Just Plain Stupied

[rrayray6911]

Looks pretty cool, can't wait to see it finished.

 

[Robert_1967]

it will never really be "finished", once he gets the insides done, he will change/redo something else.

But DG does do good work.



Robert



posted with a hot iron and a blue pill.

 

[doorgunner]

just use duct tape.

why didn't i think of that?

aaaaaaaaflakkkkkk!!!!!

 

[martin]

Hey DG, no new pictures for a couple of weeks. are you ok or do we need to send out a search party?

 

[Robert_1967]

we might just send a "party" to his house.

that would teach him to not post pictures.



Robert




posted with a paper clip and a glass of sour milk.

 

[doorgunner]

Hey DG, no new pictures for a couple of weeks. are you ok or do we need to send out a search party?

I've been catching up on a few things around the house.

I HAVE been whittling on the fiberglass backing for the headliner some more...when I got ready to install the upper windshield molding--I didn't have enough rivet-nuts to complete the task and had to order more R-nuts....

Here's a pic of the overhead molding patiently waiting for 6 years to get installed....

Tomorrow I.....(how many times have i sayed dat).....will clearcoat the upper molding after installing the rest of the rivet-nuts....

Let it dry a few hours while I.......BRACE YOURSELF.......glue the headliner material onto the backing.....

THEN......fab 3 brackets to screw the leading edge of the headliner onto.....

Then.....screw the headliner to the cab roof....

Then screw the painted molding to the front of the headliner......

Then admire it and drive the truck to SONIC for a snack/Dr.Pepper!





Here's the molding held in place where it "oughta" fit.......

Here's a pic of the molding with 3 fresh coats of paint....it needs a couple coats of clear to bring out the shine....

 

[doorgunner]

Looks pretty cool, can't wait to see it finished.

Me too !!!!!

 

[JayTee]

HERE is the 1st one.....I'M GONNA KEEP THE FRONT END DROP IN THIS POST TO KEEP THINGS TIDY........HEEEEEEERE GOES!!!!!

AINT THEY BEEEE-UUUU-TEEE-FULL sittin in the bed of the Ranger.....I picked em up at AutoZone yesterdee....(since I cut almost 2 coils off'n the stock springs a couple years ago to get the cheep 3" drop....I need full-length coils for the new drop beams to get the smoooooth ride again)...

maybe I'll mod the short stock coils (that are still under the front end) as helper springs on the rear end...since I took the overload springs off a while back to keep the rear end of the Ranger from hopping all over the place on these ruff Loo-z-anna roads....then Ill be able to load that Harley & pump up the adjustable air shocks for a smoooothe ride..........Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahhahahhahahhaahhaaaaa)



EDIT: WELL....BACK TO THE MAILBOX!!!



at the mailbox waiting for the delivery....( i needed a good 2 hour snooze anyway)

here's a good pic of the UPS guy unloading the carton......

taking a ride to the house...(i think my right hand is fractured...don't ask...LOL....gotta use the dolly to get the beams inside)

Here's the box next to the recipient (AKA '36/'89 Ranger).....I'll put em here temporarily....I gotta go get the truck inspected...the yearly State Safety Sticker expired...if'n I get stopped wiff an expired sticker--it's a $50 fine--a new sticker is 20 bucks....

MOAR PICS TOMORROW IN THIS SAME POST!!!!!!!


Allright....I managed to take everything outta the boxes just to see how purdy it all looked.....

O.K. They're in the truck...just like you axed for...any comments???? (waaaaahahahhahahahahaaaa)

The truck is jacked up/wheel removed/ and the 2 retaining pis are driven out of the caliper....

The caliper is tied out of the way (without kinking the brake-line)....

I removed the shock--but forgot to take a pic---so imagine it....

*********************************





The tie-rod is removed.......

I've raised the truck high enough that the passenger's coil spring popped out of the upper bracket once I bent the spring-tabs enough to release the spring....

I removed the spring retainer nut/the spring/andthe metal 2-piece cup that the spring was sitting on......

This is the bolt that held the lower end of the spring in place/and also holds the radius arm to the I-beam...I'm soaking it with penetrating oil and will loosen the nut allmost all the way until everything is unbolted....

I removed the pinch-bolt that holds the camber bushing in the top of the bracket....

I tapped a chisel into the pinch-slot just enough to be able to pry the camber bushing out with a screwdriver....

I removed the nut from the lower ball joint--it took some work to break the ball-joint free/a pickle fork & 5 lb. hammer/and about 5 minutes of flailing--waaahahahahhaaa.....then the spindle/caliper assembly dropped into my wittle hands...

The I-beam is stripped of all parts--now I'm removing the long bolt that holds it to the radius arm...

The pivot bolt is removed from the small end of the I-beam....

Now the I-beam--with a little tugging--drops out of the crossmember & out of the radius arm into my pile of tools......

Now I'm test-fitting the adjustable caster/camber bushing into the new dream beam...

Next--I test-fit the spindle/ball-joint assembly into the dream beam.....

Well...the dis-assembly took 1 & 3/4 hours taking my time....posting the pics took 1 & 1/2 hours waaaahahahahhaaaa....

After the LSU/Georgia SEC Title Game--I install the new dream beam assembly!


O>K......the drop beam got installed before the Saints game.....


Here's the pivot-bolt going in place.....

Here is the lonnnng bolt that holds the radius arm to the drop beam getting installed....

thare is the new coil spring stuffed into place......

this should be the metal cups which hold the spring in place being bolted to the top of the radius arm/drop beam...

this is the....i forgit...let me load the pic.....

ohhhh....i remember.....it's the newwwww shock bolted in place.

