Parts questions on a rust repair adventure

[warmachine5500]

So, a family friend of mine has a 2011 4wd supercab ranger XLT. Runs great. Only 80k on the truck. I had Just refreshed the front brakes for him. While on the test drive after, the rear right leaf spring hanger ripped out of the frame. Rotten. The bed floor is rotted too. Couldn't see how bad it was with the plastic bedliner in there.

They are an elderly couple without a ton of money, so I'm going to fix their truck for them. They'll reimburse me for parts. I have already found a donor rear frame section w/ leaf springs and a decent bed. Since I'm going this far I've given the truck a good look over and noticed other things it will need, and that's where my questions will begin. The shocks seem to be original so they'll get replaced. Many of the lug nuts are swollen, so they're on the list too.

Transmission cooler lines are in bad shape. I can't seem to find any on rockauto or aftermarket sites like autozone. Where can I source these outside of a junk yard? Is the dealer the only option?

The stock rear leaf spring shackles are very thin. While the stock aftermarket options may do the job just fine I am wondering if you guys know of any aftermarket replacement shackles that are somewhat more heavy duty yet still reasonably priced.

Leaf spring bushings. The rear ones are a little beat so I may just replace them. Any recommendations on best bang for the buck? Rockauto sells energy suspension but they seem kinda pricey. What do you think?

All help is much appreciated!

 

[Blmpkn]

Can't help you with the cooler lines..

But I can say any ol new shackle will suffice.. I bought some no name china ones off of eBay for my truck along with their mounts, front hangers, shock mounts, and body mount brackets and theyre all 1/8" thick with nice looking welds and a decent coating on them. Certainly robust enough for an old couple.

I also just bought an energy suspension poly bushing kit for my leafs & shackles.. 60$ shipped to my door (eBay). Idk how much rubber replacements are but I didn't think 60$ was bad for the whole kit.. works out to 10 bucks a bushing but also comes with the added bonus of easier installation AND replacement once they wear out in the future.

Once you get the rig all fixed up for em, suggest they have it hit with some sort of fluid rust inhibitor.. fluid film/NHOU.. and keep up on it annually. If that's done, they'll essentially never have to worry about rust repair ever again.

 

[warmachine5500]

My plan was to do my best with spray cans of surface shield and advise a yearly touch up. A well equipped shop would probably be a better option for the cost though.

So far i can only find trans cooler lines part numbers on fordpartscatalog.com. dealer may be the only option but I'll keep looking. I'll give the energy bushings another look as well.

 

[19Walt93]

Get a roll of steel tubing, some fittings, a tubing bender and flaring tool, and make your own cooler lines. I'd be startled if you found prefabricated lines.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

So, if you can find someone with a commercial account that will let you buy parts at their cost from them, that can save you some on new parts. Personally I prefer buying from Autozone for anything they sell with a ”lifetime” warranty because I can easily get it replaced when it wears out (brakes, shocks, etc).

Standard shackles and spring hangers are fine. Check around the upper shock mounts, frames like to rot there and those hangers tend to rot because of the shape. I drilled a 1/4” drain hole in the new upper shock mounts at the bottom of the pocket. I also have some grease/used motor oil that I paint in and around the rust prone areas like that or where the frame sections join and overlap. I also took the time to weld some reinforcement in on mine. I didn’t film back when I did my half frame swap, but I do have some newer video where I had to section part of a front frame rail.

I went with Energy Suspension poly bushings. The black ones. Rubber bushings are supposed to be a little softer of a ride but they usually almost require being pressed in. I just burn the old bushings until I can force them out then just grease it and shove poly bushings in. I don’t have a press yet.

Transmission cooler lines… they are 3/8” line. I don’t know of anyone making them, but I’m getting ready to replace a set in the near future. I’ve made these before for stuff, but the last set I made I didn’t have an original line to go by so it’s not super neatly done. But they were the first I made using my new procedure. 3/8” aluminum line from Summit Racing and I put a -6AN joint at the front of the motor so you don’t have a really long and unwieldy line. I thought about bending up an extra couple lines when I make this next set just to have them.

 

[warmachine5500]

For cooler lines, I can see two of the three on the Ford parts website. About $80 for the two.

I have also found linestogo.com. Pricey, but they're made from stainless. That set comes with all three.

 

[warmachine5500]

Transmission cooler lines… they are 3/8” line. I don’t know of anyone making them, but I’m getting ready to replace a set in the near future. I’ve made these before for stuff, but the last set I made I didn’t have an original line to go by so it’s not super neatly done. But they were the first I made using my new procedure. 3/8” aluminum line from Summit Racing and I put a -6AN joint at the front of the motor so you don’t have a really long and unwieldy line. I thought about bending up an extra couple lines when I make this next set just to have them.

