What did you do to your Ranger today? (Part Deux!)

[bobbywalter]

Update update: when I pulled the alternator to swap the brushes, the Belt tensioner didn’t seem to want to come up all the way. It did, but if I touched the wrench a little bit, it would come up just a little bit more. I don’t think the belt was slipping, but I ordered a new tensioner anyway.

https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/shopping?q=tbn:ANd9GcRI-pagSJ9T__loRvn4M7ITQsfsrSiCJCrlqxhc7QZibo0HHpo54mP5EetbmvafFYEhIR9Tp2jxS-yD0HgtAbHiCnWGcRv206qSmKTmYPohNk79CQWza64_cQ

take the belt off and soak the tensioner with that.

 

[bobbywalter]

Thanks. I have to agree that the investment in the whole assembly is probably money well spent. But I’ve always pinched pennies, that’s how I grew a pile of them, a hard trait to change in my advanced years.

And maybe I didn’t clarify that this is for the Road Ranger. If it was a stock ranger, I’d pull the bed in a heartbeat and slide it back. That’s not the issue.

View attachment 119216

When I built this contraption, it wasn’t a design on paper for ease of maintenance. There’s a 2 x 2 tubing frame on top of the truck frame, and then some spacers, and then the box. Inside the box is the second battery, the gas tank fill neck runs through it, all the wiring for all the lights, etc. It will all come apart, I’m just hoping I don’t have to do it wire by wire and piece by piece.

The diamond plate over that area comes out with just two Allen screws. I have a toolbox underneath it that holds the jack and some tools. I’m guessing the bottom front of the box is 6 or 8 inches higher than the top of the tank. I’m hoping I can wiggle the pump out if I take that diamond plate off, but I think there’s a little crossmember on the frame right there Or maybe I could get away with loosening up the box and just tilting up the back side a little bit. If I do have to pull the whole thing, I’ll modify it when I put it back, so it comes out more easily the next time and I’ll document it in the “Road Ranger maintenance manual.”

And as I’m saying this, it’s making more sense to just change the assembly, But I am curious if it is the same pump. I have unlimited time in my retirement and tinkering with this stuff is what I do. By the same token, I’d rather play with it than redo what I’ve already done. My luck, the pump would work, and then the gas gauge would go out or such.

Still curious if I could just swap the pump part

rule no1 about fuel pump club.

 

[Rick W]

That reminds me…. I think mine is going bad.

I’m getting a little bit of rattle/grinding noise, similar to the dreaded chain rattle but from the top front of the engine.
My giveaway that it’s something in the accessory drive is that it’s quite faint from the wheel wells, but very prominent from the front through the grille and radiator. If it was the chain rattle, I feel like there’s no way the sound would carry better through the accessory drive and radiator than through the wheel wells. Also from my experience with the rattle it comes very clear through the wheel well if it is the chains.

why am I writing this? To calm my fears that it is somehow the chains AGAIN and not the accessory drive. If it is I will have a literal stroke.

We were just talking about using a stick, I’ll pry bar, or a big screwdriver, white end against your ear, and then move the other ran touching different places find where the rattles coming from. This sounds like exactly the situation where you want to do that.

 

[Rick W]

https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/shopping?q=tbn:ANd9GcRI-pagSJ9T__loRvn4M7ITQsfsrSiCJCrlqxhc7QZibo0HHpo54mP5EetbmvafFYEhIR9Tp2jxS-yD0HgtAbHiCnWGcRv206qSmKTmYPohNk79CQWza64_cQ

take the belt off and soak the tensioner with that.

Thanks, I already have tensioner on the way, $23, but I’ll look into this stuff. In my tinkering, I’d rather save something that just replace it.

 

[97RangerXLT]

https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/shopping?q=tbn:ANd9GcRI-pagSJ9T__loRvn4M7ITQsfsrSiCJCrlqxhc7QZibo0HHpo54mP5EetbmvafFYEhIR9Tp2jxS-yD0HgtAbHiCnWGcRv206qSmKTmYPohNk79CQWza64_cQ

take the belt off and soak the tensioner with that.

and just like that, Bobby gave @Rick W the CLP.



AJ

 

[Maritime Drag Racing]

Been told many times I should lower the Ranger but to me that's a hard NO - Why should I pay $844.50 CDN for DJM I-beams + $83.59 for the rear axle flip kit + $194.49 for new CalTrac flip plates(Total $1,122.58) and have it do NOTHING for my ET? That kind of $$ would buy a bunch more horsepower....

 

[ekrampitzjr]

Been told many times I should lower the Ranger but to me that's a hard NO - Why should I pay $844.50 CDN for DJM I-beams + $83.59 for the rear axle flip kit + $194.49 for new CalTrac flip plates(Total $1,122.58) and have it do NOTHING for my ET? That kind of $$ would buy a bunch more horsepower....

