94 Ranger STX Longbed

[BeefStew42791]

Hi all! my 4wd is on its way to being completely functional. Sure enough it was a *MISSING* c clip that allowed the passenger side axle to walk its way in towards the differential.

I have a new clip coming, but for now I just pulled it back out. In the end though I did order brand new Warn hubs though, because I pull the axle out and its grabbing on the right side but my I notice my driver's side is still spinning. So I pull the wheel off and I look at the arrangement on the axle's end, which is all great. Unfortunately though, when I went to look at the inside of the hub I found out much to my surprise that it wasn't made for a ttb d35 0.0 idk what model its from but I do know its for a 1.5" axle with a hollow carved out on the end and a bolt pattern to match the ranger's.

Anyway though, the hub's are new, the clip is coming, and I have 4wd finally, WOOT!
Oh I also had to replace my radiator. The seals between the passenger's side plastic 'tank' and the metal core went bad on my old one and it would seep out as the truck tried to warm up. It wasn't bad, and it even stopped when the truck warmed up completely. I fixed it anyway though because, well I guess I'm a bit of a perfectionist. I might check into getting it fixed and keeping it as a spare if its cheap enough.

Next on the list though is an oil leak. It's not TOO bad, I only lost a quart in 1700 miles, but its still enough to be a 'problem' and irritate me. I'm hoping its not a rear main or my oil pan gasket, and that its just another lower intake gasket problem. Idk though, we'll have to see what the dye test shows whenever I get a chance to do it. till next time..

 

[BeefStew42791]

I went to get my truck inspected, and the passenger's side wheel bearing failed me. It was loose, but everything looked ok (no visible heat discoloration, everything spun ok, basically just a loose nut). So I tightened it up, thinking the dummy that tightened it before didn't go past 150ft lbs like I told him to, and it worked.. put everything back together and there's no shimmy. Driving through town today I turn with the road to the left and I hear/feel the vibration (almost like a cellphone vibrating). I come back home, tear it all apart, remove every spec of old grease and look what I found..

If you can see it, there's some pretty bad pitting at the 12:00 position, bad enought that it even put some slight scoring lines in the rollers of the bearing. It took forever to pound that sucker out too.. I sat there for literally over half an hour beating on it like an idiot till finally it budged. I got kinda nervous too because the first time it did a little bit of smoke/dust came out from it. Musta been in there a while. Anyway, so I have to order a new bearing set from amazon since napa doesn't carry timken, they'll probably be here next week. Till then I can't do much.. Oh the other day though I replaced my broken air cleaner housing with a good jy unit..call me crazy but my throttle response is better and I have a little bit more lower-end torque. So if anybody out there has a broken air cleaner box..fix it, it probably serves a purpose.

 

[BeefStew42791]

ok..I have a balljoint going bad, a fuel leak at the top of the tank where the pump cap has rusted out, and its now burning and leaking oil (somewhere other then the lower intake at least).. -_- I might get a different truck, or I might keep it and completely overhaul the engine, tba..

 

[BeefStew42791]

ok.. so I pulled the bed today to see about the supposed leak at the tank's top, that was a no go. But the interesting thing is I started it and let the truck idle and then watched the top of the tank for any leaks and about 5 minutes into it the idle suddenly dropped (950 to 350) and it sounded like it almost stalled. It only lasted about 4-6 seconds and then truck picked itself back up to normal. Then the exhaust turned slightly black. I'm thinking the fpr is the problem here, but I'm kinda nervous about it because the little thing is so stinkin expensive.

While I was there with the bed off I also revved it a few times after it warmed up and the black turned to a feint blue, and the smoking went away with throttle. But on engine decel it came back worse, and then dropped down at idle. 4 or 5 times I tried this and it did the same thing every time. Of course that sounds like valve seals, but the dumb things are brand frekkin new!! Does that make any sense to anybody??

Finally, for the latest issue a hanger broke on my exhaust, which let the pipes spin in place. Specifically the driver's side pipe spun pretty bad and ended up directing the gases straight up the bed pocket. Well of course the taillight housing could only take so much of this and it ended up MELTING, housing, wiring, etc. Fortunately the plugs and bulb sockets didn't melt, but I have to rewire everything in there, and I just ran out of plugs...oh and get a new housing. JY here I come!!

when I have cash..lol

 

[BeefStew42791]

ok we're starting to get things put back together, I have parts on their way in, and some already arrived

that's an 18" ruler.. and they're t304 stainless so they'll last longer of course then those 13 dollar pos tips I got before. Furthermore!! this time I'm gonna bolt/screw these to the pipes so nobody can steal them this time btw, yes the one at the top in the pic does look shorter, that's because of the 45 degree cuts at the exits.

I'm also working on a new driver's side valve cover, because I finally got sick and tired of the rust hole at the rear mount of my current one leaking oil like a sieve. I was actually pretty amazed to find one that was still solid. Apparently ford did a pretty crap job at them, because even though there was no rust-through spots, it was still pretty bad with surface rust. Anyway, I'm gonna keep the blue, I'm still likin it.

 

[BeefStew42791]

k, fixed the oil burning, the valve seals that came with the new head were simply rubber without anyway to keep them from heating up, expanging, and popping off the guides..which is exactly what they did. So I put the felpro viton metal-wrapped seals and after a 140 mile 'stretch' today, everything's fine. I also changed the fpr and my mileage is definitely up. But there's something still not quite right, because I have power, and then I don't, and then it's back again (talking with 1/2 - 2 miles in between changes)..almost like it's having to float back and forth between rich and lean. It's just less drastic of a swing I think now is all. My suspicion is my iac sensor got gummed up again with something, because it was doing that before and after I cleaned it up a little it ran better.
Also got new taillight in, new (junkyard) harness in, my new tips on, and the newer valve cover on so no oil leak there either.

 

[BeefStew42791]

well replacing the fuel pump cleared that up, and I also replaced the plugs because the old ones had been through a LOT what with the cracked head, getting fouled up with oil and running pig rich for so long. I also had to replace the wires though because when I pulled one of them off it left the connector in the boot on the plug the kinda crap with cars that simply annoys me. After all that though we're up and running great! well..except for the oil pan leaking...

 

[BeefStew42791]

Well ladies & gentlemen my work here is done. I sold the truck this morning, title transfer's done and everything. My next project is a 1987 Camaro Iroc-Z so I'll be making a new build thread on www.thirdgen.org, which I will give a link to as soon as I make it after work. I'll still drop in though and help out where I can, but feel free to check out progress on the Iroc. Cya around ranger crew!

Edit: here's the link for the Iroc - http://www.thirdgen.org/techboard/members-camaros/626596-swenholdivs-87-iroc-z.html