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

[scotts90ranger]

Was a dumb day, was at work for another 7 hours... got home, mowed more then screwed around some on some tinkering things, then remembered the stereos in the '90 Ranger and the F350 both push in annoyingly when you touch them so between the two I installed 3 drywall screws in the corners, fixed! Also put a battery with jumper cables and a float charger to the '00 Explorer with a dead battery to fight the issues Bgunner just mentioned, not my first rodeo with that goat... it's conveniently not raining so I just left the battery on the hand truck outside, will leave it over night, should figure itself out...

 

[JoshT]

Fixed the steering shaft rubbing header problem...
hopefully... Thought I had it fixed the first time when I took the excess threads off the bolt. Thought I had it fixed the second time when I knocked the corners off the nut. That time helped, but it came back as a metal on metal squeak. This time I threw a flap sanding disk on the grinder and really beveled that edge of the nut. If it comes back again, it's really on. Stayed gone on the drive home, so I think it's good.

Next I replaced the hood release cable. It melted on the header, sticking the cable in the sheath, and hood wouldn't latch shut without prying the cable out. Will have to do it again, cables are different between the Ranger and Explorer, but it's working for now.

Then I replaced the fan relay since I only had one fan speed. I still only have one speed, high. They all worked before swap and I assumed I killed relay when cleaning out ac plenum. Looks like I have another problem. I really need to figure out where I stashed those wire diagram manuals at a few weeks ago.

 

[Bgunner]

I just checked on the progress of the charger and these damned new fangled chargers are worthless for charging a dead battery. It's saying Bad Bat again.

I texted a friend and asked for a ride to go get a new battery. He'll be by later today to bring me to get one. I'm at the point I'm not playing the chargers game. The battery is over 5 years old at this point so changing it out wont be out of the normal for a battery of this age.

EDIT: Ordered one from O'Reilly's. Group 65 850cca. Way over what is needed but at times I just sit in the truck with the ignition off listening to the radio. With an amp I want to be able to start my truck after that so the extra doesn't go to waste for me. I'm going from a NAPA Legend w/ a 2 year warranty to a Super Start Extreme Battery w/ a 3 year warranty of the same size.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Put a second battery inline with the one you want charged. Pos to pos, neg to neg.

 

[Bgunner]

Put a second battery inline with the one you want charged. Pos to pos, neg to neg.

Yes!! My friend asked if I had a jump pack for the same reason but I don't have another battery or jump pack at the moment so I'm S.O.L. . I may get a jump pack while I'm at the parts store.

EDIT: New battery is in and the beer Fetcher is back running again.

 

[SCOTTY]

With some blue mirror acrylic I thought I'd add something to the radiator support. See the clouds ?
It looked too naked after I cleaned all the grime off.

 

[JoshT]

Drove the truck up to grandma's for easter and broke it on the way.

I've driven the truck to work for most of the past week without any major issues. I suppose this was the first real shake down run though. About a 45 mile drive, probably 30 of it on the interstate. Needed to test it under those conditions and knew that there was both a safe place to leave it and a ride back home if I needed them. Engine did good until I got off the interstate, and the bad was likely a fluke. Drive train, not so much, it's what forced me off the interstate.

About 4 miles from my normal exit I started getting a driveline vibration in the truck. Really not good caused me to slow way down and get off at first exit. Coasting up the ramp with lower engine and wind noise I could hear a sound hollow metallic sound that was obviously something rotating in the driveline. When I stopped I couldn't find anything.

Now as I was pulling off the interstate and finding a place to got stopped the oil pressure gauge acted a little wonky, fluttered a bit at low engine speed (idle IIRC). I'm chocking that up to a fluke. Oil was full, no other engine noises that one would expect from oil issues. Once engine RPM picked up it went away and no more problem for the rest of the trip.

Anyhow drove it the rest of the way, any damage was already done. Driveline noise was even worse when I got it pulled off on the dirt road heading back to her house. We're about 90% certain that a driveshaft joint let go, we just aren't sure which one. Front shaft, front joint is original to the Explorer. Front driveshaft, rear joint (CV) is brand new, but bought off of eBay. Rearshaft, rear joint is original to my Ranger. Rear driveshaft, front joint is original to one of them, but I'm not sure which. Front yoke needed to be swapped so dad did that while I was at work one day and reused one of the joints. I just found out today that the first joint he reused got messed up during the process, so it wouldn't surprise me if the second did too and just failed.

