1993 Splash in SC

[Curious Hound]

By the way...

I did go back to my dirt pile to flex the truck again, this time with the sway bar disconnected. With the truck empty, it doesn't max out the suspension. This photo is with the left rear wheel about an inch off the ground, but nothing maxed out. I think I have the fenders trimmed enough now, also. I cut more out on the front and was able to turn a lip in for rigidity. The back is going to be fine without cutting.

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[Curious Hound]

Well, what I thought might be an unbalanced tire or bent wheel may not be. I swapped the rear tires from side to side this morning and the problem seems to still be on the left rear. I guess I need to check the axle. [emoji20]

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[BlackBII]

I have a pretty bad bounce coming from a wheel. Pretty sure it's left rear.

Bounce? Is it a vibration or does it feel like the actual tire is bouncing off the pavement? That could be an out of round tire.

I would check the transfer case output shaft bearing, u-joints, pinion angle and wheel bearings.

It seems odd that it isn't consistent.

 

[Curious Hound]

It's more like the wheel is bouncing , gets real bad at highway speed. I think it's more consistent than I originally thought. I don't think it moved when I swapped tires from side to side this morning. Still seems to be left rear. It will be a few days before I can do more checking. I need to have someone knowledgeable follow me and watch what it's doing.

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[RJLougee]

It's more like the wheel is bouncing , gets real bad at highway speed. I think it's more consistent than I originally thought.

That's also a symptom of a bad shock.
HTH, Joe

 

[Curious Hound]

It could be a shock. But that shouldn't be a likely problem. Brand new Skyjacker shocks with less than 100 miles on them at this point. I do realize new things are sometimes bad out if the box.

Yesterday, I put the rear up on Jack stands and ran the truck in 1st gear, low range. As I sighted across the top of the tire at a fixed point on the frame, I could see the tire appear to move up and down. I then stopped the engine, removed the tire and set up a dial Indicator to measure on the edge of the axle flange. I only saw 0.010" of runout. Measuring on the face of the flange, there was 0 deviation. So i think the axle is ok and the tire/wheel is the problem unless it is the shock. The visual runout I saw on the tire was slight, but could be enough when amplified by speed. These are used wheels and old low-milage tires.

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[Curious Hound]

Also built my new exhaust today. Please pardon my sloppy welds.

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[BlackBII]

Exhaust looks good

 

[Curious Hound]

I replaced the steering gear on Friday, also. No more leaks and nowhere near as much play.

I wanted to swap the shocks from side to side to test the bad shock theory. But pulled A muscle in my lower back. No work under the truck for a few days now. On the up side, I got a set of nearly new wheels off Craigslist. Now I just need a tire and I'll have a spare. Aside from the jumpy wheel, the truck is fun to drive. I can't wait to get in a good trail ride.

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[Curious Hound]

I meant to mention ... on real smooth pavement, I can slow down and stop the jumpy wheel then speed up and still have a smooth ride. But when I get back to rougher pavement, it comes back. In my mind, that indicates a shock problem.

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[94b2300ranger]

I meant to mention ... on real smooth pavement, I can slow down and stop the jumpy wheel then speed up and still have a smooth ride. But when I get back to rougher pavement, it comes back. In my mind, that indicates a shock problem.

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Looking good!! I'd say its a bad shock, good time to upgrade.

 

[Curious Hound]

I have investigated that. I swapped the rear shocks from sided to side and the problem didn't seem to change.

I went to a tire shop today, the one where I got my tires mounted. The owner spent a good bit of time talking to me and he even drove the truck. He lifted the rear axle and I let the truck idle in gear. He saw the little bit of "out of round" that I had noticed. It's not a lot. but he said nothing looked really bad as far as wheels and tires go. He didn't push me to buy new tires or anything today. Mentioned that it seems there might be a flat spot on them.

I was told, when I bought these tires, that they had been on a Jeep while it was being modified over a long period of time (> 1yr). So maybe the flat spot idea could have some validity. I don't know how easily tires might do that. Anyway, the man at the tire shop, today, recommended that I install the rear sway bar and see if that changes anything. I had left it off since the truck is light and won't see a lot of heavy loading now that it has been modified.

So tomorrow, I will go to the junk yard and get some brackets for an 8.8" axle so I can put my old sway bar on the new, bigger diameter axle.

Aside from all that, I am enjoying driving the truck. I love it.

 

[Curious Hound]

Sway bar is installed. I got some u-bolts from a leaf spring explorer with 8.8" axle and modified my original sway bar brackets to fit the new axle.

I was surprised at how many rangers, explorers and f-series trucks do not even have sway bars. I drove it a little bit after the installation. The bounce is still there as I expected. It may be tamed down a little bit now that the sway bar is trying to make both sides share the movement. I haven't taken it out on the highway yet. I will drive it a while. Either the tires will get round again from use, or they will wear poorly forcing premature replacement.

Eric B

 

[Curious Hound]

I also worked on my air compressor system. It's almost completely plumbed up. I still have to do the wiring. Also need to make a bracket to mount the pressure switch.

Eric B

 

[Curious Hound]

I finally got back to the truck this past week. I had been busy traveling to Mom's house to help take care of stuff after Dad passed away in January. Then, while ripping up the carpet in our living room, so the people could come and install new flooring, I found a spot of wet floor and wall. It turns out the washing machine drain in the laundry room on the other side of the wall had been leaking - poor design and a nail driven right into the pipe. So the laundry room got a total make-over. Photo below in a few minutes. Moved washer and dryer to different wall, rebuilt that wall, repaired damage, laid ceramic tile floor, painted, designed and scratch-built custom cabinets to replace open wire shelving and tidy things up a lot. Whew! What a project. That was my first time building cabinets.

Anyway, I finally finished the air compressor system on the Ranger, re-installed rear inner fenders, bought a spare tire and cleaned up a few other details. Project is 98 percent complete. I'm planning a mild day of wheeling in Jocasse Gorges State Park in NC next weekend. Rain or shine (but it looks like it will be "shine")