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

[Roert42]

I’ve found that motorcraft batteries are cheaper then any of the parts store brands.

I’ve got one that’s over 7 years old.

 

[snoranger]

I won’t be off-roading with the spacers, but I will be tearing up the roads. I like railing around bends. I don’t want something that is going to spit a wheel off because I took a bend too hard for it. That would likely be rather bad. Part of me questions as to if it would be smarter just to get aftermarket 18” rims and skip the spacers and factory rims…

I ran a set of Eibach wheel adapters and ‘99 Cobra wheels on my lowered ‘90 Supercab. I would throw that truck into a cloverleaf at 80+ all the time… to the point that it would stall from fuel starvation if I was under 1/2 a tank. Those took a beating for way over 100K miles without any issues.
I would trust a good set, properly installed in any conditions.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I ran a set of Eibach wheel adapters and ‘99 Cobra wheels on my lowered ‘90 Supercab. I would throw that truck into a cloverleaf at 80+ all the time… to the point that it would stall from fuel starvation if I was under 1/2 a tank. Those took a beating for way over 100K miles without any issues.
I would trust a good set, properly installed in any conditions.

That sounds like pretty solid quality. I’ll have to look into those. @4x4junkie gave me a couple other recommendations in the wheel spacer thread. I’ll pick something out. Just a matter of coming up with the extra money

 

[Rick W]

I won’t be off-roading with the spacers, but I will be tearing up the roads. I like railing around bends. I don’t want something that is going to spit a wheel off because I took a bend too hard for it. That would likely be rather bad. Part of me questions as to if it would be smarter just to get aftermarket 18” rims and skip the spacers and factory rims…

Just a thought, not from product knowledge, but from experience, and a little understanding of the math and geometry and loads.

Everything except my F250 runs on a 15 inch rim, with the old-fashioned “balloon“ tires. The Mark V weighs as much as the F250 and the town cars aren’t exactly lightweight. And you know my Rangers.

I would think the “balloon“ tires would take up a lot of the lateral forces on the wheels, spacers and bearings. Maybe not take up all the force, but certainly mellow out the high points and shock loads. I don’t think a properly installed spacer would fail from constant lateral loading, but rather an instant shock like if you hit a pothole on a curve. Yes/no?

I would think a taller wheel with less rubber would be more likely to fail from railing around turns. Yes/no?

Like usual, my two cents, I don’t know what I’m talking about, all food for thought…

Edit: and the F250 is on 16.5 inch rims

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Just a thought, not from product knowledge, but from experience, and a little understanding of the math and geometry and loads.

Everything except my F250 runs on a 15 inch rim, with the old-fashioned “balloon“ tires. The Mark V weighs as much as the F250 and the town cars aren’t exactly lightweight. And you know my Rangers.

I would think the “balloon“ tires would take up a lot of the lateral forces on the wheels, spacers and bearings. Maybe not take up all the force, but certainly mellow out the high points and shock loads. I don’t think a properly installed spacer would fail from constant lateral loading, but rather an instant shock like if you hit a pothole on a curve. Byes/no?

I would think a taller wheel with less rubber would be more likely to fail from railing around turns. Yes/no?

Like usual, my two cents, I don’t know what I’m talking about, all food for thought…

31x10.50-15 tires are too squishy on hard cornering. My suspension isn’t fully squared away yet, but it’s good enough that you can feel the tire squish and it doesn’t feel comfortable at all. I need bigger rims and less sidewall to eliminate as much of the squish as possible. I’m looking at 255/55-18 or 255/60-18 for rims/tires at this point. On an 8” wide rim. I’m after stability. And yes, that does not absorb forces so much but passes them on, which is why I need something of decent quality

 

[SenorNoob]

While I can follow the logic there @Rick W, I think the idea is to reduce the softness of the tires and move those forces to the suspension which is much easier to control with springs and shock valves.

 

[Rick W]

31x10.50-15 tires are too squishy on hard cornering. My suspension isn’t fully squared away yet, but it’s good enough that you can feel the tire squish and it doesn’t feel comfortable at all. I need bigger rims and less sidewall to eliminate as much of the squish as possible. I’m looking at 255/55-18 or 255/60-18 for rims/tires at this point. On an 8” wide rim. I’m after stability. And yes, that does not absorb forces so much but passes them on, which is why I need something of decent quality

Duh, Silly me. I forgot that you guys run tractor tires on your truck!

I was thinking of the guys who run the 22” inch wheels On the 26” OD tires on their 85 Impalas….

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Duh, Silly me. I forgot that you guys run tractor tires on your truck!

I was thinking of the guys who run the 22” inch wheels On the 26” OD tires on their 85 Impalas….

Actually a 20-22” rim and a 28-29” tire would be a better combination, but anything over 18” would start to attract more attention that something is out of the ordinary and that starts to work against the whole “sleeper” aspect…

I love the 5.0 and how it sounds… but part of me is wishing I would have done as @bobbywalter recommended which was do a 3.5 EcoBoost with a 10-speed auto…

 

[bobbywalter]

Actually a 20-22” rim and a 28-29” tire would be a better combination, but anything over 18” would start to attract more attention that something is out of the ordinary and that starts to work against the whole “sleeper” aspect…

I love the 5.0 and how it sounds… but part of me is wishing I would have done as @bobbywalter recommended which was do a 3.5 EcoBoost with a 10-speed auto…

2.3 ecoboost.

 

[jballard81]

Couple of 95 explorers at the junkyard near me. Finally found what should be a good replacement throttle cable for my 94.

One was a Eddie Bauer and would have been real sweet back in 95. Had the nice upper console, digital rearview mirror and the lower console computer! Too bad someone else had messed around with them enough that I didn't want to try and bring them back with me.

