Things I do
TO my ranger today, finished installed greasable bushings in the rear of my leafs and shackles. Then forced it to climb my local mall parking lot stump. Also added pieces of mass loaded vinyl under where my toolbox sits on the bed rails, not sure if that or the bushings were the squeak I’ve been chasing. It’s possible it’s neither
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oh....i was working on MY junk ass ranger too...
but that probe is incomplete due to this snafu........well...just glad i was home to help. they wanted 1800 dollars to diagnose and tune Zoies rig....which is not acceptable though understandable....i had a free diagnosic scan (i maintain some of the shop trucks there) done, which led to me driving it around for a 1/4 tank logging it with my hp tuners and forscan.... unfortunately i was not able to see the o2 voltage for reasons i passed acceptable time to figure out....so i had to go off of trims....and i am heading out to work tomorrow.....so i had to concentrate more on one then the other.....i fear my ranger will remain in the grey....i have about 150 into getting Zoies all dialed in and running like it should...not accounting for time. at 100 per hour, that alone was 1100....so 1800 was actually a fair write by those guys. i Feel bad for people these days...when it comes to keeping a vehicle going.
but the ol ranger.... it is one step closer for bob if he has to daily it......because the backlash in the bronco is horrendous.... so i might just order a new 9 inch chunk, because that center section that is in there has a repaired hole in it anyway.......from past shenanigans... i would hop in my ranger and drive it to alaska right now....but young bob isnt quite there yet to be able to deal with this type of crap on the fly....and he has been towed home several times now on shit that took me ten seconds to fix....and i do not want my rig on the side of the road because it aired off and nipple head isnt able to work through that....the ranger has a hard start issue that i suspect if due to starting it with low batteries and it damaged the powermaster starter....doh....that will suck if true. 300 plus bux there...lil bob drowned the hell out of it last summer as well so that didnt help either....
outside of that... need to put some metal into the cab and do a hard repair on the front frame rail where i broke it extracting a herd of jeeps. then...still looking at 15-16 mpg in the drive cycle it needs to do with straight diesel in winter for lil bob to use it. it runs on a mix of wmo generally which brings costs below reg unleaded.
so needless to say....with the bronco which is bobs secondary in good weather... i hate to spend that kind of loot on just one part for a 16-18 mpg backup vehicle we abuse off road, when maybe we should look for a gas squeezer focus or something.....i put tires on it for winter street duty so i am sort of forced to fix it at this point...
because the other thing that identifies as a ranger out there which is his primary ride...., is equally as thirsty....not to mention has tire wear issues for some reason on the back of it....
its a tough time....because i have to weigh all this crap....
and my ranger... a truck i have been driving for 30 plus years....might just get scrapped... in favor of a modern ranger platform...this due to the cost in michigan to keep multiple vehicles street legal. so ohio is looking pretty good right now...
problem with modern ranger platform and ensuing investment which will minimally be 50k to 60k........... to build a new for ME ranger out of a copart.
it will end up just like this one.
captain cave pig diesel for reliability. though incorporating a hybrid electric sub system will be likely....
and one ton axles....for reliability.
but seating for 4.
me and mine..... and not getting any younger.
10 years ago i figured my daily right now would be a cummins powered E350....
so ya never know.
the other plus of building a modern platform....wearing out the initial ecoboost will be huge fun....
so there is that....and hell that could take ten years...