Found another Ranger

[MaicoDoug]

I saw an '07 Level II in decent condition. The wife says "oh no, not yellow". It's sitting in my driveway now. W/144Kmi

Basically the previous owner did a bunch of work, had the fuse box fire, including the passenger foot well & airbag fire. Still missing the cover in the passenger foot well. Replaced the entire front with stock looking parts. I guess he got tired of the thing, & flipped it.

Work to do:

1) fix the blend door motor. Just take it apart & clean up the carbon trace & test. I'll see how that goes.
2) The rear end has a very slight drip. Will need a new seal & perhaps a new yoke. We'll see.
3) Coil overs. Ha! Whose making those kits? Will need to finally purchase that MIG machine.
4) everything else that you all want to see.

Glad to be with a good group of mal-contents who want to make stuff better, well eventually. Who says taking the long road is such a bad thing anyway??

Anyway my name is Doug, living in Bryan, Texas. Going to keep it light & entertaining. Thanks to all who post here. All this had a huge impact to me buying another. I don't hang out so much on these forums, but will be sure to stay in touch. thx & more to come.
-MaicoDoug

Later that day......

Today was an interesting day. All went well except....

1) The springs AND shocks are shot. Rebound dampening are total non existent. And I saw some yellow shocks (Monroe?). You can see the negative camber at the new lowered height. I'd say a 1.5 inch sag. My mind keeps saying...."not to worry, coil overs are only around the corner". I believe because of the atomic suspension crashes, new temporary shocks will keep the ball joints intact at least.

2) The CarFax report says that the truck incurred a "minor impact", that explains the headlight at max up adjustment pointing 10 feet out in front on the ground. Even the left side is maxed out shining (low beam) ~ 40 feet. Somewhere around mid span of mechanical height adjustment is where I would expect IF the front torsion bars were not sagging. Time to get out the tape measure that I completely forgot examining the truck and have a look at exactly what I bought.

3) The AC clutch is cycling at ~70% operating in the MAX position. Will pick up some R134a & see what happens after looking at the underhood area with a UV light to see if there was/is a leak.

Anyway good to be here, and perhaps when I actually repair something, I'll start another thread.

-Doug

 

[Uncle Gump]

She sure is YELLOW! lol

Nice find... and rust free I presume?

Not sure anyone makes the coil over conversion any longer... but I haven't looked in some time. Yellow shocks could be the factory Bilstiens?

Anyway... welcome to TRS

 

[Grumpaw]

Can you say BA NAN AAAA ?

Welcome to the party !

 

[MaicoDoug]

Going to put "2.85 USD + mileage" on the door.
The wifey agrees that it should go through a "transformation". She's thinking the JEEPNEY

 

[MaicoDoug]

Thanks for the replies. Great to be here. I can't find any body rust at all. On the driveshaft yes. This was a guy who did a bunch of stuff & got tired of it within only a few months. Well, he flipped it but more on that soon in another thread.

Take care all, Doug

 

[sgtsandman]

The truck looks good and better than that God awful school bus orange/yellow Ford was selling there for a minute.

 

[Rick W]

You forgot one thing on your list. #5 paint anything over the yellow....

 

[Dirtman]

Yellow!

 

[MaicoDoug]

I forgot to mention that, the yellow needs touching up here & there.

 

[MaicoDoug]

Hey all,

Enjoying the Arizona off road Manny Esquerra (was always my hero). I had no idea he was in Parker. In the mid 80s me & the ADRA were close friends racing every event all season long with my Maicos geared to the hilt. Pulling (and pushing) choio needles thorugh my fingers. I had my 83 V6 2wd red Ranger there and boy was I cool. Only if I had 4 wheels. Later I joined the Mtn bike craze designing rear suspension & full carbon fiber forks. I was known well in the industry. I do hope to modify my Ranger for off road high speed & technical abuse. So I'm very focused in what, who & how to move forward with what I have. I am a welder, fabricator and have a good sense of what it takes to have a responsible and safe design. So that is a quick resume of my off road experience.

Well been hanging out in the suspension forum & with new Rancho 5000X shocks coming & the tires finally balanced I can say that 'yall have been treating me real fine & will move my screaming yellow banana to the regular forum and look forward to updating everything and posting more & more. Thx again for your Ranger love. -Doug