94 Ranger STX Longbed

[BeefStew42791]

finally found a decent deal on shackle brackets, from one of the strangest places too..jcwhitney.com. After the discount code I found (also, finally..after much wasted time) I got em for change less then $20 a piece including shipping. I'm zonked now so I'll have to do the bushings and the shackles another day..btw, does anybody know if the belltechs come with urethane bushings already? or are they just rubber? I'm needin to know so I know how extensive of a bushing kit I need to order so that I'm covered.

EDIT: nevermind...4 days after I ordered them I called up customer support to find out what was goin on with them and they were nice enough to inform me that they are on backorder until july 21st or even until august (I'm not sure how they wouldn't know..but, yea) a fact of which I was unaware when I ordered them thanks to that lil bit of knowledge not being on the website ANYWHERE!!
No problem I said to myself. I'll just go get them at napa, since they have them online and were the next best price. Yea..not happenin. The closest place that has them through napa is salt lake city utah which, last time I checked, is really frekkin far away!! NONE of the autoparts stores has them, and the local spring shop knows this because I called them and they quoted me at 28.94 A PIECE!! Can we say highway robbery? I'm sorry but I'm not paying frekkin dealer price for a stupid little bracket that costs them no more to make then the price of the piddly amount of metal it takes and the $0.50 an hour they pay the chinese sweatshops who make them. And for CRYIN OUT LOUD I don't want a stinkin KIT (includes hanger, shackle, bushing, etc). If I wanted a KIT I would be asking for a KIT.
I swear..sightings of bigfoot are more common then these stupid brackets. And its not like these repairs are rare things either. Literally EVERY place I've looked has told me that they get about 3 people a day on average asking for these brackets. HELLO!!! SOMEBODY MAKE THEM THEN!!

 

[lepp1892]

I got my set on Ebay... i had them within a week after I ordered them... the were ford OEM repo that i think i got for 15 bucks a piece...

 

[BeefStew42791]

I combed ebay as best I could and I never found anything under $32 a piece (after factoring in shipping). I looked at amazon again for probably the 4th time and to my surprise they changed their stock description from not being able to get it at all to a shipping delay of four to six weeks. I know thats no better then jcwhitney, but amazon has never failed me before, and plus these are a price like you found lepp, $15 a piece with no shipping charge. I'm not excited about the shipping delay, but unless I find something better, this is the best option that will reveal itself I think.

 

[BeefStew42791]

k, I finally got all of my parts and hardware together today and I was able to get the driver's side done (the side that broke). Its REALLY FREAKIN HOT outside though, so that'll be all for today. It would have gone relatively well except the bushing wouldn't seat right and kept popping out, so I had to take a bfh and widen the opening of the shackle a little bit (maybe a 1/8th of an inch) till it finally was able to clear. And for anybody who doesn't know already..that grease stuff that comes with the urethane bushing kits is really sticky so fight the urge to wipe your hands off every ten seconds, or else you'll run out of grease real quick.

So as it stands now is one side's done, and the other side I'll do probably tomorrow or later on saturday..or maybe even both, who knows. Oh and I'm gonna need to get 3"-6" extensions on my exhaust because the exits and my shackles are colliding, and its causing the tips to ride up into the very bottom of my quarter panel. strange..

 

[BeefStew42791]

and its back together and on the road
sort of..

I got all of my bushing work done and the exhaust taken care of (again) so I took it for a drive to town and back this morning. I made it to town, but going up two hills I had to downshift almost to first and I was goin real slow up them. I had a HUGE loss of power all of a sudden as soon as I hit the grade, which was about 10 minutes after I started it up. And this was even while downshifting from 4th to 3rd even to 2nd mind you. Now I do need to replace the radiator cap and I know this because when I got to town I parked it, shut it off, and right away opened the hood and there was a stream of coolant coming out of the bottom of the cap (or maybe it was the reservoir hose..now I'm second guessing myself..). Then about two hours later on my way home I hit the big hill at the bottom of the mountain we live on (similar grade on the road, but much taller of a climb) and I didn't even make it up a quarter of the way. So I parked it and came back an hour later and it pulled the hill no problem.

Now I am definitely gonna be searching these threads up one side and down the other, but I'm thinking this has something to do with my coolant system somehow, the engine's airflow/vacuum, or something electrical/computer oriented. I did read the Remote Mount TFI Ignition Module page in the tech library and while it sounds like something to check into, my quandry with that theory is (1) my truck doesn't have a distributor..I have the DIS/Coil Pack ignition system, and (2) if I'm just driving on a flatter area I have enough power to drive till the wheels fall off, so its not like the engine is stuttering and dieing on me.
If anybody has suggestions that'd be great, but keep in mind the catalytic converter is brand new, I just did a tuneup, and my engine starts up excellently and warms up perfectly.

