Project Little Green Turd

[wizkid00104]

I have been really busy this last month. The GF and I have been going through the awesome process of buying a house...

Anyway, we close tomorrow afternoon After numerous setbacks and price changes, we wound up getting our first pick.

I am spending this weekend at the new place tearing up the existing green carpet and seeing if I want to redo the oak floors that are underneath.

Here are a few shots of it:















The whole gallery can be seen here: http://s286.photobucket.com/user/wizkid00104/library/Our First Home

As for the Ranger, Nick found me the crossmember I need for the frame. I need to order the longer rear shocks and that's about it. I just need some time to work on it. I have a feeling it will be on hold till mid May or the beginning of June. If I am lucky, I can squeeze a little bit of truck work in there

 

[wizkid00104]

Mostly settled in the new house. I will hopefully resume Ranger work this weekend.

F250 went to the garage while I was at work today. Rear brake line rotted through. I wanted to fix it, but it was no safe to drive. $400 to repair at the local shop. They wanted put new rear brakes on it too. That was going to be another $350. I old them I want the absolute bare minimum done. I need it safe to drive to my house and that's it. It absolutely kills me to give my hard earned money to the local shmucks to fix my shit. I always get rammed in the tail pipe when someone I don't know works on stuff.

No offense to all the good mechanics out there, I just can't ever seem to find them when I need them.


Sent from my iPhone

 

[wizkid00104]

Ranger work has been resumed

I got a good frame cross member from 1badexplorer this morning. I painted it and installed it this afternoon. For once, something went in easily



I also got the transfer case shifter installed and adjusted and the cab back on and installed with the James Duff Hardware kit. I loaded up a bunch of extra parts I had in Joe's garage and brought them to the new one in the house. I won't have my Ranger done for the ride in Ohio on June 1st, but I may come out and ride with 1badexplorer or I'll bring my quad and ride that if the park allows it

I may work on the Ranger again tomorrow or I am going to install granite tile in the entrance of our new house. I haven't decided yet. Enjoy Saturday night ya'll!

 

[wizkid00104]

Finally got the my man cave unpacked at the new house. I still have room which means I don't have enough crap The quad looks right at home too!





Let go Penguins!!!

 

[wizkid00104]

I am going to work on the Ranger again Saturday and possibly some on Monday. The end is creeping closer...

I think I'll be by myself again, so I am going to get as much as I can. There are a lot of little things I should be able to get out of the way. I found my Chilton manual for the Ranger a few weeks ago, so hopefully I'll be able to get the rest back together... Actually, its just a matter of sorting out the pile of parts that has to go back on... It didn't stay as organized as I'd like. I am anxious to get it back on the road because I am sick of feeding my F250

On another note, my power steering has been leaking for a while now. Everything in the system is less than 2 years old. Pump, steering box, hoses, the whole 9 yards. Any suggestions of what might be leaking or how to track it down?

 

[wizkid00104]

Well it was a failed productivity weekend... A friend from college came visit Saturday and I had a ton of errands to do. I did get the quad out Sunday and went riding with 1badexplorer up in Latrobe. I'll post some pictures of that later on. I was prepared to work on the truck yesterday while visiting my family for Memorial day and left my keys at my house. No one was around to let me in, so no Ranger work again... Maybe this weekend...

 

[1badexplorer]

I hope you plan to work on that ranger on sunday and not saturday. You will miss a good ride if you stay home on sat.

 

[wizkid00104]

I know I'm going to miss a good ride. I was looking forward to meeting everyone. Hopefully next time. Maybe you could get some of these guys up to West Co for Labor Day.


Sent from my iPhone

 

[wizkid00104]

Once again, house work trumped Ranger work and I wasn't able to make it out to the Spring Roundup. Hopefully next time...

Here are some pictures from last weekend when I took the quad out with 1badexplorer. Most of the picture are of a 1990 Bronco Truggy on 38's that got pretty stuck...

 

[wizkid00104]

I got some more done today. Front drive shaft is back in, shifters are installed with the floor plate in the cab, gauge pod is installed and oil pressure gauge is connected (Vac and wiring will wait for now, radius arm bolts are torqued, and the gas tank is ready to go back in once I get more bolts.









I rotated the tires on the F250 too. Brakes will be the next item to deal with there. Especially the rear brakes...








Have a great Saturday night!

 

[wizkid00104]

Just ordered bolts and extruded U nuts for the gas tank. I got stainless M10x1.5 bolts and matching plated extruded u-nuts. As far as I can tell, they match the stock size. Ordered a few other oddball items I need for other projects around the house too.

I got my refund for the cross member that didn't fit. I'll probably order some longer shocks this week and work on the Ranger some more this weekend. I probably won't be able to ignore the Super Duty rear brakes a whole lot longer either....

 

[wizkid00104]

I just found this picture today. Its the reason I do everything I do and why this truck has taken a good while

 

[wizkid00104]

Two of these are on the way from James Duff! 20.5" collapsed and 35.5" extended. I'll probably sell the 2 regular Duff shocks I have. If anyone is interested, shoot me a PM.

 

[wizkid00104]

LMC Truck Fan Kit for Ranger

I got my fan assembled tonight. It was just sitting in the garage looking at me so I decided to put it together and see if there was anything complicated about it.

There isn't (Not really surprising).

Anyway, I figured I'd throw up a few pictures if people need ideas for fan brackets and thermostats. I have included the instructions as well.








I am going to get a small water resistant enclosure to put the thermostat in when I install it. I have also decided that I am going to put a bypass switch around the relay so the fan can run all the time if need be (in case the thermostat shits the bed), a kill switch for the fan power, and a bypass for power directly to the battery. I'll probably mount all these switches in the enclosure because they will only be needed in emergencies. The thermostat is adjustable between 32-248 Deg. F so hopefully the extra switches will never need used, but I'd rather take the time to do them now then run into problems later. I will also put a 10 amp fuse in the circuit because that is what the thermostat is rated to handle. I will detail the install and probably draw up a little schematic once the truck is back on the road.

 

[wizkid00104]

The rest of my parts were waiting on my desk at work today. I got my bed bolt kit, my shocks, and my bolts for the fuel tank.

The shorter shock is a James Duff 8110, which is what came with my 3" lift.
The longer shock is a James Duff 8120, which is really long and will more than suit my needs

Collapsed:


Approximate ride length:


Extended:


From my measurements, fully extended I needed 33.5" and these shocks are 35.5" fully extended. The springs are pretty stiff, so I think I will be alright under compression, but we will see... It won't be the first thing I screwed up and it won't be the last.

Bed Bolt Kit from RangerFrameFix.com. Its nice quality and at $60, way cheaper than buying the parts from Ford or LMC Truck.



The fuel tank bolts are M10 x 1.50 x 30mm 18-8 stainless (with matching washers) and I think I actually ordered 5mm too short. But they should serve the purpose and at $0.51 each I can't complain. Replacement flange bolts in stainless were almost $3.00 each and they were made by ARP which was way overkill for holding the tank in. The extruded U-nuts are regular carbon steel.



I should be using all this stuff on Saturday and with any luck the bed will be back on an I can turn the engine over again!