I got the energy bushings. They seem like they'll be easy to deal with. I have found rolls of aluminum tubing on Amazon for the transmission lines. Do you know off hand what fittings I'll need for the ends and what flares I'll need to make? I have an old school brake line flaring tool that will do single and double flares.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

You can do a standard double flare and use standard bits. I went to AN fittings because I went to a transmission cooler with threaded fittings so I have PTFE braided AN line for the flexible line instead of the normal rubber hose. It’s not necessary to do that exact thing. As for the ends at the transfer case and the radiator, I cut the stock fittings off and re-use them with a standard double flare. Usually the fittings are in good shape and the line goes bad. If you wanted to add a joint at the front of the motor to simplify the lines, you could use double flare ”brake“ line nuts with a union, that would be cheaper than AN fittings. Also, AN uses a 37* single flare. Brake lines use a 45* double flare (SAE) or bubble flare (metric).

 

[warmachine5500]

I also just bought an energy suspension poly bushing kit for my leafs & shackles.. 60$ shipped to my door (eBay). Idk how much rubber replacements are but I didn't think 60$ was bad for the whole kit.. works out to 10 bucks a bushing but also comes with the added bonus of easier installation AND replacement once they wear out in the future.

I have a question for you guys that used Energy Suspension bushings. How well did they fit? I bought the kit recommended from their website. Kit number 4.2156G. The bushings for the rear eyelet fit well. They slide into the eyelet with a snug fit. However, the bushings for the front eyelet have a significant amount of space between the outside diameter of the bushing and the inside of the eyelet. The bushings are about 3mm too small. I'm curious if anyone else has experienced this. I've tried attaching a video to display the issue but I can only post pictures.

After a week of emails back and forth with Energy and many measurments exchanged, they sent me a list of similar size bushings and had me select one which I felt might fit best. They sent the replacements to me under warranty. These fit much tighter. I'm not sure if it will be an issue yet. But the flange on the replacement bushing is not nearly as robust as the original. The original bushing is 2615 and the replacement is 2233.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

So, one thing to watch out for is that some of the poly bushings require the removal of the metal sleeve from the spring eyes that are part of the original bushings and some require that sleeve to be left in the spring eyes. I ran into a few problems. FYI, after I talk about the U-joints and yokes I go back to talking about the bushings and my sleeve fix

 

[Blmpkn]

The kit I ordered was 4.2134R and everything fit nicely.

 

[warmachine5500]

So, one thing to watch out for is that some of the poly bushings require the removal of the metal sleeve from the spring eyes that are part of the original bushings and some require that sleeve to be left in the spring eyes. I ran into a few problems. FYI, after I talk about the U-joints and yokes I go back to talking about the bushings and my sleeve fix

The truck I'm working on is a 2011 and the donor truck is a 2008. The leaf springs are the same as far as I can tell. The factory bushings had no outer sleeves. It's just rubber bushing against the inside diameter of both eyelets. As I said, the bushings for the rear eyelet fit fine. So they must have been designed to work without a sleeve. The front ones seem like they need a sleeve. I was thinking I could try to make a sleeve out of a piece of pipe if the replacements they sent me end up not working.

Seems pretty half assed on Energys part to put these bushings on the market claiming they are compatible with a year/make/model when they aren't. They must know some later model trucks don't come with an outer sleeve. If an outer sleeve is required for use, it should be included in the kit. I realize the end user can get creative and modify, but if that's the case, the instructions should say so. We shouldn't have to cobble wobble stuff together to make their product work.

I have attached pictures of the replacement bushing they sent installed. As you can see, the outer flanges of the warranty (2233) bushing are quite a bit smaller than the flanges on the bushing that came with the kit (2615). I'll follow up with how it works out when I install the springs.

 

[warmachine5500]

The kit I ordered was 4.2134R and everything fit nicely.

What year is your Ranger? Did the factory leaf spring bushings have outer sleeves?

 

[Blmpkn]

What year is your Ranger? Did the factory leaf spring bushings have outer sleeves?

Mines a 96, neither end of the leafs had sleeves.

 

[warmachine5500]

Interesting. I installed the 2233 bushings but once I put a shackle over them i wasnt happy with the fit. Would it have been ok? Probably. But instead i bought a piece of exhaust pipe (Nickson 17631), cut a couple pieces to length, and pressed them into the eyelets with a ball joint press. The correct bushings now fit well.

I ended up buying the transmission cooler lines from LinesToGo.com. The fit is very good (would have been even better if I was working on a lift and had more patience), the biggest selling point was FREE overnight shipping. They actually arrived next day.

Assembly continues. I had to cut the rear brake hoses out of the frame bracket because they were rusted solid. Donor frame had a different bracket, so I had to salvage it. Somebody replaced these rear brakes and rotors not too long ago because the pads have alot of life and the rotors are nice. But they must have been looking for a quick payday because the slide pins are nearly seized, one of the boots is torn, the rear intermediate parking brake cables are swollen with rust and seized, the parking brake shoes are long dead, and the parking brake levers are rusted fast. And one of the bleeders is broken off. can't stop now.