 

[Jay'94]

Get after it!
Give ya a hint if the factory intake tube is broken you can use a soldering iron to "weld" some plastic into the cracks or mend stuff back together! Then wrap it in undercarpet insulation and HVAC tape. Whahlah insulated cold air intake. The plastic welding is messy and a B$%&*! But it works. You can also add plastic intot he ribbed portion inside and smooth it up some. It's a way to save money, just takes some work, a soldering iron, and some extra plastic from somewhere???
James duff has a poly spring bushing kit, Just bushings and the sleeve in the center. Has some different ones in there and somehow I ended up with extra for when I had to burn one out today changing to longer shackles!

 

[BeefStew42791]

Actually, my intake isn't falling apart at all, except for the clamping situation on the air box cover so I think I'll hold that for another day. sounds pretty cool though, I will definitely keep that in mind. thanks man

Yea I saw those, I got mine from energy suspension though..the black ones. They were priced pretty well and shipping was free so I went that route. I imagine their at least somewhat similar anyway..being they're made of the same material.

After a day of researching and lots of thinking I think I have a heading thats worth focusing on. Apparently, I'm not the only one who's this ever happened to..thankfully. From what I've found and put together, when the fuel pump in the tank is going bad, the pump up front needs but can't take up the slack by making more pressure, which effectively starves the engine. The difference in mine I think though, is that my rear pump is progressively giving out, which would be why this problem is getting worse as things go along. What I also think is not helping the situation is my discintegrating fuel filler neck (there's enough rubber gone from where it seals at the bed that it actually leaks) and has allowed a vacuum leak in the fuel system. That would explain why this situation wasn't occuring earlier, when there was all kinda mud up there clogging the holes. Now that the mud has caked up and fallen off I think the vacuum leak has returned and is making the problem worse.

So my point being, the direction I'm gonna go now is sometime soon the bed is gonna come off and 1st I'm gonna replace the fuel filler neck with the one spare I have and see if that completely fixes the problem. If it doesn't, then I spose I'm gonna have to see if I'm low on fuel pressure. Oh and of course the fuel filter's getting changed, probably at the same time as the neck.

 

[multiranger]

finally found a decent deal on shackle brackets, from one of the strangest places too..jcwhitney.com. After the discount code I found (also, finally..after much wasted time) I got em for change less then $20 a piece including shipping. I'm zonked now so I'll have to do the bushings and the shackles another day..btw, does anybody know if the belltechs come with urethane bushings already? or are they just rubber? I'm needin to know so I know how extensive of a bushing kit I need to order so that I'm covered.

EDIT: nevermind...4 days after I ordered them I called up customer support to find out what was goin on with them and they were nice enough to inform me that they are on backorder until july 21st or even until august (I'm not sure how they wouldn't know..but, yea) a fact of which I was unaware when I ordered them thanks to that lil bit of knowledge not being on the website ANYWHERE!!
No problem I said to myself. I'll just go get them at napa, since they have them online and were the next best price. Yea..not happenin. The closest place that has them through napa is salt lake city utah which, last time I checked, is really frekkin far away!! NONE of the autoparts stores has them, and the local spring shop knows this because I called them and they quoted me at 28.94 A PIECE!! Can we say highway robbery? I'm sorry but I'm not paying frekkin dealer price for a stupid little bracket that costs them no more to make then the price of the piddly amount of metal it takes and the $0.50 an hour they pay the chinese sweatshops who make them. And for CRYIN OUT LOUD I don't want a stinkin KIT (includes hanger, shackle, bushing, etc). If I wanted a KIT I would be asking for a KIT.
I swear..sightings of bigfoot are more common then these stupid brackets. And its not like these repairs are rare things either. Literally EVERY place I've looked has told me that they get about 3 people a day on average asking for these brackets. HELLO!!! SOMEBODY MAKE THEM THEN!!

Beef, Try Godfather Customs in Decatur GA.. They have all sorts of stuff like what you need!!!!

 

[BeefStew42791]

Beef, Try Godfather Customs in Decatur GA.. They have all sorts of stuff like what you need!!!!

Yea I found their website (I think). Their contact info is from Decatur GA at least. They're in my bookmarks for sites that have ranger parts now so thanks multi

Today I fixed the fuel filler neck. I didn't have to replace it either, which I'm thankful for because when I put the replacement in it ended up being several inches too short

So instead, since what actually happened was it was just the hard plastic..cover I guess, that cracked and broke (which caused the filler tube to pull off of the fill inlet) and there was nothing wrong with the true filler neck tubing, I just removed the 1" long piece of corroded cover that cracked off right where the hose clamp was (that you can see here)

and basically closed in the gap with the good side of the cover. Before I did that though I put the metal inlet tube back inside the filler tube and put a new clamp on that, and then I just put everything back together with new hoseclamps. I love saving $300 don't worry though, this isn't a permanent fix, its more of a I-wanna-see-how-long-this-will-stay-together fix

Next I want to get after my cooling issues. I know I'm running hotter then I should..after only the 15-20 minute ride to town the other day, not only was there coolant coming out of the rad. cap, the chrome on my TIPS was burnt..pretty bad too. And today I started the truck with the radiator cap off and ran it for a couple minutes but there was no visible current in the fluid. so, yea..fun times.

