alwaysFlOoReD's first b-II

[alwaysFlOoReD]

This one is the first 4x4 I owned. I've had it for approx. 2 years. I paid C$300 for it originally, and it came with a 4.0l already installed. It was a real rust bucket. It doesn't look to bad;

It seems I didn't get enough before pics. New floor board installed;

Brackets I built to raise the back of the body back up ~1 1/2" so it was back at the right height, bolted in place with riveted nut inserts. I didn't trust my welding skills on sheet metal at the time;

One pic of the rust on the outside;

And what I did to attempt to fix the rust with out much knowledge. I think it turned out O.K. and is still holding up. I bought the drivers side floor pan but everything else is scavenged, I used what I had on hand; like access panels from a house heater, dryer panels, venting sheet metal, and other stuff.;

I cut the rust out;

and repaired as best I could, the same being done on the other side;

There was a lot of rust in that b-II. If I had cut the wheel wells before fixing the back I think the whole body would have dropped down to the ground!
I then started on a front receiver;

I picked up a bolt on receiver for a different truck and adapted it to mine. I bought it for C$35.00 Unfortunately the 10,000# winch was stolen last winter.
I also installed a front pumpkin and rear axle with 4.10 gears. I shimmed the front side gears to make a limited slip.
Installed air shocks to help the sagging rear springs.
That pretty much brings it up to date. Total cost including 31" MT Baja Claws= C$1,750.00

Richard

 

[jhammel85]

Looks like a project man. Not bad, not bad...

Thats terrible that someone would steal your winch. wtf is wrong with people...

Best of luck

 

[Ranger Sport Honduras]

nice proyect man, its a real shame what happened to the winch.
keep us updated!

 

[The_Dealer]

i woulda paid more then 500 just for the 4.0 swap, then spent another 500 and got a ranger cab and materials to make a flatbed. sweet find, it looks like a good project.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Thanks guys, I'll have an update in a couple days.

Richard

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

I'm a little late posting this up, I did this just before Christmas. My work truck was stolen and then recovered. The insurance adjuster offered C$3000.00 plus I keep the truck but can't drive it. This meant I had to get my b-II in reliable running condition. I had a knock that was keeping speed with tire rotation and was getting worse in the few days I drove it. I crawled under and found the 4 bolts holding the drive shaft to the rear were loose. Tightened those up and there was no change I then checked my u-joints and found one with a slight bit of play.
The tools I used to change the u-joint;

IIRC
A ball joint/u-joint press tool
8mm wrench -t.c.end of shaft
12mm wrench -rear end of shaft
needle nose-pliers -remove c-clips
small flat screwdriver -remove c-clips and clean grooves
c-clip pliers -install c-clips
rubber hammer -minor tweaking to get old u-joint to move
adjustable wrench -operating u-joint press

First I cleaned and then marked the drive shaft so it would be put back together the same way it came apart. this is so the balance isn't affected. Notice the white paint pen marks;

Using the press, on the drive shaft side first, I pushed the u-joint through so I could pull off a u-joint cup. At this point the whole u-joint may come off the shaft, if not, press the other way until you can get the other cup off and remove the joint and yoke. Now do the same process to remove the joint from the yoke.
Edit, BADINTEN from another forum brought up a good point, not everyone has or can afford a c-press. For many years I've used the socket and hammer method and it works just fine. Use a socket big enough for the cup to go into on one side of the shaft, and another socket just small enough to fit through the ear on the other side. Make sure everything is well supported and the big socket is on cement or wood. Hammer the small socket to remove the u-joint in the same way I've already described.
Apparently, if you can push the cup in far enough to install a clip, the ear has been stretched enough to make the shaft [or yoke] a replacement item.
To install the u-joint [do the drive shaft first], I take a cap off the new joint and push it as far into the ear as I can by hand. Do the same on the opposite end . Holding the u-joint in one cup, use the press to push the other cup onto the joint enough to install a clip [don't install clip at this time]. Flip over and do other side the same way, you should be able to install clips now with no extra force needed. WARNING-I've had a needle fall over when doing this and tried to force the cups in far enough to install the clips....I ended up buying a new u-joint. If the c-clips won't install easily, take it apart and check that a needle hasn't fallen over.
A pic of the c-clips that came with the new u-joint;

Once it's all together, add grease until it squeezes out the inner seals on all four sides, this won't wreck the seals;

After doing all the work, I still have the clunking sound! :'(

On a different, but related subject, can anyone tell me the application of this other drive shaft? I think [I can't remember for sure] it came from another b-II that I dismantled but I'm wondering why it's ~2" longer;

Updates on the clunking sound will come a little later, I'm tired of typing and need to get my RBV fix!

