a pinion nut deform like that before (or even this whole problem I have in general for that matter)





So it is together. New pinion nut, crush sleeve pinion seal, axle seals (after 200k one was just starting to get moist) and oil.

I did think this was really neat (I snagged the 75-140 version)





Axle seals were fun, apparently a earlierish 9.75 uses the same seals as an 8.8, contrary to every parts store computer in town. Yet again I had to look it up on my own and force feed them a number.

Anyway, got the tires back on it ready to take it for a spin and notice my brake pedal goes down quite a bit when I went to put it in gear. Thinking I had probably pushed in the rear calipers when I pulled them off I give it a pump... pwoosh to the floor.

Brake line blew under the cab so it is still a dead horse.

 

[Roert42]

An air compressor set to like 2 psi, and a piece of small hose in the top of the bottle. You can pressurize the bottle and force the gear oil up into the diff fairly easily.

 

[Dirtman]

Thats hot...

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

View attachment 61387

Thats hot...

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

On a plus note I pulled the '150 out of the shop this morning and it seemed normal aside from having crappy brakes.

Also got my dual Mercedes fan from @PetroleumJunkie412 to work so now I can get that in when other crap keeps breaking. Thinking I might go ahead and put the condenser in at the same time and in general just start building the A/C system.

 

[Dirtman]

Just curious, have you angered a witch or a gypsy lately?

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Just curious, have you angered a witch or a gypsy lately?

I gave you a lot of crap last week... I was starting to wonder if it was it was you?