I'll be heading back up with the F-250 and trailer one afternoon to bring it back and start working again. I was really hoping that it was just finish AC and done for a while.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Drove the truck up to grandma's for easter and broke it on the way.

I've driven the truck to work for most of the past week without any major issues. I suppose this was the first real shake down run though. About a 45 mile drive, probably 30 of it on the interstate. Needed to test it under those conditions and knew that there was both a safe place to leave it and a ride back home if I needed them. Engine did good until I got off the interstate, and the bad was likely a fluke. Drive train, not so much, it's what forced me off the interstate.

About 4 miles from my normal exit I started getting a driveline vibration in the truck. Really not good caused me to slow way down and get off at first exit. Coasting up the ramp with lower engine and wind noise I could hear a sound hollow metallic sound that was obviously something rotating in the driveline. When I stopped I couldn't find anything.

Now as I was pulling off the interstate and finding a place to got stopped the oil pressure gauge acted a little wonky, fluttered a bit at low engine speed (idle IIRC). I'm chocking that up to a fluke. Oil was full, no other engine noises that one would expect from oil issues. Once engine RPM picked up it went away and no more problem for the rest of the trip.

Anyhow drove it the rest of the way, any damage was already done. Driveline noise was even worse when I got it pulled off on the dirt road heading back to her house. We're about 90% certain that a driveshaft joint let go, we just aren't sure which one. Front shaft, front joint is original to the Explorer. Front driveshaft, rear joint (CV) is brand new, but bought off of eBay. Rearshaft, rear joint is original to my Ranger. Rear driveshaft, front joint is original to one of them, but I'm not sure which. Front yoke needed to be swapped so dad did that while I was at work one day and reused one of the joints. I just found out today that the first joint he reused got messed up during the process, so it wouldn't surprise me if the second did too and just failed.

I'll be heading back up with the F-250 and trailer one afternoon to bring it back and start working again. I was really hoping that it was just finish AC and done for a while.

That’s a bummer, but not really surprising, seems like any time major work is done it takes a couple months at least to work all the bugs and gremlins out of the system. I ended up putting all new U-joints in my swap. When they balanced my rear driveshaft though the guy blew through and there’s a bead rolling around in there now. Kind of annoying but not really a huge problem.

One other thought, I was getting some random odd issues out of mine that eventually resulted in it choking at WOT with a Whirrrrrrr noise. At first I thought it might be a fan noise or something but a cam sensor code finally popped up. I was just going to throw a new cam sensor on and then I remembered I wasn’t really happy with how the whole assembly seemed to have some slop, so I replaced the whole thing. I was getting oil pressure fluctuations too. Old assembly did have some slop and the new one didn’t. Cured a lot of issues once I changed that out. Could potentially be part of your issues, might be worth a check. I just barred my engine over with the sensor off until it lined up that I could use the alignment tool on the old one. Had to pull the bolts holding the coil packs, then just swapped it right over to the new. Did it in a friend’s driveway. That woke up performance right away.

 

[CamTheHedgehog]

To those of you who gave valuable info about the grab handle, thank you so much! It is very helpful as I buy a gauge pod and gauges for coolant temp and oil pressure, to supplement the factory Idiot Lights.


On a sidenote, over the weekend I did the somewhat notorious rear jump door cable repair, with all new cable ends and handles. It feels so much better now, and my completely broken passenger door works now, but I am NEVER doing that job again. I hate Christmas tree clips.

 

[JoshT]

That’s a bummer, but not really surprising, seems like any time major work is done it takes a couple months at least to work all the bugs and gremlins out of the system. I ended up putting all new U-joints in my swap. When they balanced my rear driveshaft though the guy blew through and there’s a bead rolling around in there now. Kind of annoying but not really a huge problem.

