'85 Ranger Restomod

[scotts90ranger]

I looked at that link earlier and saw there's off brand versions for $14, I should probably get one... 3.5" bearings sound like it might be able to handle D60 bearings... and a supply of marine grease (unless there's a real downside... other than price I'm not seeing an important one for general purpose wheel bearings)

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I put candy out for the little POS's... apparently not quick enough.



Yup, decided to take the ol' girl to the Creepy Crawl. It has pretty much been waiting for a trip and not really needing much.

Checked header bolts, checked trans oil, checked tire pressure, set the clock from the big wiring overhaul, put the Trasharoo on, update GPS, resynced my phone since I got a new one like 2 months ago etc. She is in theory ready for battle. Its never pulled a trailer very far and personally I have never pulled a trailer this far either. Test runs to the lake at 80* it was cooling fine though.



My good LED lights are in the camper so I had to resort to my old school light. Yes it isn't a incandecent oil burner but dang does this thing suck. It was awesome back when I used it to build like 80% of my truck (engine swap until like 5 years ago)

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Last weekend I pulled our camper down to Kansas:

Post in thread 'Kansas Rocks Creepy Crawl'

Oct 19, 2025

Broke the oldest out of school a couple hours early and hit Missouri:



The ratchet strapped road cover really completes the look...



Had some fun with books on the road



Kansas!



Yeah, we saw this later...

• 85_Ranger4x4

• 

Anyway, after action battle report for the tow pig.

Really it did great. On the way down it was between 85-90* outside and it ran between 200-210*, upper side of what I consider normal. Usually 205 and it would creep up to 210 on longer hills. We hit construction and in stop and go it was down to 195 which was a relief. On the way home it got up to 75* and it never broke 200.

The canvas cover on the camper isn't super great, I generally run 5 over but this time I limited it to 65 to try to keep some of the strain off the cover. I still had to pull over a few times and resituate it on the camper.

The one time I checked I was getting 12mpg which wasn't horrible.

The trailer taillight module for the Bronco came in while were gone so for long distance towing the Ranger is probably going to get bumped. If the Bronco had trailer lights there was really no need for the Ranger to go this time. Arguably the F-150 would have been better... but given the option the Ranger's topper made for a nice storage shed while were there.

Limited slip is still very unhappy, I need to rebuild that this winter. Still works great at spinning both rears in the mud but it makes the truck sound like a POS that is trying to rip itself apart in a parking lot.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

15 years ago I started to make a truck out of it, it has really came a long ways.

And we are going to totally ignore the truck was one of the older trucks in the parking lot when I got it... when it was 15 years old.

$200 302 out of a fencerow under a blue tarp has sure held up better than the 2.8. (I've actually also taken care of it)

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I noticed last year when I had the Skamper in the truck the front of the truck felt "soft" when turning right. It really felt wrong, like the spring bucket was loose or maybe the frame had a crack or something. Only with the Skamper though. I never could never see anything wrong so I kinda kept in the back of my mind after I pulled the camper out.

I was poking around taking measurements for a deflector to keep water and debris out of the fan last night and noticed the DS sway bar bracket was really loose on the frame. It looked tight and felt tight until I unbolted the sway bar from it.

So now I gotta wait until next summer to see if that made a difference...

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Drove it to town to fight with the combine, had a nice view as I worked if I didn't look at what I was working on.



Compared to getting that cross shaft out...



My wife wanted to incorporate it into the family Christmas pictures... ok. It was an excuse to wash off the now weathered mud from Kansas. Snapped a couple pictures after I got all the props picked up.





Then I divested all my recovery gear that was in the tote that ended up in the Ranger after Kansas so both DD's have a strap, a couple clevises, tow point and a air compressor for the winter.

After that I also pulled the traction boards and the fullsize CB antenna so the truck will fit in the garage. The boards are mostly for winter and they won't do me any good on the Ranger backed into the garage against the wall. I also finally pulled off the big dorky receiver hitch too.