Bolts - what a way to piss you off

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I know all about bolt woes...

I've taken to saving every screw or bolt that is in decent condition that I can. I have a small bucket full of 'em now that I go digging through when I need something. I've collected them from things I've taken off of my trucks, trucks I've stripped out, or bolts I've had to remove to get something out of a truck in a junkyard.

I've also gotten plenty of practice finding ways to remove bolts, now I make sure I'm well armed (two different torches, one plumbers type for heating small stuff, one big cutting torch; sawzall, hacksaw, angle grinder, air chisel, drill, nut splitter, penetrating oil, cheater pipe selection, impact gun). Start out easy, then work up.

Even at that, I've also found that sometimes you either just don't have the bolt you need, or arguably more irritating: you don't have enough of them (especially if you bought everything the local hardware stores have in that size). I've taken to picking the stuff I use most and buying it in bulk. I have a whole box of 1/2" diameter grade 8 bolts that I bought when I did the suspension on my choptop. Also have boxes of #8 stainless phillips sheetmetal screws and #10 SS split washers since I've put probably over 100 of 'em on my choptop thus far for various reasons.

 

[alaskan155]

know how you feel, on my bronco II, its the little things im down to, like belts, hoses, etc. turns out high pressure fuel line is $5-6 a foot, serpentine belts are $50,(last belt bought was V-belt), and still figuring out the driveshaft half(thinking of shorten Bronco shaft myself and having buddy weld)

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

know how you feel, on my bronco II, its the little things im down to, like belts, hoses, etc. turns out high pressure fuel line is $5-6 a foot, serpentine belts are $50,(last belt bought was V-belt), and still figuring out the driveshaft half(thinking of shorten Bronco shaft myself and having buddy weld)

With shortening the driveshaft, unless it's off-road only, get it done right an balanced. An unbalanced driveshaft can cause serious driveability issues.

 

[alaskan155]

this truck will see minimum highway time im done

 

[Taragon]

the tranny is a from a 96 ranger, came with the slave

2 things....

#1) I hope they gave you the plastic line too, cause if they didnt, you'll never get it unplugged if its a 93 or older line. You'll HAVE to cut it, or pull the entire hydro sytem with the trans if it has to come out agian.

#2) I HIGHLY recomend that you DO NOT use a used slave!! EVER! It's gonna leak, and you'll ahve to pull the tranny again.

they have a bet out that i will blow the tranny in a week cuz of the ATF in there (hopefully)

You'll win the bet dude!

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

this truck will see minimum highway time im done

Anything faster than probably 25mph will likely cause serious drivetrain vibrations to become apparent with an unbalanced driveshaft. High rpms will also make vibrations apparent as well. Even something such as a damaged driveshaft can cause vibrations and drivetrain damage. I saw a CV that failed (it didn't appear to be failed until it was dissassembled) take out not only a brand new U-joint, but also detonated the brand new yoke on the rear axle. Bam and he was being winched on a trailer (it was a jeep).

 

[Will]

Um, wow. lol

I would honestly put up serious coin on that bet if I were you. 1 week? I would bet the farm that it will last that long, especially if I'm driving it.

Gear oils actually bear the load. Ideally all of the power you are transmitting comes from one gear, to the oil (to prevent metal-to-metal contact), then to the other gear. So in yes, in theory the ATF will not last as long as the 80w because it is lighter. BUT it is also designed for some load bearing. It will do fine with light duty. I hope you get to take their money, foo's

Just to be clear--ATF (MERCON) is what is specified for the M50D-R1. The FM146 uses the 80W gear oil.

Both my auto and manual died at 140,XXX miles. The auto died of a pump bushing--which was a common failure that ford has corrected in them since, and the -R1 died of the rubber plugs deterioting and blowing all of the fluid out. I bought both trucks with the trannies dead. That makes them really cheap. The other 2 RBVs I've bough both had good original trannies--a C5 and an A4LD.

 

[rickcdewitt]

- no bolts. . Trip to ace to get bolts. the bolts from the automatic are to short.

i hope you diden't get flywheel or pressure plate bolts at ace?

 

[svtranger04]

as long as their grade 8 then i dont see a problem.

 

[ZMan]

the auto trans bolts were too short? I put an m5od behind the 3.0l in my old long bed to replace the a4ld and the bolts worked just fine..

i hope you diden't get flywheel or pressure plate bolts at ace?

I used regular grade 5 bolts from carquest for my pressure plate...lasted 15k miles before I sold it.

 

[mhughes165]

ya, flywheel bolts arent actually a high stress area.....

 

[90rangersuper]

2 things....

#1) I hope they gave you the plastic line too, cause if they didnt, you'll never get it unplugged if its a 93 or older line. You'll HAVE to cut it, or pull the entire hydro sytem with the trans if it has to come out agian.

#2) I HIGHLY recomend that you DO NOT use a used slave!! EVER! It's gonna leak, and you'll ahve to pull the tranny again.

the answer to #2 will solve #1, the hydrolic system for the tranny is all new for a 90 ranger, master, slave and line

it pissed me off so bad when those bolts were to short, oh well i would rather take my time and do it right than to do it quickly and having it run like a chevy(or dodge)

 

[krugford]

ya, flywheel bolts arent actually a high stress area.....

um, what? They provide the clamp and shear forces directly responsible for transferring the torque from the engine to drivetrain...

Without knowing the specs of the original bolts, I would say the SAE Grade 8, or Metric Grade 10.9 should be adequate.

Last time I actually specified bolts for a particular application, they were Grade 12.9 with an additional process to take them up to 1300 MPa minimum yield... and they were flywheel bolts.

You can do what you want, but I hate to see you have to pull the tranny again becuase your flywheel bolts sheared or came loose.

 

[90rangersuper]

Done!!!!

well i got the truck done today so happy that this is over, now i can enjoy the new 5 speed, need to get the floor plate yet to cover the hole, did notice that it grinded a little bit only shifting to reverse, probably need to bleed the clutch a little more. Other than that it went smooth, had the clutch bled in about a half hour, was expecting alot worse. Thanks to all you guys here who helped me in this project, next on the list is manual locking hubs and going to put different seats to get rid of the 60/40 bench so i can have a center console again.