'85 Ranger Restomod

[85_Ranger4x4]

Welded the tab on the FWD rail and drilled a hole in the tube for the RWD rail. Unanticipated snag in that the RWD rail is tight enough to the trans that there isn't room for a nut on the bolt.



Overbored the bottom hole and welded a nut into it for a shorter bolt to screw into. If I had it to do again I would have used thicker tube and just tapped threads into it. Also bent and welded the piece onto the RWD rail tube.



Threw some paint on them, should fit nicely once I get the linkage put together to go between the shifters and the rail brackets.



I decided that before I do a floor pan I probably ought to replace the cab mount bushings to get everything sitting as square as I can.



One casualty so far, PS middle mount. Bolt broke with ease, lower steel liner is seized in the upper.



Middle DS mount is shaping up to be similar. Much rustier obviously but the bolt must be stronger as it hasn't broken yet.



PS side has new bushings under it, I need to replace the one shim yet obviously. Front and rear bolts are out of the DS.

Rear PS bushing, had no weight on it. I could wiggle the bodymount spacer with ease before doing anything.



Center PS bushing.



Front PS bushing, pretty mushed down.



Had to pull the battery and alternator to change the front bushing, haven't put it back together to see if I am going to have clearance issues with the alternator and battery tray yet...

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Nice job on the shifter rails, and on the hole you drilled. Sometimes things go right....knock on wood.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

5 out of 6 cab mounts are in. The floors are flatter, I noticed before I started (and why I wanted to do this before I did the floor pan) that it looked like the center mounts were pushing the floors up.

I am going to get dad to bring his service truck over and try to save the last one by putting some heat to it and trying to break it loose. We will see how that goes...

Weird unforeseen curve-ball complication from left field in 3, 2, 1



Did a reset last night and put all my tools away, it was getting kind of hectic. Nothing is tight on the cab yet, hoping it settles down some when I lock it down. The lines matched better before I changed the bushings.



And it was 18 years ago today I got insurance on the truck for the first time. Wish I knew what day I actually got it.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Well the floor is fixed... er not quite yet I guess.



Hauled a bunch of extra parts out of the garage. I will say with the trans/tcase comes out of the barn I am separating them. I wanted to keep them together/sealed... dang they are heavy.

 

[Denisefwd93]

Nice floor pan! I was under the impression they aren't available

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Nice floor pan! I was under the impression they aren't available

I think that is mainly the newer trucks they don't make them for.

Just about everyone has them for first and second gens.

 

[Bird76Mojo]

Excellent choice in tractors. Can't beat that old Persian Orange.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Excellent choice in tractors. Can't beat that old Persian Orange.

Thanks!

Great grandad bought that one (1953 WD-45) new and the one barely in frame to the right (1950 WD) used. Not pictured is the C I got for $25 when I was in 7th grade. My grandfather built that platform thing and it is so stinking handy it isn’t funny.

Some Persian Orange sneaks into plumcrazy’s build thread too from time to time too.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Modified the pivot of one of the levers to hopefully reduce some of the stress on the bolt and maybe give me room to reinforce it.



Picked up balljoints and 3/8-24 threaded rod for the linkage, I almost got the eye style ones like what comes with the kit but I liked the clearance and greater flex of this style.





FWD linkage:





RWD linkage:





Shifts very nicely, nice and easy. Throw is maybe a little more than I would prefer but it is what it is.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Lots of dremel time Friday night. .046" might not sound like much but it is quite a bit to dremel.

Starting to want to fit:



So close:



Finally:



Now hopefully everything is lined up right...

Got started building the levers on Saturday:







x2

Doctored the outside lever up so the top wouldn't hit the inside lever.



Hit the JY today. Picked up a CC module out of an '84 F-150, hopefully it jives better with my carb than the '87 BII one. I think the one I have wants to move the throttle more than it should (EFI having the big round thing for the cable to pull on rather than the little lever on the side of a carb. It seems too aggressive on hills, then it is like it scares itself and backs way off only to lay into it again.

I also found a nice Aerostar and robbed the steering shaft out of it. I don't think I have ever worked so hard to spend $7 in my life, ended up running to Lowes and getting a chisel to spread the bottom yoke which then made it very easy.

 

[Bird76Mojo]

Why an Aerostar steering shaft?

Also, the cruise control being overly aggressive could be due to a speed sensor not sending out a consistent speed, or an intermittent signal, etc..




GB

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Why an Aerostar steering shaft?

Also, the cruise control being overly aggressive could be due to a speed sensor not sending out a consistent speed, or an intermittent signal, etc..




GB

My steering shaft needs new rag joints, the Aerostar shaft is supposed to be a little better having regular u-joints which are more compact and also just plain better looking. Just eyeballing it when I got home it looks like I will have to take the extension out that came with my bodylift which will clean that up (more OEM appearing)

It has a new Motorcraft VSS, harness is spliced together by me because I haven't been able to find a carbed RBV to just snag an intact one out of, EFI trucks have it woven into a big harness because it also reports to the ECM (comes up to PS of the engine bay, splits off to ECM and then goes across engine to dash harness... that is a lot of unweaving) Connections are good and the VSS resistance measures in spec from the connector in the engine bay. CC ran fine on the level, it just seemed like it was heavy handed calling for more throttle on the hills and when the 302 delivered it would back way off and then just keep fighting itself because now the truck is coasting down from wherever it finally let up (it would get sketchy) Just felt like it was calling for too much too fast. We will see if/when I get this thing back together if my guess is right or not. It also may be a 302 spinning at 3k is ready to rock, if it was at 1500rpm in overdrive it wouldn't be quite so eager to respond. That may be part of it too.

 

[Bird76Mojo]

I know what it feels like. My 2001, after adding 33's, when the cruise decides it wants to accelerate, it puts the pedal to the floor because I really need 4.56 in the rear. It takes longer than the ECM must like to see for it to accelerate back to the pre-set speed. So then it stomps it further which kicks down a gear. I just wish it would speak out loud to me saying "pucker your anus please" just before it stomps it and winds it out. lol




GB

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Figured out the thread for the 4wd shifter, 9/16 which is my least favorite thread. 1/2 kinda works and 12mm kinda works but neither are right. Anyway, I had to get a different bronze bushing. 9/16"x3/4"x2.5" Baum Hydraulic part # CB09-1218



Perfect shoulder bolt:





I had it up against the one wall to have more room to get the transmission in, I pulled it the truck out to center it more in the garage.



It sounded funny, like it was only hitting on two cylinders or something.



It was a bugger to push back in, it didn't like to get over the hump. I really need to get a receiver put on the front of it so I can just use a pushbar to pull/push it around.

 

[Curious Hound]

Put a big door on the other end of the shop so you can pull it through both ways? I like your tow vehicle. (and the Ranger, too)