Did you just bypass the A/C high pressure switch? I did basically the same jumper harness, but ran wires from it up to the core support to plug into the Explorer switch location.
So, if I remember correctly, the AC hose that I have from the Explorer has no high pressure switch, so I did a bypass to allow the system to work. The bypass that I did by using a weather resistant plug allows me to go to a high pressure sensor if I get a hose with the sensor port. Dad’s didn’t have the high pressure sensor either and on that, since it was before I started getting weatherproof connectors, I spliced the wires together and I’m not a big fan of that solution. The Ranger AC system will not function without either having the high pressure switch, or bypassing it if the switch isn’t an option. I had asked at the parts store about a new AC hose, but at the time, it was not available. You can find them now, but yeah. I was working with what I had.
I'll be doing the same, but went trhe opposite route. The power dome hood is installed with the 99 nose. I've gotten my hands on the header panel and headlight clips. I've got a co-worker that says he's going to give me a grill, but it's missing the honeycomb insert and we haven;t gotten together to get it yet. Grabbed the honeycomb insert on my last pick-n-pull trip, along with assorted trim pieces for that area. Just need to buy a set of lights, and I want to go with a 2006+ bumper assembly that I haven't managed to locate yet.
Front fenders, core support, that kind of stuff is the same 98-11. It’s the hood, header panel, grill, headlights and bumper that changed. I’ve seen some people claim that you can’t use a 98-00 hood with the 01 front bits. You can, it just doesn’t fit quite right, there’s a little more gap in the middle than there should be. The 01 powerdome hood that I have is fiberglass and there was a couple cracks which I have not got around to patching so it’s not on the truck yet.
I looked around at junkyards, but it was hard enough to come up with a decent header panel. I couldn’t find a good grill assembly but I found one reasonable online new and just went that route. I couldn’t find a good pair of headlights and I wanted aftermarket anyway, so I just did it one shot. Couldn’t find a decent bumper. Was going to just use the bumper I had until I could do something else, but when it fell off the stands, my bumper got more destroyed than it already was. As it stands now, I’m going to build a new bumper.
I have a general plan for my new front bumper, I'm intending on making the bulk of the bumper out of 1/8" plate, roughly similar to a stock bumper in shape but obviously lacking the lower plastic, that will all be steel. I'm also going to inset a pair of LED lights for fog/driving lights since I won't be running the stock fog/driving lights. Plus I'm going to bend up a small pushbar for the front. At this point it will likely be a spring project because I don't have a shop to work in.
Thank you for that info. Now I'll know what's going on if I encounter that problem myself. I was planning to use factory style headlights, but later models that don't have the solid amber corner lights. I'd ahve wondered what was going on with the connectors if they didn't match.
I never expected the problem, I have an 02 Ranger that was complete minus the bed (now the frame is junk in it) that I used for a reference when I was comparing things. It had the same turn signal/marker light plugs as my 00, just one less plug since the 98-00 lights use two of the three wire plugs and one two wire plug for the side marker. So I ordered aftermarket lights that said they fit 01-11 only to find they had a different plug. My first impulse was that someone made a serious mistake, but then I got digging into the problem and found the plugs changed and the aftermarket makes no real mention of it. It's only the three wire plug that changed, but it changed enough that you can't just un-pin one and change the end.
I messaged the guy that I bought the lights from and explained the problem. Since I wanted to keep the lights, he was kind enough to refund enough money to cover the cost of the replacement pigtails. I was pretty satisfied with that and after pondering how to make the connection, I thought that a weatherproof plug would be ideal, since it allows me to easily change the connection back if ever needed and I'm not trying to do a cut and solder. All of the other connections remain the same, and an early 01-03 or whatever it is light will plug in without going through that.
Lessons learned the hard way aren't easily forgotten. If using jack stands on a non solid surface (IE dirt or gravel) always put them on something like a board or thick piece of plywood to prevent them from sinking into the ground and causing this exact problem. Sorry to hear that you had to learn the lesson this way (I think I remember reading it when it happened), but hopefully someone else can read this and learn from your shared experience.
I did and I do. Working at home in the gravel driveway we usually have a pile of 2b graded limestone around for driveway maintenance, so I'll take some of that and grade it level, then put down wood or stone to set jacks and stands on. Very rarely do I set a jack or stand on the gravel itself and usually that's a temporary and non-critical thing. This wasn't the first time I've had a vehicle fall, but it was by far the most damage caused by a fall. I don't like putting more than one end of a vehicle on jackstands for this exact reason and I don't like not having a lot of support under a vehicle and as solid of footing as I can. I suspect that what happened was that the ground softened from a lot of rain and such to the point that things started shifting. It probably would have been ok if I would have been able to work at a better pace and get it back on it's wheels a lot sooner than I did, but I've had health problems that have slowed me down in recent years.
I really need something solid to work on, I've asked to be allowed to put a concrete pad in to work on but my parents have so far refused to permit it. At this point, I don't have a place leveled to work on my property and I don't have electric service there at the moment. Hopefully I can change that within the next year and at least get electric and a concrete pad to work on there if not get my garage building up. That's really the ideal, have my garage building up on a concrete slab because my next step will be a lift and be done with all this crawling around on the ground exposed to the weather.
Anyhow, thanks for sharing your build, look forward to reading and seeing the rest of what you've accomplished on it. Reading it in one place that is, I've probably seen most of in previous posts, but it's always better reading it in one continuous thread dedicated tot he subject. Maybe you'll even motivate me to post some more about my own projects.
@JoshT , thank you for the kind words. I've been meaning to do a build thread for awhile on this truck and I've been meaning to re-do my other build threads (they're long gone, I've tried the search feature, they must have existed prior to the forum change in 2007). Just been a matter of a lack of time and I wasn't trying to type everything out on my phone or tablet, it's far easier to use a computer. My desktop computer has been buried for a couple years and I had an older laptop that sort of worked. For Christmas last year I got a newly used laptop, but I didn't really devote the time and effort to start to sort it out until recently. This truck is one of the few that I have access to all of the pictures since they are all on two cellphones (my current phone and my old phone) plus my tablet, so it's a little awkward to get the pictures stitched in and try to make sure that I'm putting things in order, but it can be done. My dump truck and 92 Ranger also exist only on those platforms too but now that I have a computer again, everything is getting backed up as I have time. Once I can get to my desktop computer and get it fired back up, I'd like to work on getting my other build threads going, most importantly my Choptop build.
Also since I have a computer up again, I'm going to be working on trying to get videos edited and posted on my YouTube channel again. I was trying to edit and post from my phone & tablet which was an exercise in frustration since there's not enough storage space to work on more than one video at a time, doing that on those devices eats battery power with reckless abandon, and it's a time consuming process. So I'm currently working on getting video editing software on this laptop. My desktop is powerful for it's age, but I don't know that current gen video editing will run on it.
I almost have this build thread caught up to where I'm at with things. I'm probably going to go back through my posts since I think I've forgotten a few things here and there and I'll try to flesh out some stuff a little better. It's a process. I'll add a post when I think I have everything pretty well where it's going to stay with revisions and edits so everyone knows. I knew trying to go back and fill in the blanks was going to be a challenge, it's a lot easier to do one of these build threads from the start and update it as you go instead of trying to remember everything you did and in what order.
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