'85 Ranger Restomod

[Mrs. Eighty Five]

That's nasty. Is that a chicken coop upside-down? Glad y'all are ok.

Yes, yes it is. It has since been turned right side out. But will soon be inside out or whatever. That’s the second time it’s rolled. It didn’t survive well this time. And Justin hasn’t shared these yet:

This branch also narrowly missed our propane tank (one of my coworkers pointed that out when I showed them this photo). That surely would have woken up the county if the weather already hadn’t

Oliver’s little play house thankfully faired okay but it now has a nice lovely decoration that fell more towards its backside/against our house.

Then there is the back side of our house where 1 of the 2 trees is now basically half a tree. Thankfully, it also did not do any damage (that we can see at this time). We are still without power and have heard it could take up to 48 hours to return or 4-6 days. So in the meantime, we are getting dad’s generators from mom and really camp it up this weekend either at home or the lake as originally planned. Wait to see…

 

[PetroleumJunkie412]

Holy crap.

Glad yinz are aight.

 

[SenorNoob]

Wind was from all directions, very strange.

That is weird. Were ya'll in the eye of a tornado?

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

That is weird. Were ya'll in the eye of a tornado?

No... but they were in the neighborhood.

NWS survey says eight tornadoes in KMAland Thursday

(Valley) -- National Weather Service officials have pinpointed tornadic activity spawned by severe storms last Thursday morning.

www.kmaland.com

The Viking Lake one is about 7 miles from my house. That is where we often go camping.

We actually had a reservation to go camping there last Thursday night but they cancelled it on us because they didn't have power and you couldn't get back to the campground because of trees. We did go Friday-Sunday, they got the campground cleaned up more or less Friday, it was like I was living in an episode of Red Green with chainsaws just going off at random in the background as I was setting up lol.





I am sure it screwed up my learn table but the truck pulled the camper great. Everything pictured I hauled over in one load.

And with all the storms we have had firewood wasn't in short supply, had a great fire going the whole time were there lol.



It was weird, you could see the tornado track in the tree damage along the main road across the ridge of the park, it went down the bank beside the beach and across the lake. We were out in the canoe and went by there and I could see a bunch of trees that were actually in the lake... and we saw a beaver taking advantage of his good fortune which was cool.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Ranger enacted it's revenge on its failed attacker.

Worked it on the end so the rest of it would sag closer to the trailer. Basically working the weakened part.

Then had my son put some tension in it to keep it going away from me and I cut it so it really sagged... and had him winch more and break it off.

 

[Curious Hound]

Ranger enacted it's revenge on its failed attacker.

View attachment 144906

Worked it on the end so the rest of it would sag closer to the trailer. Basically working the weakened part.

Then had my son put some tension in it to keep it going away from me and I cut it so it really sagged... and had him winch more and break it off.

View attachment 144905

View attachment 144904

Nicely done.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Getting the truck ready to go camping again...









I also picked up a step for it from Harbor Freight. Initial testing has been positive.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I have had a love/hate relationship with my valve covers. They don't leak which is a huge plus. The also look awesome when clean.

HOWEVER

Being on a offroad truck that lives on a gravel road they are nearly impossible to keep clean. The best way to clean is to remove and wash in kitchen sink... which is both unhandy and dangerous.
While I question how effective the rather simple baffles are... they greatly restrict oil flow when adding/filling the engine
The grommets seem to like to get soft and slobber and are unique to Ford Racing valve covers
With the air filter system, A/C and alternator in place they are nearly impossible to actually see

Yesterday I happened to stumble across a set of old "Power by Ford" covers.



Baffles are much more extensive, seems to be formed for oil flow on the filler side



And I can convert them to a push on oil fill cap which would give me a spout for oil top off/fill.

I've gotta burn the glued on cork gaskets out, get new bolts and nail down the oil fill cap situation yet though...

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Getting into car show mode...

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Drove it to work last yesterday... it is really kind of neat to not have the GPS in it for a change. The interior just feels so big and clean without it.

With no trips on the horizon it might just stay this way for awhile.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Looking better, I might try to wax it tomorrow night if it isn't raining

 

[bobbywalter]

i bet the weasels conjured up the storm to get the chickens....


damn dirty storm conjuring weasels always tearin shit up....


probably gonna leak your valve covers next...

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I got it quick waxed. I was going to actually wax it but they are talking a pretty good chance of rain tomorrow and I have a hard time justifying waxing this thing to sit in the rain.



But wait you say, it is a chance of rain and you waxed it at all? You just jinxed the whole thing!

Nay nay!

If it rains I now won't be stuck running home in the rain with the windows up and the vents blowing 90* air!



Thing is cooling awesome at the moment. I need to get the sniffer on it and see just where my leak is but it cooled as good as anything. I am also reminded I need to get the blower switch replaced, high speed comes and goes.

 

[bobbywalter]

hell yeah.... still my favorite rig.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Super humid but we survived the car show.

Rained in the morning, finally quit about half an hour after registration started but it kept people away anyway.













Normally we have around 200 cars, this year was 117 but the weather played a huge role.

Only one 4x4 SUV showed up, I tried to steer my rather opinionated 6yo away from the modified section because I know he will just say what he feels needs said and I didn't know if Mr. Jeep was ready for the kind of feedback.



Here we all packed up and ready to head home. It was so nice crawling into a air conditioned truck after how thick the air was all day.



But otherwise the show went well, had a cool SLA green Mazda B3000 show up that was super sharp. I am still going thru pictures for everyone else's stuff.

Camper got a lot of attention which was fun, lots of people had slide in camper stories. Nobody commented on the Coleman stuff but it was pretty neat to have set up.

I was grabbing a pop at McDonalds drive thru after the show with Oliver in his '91 and the guy there asked was asking if it was me with the camper Ranger lol