‘94 4x4 Swap/Build

[DRanger024]

Makes me want to go wash my truck... even though we're suppose to get 1 to 3 inches of new snow today.

We are too but the Grand Caravan next to the truck is my daily. The Ranger will sit until the roads are dry again.

 

[Uncle Gump]

I'm still going to wash it... it has been so cold I didn't want to risk freezing the doors shut. Going to be above freezing the entire next week... but that means a bunch of melt off and salt spray galore. The joys of living where we do...

 

[DRanger024]

I think you've gotten more snow down there than we have here in central Wisconsin this year. The county had so much brine and salt on the roads here after the last storm we had that the truck got salty just sitting in the driveway!

 

[DRanger024]

Finally ordered transmission parts for the truck. Went on a trip from Crandon, Wis. to the very tip of the Keewenaw Penninsula, Mich. and the bearing noise was loud enough to hear over my tires by the time I got home. Trans oil came out looking like liquid antiseize. Had a lot of fun, but it prevented me from making the fall round up and I was unable to find a trailer to tow it down to Badlands with the f150. Would have ran it with bad bearings for that one.

I have my old 2.3 M5R1 yet so I’m going to put a hybrid trans together. Pics later.

 

[bobbywalter]

With the locker....the bind is normal from your description.

Would have been awesome to see this at the roundup...

 

[DRanger024]

With the locker....the bind is normal from your description.

Would have been awesome to see this at the roundup...

Glad to hear the binding is normal. I figured it was but it’s still an uneasy feeling for a first timer with a locker. I’m hoping to make the next round up. After the trans is done, the truck will be mechanically sound.

 

[DRanger024]

Some pics from the 7 hour plane crash trail..

Kind of the beginning. The trail starts at the off-road track in Crandon and is forest service roads until the Michigan border.

Sign showing the dual purpose trail.

This was our camp site the first night. Perch Lake just outside Watersmeet, MI.

Both camped in the bed of our trucks.

The Rousseau Bar. I’ve only ever been here by snowmobile. It’s right down the road from the trail. We actually followed one of their vendors in a box van on the trail for a while.

Much further into the UP, somewhere around Houghton if I remember correctly. I don’t remember the name of this lake but it was actually really gross.

Finally made it to the tip of the Keewenaw. Lake Superior in the background. There is free camping at the very end of the trail but you won’t make it out there without some clearance. Actually met a couple from Alaska out there in a lifted sprinter van style camper (wish I would have grabbed a pic of that) . He watched us pull in and wanted to check out my truck.

Map of the peninsula. We had to do maybe 40 road miles total the entire trip.

And camp for the final night of the trip. We ended up drinking beer until sunrise with a local. The trip out later that day was terrible!

I have some video on my computer from the trail to the camping area at the end that I’ll try to get uploaded to YouTube. I would say you could do 65% of this in a car. The rest I would hesitate to do in a stock 4x4.

 

[bobbywalter]

I have done the whole thing in an 80 Honda civic with an 87 prelude engine...with strut extenders and a boat winch....

 

[bobbywalter]

When I was still young and strong....

 

[Snoranger]

I have done the whole thing in an 80 Honda civic with an 87 prelude engine...with strut extenders and a boat winch....

That does not surprise me.

 

[DRanger024]

We were more worried about making it to where we wanted to be for the night than stopping for pics. I tried suction cup phone mount but my damn phone kept focusing on all the scratches and crap in my windshield

 

[Uncle Gump]

We talked about a trail ride/over landing style trip similar to what you did in the UP at the trail ride camp fire.

There was some interest... and I'm totally down if you take the time to plan such a trip.

I was thinking it would be cool to check out some of the Henry Ford and the vagabonds travels across the UP.

 

[bobbywalter]

Definitely want to do it when it's dryer.

How were the skeeters and black flies?

 

[DRanger024]

The skeeters were awful but the flies were almost non existent. I would fog the entire back of my truck with deep woods Off about 15 minutes before bed. Woke up with a bite or two but not bad.
I’ll do some research into doing this as a group. A good portion of it is pretty boring fire lanes and forest service roads but there’s a lot to explore in the UP once you get there.

Also, finally got these in the mail.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that they’re all good quality parts. Shoutout to Allstate Gear for that one. Trans is coming out right now.

 

[Uncle Gump]

I've said it before... about the bugs. They can be brutal.

Temp swings can get dramatic too anywhere along Lake Superior.