94 Ranger STX Longbed

[BeefStew42791]

learned a very important lesson today..

when checking for bad fuses don't just put the meter on the two tabs to check for continuity/resistance. ALWAYS pull the fuse out of the port. here's why...

idk if you can tell or not, but the fuse at one point in time burned out, and so instead of replacing it, somebody just bypassed it with a piece of wire wrapped around the prongs!! it didn't fix my problem, but I'm sure glad I found it..

Dad got something cool too, his name is Ceasar and he's a Staffordshire Terrior..

he's such an awesome dog, and he looks so cool!! We believe he's been trained professionally, cuz he knows lots of commands, he loves tug of war and he even fetches..kinda lol. He'll go get the ball and bring it back, but he refuses to let go. There's nothing to complain about with him!

 

[BeefStew42791]

Decided to take a break from the electrical nightmares so that I could finally finish up my body mount issue right. I ground down and popped out the rivets, then ran to town to get hardware and then mounted it when I got back.

Out with the old:

In with the new:

As of now the cab is back on the mount and everythings tightened back up. That should be the last time I have to deal with that mount, at least until I order new urethane mounts someday.

 

[UrbanRedneckKid]

Did you make sure the other wire that plugs into the alternator had a good connection? The little one, green wire i think. not the 3 wire pug or the charge cable. Without that wire it won't charge.

They are common to have broken clips and have bad connections. This very same thing happened to my truck, I fixed it by jamming a piece of cardboard between the alt's body and the side of the plug, still works 3 yrs later.

Just set both of your leads up on the battery terminals and wiggle that wire around, unplug and plug it a few times, worth a shot...

 

[BeefStew42791]

Did you make sure the other wire that plugs into the alternator had a good connection? The little one, green wire i think. not the 3 wire pug or the charge cable. Without that wire it won't charge.

They are common to have broken clips and have bad connections. This very same thing happened to my truck, I fixed it by jamming a piece of cardboard between the alt's body and the side of the plug, still works 3 yrs later.

Just set both of your leads up on the battery terminals and wiggle that wire around, unplug and plug it a few times, worth a shot...

Well, I thought that might have been the culprit since I was getting a bit of resistance in the wire..albeit a barely registerable bit.

That wasn't the problem though (notice the use of PAST tense) Sure enough I found a short, repaired it, and its all working fine now. The solution wasn't in the charging system though, apparently the previous owner (before urban) got sick and tired of the door chime, so he took the plug out and just stuffed the wiring back in the door jam. Unfortunately after who knows how long the insulation on those three wires wore away until on a couple of them there wasn't even any wrapping on it! I fixed that though, plugged in a new chime plug and not only does my dome light turn on when I open the door (like I wanted, its why I went after this issue) but I started the truck and I have a constant 14 volts when the trucks running, including with everything on. I guess I kinda found it on accident lol. Thanks for ALL of your help everybody, I really appreciate the time and effort you gave me. I also found a couple issues thanks to this issue that I probably wouldn't have found if there was no issue (case in point..bypassed fuse).

On to the next bit of a tickler..

I have to replace the fuel filler neck because (as can obviously be expected from sitting so long inactive) the rubber is so dry rotted that its a wonder its still on there at all. I also have somewhat of a thing to do with the turn signals..the fourways work perfectly, but when I use either side's individual turn signals, both bulbs work but its rapid as if a bulb was blown. I'm thinking flasher, but I'm not 100% sure. I know there's nothing blowing a fuse though, so thats a bit of a relief. Before I can get it down to the exhaust shop though (so it can be inspectable) I need to get a bumper built somehow so that I can at least mount a registration plate. LOTS to do but there's forward progress so I'm happy

 

[BeefStew42791]

turn signal's fixed, was just what I thought it was..replaced the flasher with the one from the explorer and it works perfectly

in other news though..

here's some proof..hehe..that the truck is up and running quite well

yes..I am stoked!

 

[dhinch279]

It's good to see everything working out well, I like the STX, I'm glad you rescued it. Keep up the good work

 

[UrbanRedneckKid]

Awesome! So glad to see that truck in the mud and not a scrap pile.

badass work, keep it up!

 

[BeefStew42791]

Thanks guys! Getting it up to speed finally has really renewed my zeal for this truck. Next step is getting the brakes back up to 100% and I'm also working out designs for my rear bumper. I decided against a 6" steel pipe with steps cut out like I had designed originally because no matter what I tried I couldn't quite work out a good way to mount the license plate on it. But not to worry because I literally immediately thought of something that (1) will look better, (2) be stronger, and (3) hopefully be cheaper. I've only actually gotten the mounts designed and drawn on cad, but based on just those alone my mind is already spinning with so many directions to go in.
Basically what I've got so far is a simple 10" frame wrap, with an extra triangular fade out along the inner side of the frame rail, into an offset T with an 8" plate (which the bumper will bolt onto), and then a sched 80 tube gusset between the plate and frame wrap. The overall idea for the bumper though is a piping cagelike structure core that will then get "wrapped" in 1/8" (or slightly smaller) plating. The interesting part will of course be incorporating the steps, but whats the use doin anything without a lil fun!