Richard

 

[Andres629]

If the one driveshaft is 2" LONGER, it came from an FM145 transmission unit. Or a C3, but I don't remember the length of a C3 off hand.

Nice little BII, is the body from that super clean red one going on here??

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

If the one driveshaft is 2" LONGER, it came from an FM145 transmission unit. Or a C3, but I don't remember the length of a C3 off hand.
That's what I was thinking, a different motor/tranny
Nice little BII, is the body from that super clean red one going on here??
No, this is the first one that I owned. I haven't decided what I'm doing to the red one yet.

Richard

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Nice little BII, is the body from that super clean red one going on here??
No, this is the first one that I owned. I haven't decided what I'm doing to the red one yet.

Richard

I reread your question and the red body probably won't make it onto this frame. This one is going to be a bush beater. That way I don't have to worry about wrecking anything bodywise. I'll probably turn the red one into a mallcrawler/camping/tow unit.

Richard

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

It turns out the clunking sound was coming from the rear end. I confirmed this by raising the rear up on jack stands and had it running in gear. I could hear it clunk behind the diff cover. I'm guessing that one or more teeth may have let loose. I had bought and installed the front pumpkin and rear end that I were told had 4:10 gears. At that time I took apart the front and rear. On the front I added an extra side gear shim/washer to make a home made limited slip, the ring gear had 41/10 stamped in, which equates to 4.10 ratio. The rear I looked at and found the ring gear had 41/11 stamped in, which equates to 3.73 gear ratio. The ring gear also had some teeth that were chipped/broken. I knew that I would eventually have to change either the front or the back gears. Fast forward to now, and I happen to have a rear with 4.10 gears from an '87 ranger stx that I scrapped out for suspension parts for my race truck. I decided to swap out the buggered rear for the stx one that has the right ratio. Here's how I did it. It may not be the right way, but it's cheap and working [fingers crossed].

The stx rear quickly cleaned with a wire wheel and then sprayed with rust converter, but no paint, I'm hoping that will delay rust from reforming;

Here's a pic of what I decided was the easiest way to mount the rear in the b-II. I didn't realize that the spring perches were inboard by an inch each side. So I decided to add a 1/2"x5"x2 1/2" plate with a hole drilled dead center for the spring bolt. Then I figured as long as I had it apart, I might as well put in a lift block that I had left from the stx. I drilled a hole to match the lift block cast in place 'bolt head'. I used a step drill and marked the step above the size I needed with a white paint pen. I had to drill through slightly more than the 1/8" step and then flipped that plate over to finish from the other side.

It ends up that the bolt head on the b-II springs is slightly larger than the ones on the stx, so I had to drill the hole on the block an 1/8" bigger;

I centered the rear under the b-II and held the block and plate in place so that I could figure out how much the perches had to be adjusted. I came up with 1";

I used primer on the perch so I could leave a mark that I could see;

I didn't want to wreck the original perch so I decided to drill oversize holes through for the u-bolts. I marked the perch and the plate and clamped it into place;

I welded the plate on just the one side as I wanted the option of easily removing it at a later time. I used two 1" welds, I think that will hold enough as there is also the u-bolts and spring and block 'bolt heads' to keep it in place. This is the welder I used, a lincoln weld-pac 100 with .035 flux core wire;

I also didn't think about the shocks until I went to re-connect them. Luckily I had some of the right length from the red b-II.
Another problem came to light the first time I took the truck on the free-way. There was a vibration that wasn't there previously starting at ~105 km/hr that gets worse as I go faster. I think it's because the pinion center-line is no longer aimed at the center-line of the drive shaft. I plan to fix this by welding a shim on the plate.
The limited slip in the rear is working. I'm glad as I didn't have time [or the knowledge] to look at it. I just pulled the diff cover to make sure there was no big chunks floating around in there. There was a bit of rust on three of the ring teeth and two of the pinion teeth, I hope that has no long term consequences. I added 2 3/4 liters of rear end fluid while the rear diff cover wasn't installed, I'll have to check to see if that is correct.

Richard

 

[CopyKat]

The other shaft is likely a D35 W/1354, front driveshaft.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

The other shaft is likely a D35 W/1354, front driveshaft.

Thanks for the input.

Richard

 

[disciplerocks]

You wanna come over and work on mine? Lol.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

That's worse than mine was. Good luck with it! I feel for you.

Richard

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

I should have had this in my previous post but anyway, here is an end result pic;

The u-bolts are straight now.

Richard