Project Life Support.

[RangerFabWorks]

nice. post a vid when your truck is horney.















i mean when it has a purple horney.

















i mean when you install the muffler

 

[koda6966]

LOL I love the name of this glasspack.

I sent somebody out to go get some clamps and a piece of pipe for me, he came back with completely the wrong sizes soooo I have to wait to put it on.

 

[koda6966]

Had to send the purple hornies glasspack back. It had a dent in it and I figured why settle for mediocre when I can have perfect eh?

I also made a trip to the junk yard and managed to drop 100 bucks.

I picked up...

charcoal bucket seats out of a newer style explorer (01+)
explorer shorty center console
explorer roof rack
front plate bracket
rear interior panel
stick on hood scoop (for my mower, lol)
and I think something else.. I honestly can't remember what it was.

I have to clean up the seats and install, from what I can see they're direct bolt in. The drivers is a power seat, but it looks like it's simply two wires so I'm ASSUMING it's hot/ground but I have to inquire on that. I can't wait to get them in, they feel SOOO much better than the ranger seats.

The center console needs to be dyed either charcoal or black, it looks terrible with the charcoal seats.

Roof rack is a PERFECT fit for my cap. Gonna install that ASAP since I have the bolts, washers, and grommets already.

The other things are simple bolt-on parts.

I also need to figure out why my tail lights aren't working. I've been pulled over twice already for them.. they come on with my brake lights but the headlights don't do anything.

Got my work cut out for me lol.

 

[koda6966]

Tails were out because of a broken prong in the connector, so I yanked the tail light wires out of both sides and hard wired them together. Works fine now, no more tickets.

 

[koda6966]

Got the seats put in..

The old Ranger 60/40 seats. They were well broken in lol.

And the new 01+ Explorer power seats, must have been someone small who owned it because they feel brand new.

Wiring them in was easy, I just ran a fused wire (#14AWG) back under my floormat and drilled a hole for a ground under the seats carpet. Then connected them to the stock connector from the Explorer, so it would look clean and I could take them out easy if I ever needed to.

Here's the connector, black/white was ground and black is hot.

I also spent some time figuring this bolt out, and then I realized someone got a socket stuck on it way back in the day (it was there when I bought the truck in '07) and they must have just left it. Oh well, now I have a nice Mac Tools 6pt 14mm socket.

Right now I'm working on installing the roof rack I bought for my cap. It's being a pain because my bolts keep spinning since it's just me and I can't reach the nut and the bolt at the same time. Pics to come when I get done!

 

[koda6966]

Got it on!

Looks great if you ask me.

 

[Clay Lorance]

Looks good koda, talk about a perfect fit, that explorer roof rack fits on your cap like a glove.

 

[4x4b2]

ok im not a fan of 2wd's or caps but i like your ranger, and i like that cap lol, fits like a glove

 

[koda6966]

Looks good koda, talk about a perfect fit, that explorer roof rack fits on your cap like a glove.

I was in shock when I mocked it up in the JY parking lot, perfect fit.

ok im not a fan of 2wd's or caps but i like your ranger, and i like that cap lol, fits like a glove

It might not always be 2WD, I'm hoping to eventually be able to SAS the truck and get both sets of wheels spinning.

 

[4x4b2]

i had a datsun 620 2wd that i use to wheel, went alot of places i didnt think it would have

 

[koda6966]

I have an 8.8 with a L/S in it that I'm swapping in for the better axle and gears. Hopefully I'll be able to get around more with that than my current rear end. I've been stuck on my lawn before when it was wet out.

I'm working on re-studding it and doing a complete brake job before I install it. Plus I want to put it on when I am changing my filler neck and putting on my fuel tank skid plate from my donor truck. It's going to be a lot easier to swap then since I will have the bed off.

 

[MountainMike]

I must say, the little rig looks great. Roof rack looks killer, seats fit awesomely. Right on Dakota, keep it up!

 

[koda6966]

Bad news, parts truck's tank straps are crap. Guess I'm gonna have to search some more.

While I was tinkering around with that (needed the above-tank crossmember and skid plate..) I pulled the dome light out of the parts truck (3 bulb) and replaced my single bulb one. It's SO much brighter it's unbelievable. Well, I suppose I can believe it since it uses two of the one bulb that my old light had for dome lights and then a big tube light in the middle.

Pics to come unless I feel lazy. It's only a light after all...

 

[koda6966]

LOL they're only 20 bucks I was freaking out because someone told me they were expensive. I would have fixed my truck by now if I knew that..

http://www.partstrain.com/store/det...3/XL/6_Cyl_3-dot-0L/SPIST136.html#eas-reviews

Just need something to sell in my part out thread that will give me some cash to buy it with. And maybe some money to buy a front shackle..

Then I just have to finish fixing the brakes on my 8.8 and I'll be ready to start tearing down my Ranger.

While I'm replacing the tank straps I'm gonna fix the filler neck. First I gotta drop the tank down a bit so I can grind the rivets off the crossmember there and bolt a new one in.

Speaking of crossmembers..

My ranger has three crossmembers under the bed.. going from the rear most back I have a bad, good, and bad. Parts truck is bad good good. Can I use the middle crossmember from the parts truck (mine is okay on my truck) to replace the rear most crossmember on my truck? I haven't checked to see if the bolts line up but I could drill new holes if they don't. It will be bolted on.

 

[koda6966]

While I was outside taking photos of some parts I was adding to the for sale list I snapped a picture of that light for kicks and giggles.

The old one..

The new one..

I HIGHLY recommend this swap to anyone with the single bulb light. It's so much brighter! The map lights are each the same as your full light, and then it has another brighter bulb in the center. This is at least 4x as bright as it was before!