Dans 94, RCSB, 4.0, 4x4, 5spd

[Dantheman1540]

Finished up the other fender today, so pumped how these turned out. Gotta do some minor repairs to the tailgate, then come up with a way to drive a quad up on the front railing easier so two fit nuts to butts with the tailgate closed.

More importantly, my bump stops shipped!

 

[bobbywalter]

Beefy

 

[Dantheman1540]

Beefy

If someone borrows it and returns it with crinkled fenders this time, I’ll be impressed!

 

[bobbywalter]

yeah......something got fawked up worse then the trailer....

 

[dvdswan]

I think you should still put the "no step" stickers on the fenders. Just to raise some eyebrows...

 

[Dantheman1540]

I think you should still put the "no step" stickers on the fenders. Just to raise some eyebrows...

I’ve always liked this one. Yes I know it’s obviously saying don’t touch the exhaust. But if you take the tailpipe out of the picture it tells me “fuzzy red grass/carpet is worth pinching”.

 

[Dantheman1540]

Thought I finished my small trailer upgrades but not quite yet. I spent today rewelding some spots on the tailgate, but mostly adding 14” on length to the front. I was able to use all scraps I had laying down and recycled the front railing to make it all match. I also added a small flip up panel in the middle of the new extension just for straps and whatever other minor tools I’d like to keep in it.

Unfortunately the 14” was not enough to fit both my quads while closing the tailgate. Not sure what I’m gonna do but I guess I’ll explore a few options. I’d have made it more than 14” if I could but the tongue jack would.

The easiest is to essentially have adjustable tilt tailgate. So it could lean a bit depending on load but still be nice and secure. Maybe just get some chain keepers so it can be adjusted in small increments easily.

A more complex option is cut the tailgate in half and add a hinge point so it can fold in half when stowed. This will solve the problem of the quads not fitting because the only thing that hits the tailgate is the rear racks. The tires have plenty of space now.

The last option which I like the least is build a ramp and a step up in the front so the front quad can be sitting at an angle which ends up freeing up maybe just enough space to fit both. I don’t like that idea because the ramp or step will always be there and I use the trailer for a lot more than just quads.


Anyway here’s a short clip of me letting my truck triumphantly ghost crawl through the sand with the trailer because I went and realized the quads didn’t fit like I wanted. Also interestingly enough at first I only locked one hub in to go through the sand but the truck started to get stuck! I figured a single locked hub+a lockrite would go through the sand like it did with an open diff, but I guess I was wrong.

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[Dantheman1540]

Forgot I actually changed the oil finally, first full 5k interval oil change it’s had. Last time I ran 5w30 with some Lucas in it to try to thicken it up and help with the lifter clatter. This time I was planning on running some Rotella T6 because I had bought a bunch on sale awhile back. I guess I used it all up and only had 0-20 that I stock a bunch of for some customers and my wife’s Lexus. That’s what the ranger got along with a qt of Lucas, so maybe it will be louder, maybe quieter guess I will find out.

 

[Dantheman1540]

Been wanting to do hood louvers for awhile, and since this thing oddly gets warm during long highway sessions I figure it can’t hurt. However these do not look good anywhere so they are being returned, and the larger one in the last picture is on order.

Anyone have good louvers that fit the 93-97 hood well?

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

In the 1st 2 pics, the louvers are on the wrong sides of the hood.

 

[Dantheman1540]

In the 1st 2 pics, the louvers are on the wrong sides of the hood.

How so? I flip flopped them all over looking for a spot that would look decent and couldnt find one.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Not sure how to explain it, but IMO the angles would look better if angled away from the center.
You probably tried that orientation and didnt take a pic.

 

[Dantheman1540]

Not sure how to explain it, but IMO the angles would look better if angled away from the center.
You probably tried that orientation and didnt take a pic.

Ah I gotcha, yeah I think I would have preferred flat ends and 90* corners as opposed to the angles. Should have looked harder at the pictures.

Unfortunately after driving it today I think the heads/gaskets are bad. Previously it only ever got warm after sustained highway towing. Which tbh is more than I expect a 30y/o mini truck to be good at. However today I let it warm up for 10 minutes because it was 37* and it did fine, until I got in the road to work cruising at 40-50mph for 5-10min. It got to the plant letter in normal very quickly for the first time ever. When I pulled in to work I noticed it almost immediately started dropping while at idle. So my sssumption is less cylinder pressure at idle and it’s fine but 2k rpm sustained is blowing compression into the coolant.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Look up "glove test".

 

[Dantheman1540]

I didn’t do the glove test but that is pretty neat! Never heard of that, I might do a compression or leakdown test one of these days but I think I’m actually in the clear and instead just an idiot.

So first thing I did was check coolant, about a gallon low.
Second thing I did was place a bleeding funnel in radiator and watch for compression bubbles, none.
Third thing was check catch can, I forgot to empty it during the oil change a few days ago anyway. It had more oil than expected but not trace of coolant. Neither did the oil during the oil change.
Forth thing I did was pull plugs all which were much dirtier than expected, but in this case dirty is kinda a good thing.

Then I turned the electric fan on and started jiggling everything to make it turn off, since I actually just cleaned up the wiring the same day as the oil change. Nothing seemed to make it stop but I did notice that despite sounding loud, I didn’t feel any real airflow in the engine bay. I had the plug backwards and the fan was trying to push hot air from the engine bay against the cool are trying to come in through the grill. Silly me, but the plug I had used was some cheap non directional plug I had laying around. I replaced it now with one that has a locking tab preventing backwards insertion and I believe I’ll be good to go when new spark plugs arrive tomorrow.