80's Ranger 4x4 for the Trails

[85_Ranger4x4]

Should be a little rake originally so the truck doesn’t squat with a load in the back.

Stance is a personal thing, some want their trucks to sit level. You can add airbags so it can still sit level while carrying a load if you want too.

 

[sgtsandman]

The factory setting is about 1.5" higher in the rear than the front. Maybe a little higher. The truck sitting level is a personal preference but if you plan on hauling a load fairly often, you might want to consider keeping the rake so the truck doesn't look overloaded. A truck with a sagging rear end looks sad and could potentially cause you to be pulled over for a perceived over loading of the truck. Every State and local police department is different, so it might not be a concern where you are at. I like being able to be loaded to the max and not look like it. As an example, with this load (1,500#), the rear of the truck is only just slightly sagging. This doesn't include all the other gear I have in the truck for load management and recovery gear.

 

[eightynine4x4]

Ok got it.
My plan is to just remove the lower blocks and have the rear be lowered from its current stance. Solves the safety issue. The rear will still remain an inch or two higher, and also be stronger than factory with those 1750 leafs, so i feel totally comfortable with the capacity and i think it currently is way overkill for me to be 5 or 6" up. I'm sure i'll be tossing 200-300 lbs of stuff back there randomly, maybe a few times a month, and then i'll end up doing 600-800 loads a couple times a year.

 

[MikeG]

Sounds pretty reasonable.

 

[eightynine4x4]

Leak day!
Truck has been parked in garage for 48 hrs on the nose, and the leak verdicts are in..
There are 4 leaks. seems like it's 4 gaskets.
Anyone feel like confirming for the new guy what they are? Pics go back to front, with last one being from front perspective.
Rear one i don't know what that segment is called in the axle but clearly it's a gasket, then there's two in the transmission area, then there's one under the engine which i believe could be a leak at the engine oil pan winding its way down via other parts but i'm not sure. I'll be keeping an eye on that one. Also kinda worried about the forward most transmission one.

 

[Roert42]

The first one is the differential.
That one doesn’t actually have a regular gasket.

Just unbolt the Cover, clean the gasket surface, cover in black RTV, reinstall cover. Don’t torque the cover on all the way, just snug, wait for the RTV to cure, then torque it down. Refill the differential with fresh oil.

 

[Curious Hound]

I will gladly confirm that those are leaks.

1. Differential cover gaskets. Unless it's dripping from the area where the drive shaft connects. Then it would be the pinion seal.

The others are hard to pinpoint from the pictures. I would recommend cleaning the engine and transmission real good. Then watch over a period of days or weeks to see where the leaks come from. Could be oil pan, rear main seal, valve cover gaskets, oil pressure sensor, etc.

 

[eightynine4x4]

Ok thanks fellas. I looked up some vids on the differential seal just mentioned and it seems pretty straight forward.

I decided I’m going to start making attempts at undoing all body mounts soon and do it gradually. I got a whole bunch of PB Blaster in every cranny I could find in all the bed mounts. Ignoring the cab so far. Will probably spray more in over the weekend.
I noticed that some body mounts don’t have nuts in the bottom half at all. Like the one pictured below. I see that there’s sort of a lip of material around the “base” of the bolt poking through. Is that a giant upside down sleeve washer? Threaded or not?
How is this designed? I want to understand what I’m working with and what to anticipate before I start yanking with a breaker bar. Obviously the bolt is supposed to rotate out, but I’m not sure what the rest looks like. I guess on these ones there’s no way to try undoing them from the bottom, only the top. I know with the cab mounts there are large sleeve washers and cylindrical things that all tend to get rusted stuck, but is there anything like that in the bed mounts? Like what would be there if it wasn’t lifted? A bolt and that clip piece which I suppose is threaded maybe?

 

[Curious Hound]

Yes. The "clip piece" is a u-nut or clip nut. It is threaded. That is what the screw is holding onto. So that's where you need the PBBlaster.

 

[eightynine4x4]

Yes. The "clip piece" is a u-nut or clip nut. It is threaded. That is what the screw is holding onto. So that's where you need the PBBlaster.

Gotcha. Then what’s the extra material around the bolt just below the clip, Is that part of the clip nut? Maybe that’s a shaft that’s a welded part of the clip and is how said clip is threaded?

 

[Curious Hound]

The clip nut is a piece of steel that is bent in a u shape. It has a large hole drilled in the top and the bottom hole has formed threads. It is slipped over the edge of the trucks frame and lines up with a hole in the frame. So the screw comes down through the bed, through the top of the clip nut, through the frame, then threads into the bottom of the clip nut. Since the clip nut is wrapped around the frame, it can't rotate. So you don't need a wrench to hold it. Very common in automotive stuff and mass produced machinery.

 

[sgtsandman]

You will find a lot of similar nut and threaded clips like that around the truck. Like mentioned above, it's so the installer doesn't have to hold or have someone hold a wrench to install the fastener and are easier to replace if they go bad than a welded nut in the structure, a big bane I had to deal with when I had other makes of vehicles.

 

[eightynine4x4]

Roger all that on the clip nuts. I'll be getting them all out and cleaning and reusing them but with shorter bolts due to deleting the 3" body lift.

Anybody happen to know what kind of wheels these are? Just curious.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

American Racing made one very much like that.

 

[97Ranger3.0]

Roger all that on the clip nuts. I'll be getting them all out and cleaning and reusing them but with shorter bolts due to deleting the 3" body lift.

Anybody happen to know what kind of wheels these are? Just curious.

View attachment 51514

Yup, those look like the same American Racing AR23's I have on mine.