View attachment 119509

Those people are probably thinking there might be some aerodynamic benefit to lowering. On a 1/8– or 1/4–mile track with the race over in seconds, that's unlikely.

 

[Curious Hound]

Been told many times I should lower the Ranger but to me that's a hard NO - Why should I pay $844.50 CDN for DJM I-beams + $83.59 for the rear axle flip kit + $194.49 for new CalTrac flip plates(Total $1,122.58) and have it do NOTHING for my ET? That kind of $$ would buy a bunch more horsepower....

View attachment 119509

I would tend to think that traction devices and horsepower improvements are the best bang for your buck.

There's not supposed to be any hard cornering in drag racing. So low CG is probably optional.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Yeah, I mean, I lowered my green Ranger, but it‘s a street toy, not a drag truck. Drag strip requires getting as much power as possible and transferring it as effectively as possible to the ground. Height matters little for that. Ripping around bends on the street, the lower you can get your COG and the stiffer you can get and wider, the better.

 

[Bgunner]

Been told many times I should lower the Ranger but to me that's a hard NO - Why should I pay $844.50 CDN for DJM I-beams + $83.59 for the rear axle flip kit + $194.49 for new CalTrac flip plates(Total $1,122.58) and have it do NOTHING for my ET? That kind of $$ would buy a bunch more horsepower....

View attachment 119509

I must agree with your view on it at this point and the speeds you are achieving. Lowering would only help keep it more stable on the big end once you start hitting 160-180 mph. Lowering comes in when the air flow under the vehicle is enough to lift it up off of the ground surface making it squirrely at high speeds. Lowering does nothing for 60' and 330' speeds.

 

[scotts90ranger]

Put some more miles on the ol '00 Explorer, the two turns on the torsion bars we did last weekend sure helped the ride, no more front bump stops on bumps! Annoyingly when I added the extra leaf spring the rear suspension now thinks it's too tall instead of too low so the "check suspension" light is on constantly but I like the ride height... I need to just get rid of the air ride junk back there since the shocks leak anyway... Not sure why I didn't add those leaves (have had them since like 2012, well before I had the sploder) and crank the T bars years ago but hey, here we are...

Oh and this morning in the sploder the headlights sucked and I went to adjust the lights and noticed that neither adjuster on the drivers side headlight are currently functional so I took a scrap of wood I found in the shop driveway and shoved it under the headlight to hold it there for now... apparently I need a new housing which I might be able to scavenge from the mountaineer in the back 40...

 

[Rick W]

I must agree with your view on it at this point and the speeds you are achieving. Lowering would only help keep it more stable on the big end once you start hitting 160-180 mph. Lowering comes in when the air flow under the vehicle is enough to lift it up off of the ground surface making it squirrely at high speeds. Lowering does nothing for 60' and 330' speeds.

@Maritime Drag Racing

I don’t know anything about this stuff, but what I’m reading is that downforce is much more important than aerodynamic drag going through the wind. Generate the most horsepower, and push it to the ground as hard as possible.

Then, the theoretical side of my engineering brain knows that wind resistance becomes a real factor above 50 or 55 miles an hour and goes up exponentially, not linearly. With that in mind, and the speed you’re reaching, considering you’re trying to gain tenths or even hundredths of a second, looking into aerodynamics may make some sense for those extreme limits.

When I jumble that up in my common sense (which has been occasionally faulty in the past) and my shade tree fabrication and mechanical abilities (which have been occasionally faulty in the past), and my tendency to pinch pennies (which has occasionally led to faulty results in the past), what about this?

Could you put wings or ailerons on that truck to push it down in the wind? Wings on top, or wings on the bottom, or even stubby wings out the side? I know that sounds ridiculous, and I’m not exactly sure how to do it, But in my limited exposure to Indy cars, there are 100 places on the body that are curved or shaped to push it down.

Something underneath or along the open sides between the tires to pull it down?

My other thought regarding airflow. Is the tailgate on the truck and is it solid? I vaguely remember that the tailgate acts like a parachute when the wind comes over the cab. If it’s there, could you perforate it or could you louver it so it passes air?

And I’m not proposing doing major modifications to your truck on the chance it works out. If you can figure out what combination of these things might help, you could pick up a scrapyard tailgate and try, And maybe temporarily clamp on some fiberglass or aluminum sheet metal wingy contraptions to see if it works.

My two cents, hope it helps.

Don’t laugh at me, I’m at the age where I drive like a little old lady. If I don’t want to be bothered by other drivers at any given point, I just have to drive one of my town cars with a rain hat on, and everybody stays a mile away from me.

 

[bobbywalter]

see gassers.

 

[bobbywalter]

gets more ranger every time i see this damn thing.

 

[bobbywalter]

here is a classic.....