Ordered a clutch hose just now.

[Andy D]

Brand is called Centric. What am I in for? I got the transmission in today. I used a milk crate, some scraps of lumber, some longer bolts from old BMWs , a 4 ton bottle jack. It took most of the morning. No drama, I rocked and cribbed it up to the engine. After lunch , I put in the clutch master, and my 1/2 @$$ attempt to fix a bad clutch hose. It worked well enough to build up some pressure, but leaked pressure . I practiced tipping the CMC to bleed it. The new CMC is mounted on 1/4 by 20 hard ware to replace the original nuts that broke loose. The out board bolt is 2" long, with the in board bolt out, I was able to bleed, and set the push rod. But the hose is bad. Hopefully the end is in sight. I have replaced everything from the rear main seal to the pedal rubber. I have stripped stuff, sheared stuff. cut out and replaced rotted out frame.sections. Until I took the truck apart, all this stuff worked except for the clutch disk. It was worn to the rivets. The rest was collateral damage. Never had a clutch job take so long. Never had a clutch job include replacing all the brakes down to the backing plates. I bought a rust bucket.

 

[Mark_88]

That's part of why I had to give up my first Ranger...the firewall finally gave way and allowed the MC to take a good look at the engine...I managed to fix it by bolting in a wrench as support...can't remember exactly and I had pics but lost them...

The A-pillars were also shot on mine...and that's when the doors start swinging wildly when you open them...and can't close them properly...give them a good look over to see how much time the truck has left...

If the frame is in good shape you might want to shop around for another cab...or buy one outright that isn't so rusty...now that you know their weak points it's easy to be a bit more picky when you buy a new one...

I had my eye on my present cab because it was owned by a friend of my nephew...first thing I said to the guy when I met him was "I want your cab"...lol got it about five years later...his aunt originally bought the truck new and had it oiled every year...something I've been meaning to do but have only been driving it a year since the rebuild...

Anyway...keep at it...you're almost there...

 

[Andy D]

The cab is okay, the A pillars are ok. Judging from the sand that came out of the fender flares , it was run on the beach, This accounts for the frozen hardware. most of the rust is under the body and on the frame. The truck has repaired cab and bed mounts.
I do like the truck , it is the newest vehicle I've ever owned.

 

[Andy D]

Wife wants space for the greenhouse, I hope to be done by next weekend. I replaced the bad rear U-joint and got the 1354 back in. The little geezus clips were rusted in place and broke , despite a month of PB Blaster spritzes. I managed to dig them out this morning. Putting the U-Joint in went OK. Next will be the wye pipe.

 

[Mark_88]

I hope you didn't make the same mistake I did...put in a U-joint and didn't quite clean all the crud out of the retainer ring...when I put the retainer in it didn't sit quite right...about 10,000 km later my drive shaft popped out on the road...luckily it hung up on the exhaust and I didn't have to go back to pick it up...but the U-joint was toast...

I watched the mechanic do the replacement and when he dug the scraper into the grove I knew exactly what I did wrong...not an expensive mistake...only cost me an extra $100 because I had to take cabs between the parts store where I was located and the service center where they put it back together...then I walked back to the truck and installed it...been good for 20,000 or so so far...