adsm08's Ranger build up

[97RangerXLT]

Yeah, I remember the red being easier on my eyes at night.

AJ

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note 4 while sitting in my underwear

 

[1qaz]

Looks great! The best thing about it is that it is 100% frame-off yours!

 

[adsm08]

Still doing details. Work and kids and weather have kept it holed up in the garage, hiding from road treatments. Today is warm and the roads are dry, and the wife is home too though so I took it for a little drive and then changed the oil and put the horns back in.

After all that I re-did the first thing that I ever ever did to this truck, back in 2005.



The old one after 11 years, two accidents, a year in a parts bin in the garage, and being hammered flat again looked like this:

 

[ericbphoto]

Nice. I would end up scratching that in a heartbeat.

Now, about that poll, concerning the diff cover. Is there a picture of it here somewhere that I haven't found yet? Or did that fall into the "I don't want to spend any more money on this project" bucket?

 

[adsm08]

I have not done that yet, for a few reasons, one of the big ones being I need a new diff cover. Mine doesn't leak yet, but it is corroded to the point of not providing a good enough surface to paint on. Also the Ford emblem, which was my personal favorite of the bunch, is not something easily laid onto the contours of the factory cover. There are aftermarket girdle/cover setups that are a flatter surface but they are expensive.

Right now I am sitting on all the money I can get because I have decided I need a bigger vehicle. The truck is staying put, especially due to the work I just put into it, and it does what I need. The BII is getting a bit cramped for the four of us, and with as beat as the front is and a few rust issues that I don't want to deal with, well I am looking/saving for a full size Bronco. I don't need or want 4 doors, just some more elbow room, and the removable top intrigues me. I like the idea of a convertible SUV, but I hate soft-top (they suck in the dead of PA winter) and I don't like the way Wranglers feel at highway speeds.

 

[wildbill23c]

Yeah the Wranglers kind of wander at highway speeds, and get passed by a semi-truck it really pushes the Wranglers around. They're colder than sh** in the winter too. The wrangers are great offroad but they're not the greatest highway vehicles out there.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I thought you had an Explorer?

My aunt/uncle had a '95 Bronco for a family car for awhile. It was far from ideal but worked.

Had a 351W, I think it topped out at about 13mpg.

 

[adsm08]

I thought you had an Explorer?

You mean the "home health mobile"? Once we load all my wife's work supplies in there it has about as much usable space at the BII. Plus since she works days and I don't having just the BII gets tight trying to take the kids anywhere since the baby is still a baby and I have to drag supplies and strollers and such anywhere we go.

I have other reasons too, like every so often I need to rent a car dolly or trailer. Uhaual won't rent any towable to someone with a BII or Explorer. As far I know there is no such restriction on the FSB.

 

[adsm08]

Manged to get a bit of time to work tonight. There will be a tech write-up on this later.

















I just have to hook up the ground for now. The only 7-pin trailer I use needs the brakes completely re-wired and everything replaced, so they don't work anyway.


I did it this way because I was less than happy with my last few 7-pin mountings. I wasn't ever wild about having it hang below the bumper for a lot of reasons, but the big one was damage. Two years ago when I picked up the red truck I jack-knifed the dolly backing up and hit my plug breaking the cover off, and where I work now the curbs in our parking lot are stupid high, even with 31s the old plug just cleared the curb if I backed into my normal spot. Plus I think this looks a lot cleaner.

 

[adsm08]

So this wasn't hard, just time consuming, a lot of it was trial/error and trimming. The fact the bumper is uneven also caused some issues.

But on the up side the plug is almost 100% protected from the underside because the lower curl of the bumper is the same length as the plug.

 

[ericbphoto]

Looks clean. Good install!

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

[adsm08]

Thanks. I like the way it looks a lot better than having something hang 3-4 inches below the bumper, and hopefully this keep sit out of harms way more than having it hang.

If I get a chance today I will get some pictures of the underside you you guys can see how well it is protected.

 

[adsm08]

So the trans has been a bit rough lately. And by lately I mean a few years now. I am pretty well convinced that it is time for synchros.

I have been feeling like when I tear the trans down I would like to swap out to the 2.3/2.9/3.0 gears. I have a 2.9 4x4 M5OD and 215/75/15s in the B2 and it is just so much more fun to drive. More pep off the line.

The Ranger has the 4.0 gears and 31s, and while she is hardly a dog, taking off from a stop could be nicer, I feel.

So today I was down at Ford Carlisle with my dad and the kids, looking for parts for mom's Mustang (it finally runs by the way) and I found a 2.3 M5OD for $50.

I figure I'll strip it for the speed gears, get my 4.0 hybrid tranny, then put it back together with the 4.0 stuff and try to get my $50 back. Or see how it fits the wife's fox body which also needs synchros.