Jballard81's 1994 super cab 4.0 4x4 Restore

[jballard81]

Finally found some decent seats! Came out of a 99 explorer 4-door.

A little dirty and a fair amount of dog hair on them but they cleaned up pretty easily.

Since they were out of a 4-door, they don't fold and slide with one mechanism like the original seats.
I didn't bother swapping over the original seat tracks for that reason. Or am I mistaken here?

I did have to add a small extension for the seat belt track:

Just some 1/8" flat stock and grade 8 nut and bolt. I will probably replace the nut with a locking nut next time I'm at Lowe's.

My old passenger seat is in good shape I might try to give it away. Either way, is it safe to assume I should hold onto the seat tracks if I get rid of the seats (if I have to trash them that is)?

 

[jballard81]

PSA
If you store your creeper/roller chair under your truck, don't forget to take it out when you go to move your truck!

She still rolls (ish). Probably about time for an upgrade anyway.

 

[scotts90ranger]

You're supposed to use the Ranger seat tracks, but yeah, the 4 door seats won't fold forward as far no matter what you do, that's part of the seat back hinges...

 

[jballard81]

You're supposed to use the Ranger seat tracks, but yeah, the 4 door seats won't fold forward as far no matter what you do, that's part of the seat back hinges...

Thanks for the feedback. Will swap out the tracks! Makes sense for if I ever decide to swap them out again in the future

 

[scotts90ranger]

You might have to tap a couple holes in the seats with standard 8mm threads, the holes are there just not tapped (they use self tapping bolts from the factory)

 

[jballard81]

You might have to tap a couple holes in the seats with standard 8mm threads, the holes are there just not tapped (they use self tapping bolts from the factory)

Fortunately i didn't have to do that. on my 99 explorer seats, there were actually 4 tapped bolt holes in a row on each side of the seat. I presume these would be to further finesse seat placement if needed. feels like the ranger brackets sit a tad higher than the explorer's did. probably not noticeable unless you literally just swapped them out lol

 

[jballard81]

First time this has happened to me:

Milwaukee brand impact 1/4" shank to 3/8.

It put in a lot of work the last few years. In fact, just last year it helped me build a deck.

 

[RobbieD]

Only rocks live forever.

 

[jballard81]

My low RPM overdrive shudder is finally gone!

The final piece of the puzzle were the engine mounts.
(Link to thread if interested: https://www.therangerstation.com/forums/index.php?threads/94-4x4-4-0-motor-mounts.209753/post-2043260)

All it took was replacing the carrier bearing, rear DS ujoints, transmission mount and finally the engine mounts

Each step along the way revealed the next step that had to be taken it seems. Even now, it threw a check engine light and was running rough. I think one of the pulleys or bearings in the alternator is going. Will start a separate thread for that though.

 

[jballard81]

Figured out the engine codes and rough idle (turns out I forgot to plug the MAF back in...)

That cleared up the engine codes. Took it for a test drive and damned if the low RPM shudder is back

Nothing else changed from yesterday (when it seemed to be working fine) to today other than plugging the MAF back in. I double checked the engine mount nuts and everything was still tight.

I think the belt tensioner could be toast. I hear it making a chirp sound when it's slamming against it's stop. The shudder is definitely low RPM related, could the tensioner going out cause it?

ODB1 reader will be here tomorrow AM
I'm definitely not going to say i have an experienced enough ear to catch a miss-fire. hopefully this will help.

 

[jballard81]

Replaced the fuel filter today. I'm 99% sure it was the original factory installed filter

Another maintenance item off the list!

 

[SenorNoob]

That's impressive.

 

[jballard81]

Beautiful day in central NC, right at ~75 degrees, slight breeze. Couldn't ask for better!

Replaced the belt tensioner today. So far my favorite maintenance job on the truck, took ~5 minutes.

I believe it was the original part. While i had the belt off, I moved the other pulley's to see if anything felt off.
The power steering pump has some resistance, which makes sense it being a pump. AC pulley spun freely ad did the idler. Changing the belt tensioner cleared up tensioner clacking sound.

Engine is a bit smoother in park at idle. I imagine the 4.0 was never meant to be sewing machine smooth.

Went for a ride and vibration while stopped in drive is definitely more subdued, but still there. Again, i imagine the 4.0 always has a little bit of a shake.

Tested out OD and while there was a slight improvement, still has a significant shudder at ~1500-1750 RPMs when attempting to maintain 55mph. At this point, I'm running out of ideas on what the cause could be.

- I've replaced the carrier bearing, transmission and engine mounts (along with a shift kit for the A4LD valve body) while attempting to correct this shudder.
- I snagged an ODB1 reader, and only persistent code at this point is 565 (canister solenoid circuit failure).
- I replaced the plugs with Autolite 2x platinum's and checked that resistance on the plug wires was acceptable.
- Replaced the u-joints on the 2 piece rear ds.
- When doing the transmission shift kit, I did not adjust the bands or replace the governor

Admittedly, I could have made a mistake on any of these repairs/replacements.

Transmission feels like it's shifting well between 1-3. While reading the service manual, it says the 3-4/4-3 shift functions and torque converter clutch lock/unlock are controlled by the PCM (via two solenoids).

I'm thinking this 'could' be about where my issue is: with trans in OD, get up to speed ~50-55mph, torque converter locks up and rpm's drop (solid drive). I feel like I'm getting the shudder when I accelerate minimally during when the torque converter is locked. I'm assuming the transmission attempts to keep the torque converter locked to continue solid drive until heavy acceleration, brakes, etc.

If that's where my problem is occurring, if those solenoids weren't operating normally, they 'should' throw a code during KOEO ODB1 testing right?

apologies for the long post. kind of getting discouraged that I can't figure this out.

 

[jballard81]

Small electrical project today. Took apart the old ashtray and 12v socket and modified it so that the cover plate can go back into place, but with a 12v socket installed I to it.

My wiring looks kind of like a rats nest, but I wanted to have a second 12v socket behind the plate so that I could keep my dash cam plug original (otherwise I would have cut the dash cam socket off and spliced it in)

I should have spent some time figuring out how to reattach the plate without drilling holes in it, but it's good enough.

 

[jballard81]

Started adding some duct insulation to the floor pans to help with the heat from the exhaust. Passenger side first. probably do the driver's side tomorrow