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

[Rick W]

72, overcast, high humidity, perfect day for driveway paint & body. I finished the sanding and thought I finished the body work ‘til I wiped it down with thinner (actually my buddy’s diesel/gas mixture from his thank you fill up). Boy, I’m rusty (yuk yuk). So a little more Bondo and sanding, all teeny dings, the stuff that makes you crazy.

I’m doing black above and below, with a red wainscot. Black covers great, but I want the rusty metal primer under the red. That primer band was as far as I got. Actually the last two panels’ roll and tip was done by brail! I also primed anything I sanded bare or filled. Pictures tomorrow.

So I was trying to think of a name (I name all my toys). The more I sanded, I thought “Mosaic.” You Red Ranger fans are represented by the drivers door. @lil_Blue_Ford , the left front fender. The Bronco II guys, the right front tan/brown fender. And apparently the hood was black. The rest of it was a maroon/blood red like the interior, and the tailgate was/is a smoke gray metallic. Whoever put it together did a great job though, everything is 99% straight and I can’t find any damage underneath.

I also took the mirrors and the window visors and a couple other chrome things into the kitchen and cleaned them up with a Brillo pad. I’m sure you guys know that trick, you don’t scrub them, you just run the pad over them lightly. The chrome is harder than the steel in the pad, so if you don’t press hard, it takes all the crap off and they look like new without scratching. Including the aluminum arms on the mirrors.

And I stuck the leftover Bondo each time on the 97 where needed, not much.

Oh, and I also painted 3-4 bricks in my driveway by accident, little spill. Have to move them to the back of the carport before the Redhead sees them.

 

[scotts90ranger]

That was just to keep the road gunk on the inside of the bedside out, I didn't think about that but it was just loosely jammed in the hole... I know what you mean though, my '97 F350 has something in the front fuel tank floating around... a few weeks ago I got the fuel filter light (and loss of power) on driving around, switched to the rear tank then back to the front a few miles later and it was good to go. At least the '97 Ranger has a pickup sock on the fuel pump, I think I pulled that out last time and had a look at it...

 

[JohnnyO]

Did you get the aluminum one this time or are you planning on a third go at it?

I don't plan on keeping it much longer and I didn't want to wait to get an aluminum one mail order because I wanted to fix it today. The one I replaced was on for five years. Trying pay bills off so I can afford a new Ranger. As it is, I was going to replace an upper control arm yesterday and when I started to work on it I saw the strut was broken. It should be on warranty so I will call the shop that installed them tomorrow.

 

[Rick W]

my '97 F350 has something in the front fuel tank floating around..

Is it a diesel? The diesels have an upside down funnel looking fuel pick up that simply pushes onto the suction line. Mine is a 96 Powerstroke F250, probably the same thing. Whatever the plastic was that they made that pick up out of, over the years, simply disintegrates. I knew about this from researching why I couldn’t get the 19 gallons and 18 gallons of use out of the two tanks after 15 years of religious maintenance. Each one would “run dry” with about six or 7 gallons left in the tank. That’s when I learned of this problem. I don’t have to use my truck like you guys do, and I’ve had some serious health problems for a few years, so I just let it ride until my buddy topped off my tanks with gasoline. When I dropped them and cleaned them, those little screens were nothing more than a few bits and pieces of the housing on the bottom of the tank, with the brass screen and a couple other parts that were made out of the right material bouncing around in there. Obviously, once the screen is gone, one of those bits can get sucked into that suction tube as you’re bouncing around.

The good news is a sickly old man can drop the tanks and clean everything up and replace those screens in about eight or nine hours, and the screens are like $10 at rock auto. I’m sure a young strong specimen like you can do it in half the time!

BTW, when I dropped my tanks, the rear gas gauge hadn’t read right in several years. I’m sure when I was sick, it was from condensate corrosion. It’s pretty easy to pop them apart, and I used a tiny wire brush on a Dremel Moto tool to simply clean up the corrosion, and they have been working perfectly ever since. I broke a couple of the plastic tabs, but it was very easy to hold it together with a couple of those tiny zip ties without interfering with anything. Zip ties were a few pennies, the gas gauges were over $100 each. I’m cheap!

One thing I posted here that I may need to correct. On the front tank, I used a hose clamp to firmly put the pick up screen on the tube. It was the only one I had that was the right size, so on the rear tank, I drilled a hole through the neck of the screen and the tube, and I put a wire through it, so it could never drop off. Now I’m back to the problem of not being able to get to the last few gallons. I think the hole for the wire even with the wire in it is big enough that it starts sucking air before pulling the last few gallons. After the 87 Rick-storration is complete, it’s next on the list, now that I’m an expert at dropping them!

Even if your truck is not a diesel, I would still look at the same thing, it can’t be that much different.

Hope it helps!

 

[scotts90ranger]

Yep, it's diesel, I don't think the gassers have the fuel filter light , I didn't even know my filter light still worked...

I actually pulled the front tank a few months ago, the pickup was in a billion pieces, thought I got all of the big ones out but apparently missed something, probably the screen... being 6' long it's hard to see in the whole tank... The float was also sunk, so I emptied it out then soldered the hole closed, the gauge works now! The rear tank had a busted pickup deal but the bottom of the tank was also caved in, conveniently I obtained a spare pair of tanks so I just replaced the rear tank... I still don't get all I should out of them but it's better than it was.