 

[BeefStew42791]

I was out most of the day today, so I didn't get to do much. But I was able to work on the cooling problem. I started the truck up and for some reason I realized the whine that I've always thought was probably a bad a/c compressor clutch bearing or something mixed with a little power steering whine could be a water pump that had just been pumping air (which was viable I thought because of the fluid that escaped from the truck running so hot and streaming out of the rad. cap). So I figured first I'd refill the system, which I thought would be just a short lil thing. Apparently though, when I filled the system the first time, I must have forgot to open the heater up in the cab because there was a LOT of air that bubbled out and the more it released all that air the less and less the whine was coming out of the front of my engine. And my engine was running a lot better too, and cooler. Before I couldn't even rest my hand in line with the exhaust exit, but now its pretty dang cool.

so, sum up. I don't need a new water pump, all it took was a fill up and a good rad. cap, and whenever you fill the coolant system turn the heater on!

Oh I do need to get a serpentine belt though. Heh..when it came time for the heavy load (3500 rpm) part of the fancy "air removal process" as Ford calls it my belt snapped off 2 strings of rubber about 1/8" wide and 8" long on the front edge in 2 different locations. So yea, that and the fuel filter's comin next.

 

[BeefStew42791]

Put a new fuel filter on today, the truck runs a LOT better. heh..this was pretty funny. I took the old one out and right away I knew I made a good choice because I shook it around and it felt like all it was was just a big dirt clog bouncing back and forth. Now I can pull average size hills no problem. I still don't seem to have the power I should have going up the big hill, but I'm happy for now with it. My check engine light's playin with my head though. When I turn the truck on, its not on. It doesn't come on till I've been in the 2400 rpm range for a decent cruise, then when I stop and come back to idle the check engine light comes on..at least for about 5-10 minutes and then it goes back off. But no matter how long its been on, if I turn the truck off and start it again it will go back off too. Maybe its just working the junk out yet..idk, I'll see how things go for a couple hundred miles and if things don't change or get worse with it I'll get a code reader and go after whatever it is.
I think I'm still running a bit too hot..maybe it was just my paranoid imagination but there seemed to be a lil bit of a boil to the coolant in the reservoir. I'm hoping its just a stuck thermostat. I'm too tired to diagnose right now, but I'll have to check that out too.

Oh, haha, and I put the new serpentine belt on too...YAHOO!!!!
lol.

 

[BeefStew42791]

not much happened for quite some time I spose..life gets hectic sometimes. a big project came in for work and so I've only been able to spend a little bit at a time on the truck. What I've been workin on though has finally finished though, so take a look! I'm stoked with how it turned out...

The blue is a bit darker then that to be honest, for some reason the flash on my camera makes it look real bright. I'll have to get a day time shot sometime when the flash isn't an issue. It was a really long trip to get them looking that good though. They, especially the left bank, were rusted so bad I didn't think I'd be able to save them but somehow they had enough metal to not go all the way through. I used rusty metal primer to take care of the tiny pits that developed in the really hard hit areas, and then I sprayed a couple coats of Duplicolor's Engine enamel on them..I wanna say its a GM dark blue, but somehow its not really that..idk. Then I even sprayed their clear of the same engine paint. Oh yea and I used the good felpro permadry plus gaskets. Worked real good!

 

[nate09]

sure looks good. i need to find a decent set of valve covers for my ranger as mine are getting pretty rusty and nasty looking. how was the removal of them? anything make it a pia?

 

[BeefStew42791]

sure looks good. i need to find a decent set of valve covers for my ranger as mine are getting pretty rusty and nasty looking. how was the removal of them? anything make it a pia?

removal was easy, even though I didn't take off the upper intake like Fomoco wants you to. I honestly didn't see the point in it when I only had the cover gaskets to worry about. The only thing pita wise was obviously the oil and rust removal, but also installation of the left bank took a little figuring out too..because I didn't take the intake off lol, and that was for only one of the bolts too. All I had to do to make it work though was take (1) double 3/8" extension (not (2) single 3" extensions put together, but (1) 7"+/- extension) and fit it in there..didn't even scratch the paint either lol.

 

[BeefStew42791]

a radiator hose popped off on my today, and of course the truck got real hot and now I have fog comin out of my exhaust like Maine in April and oil traces in my radiator (translation = blown headgasket or at least blown intake gaskets)...contemplating trading this cursed thing in on a 95 or later of the same kind of ranger..