One other thought, I was getting some random odd issues out of mine that eventually resulted in it choking at WOT with a Whirrrrrrr noise. At first I thought it might be a fan noise or something but a cam sensor code finally popped up. I was just going to throw a new cam sensor on and then I remembered I wasn’t really happy with how the whole assembly seemed to have some slop, so I replaced the whole thing. I was getting oil pressure fluctuations too. Old assembly did have some slop and the new one didn’t. Cured a lot of issues once I changed that out. Could potentially be part of your issues, might be worth a check. I just barred my engine over with the sensor off until it lined up that I could use the alignment tool on the old one. Had to pull the bolts holding the coil packs, then just swapped it right over to the new. Did it in a friend’s driveway. That woke up performance right away.

Yep. Engine seems good other than the oil pressure glitch. Very likely either electrical or the oil I used. Knew I'd change it within in a few hundred miles, so I used the cheapest oil and filter I could find. If it happens again I'll accelerate the oil change with better stuff.

My cam synchro was in good shape when we swapped it over. I bought a set of 5-6 alignment tools on RockAuto for like four dollars when I was placing an order. Did have to get a new sensor, old one broke when removing from the synchronizer.

If I'd known that the first joint got messed up, it would have gotten all new. Didn't find that out until yesterday. If that proves to be the problem, it will be getting new in both locations.

 

[Bgunner]

The Beer Fetcher brought me out to the parts store to pick up a front main seal, thermostat and thermostat housing gasket. I also noticed some rust forming over the rear of the rear wheel openings so I hit up LMC and ordered the driver side wheel arch panel but the passenger side is on back order so I need to do some more internet surfing to find the passenger side to do it this summer. So much for having a one color truck for a while.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

The Beer Fetcher brought me out to the parts store to pick up a front main seal, thermostat and thermostat housing gasket. I also noticed some rust forming over the rear of the rear wheel openings so I hit up LMC and ordered the driver side wheel arch panel but the passenger side is on back order so I need to do some more internet surfing to find the passenger side to do it this summer. So much for having a one color truck for a while.

1993-11 Ford Ranger Upper Rear Wheel Arch Pass Side

Need to fix some rusted body panels? Purchase a 1993-11 Ford Ranger Upper Rear Wheel Arch Pass Side from Raybuck Auto Body Parts today!

raybuck.com

That’s where I’ve bought a lot of my repair panels…

 

[mtnrgr]

Went for a long drive on the 44 east today and stopped at certain places to spend more time in nature as it's where I truly belong. Truck did excellent. We both really needed it, and felt good to get some miles.

 

[JoshT]

I'll be heading back up with the F-250 and trailer one afternoon to bring it back and start working again. I was really hoping that it was just finish AC and done for a while.

Retrieved the truck today. On an initial inspection the verdict is both good and bad. The good is that the problem appears to be exactly where I thought it was, the bad is that I just replaced that part.

On the way up when I first encountered the issue I thought it might be the CV joint int he front Driveshaft. Everybody else that took a gander at it sunday thought it was one of the u-joints. Well with it up on the trailer today I took a good look under the truck and there is a coating of grease slung all around the CV joint. Looks like it was leaking somehow and slung all of the grease out of the joint causing it to run dry. Not sure exactly where it was coming out though because it did not appear to be coming from the boot. Will dig in tomorrow and get a better look.

Assuming that the boot is good, I am curious to know if this one will be salvagable or if I'll be putting in another new joint.

Anyhow that and fixing the AC (both truck and house) should be occoupying the rest of my free time this week.

 

[Bgunner]

1993-11 Ford Ranger Upper Rear Wheel Arch Pass Side

Need to fix some rusted body panels? Purchase a 1993-11 Ford Ranger Upper Rear Wheel Arch Pass Side from Raybuck Auto Body Parts today!

raybuck.com

That’s where I’ve bought a lot of my repair panels…

Thanks for the link. It saved me a bunch of searching, comparing and wondering if they are legit. It's ordered and now I'll have both sides for this summer. My third eye sees some sheet metal work in my future.

Now to hit up Tractor Supply and snag a small chunk of 18ga steel for any inner wheel well repair that is needed. I haven't really looked but I'm sure there are some spots it will be needed.

I have a 120v mig welder, some magnets and a couple clamps but I may hit up harbor freight and grab a few more clamps just so I have enough on hand. Must remember to try to find a spot weld drill bit and possibly a seam buster also.