[IMG]http://i464.photobucket.com/albums/rr5/doorgunner118/FrontEndDrop19.jpg




hear is the thang in place with the camber bushing/balljoint holding it to the drop beam...

here is the balljoint getting castle-nutted/cotter pinned....

here is the adjustable camber/caster bushing already indexed according to the chart that came with it that I lost and had to find on the enternet in place so's I can tightened the pinch-bolt to the proper torque...

here's the caliper being installed......

here is the tie-rod bolted in place (which needed adjusting once the truck was sitting on the pavement)......

then i put the ite on.....tire on...drove it around the block....adjusted the toe-in IN on the passenger tire about an inch....drove it again & adjusted the toe-in IN about a quarter of an inch....drove it about 120 miles to settle the new spring/relax the new shock...it pulled to the right--had to keep a little tension on the steering wheel....I'll go and re-recheck the toe-in today & re-re-readjust it a final time---and also readjusted the camber/caster bushing some moar...





The toe-in was just right.....but the camber was negative--you could see the top of the wheel was tilted toward the engine...I removed the adjustable bushing & re-set it another 1/2 degree positive camber, then drove it down the street--it looks better, but the steering still drifts to the right a little...I'll work that problem out tomorrow by adjusting both tie-rods to the left a couple turns.




****DRIVER'S SIDE BEAM SWAP*****
the wheel is removed and the wrenches are ready......

the shock is removed.......

the caliper retaing pins are driven out.....

the brake caliper is hung out of the way...

the retaining nut that holds the spring in place is removed....

the original chopped coil spring is removed......

the tie-rod is removed.....

the pinchbolt that holds the camber bushing in place is removed.....

the pinch gap is widened a little to loosen the adjustable camber bushing....

I removed the lower ball-joint nut/screwed it on upside down & wacked it with a big hammer to pop the ball joint aloose.....

the spindle assembly comes aloose.......

the retaining nut that was hidden under the coil spring gets removed next....

the retaining bolt that holds the radius arm to the stock beam is removed.....

good thing I hosed the bolts down with penetrating oil.....

ratchet-ratchet-ratchet-etc..........

the pivot bolt is removed....

the stock beam drops down with a little help once the bolts are removed.....

the pivot bolt is greased up & installed thru the new beam.....

the lonnng bolt that holds the radius arm to the dream beam is installed...

the retaining nut that holds the radius arm to the dream beam is tightened down.....

the bottom half of the spring retainer "cup" is in place--the spring will sit on it--the upper half of the retainer will be dropped down and slid down over the bolt threads--then the retaining nut will be screwed down....

the retaining nut that holds the metal "cups" in place which hold the bottom of the spring to the dream beam....

the new spring is secured.......

the new shock is bolted in place.......

the lower ball joint is tightened & cotter-pinned.....

the adjustable camber bushing is indexed and bolted in place with the pinchbolt...

the caliper gets re-installed.......

I forgot to include a pic of the tie-rod being re-installed......


*****************oooooooopppppssssssss***********





under the front end view of the new beams.....

here's how it sits with the dream Beams....Identical to the chopped stock coil springs...but the ride is MUCH smoother...

My dream beams arrived yesterday. Yah, that box is one heavy son of bitch, and I know.. because I carried it a half a mile to get it to customs from my freight forwarder. Thanks to the US gov't bickering, the border guards had the car line up at a crawl.. .and I couldn't wait.

But I got inspired tonight to work on installing my beams. And as usual, things not quite going to plan.

Turns out I need a new balljoint, so I'll clean up the spindle and take it to a machine shop Friday to have them press them in for me. Aside from that, it's not that hard to install these... the biggest issue is of course dealing with parts that haven't been apart in 20 years... and trying to swing the BFH'ammer with enough whack to pop the ball joints, yet not smash the hell out of what good parts remain on the vehicle! Moahahahaah.

Hope it looks good when done. If not, I'll remove the transmission crossmember, replace it with the low profile one... drop in 2" lower coils, notch the frame and slam this baby even further.

 

[doorgunner]

Sounds good to me......just take yiour time using the camber/caster chart....it can mess with your brain.......(I actually had to eye-ball the pasengers side camber/I used a carpenters level also to get the wheel close enough in order to fine-tune the camber by looking at the adjustable bushing setting on topo of the bushing/then locating the setting on the chart.

I "kind of" rambled....but there's a lot of adjusting/readjusting when aligning an I Beam suspension.


EDIT: and driving around the block after each adjustment to settle the suspension!

 

[doorgunner]

Been taking care of family business the last week....hopefully will cover backing with headliner material soon.....

 

[doorgunner]

Still taking care of busy-ee-ness!

I've been at the hospital for 3 days off & on,,,,,,

But the good news is...............

My youngest daughter popped out another one.......

a 9 pound new Ranger Forum member!

She named him after her brother who this thread is dedicated to-----Blake......and to her husband's PawPaw------Wade.

 

[martin]

Thanks for posting DG, we were about to send out a search party.

 

[doorgunner]

Thanks for posting DG, we were about to send out a search party.

Time flies when you're running errands for all the inlaws & outlaws!!

And I've been taking my Son-in-law to chemotheraphy nearly every other day....he's having some kind of relapse---the doctors can't figure out why it is happening.

In the meantime.......I'm still trying to get the headliner backing out of the cab so I can cover it!

 

[TheTopher]

Been a while since I posted in here... Need to fix that.

 

[doorgunner]

Been a while since I posted in here... Need to fix that.

I am honored that you dropped by..................

Been a while since I worked on the tri]uct.....(what happened there?)