'85 Ranger Restomod

[85_Ranger4x4]

Snugged the collector bolts and double nutted them.

Felt frisky so lets go ahead and throw the driveshaft in. The front cross barely fit between the exhaust and radius arm crossmember. It will seat into the t-case yoke but WILL NOT seat into the pinion yoke. It outright hits the exhaust now.

Looking at it closer and at weird angles underneath it looks like the pipe may have went from |__ to /__ so it projects towards the driveshaft more. So now I get to pull it all back apart, try to tweak the pipe angle open more without folding it and redo everything.

I also snagged provisions to make a bug net for the rear of the topper with the back window open.

I am just really glad I don't have anything else to do so I can continue to chase my tail with this stupid exhaust.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

It took a couple tries but it is all together.

I also learned it isn't hard to weave the exhaust in and out with the driveshaft in which made it much easier to see how it was all going to fit together.

Now onto the rest of the to-do list...

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Slipped the high lift mounts out of the bed to create more ventilation holes for dust intrusion.



Way back last fall it came to be my front spindles were worn. The bearings had spun on the spindle, I went back thru my pics and they were actually got that when I got the axle. At that time I went ahead and replaced the passenger side spindle with new bearings.

I knew the DS hub has a bad habit of making mud looking wheel bearing grease which I had always written off as playing in water on trailrides which is actually a symptom of the wheel bearing situation.

So after the revaluation last fall I kinda kept it close to home since until I opened it back up. It was super nice today so today was the day. Wheel still turned smooth and quiet and had no wiggle in any direction.





And there it is again







"new spindle" is so tight the new inner race almost got stuck



Grease is nasty and spindle looks like trash... bearings really don't look that bad.



Wheel bearings are packed with "jelly grease"



I got it all back together and it drove from the garage over to its outdoor parking spot just fine.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Cleaned the bed.





Sealed the tailgate the best I could.



Wrestled the bedliner in, not super happy with how it fits yet. It wraps over the front bulkhead which messes with how the rest of the topper sits on the bed.



Went ahead and washed it too.



I tried it without and tape across the front and with the garden hose it leaks like a sieve. Also unfortunately the truck cab did no better... because in the dark of the night I forgot the window down.

 

[BlackBII]

I've come to appreciate the sealed bearings of newer vehicles after rebuilding the ones on my Ranger 100 times. The last time I did it, I put in new seals and a new O ring on the back of the hub and water still gets in there sometimes.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I've come to appreciate the sealed bearings of newer vehicles after rebuilding the ones on my Ranger 100 times. The last time I did it, I put in new seals and a new O ring on the back of the hub and water still gets in there sometimes.

I'd rather do this every year than have a $2-300 surprise in the dead of winter.

With the sealed ones, you don't know what you have until the thing dies.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Blocked the topper up and basically replaced all the tape.



Not sure what is going on her but I don't like it. Especially for a truck that has only had a topper for 5 years, sees no salt and sits inside most of the time.



Its doing that in a couple spots, I need to figure out how to get it to not do that for my other bed.

All new tape, we shall see how it does at the carwash tonight.

 

[BlackBII]

Yeah that's a good point about the bearings!

For the rust, that can be as simple as just moisture getting trapped in there and even trapped in the foam if it's open cell? That stuff is aggravating.

 

[Shran]

The big rubber wiper on the axle shaft helps a lot to keep water out of the wheel bearings & spindle bearings - that has bit me a couple times. Usually it's just totally MIA when I add a new rig to the fleet.

Cleaning and repacking bearings on these trucks is almost a necessity at the end of a long wheeling trip...or once a season, or more often. I'm always surprised how quickly the grease turns into rusty mud.

 

[RobbieD]

I suspect that the foam tape is holding water, to make the rust bubble the paint like that. I zoomed in on your second picture, and if that's the foam tape you had on it before, it kind of looks like it might be an open cell foam.

Make sure that it says "closed cell" on the package:

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I was getting like 3 years out unit bearings on my last truck. I actually had to throw a cheapie in it when I sold the truck to get rid of the ABS light (which meant the bearing was starting to go out). I am not sure on the newer Fords but newer Jeep/Ram a bad wheel speed sensor also disables the cruise control AND all 4wd functions.

I used the regular "topper tape" from O'Reilly's, bag is long gone. It sure looks like moisture getting caught though.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Washed it last night.









And aside from a very small leak in the passenger side slider seal the bed stayed dry!

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I found this online that checked all the boxes for a recovery point.



1. Named after a fish (misspelled)
2. Rated in communist units in a place that will quickly wear off
3. Cheap

Seriously though, it does look/feel very well made, its a solid block of aluminum.



And for sleeping in the back while camping along the trail, I got to thinking it would be nice to be able to have the back glass open... but bugs. So I bought a pack of bug netting and some extruded aluminum to clip it onto.

I removed these screws, measured and drilled holes in the aluminum and then mounted it onto the back of the topper on each side and along the top.







I also have magnets to stick it onto the tailgate at the bottom. Not perfect but hopefully better than nothing.

Also started packing, I got my "recovery" tote pretty much squared away.



Also started pulling general camping stuff out of the camper as I was thinking of it.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I forgot to post carshow pics.









I didn't have time to wax it, there are no awards for host cars anyway. I did take time to throw on the front 1986 license plate I found in my garage. When I was a kid they were all blue just like that.

Anyway, onto trip prep.

Trasharoo fits...



Winch brace is in.



Still picking at... T minus one week and counting.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I didn't really do anything to the truck, did snag provisions for the trip. I did get my GPS updated.

Also, a guy walked around our car show and videoed it. My truck is at 1:25:45. I was kind of surprised he gave me that much attention... until he ended up at the V8 swapped S-10. I had noticed that guy with his phone kind of sheepishly walking around as I was parking trucks.