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

[lil_Blue_Ford]

It’s hunting season here… projects are essentially on hold for another week and a half

 

[scotts90ranger]

Two of the 3 Rangers are in decent shape right now, likely need to pull the starter on the '90 and run it through the sonic cleaner (easy way) or just clean it in general, I put a new starter relay on it and it's still intermittent sometimes so either the brushes are sticking or the armature is dirty... The '97 is just shy of 223k miles so almost due for an oil change... probably do that this weekend when I will hopefully pull the thermostat housing and put the new one in, heat when it's below 50F would be nice...

 

[Bill]

I took the interior back panels off to see if I could figure out the origin of the leak that soaked the carpet. It's coming from the back window just behind the driver's seat. While doing this I figured out that three of the bolts on the rear window were loose enough to spin off by hand. I snugged them up and ran water over the roof. So far it appears to not be leaking. However, I'm sure dust and dirt washed in between the butyl rope and one of the surfaces it seals, so the window will have to be resealed. I'm considering ordering a slider to put in since they are tinted.

 

[scotts90ranger]

I took the interior back panels off to see if I could figure out the origin of the leak that soaked the carpet. It's coming from the back window just behind the driver's seat. While doing this I figured out that three of the bolts on the rear window were loose enough to spin off by hand. I snugged them up and ran water over the roof. So far it appears to not be leaking. However, I'm sure dust and dirt washed in between the butyl rope and one of the surfaces it seals, so the window will have to be resealed. I'm considering ordering a slider to put in since they are tinted.

That's my plan with my '97, when I got it it had a broken slider and all I could find at the time was solid so that's what I put in... a note on doing the butyl rope, get the nuts tighter than you think and probably let it settle for a few days before you put the interior all the way back together... a couple months after I started running my '97 it started leaking and like you found the nuts were just loose... if I'd left it for a day or two then snugged the nuts again it would have been fine... going on 5 years and that was the only time I had a leak. I have a slider waiting to put in on mine too but being an extended cab I also found some of the pop out rear side glass that I want to put in at the same time, also want to find my explorer overhead console and put that in while it's apart so I can hopefully get the headliner out the back...

 

[Bill]

That's my plan with my '97, when I got it it had a broken slider and all I could find at the time was solid so that's what I put in... a note on doing the butyl rope, get the nuts tighter than you think and probably let it settle for a few days before you put the interior all the way back together.

My only concern is the cooler temperatures. The rope is softer when it is warm. I think I'm going to snug it up, park it in the sun, and snug it up a few times and use threadlocker on it so it doesn't come loose again.

 

[superj]

Mine is good. Might need a clutch sometime but its drivable

 

[scotts90ranger]

My only concern is the cooler temperatures. The rope is softer when it is warm. I think I'm going to snug it up, park it in the sun, and snug it up a few times and use threadlocker on it so it doesn't come loose again.

I originally did my back window in the winter which probably adds to what I ran into. I don't know if I'd go as far as using loctite, the star washers on the nuts should be enough, they were only tightened once when it was new, your plan should solve the loosening issue.

 

[Brain75]

nyloc nuts...

 

[ben_2_go]

Filled up the Strangler with fresh 87 octane yesterday morn when I took the trash off. This morn, I took the recycling in and grabbed breakfast at Biscuitville on my way home. She's one good backfire away from laying her internals out on the road.

 

[superj]

Oil and trans fluid change day.

Also remembered to finally put on my ez oil drain valve i bought a year ago

 

[Bill]

I removed the center access panel to get the leaves out of the cowl and dropped the 5.5mm socket. I attempted to retrieve it with some long pliers, but it just fell off the harness and landed on top of the bellhousing right in the middle where I can't get to it. Maybe I'll drive it down to the corner tomorrow and do some donuts so it rolls off the bellhousing, then see if I can find it laying in the middle of the street someplace. After that I'm going to drive it to Lowe's or Harbor Freight and buy a magnet pick up tool to replace the one that's lost in the garage.

 

[Brain75]

harbor freight big magnets are cheaper and since they are "dumb steel" parts I haven't had any complaint on them

 

[Bill]

harbor freight big magnets are cheaper and since they are "dumb steel" parts I haven't had any complaint on them

I need something small to reach down behind the valve cover. Something like this: https://www.craftsman.com/products/cmmt14114

 

[Rick W]

I removed the center access panel to get the leaves out of the cowl and dropped the 5.5mm socket. I attempted to retrieve it with some long pliers, but it just fell off the harness and landed on top of the bellhousing right in the middle where I can't get to it. Maybe I'll drive it down to the corner tomorrow and do some donuts so it rolls off the bellhousing, then see if I can find it laying in the middle of the street someplace. After that I'm going to drive it to Lowe's or Harbor Freight and buy a magnet pick up tool to replace the one that's lost in the garage.

Rig a piece of 1/4” copper tube to the compressed air nozzle, bend it around, and blow it out.

That’s what my proctologist does…

 

[scotts90ranger]

Got a load of firewood from the back shed to the front porch with the '97 tonight since we were out after the cold spell the last few days...

Then went to the shop to rearrange things for a bit and started tinkering with my new thermostat housing and thermostat for the '97 to do what I can to get heat in the dumb thing, I'm tired of being frozen when I get to work... The new thermostat doesn't seat into the thermostat housing of the same brand which I found annoying. I took a small chipping type hammer and wacked the seal ring deal in so the dome of the T stat doesn't hit it anymore then I noticed it still rocked so the seal isn't hitting the washer that's there just for that... then I searched the shop for some type of material that wouldn't deteriorate or deform and happened on a scrap of irrigation pipe so I cut a scrap and took a hole saw and cut a hole then the tin snips and made it the right diameter, now there's a few thousandths of compression on the thermostat. This should force the coolant to bypass the thermostat correctly through the heater core until the stat opens up and flows through the radiator. If all goes well I'll make room for the Ranger in the shop tomorrow and change the stat and housing on Sunday...