 

[BeefStew42791]

No, I haven't finished the bumper yet. I have gotten the design work completely done (except now I wanna rework the mounts..go figure lol) I scrapped the idea of the whole thing being wrapped in plating, and so now I'm only gonna use plating on the steps and for mounting of the license plate. Other then that its gonna be exposed triangular geometrical pipe work. Even on paper it looks awesome!

What I did get to do though, today, was I had a chance to drop into the jy again and I picked up this:

I kid you not, there was about a dozen explorers that I looked at in this smaller yard and all but 2 of them had one to pick from. I finally settled on this one because at least for now it can be gray and match. It'll be put in sometime after inspection passes. The best part though...$10!!!!

and I also got the main face piece for the dash cuz mine's broke. If its still there tomorrow, I have another chance to go get the whole dash which also needs to be replaced because pieces have broken off here and there and I can't even correctly install the lil ash tray in the bottom there. Plus it rattles which drives me insane.. I haven't decided yet whether its gonna be painted the blue I want or just plain black. pros and cons to each..either way it'll be pretty cool. Till next time!

 

[BeefStew42791]

alright..bad news..

To find even a used welder turned out to be higher then my current price range can allow, so I don't think I'll be able to turn out the custom bumper I've designed.
On the other hand though I did find a stock one in a jy that I was willing to have. It was in pretty good condition, the surface rust is mainly on the back with some flaking but overall nothing bad at all. I made it even better though, I stripped off what rust was on the visible side and repainted it, and I put some bedliner on the diamond plate and the lower step for some grip (since there's no plastic on this one):

I think it turned out real nice. Now this doesn't mean that I'm giving up on my idea though. I still really wanna do that, it'll just have to wait until resources are on my side I guess.

The good news is its gettin registered and insured in the next couple days and then its off to the exhaust shop! cya'llater

 

[BeefStew42791]

update: my truck is at the shop as of 9:30 monday night, I got a new magnaflow oem fit catalytic converter I'm using (http://www.amazon.com/MagnaFlow-23388-Catalytic-Converter-compliant/dp/B000COWXO0/?tag=959media-20) along with a new magnaflow straight-through dual-exit muffler (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000CCG00A/?tag=959media-20). I also got a pair of single-inlet to dual-outlet tips that should be here tomorrow. What I'm wanting is texas-style duals, with the exit below the quarter panel behind the rear tire. It was a pretty interesting maiden voyage to say the least..with no exhaust (besides headers) the computer got confused pretty easily and so keeping a steady cruise rpm level was an exciting challenge to say the least. Plus the shift knob kept slipping off lol, and getting adjusted to the torque curve of the engine took a couple miles to get the hang of, but overall everything went real well.
After the guy runs the pipes he's also gonna do the inspection as well so I'll let you guys know how that goes when I hear somethin. later.

 

[multiranger]

On to the next bit of a tickler..

I have to replace the fuel filler neck because (as can obviously be expected from sitting so long inactive) the rubber is so dry rotted that its a wonder its still on there at all. QUOTE]


Check Ebay.. I got my complete filler assembly for less than 40 bucks..

 

[BeefStew42791]

yea I'm not too worried about finding a replacement neck, they seem pretty easily attainable from all the sources I've found. I'm also not too worried cuz I swiped the one from my parts truck I just scrapped that one is in pretty good condition and the only difference between the trucks was bed lengths, so I'm hoping that'll do the job.
My tips came in btw, zey look a little like zis:

shiney..heh heh

 

[BeefStew42791]

update: so..my truck's still at the shop I'm never going back to this guy for ANY kind of quick work. He does bend pipe pretty well, but its been two weeks as of this coming monday that my truck's been down there and he's STILL not done...WTH!! He doesn't even have much left to do but a couple welds, putting the tips on, and then a final bolt down. Oh and he also has the inspection that he FORGOT to do...



...I KNOW!! The agreement now is I'll have it by sometime late monday...I'll believe it when I see it

 

[BeefStew42791]

The STX is back and passed inspection the exhaust came out SHO SHEXY and I'm really happy with how it turned out. I only got 1 point of the triangle though (good, cheap, or fast) so I wasn't too happy about that. The dude charged me over $385 even though it took him so frekkin long to get to it not happy about that.. It sounds really good though and gets better and better the more I drive it so I'll be sure and get a sound bite up on youtube for anybody that wants to see...



as soon as I fix this

and replace this before it breaks

apparantly, it was worse off then I thought. Heh its like all of the rust that could be on the truck was funneled into those two brackets! I must say..it was quite an interesting thing to drive home with somethin like that. Comin home from the garage I was coming up a hill at a decently reasonable click and at the very top of the ridge with the sun shinin at just the right angle I couldn't even see this monstrocity of a hole I was about to hit until I hit it and I heard/felt this rather loud but not so heavy thud. So I immediately pulled over and low and behold..my bed was sittin on my now sheared in half driver's side shackle hanger
needless to say I gingered it home. I already removed the carnage, the rest of it literally flaked off like paper! As soon as I have the cash I'm ordering new hangers for both sides, new polyurethane bushings, and beltech 6400's for both sides