Also finally found another 15" deer print wheel off a 95 ranger for my spare.

Did a vacuum test and started taking out plugs to do compression and leakage tests, but got side tracked and ran out of effort. Tomorrow hopefully.

 

[JoshT]

I’ve found that motorcraft batteries are cheaper the. Any of the parts store brands.

I’ve got one that’s over 7 years old.

I think that's luck of the draw, and possibly dependent on the type of Motorcraft battery. The one in dad's 21 F-150 is an AGM and appears to need replacement. He'sbeen fussing about the fordpass and courtesy lights not working for weeks/months. I finally looked into it today and it appears that the truck's battery management system is going into battery saver mode due to low battery voltage.

Seems like normal reports concerning AGMs is that they last longer than FLA batteries, but this one appears to be gone at three years. In my research it appears that a lot of them have gone out sooner and it is common for techs to pull a new battery off the shelf and find it bad. That said, they do have FoMoCo written on top, not Motorcraft, so maybe a different supplier?

He's going to pick up a new Everstart from Walmart in the next day to three. They ain't high dollar, but reviews seem good, they have a 4 year free replacement warranty, and Walmarts are everywhere. He's going to find one of his older full dead batteries to turn in for a core. We might see if the original can be revived, and if not it'll still be good enough for running various 12v stuff we have around.

I would think the “balloon“ tires would take up a lot of the lateral forces on the wheels, spacers and bearings. Maybe not take up all the force, but certainly mellow out the high points and shock loads. I don’t think a properly installed spacer would fail from constant lateral loading, but rather an instant shock like if you hit a pothole on a curve. Yes/no?

You may have figured this out already, but lil_Blue_Ford and I are on parallel build paths, and I can assure you that balloon tires are not in the plans. Some of the stock suspension bits won't either once we can find/make replacements.

As for using the off road with balloon tires, kind of depends on what kind of offroading one will be doing. Offroading runs the gambit from borderline rock bouncing to leasurely driving on dirt roads. My concerns with a spacer off road where you may be sitting at angles which put most of the rigs weight on a single tire, then require liberal application of the skinny pedal to get over certain obstables. Or trying to drive on a hard pack dirt road like a baja racer does through the soft desert sand. (Guilty of that latter scenario myself.)

I wouldn't be as concerned in scenarios where speeds were going to be moderate and/or loads will be somewhat evenly distributed. While high speed cornering will transfer weight, it doesn't seem like it would to near the extent that offroad driving would. Plus with our trucks being AWD, the torque is going to be more distributed rather than being concentrated on a single wheel and spacer.

At least that's my thinking on the subject. I'm running spacers for now, but I intend to ditch them for aftermarket wheels down the road once I have suspension and ride height sorted.

While I can follow the logic there @Rick W, I think the idea is to reduce the softness of the tires and move those forces to the suspension which is much easier to control with springs and shock valves.

Can't really speak for lil_Blue_Ford even though we have similar goals, but that's where I'm heading with mine. Reduced sidewalls resulting in less deflection under cornering. It will reduce the ride but intend to improve suspension to compensate for that. There's not a lot that can be done with torsion bars to improve control, but once I have ride height sorted where I want it, I intend to do a coil over conversion. I'll spend time with those companies figuring out what would be good spring and valving for my intended usage.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Can't really speak for lil_Blue_Ford even though we have similar goals, but that's where I'm heading with mine. Reduced sidewalls resulting in less deflection under cornering. It will reduce the ride but intend to improve suspension to compensate for that. There's not a lot that can be done with torsion bars to improve control, but once I have ride height sorted where I want it, I intend to do a coil over conversion. I'll spend time with those companies figuring out what would be good spring and valving for my intended usage.

Yup to all of that. I really wanted to do coil-overs when I had it all apart, even did some research on it all. But it came down to a lack of funds. The torsion bars will work for now until I have the funds to do something about it. Or I may just leave this truck with t-bars and just build another with a 2.3 Ecoboost as Bobby recommended and go super sport with it. I dunno. Time will tell. I need to get some other projects handled and just do some tweaks to this here and there while I figure out my next move.

 

[superj]

Lowered the front. Everything is now as low as i can go without researing the keys on the torsion bars and doing an over soring axle out back.

I can get out with putring my foot flat on the ground and not have to slide anymore. I lift up and get out.

I want to go lower but i dont know when it would happen. My last car was lowered to much and i dont want to do that again so i will drive it like this for a while well i find some rims and tires.

i also have to convert the bmw to a carb and out the sport springs on that. The thermo time switch is about 250 bucks and i need that to test if the cold start valve is good. If the cold start is no good, all manufacturers stopped making it about 8 years ago so i would be out of luck. I already have a factory bmw two barrel intake from a 1976 bmw 2002 and a weber 32/36 set up to go on. I just need a fuel pressure regulator and an air filter in order to run the car on a carb. And i have done this conversion already snd know how much more fun that little 1.8 is with a carb.

Pic of when we got the truck

And its current settings

 

[Bill]

I installed new pads and rotors. That completes the front suspension project. New upper and lower control arms, inner and outer tie rods. Both lower ball joints and one outer tie rod end was toast after 17 years and 206,000 miles. I think they may have lasted longer if the dust boots didn't disintegrate. Now it's nice and shiny!

I need to get it aligned and acquire a new set of those flexible splash shields so the alternator and the sides of the engine doesn't get drowned when it rains.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

The stupid ignition module connector that I think was messing with my starting in Kentucky... is now in the garage trash can.

Spliced in a new one, soldered it and everything. Hopefully that will fix it.

And went to town and rode bikes on the trail.