You're right, dropping the front tank isn't too bad especially on a slightly lifted 4x4 without any mufflers... the hardest part is dealing with it being awkward and the fuel sloshing around. The rear tank on the other hand was kind of a pain, the fuel lines didn't want to release and there wasn't much space. I sure wish the bed came off as easy as on a Ranger... I think I had the front tank dropped and back in in about 2 hours, but it was down to 5-7 gallons of diesel left. It would be a whole different scenario with a full tank.

 

[Rick W]

Now that I’m an expert (busted head and knuckles):

Sloshing gas: I got about a 5 foot long piece of 3/8 vacuum tube. If you wiggle it around you can not only get it into the tank through the fill neck, but if you watch the natural curve in the tube and you control it, and gage the length, you can get it dead center in the bottom. Then you can siphon out 99% of the diesel. it takes less time than I just talked to describe it. Tastes good too!

I had the same problem on the fuel lines. A few days before you do it, soak them in penetrating oil. Then the clips work like they’re supposed to with the little tool and a few taps. I used the right size open end wrench to back the little tool, and then I can tap the handle to tap the tool.

I also took about 2 or 3 feet of the clips off the fuel lines and the wires etc., so I had enough room to play with. are use zip ties to put it all back, overkill.

On the rear tank, after you get the four bolts out, you have to wiggle it side to side to drop it down. If I remember right, you move it away from the fill neck, and then the fill neck side drops down first. Of course you have to take the fill neck off. If you’re only problem is the pick up screen, you can actually spin the ring around and pull the sending unit out and do it without taking the lines lose. If you put in a new screen, you don’t have to get every bit out of the tank.

If you do drop the tanks: I rigged up about a 30 or 35 inch 1.5” PVC extension onto my shop vac. I got all the little pieces out, and I was able to suck the screen and something else I don’t remember onto the tip of the pipe so I could draw them out with the suction.

And the fuel gauges are expensive and actually don’t even include all the parts, you have to buy them in two pieces and they’re like $200 for the set (x2!). There’s that teeny brass contact that moves, but basically just grounds out on the steel housing. I cleaned up that housing where it contacts with my Dremel wire brush, and the thing works perfect, both of them.

On the little wire that is riveted on both ends, I wiggled those rivets back-and-forth very carefully to make sure there was a good contact, and then I used a nail set with a sharpened point, and dimpled the rivets in two places to further make sure there was a good contact.

The new pick up screens are made of correct material, so when you put them in, you don’t have to worry about them disintegrating. But some of them didn’t disintegrate, they simply fell off the tube, hence using a little hose clamp to really tighten them down.

Hey, You probably know all this, but I hope it helps. And you’re not doing it right if you don’t hit your head on the frame three or four times and bust your knuckles a few times. & Remember you can’t say ouch unless it bleeds...

 

[Rick W]

Rock Auto. I may have gotten it cheaper on eBay.

The little hose clamp is an oddball size, I had to order them and I had to buy a kit with a bunch of them in different sizes, but it was still dirt cheap and now I have the others available for my various Rick-storeration projects

The other thing I did was put a can of Seabreeze into the filter housing, one can is enough, and I also put the can in each gas tank. it made a very good positive difference in the performance

One other thing I did on both tanks was to replace the vents with new vacuum tubing. I ran them a little longer and I drilled out the little hole in the plastic at the end of it a little wider and then I hung it in a spot where it wouldn’t get all muddy. You can tell I’ve got too much time on my hands!

 

[Dirtman]

I picked up a hooker on the way home. Is that exciting enough?

Only if it turned out to be a dude who you ended up punching, then ran home and hid under a pile of dirty laundry until the police found you....


1 dollar to the person who correctly names the celebrity who did exactly that...

 

[Alan_nc]

Just sort of as a side note: I bought a hand pump from Advanced Auto - think it was 9 bucks. Was able to empty my gas tank in just a few minutes.

 

[JohnnyO]

Only if it turned out to be a dude who you ended up punching, then ran home and hid under a pile of dirty laundry until the police found you....


1 dollar to the person who correctly names the celebrity who did exactly that...

I remember Eddie Murphy doing something like that.

 

[Rick W]

1 dollar to the person who correctly names the celebrity who did exactly that...

Hmmm, All I’m coming up with are politicians, no celebrities...

 

[Dirtman]

It was Danny Bonaduce...

 

[Rick W]

Baby steps: The two seams that go up and out from the back window and the rain gutters had cracks in them. I cleaned out the seams by hand, and I ran that heavy wire brush on the angle grinder down the rain gutters. Then I used regular latex caulk like you’d use around your house window and refilled those seams and ran a good little bit, worked in good, down the rain gutters.

That’s as far as I got before I ran out of daylight and energy yesterday:

Rained here today, so it’s hard to tell the raindrops from my runs.

As I was doing the Bondo work, I mixed up more than I needed every time, and I started filling two creases in the 97. Yeah, they look like they were done in the dark too, but we’ll sand ‘em out...

 

[Blmpkn]

Just made my odometer roll over the 1000 mile point.

Can't wait for its oil change Friday. Gonna give her a real good rip on the way home now that its broken in.

 

[Dirtman]

1,000 miles!?!?! Time for a new truck...