ForOffRoadDriving's 94 Ranger Build

[CountryBoy78]

Congrats on the little one, good looking family you got.
Yep you got to love the liquid courage and the work it involves in the end
Any damage to the ranger besides the pinstripe?

 

[ForOffRoadDriving]

my buddy sent me some pics of his car after he got the wheels mounted, i still dont agree with it but at least its got a tasteful lift and wheel combo, not the jacked up donk look.

 

[Robert_1967]

Not my style, but to each his own.



Robert

 

[ForOffRoadDriving]

Well my tool box lid has finally been over powered by the gas struts i installed and as a result there are many cracks in the lid and around the hinge. I decided to scrap the strut idea and istead just make a prop rod that can stay attached at one end while the other end can be easily removed . Its not quite as slick as the struts were but its classier than the tire tool i was using previously.

 

[ForOffRoadDriving]

i finally had the resources at hand to finish the rebuild on the old Ausco jack that i was rebuilding X amount of pages ago. i had my buddy Raybob take the hydraulic cylinder to the shop he works at and with a 3" pipe wrench and a 5' piece of pipe he was able to remove the nut on the top of it. after i got it apart and cleaned up the reassembly went flawlessly, besides the filling with oil and cleaning up the floor part.

after i picked up the hydralic unit from him i gave his dad a hand with his new camping/ riding rig. what a beast! 1995 f-350, 4 door, 2wd DRW, dual tanks, long bed, w/ emission-less 460 cid and true dual exhaust with a pair of original 40 series flows. oh, and its got a crapper!

 

[ForOffRoadDriving]

after doing some research (emphasis on some) ive decided to sound deaden thumper in and effort to reduce the rattles. the sound system sound great when all the windows are closed, but once you roll them down and pop open the slider there is much to be desired. so after pricing out various brands and asking some people about what they used and their experience with it ive decided to go with Themo-Tec's "the suppressor" and i also picked up some 3M pads to put on the outer door skins.

the other mod that is on my list is also a soultion to another rattling problem. ive wanted a De-Sta-co latch for my tire carrier ever since i built it, but my home brew latch had worked fine until last week when i hit some gnarly washboards and it came open on me! good thing i made that beefy swing-stop with a healthy gusset or it would have gotten snapped off in a heartbeat. the clamp is smaller than i had pictured but i think it should work just fine, the only dilema is figuring out where to mount the catch for the latch.

 

[86 slo-vo]

the other mod that is on my list is also a soultion to another rattling problem. ive wanted a De-Sta-co latch for my tire carrier ever since i built it, but my home brew latch had worked fine until last week when i hit some gnarly washboards and it came open on me! good thing i made that beefy swing-stop with a healthy gusset or it would have gotten snapped off in a heartbeat. the clamp is smaller than i had pictured but i think it should work just fine, the only dilema is figuring out where to mount the catch for the latch.

amazon has those latches for $12

http://www.amazon.com/STA-CO-323-Action-Threaded-U-Bolt/dp/B0006NC612/?tag=959media-20

 

[Robert_1967]

make a hook and lay it on it's side, with a spacer on the bottom just thick enough for the u shape rod to fit under and to hook on to the hook, also extend the u shape bolt longer.



Robert

 

[ForOffRoadDriving]

Thats exactly what i was thinking, they provided the hook piece (its screwed to the u bolt in the picture so i wouldnt lose it) so i was just going to cut a piece of angle iron 2" wide x 1" tall x 2" long and then weld that to the bumper. then i can either weld or tap and drill the holes for the hook to mount to and then drill and tap holes in the pivot arm to mount the latch to.

 

[ForOffRoadDriving]

shit, $12 on amazon? i got mine from reid supply for $42.00 including shipping, it is the stainless version (324ss) but it still sounds like i got took!

 

[ForOffRoadDriving]

i got the doors done last night, I started off with the 3m pads on the outer skins, then lubed the window crank assembly with white lithium paste and an acid brush, then i applied the suppressor mat and tried to keep trac of the important holes.

it was dark by the time i started the passenger side door but it went smoothly and it was actually faster than the drivers side door that i did in the day light. im going to try to do the rear of the cab tonight, just have to do some more searching and see if i can find out how other people have placed the matting around the jump seats and rear speakers. i also want to put a few pieces on the inside of my center console and my cup holder to keep the vibrations down.

 

[ForOffRoadDriving]

I started on the passenger side rear of the truck tonight and managed to finish laying down the mat just as the bugs started to get bad. I ordered another roll from work for tomorrow night so i should have this wrapped up tomorrow, just in time for my 4 day weekend, for which i have already planned to do the slave cylinder on thumper and a timing belt overhaul on my neighbors 2002 focus with the ztec motor.

Heres the pics from tonight

Im going to order more of the 3M pads to use on the plastic trim pieces, but i might not get to those right away, especially if the paint warehouse is still out of stock on them.

 

[ForOffRoadDriving]

i finished up the sound deadening on the other side but neglected to take any pics, so ill have to revisit that area when i re-cover the head liner with blue plaid to match Karson's car seat.

 

[ForOffRoadDriving]

i finally had to change the slave cylinder in thumper, its been leaking since january but not so bad that i couldnt just fill it up a little and keep driving. it finally gave out on the first day of my 4 day weekend.

during the tear down to get the trans out i realized how nasty my starter was getting so i custom molded a funnel in hopes that future oil changes wont be so messy.

 

[ForOffRoadDriving]

the 3m pads came in, i guess its time to order a couple more rolls of the supressor and do the floor pans and the roof, then ill have a good opporunity to do the headliner.