Quite a Scare This Morning In My Truck

[Rangurr]

Ah, reminds me of last winter. My e-brake locked up on the drivers side while I was filling up with gas on the way to the ski resort (hella steep hill) anyway, the traffic was horrible, the snow was reported as 3" per hour, I was in a 1wd truck (open diff) with crap tires (goodyear wranglers), and yet, I was still passing 4x4s that had slid off of the road. No plows had hit so I basically climbed 11 out of the 12 mile canyon sideways before it got to be too much. I then spent a good 5 minutes sliding around and spinning one wheel trying to get turned around before I got the lovely opportunity to slide down the entire untouched side of the road sideways in 6" or so of snow

 

[brokemechanic3000]

Just because it gave you a scare in the morning is no reason to rip the shocks off that night.

Cool off there Hulk Hands

 

[Mark_88]

Glad you're OK...it could have been...ah, well, but it wasn't...

Leaky wheel cylinders, broken shocks...sounds like your Ranger is related to mine...but I had a broken spring shackle and leaky driver side cylinder...got the spring bracket fixed and then I plugged the leaky line...replaced the cylinder but haven't connected it back up yet...

What size tires do you have on yours? I've heard that hydroplaning is more likely with wider tires...but I've never had wide tires and was about to mount a set that I just acquired...so was interested in what tire size might run into problems...

 

[Andy D]

Big tires get tricky in rain or snow. I use stock wheels on my cars. The ones the suspension was designed for. The Rat is on 2 pairs of tires. They are 235 75 15s.

To the original poster. You were lucky. Several things combined to create a situation. After a few of these, I adjusted my driving to the conditions. Not just speed, but following distance. Its a PITA going toward Boston in the morning. Traffic is bombing along doing 70. And then something happens waay up ahead and next thing is all brake lights and screeching to a halt. So you leave a safe following distance and some yoyo takes it, trying to make his way through the traffic.

 

[Road Angels]

rains alot here Wa. St. and Iam in the mountains so I put 1 60lb sand bag on each side of the bed over the axle, helps alot and always watch my tire pressure

 

[1994Ranger$$$pit]

alright... i somehow missed this at lunch. This is my problem... i knew something didnt feel right when i took off this morning. no wonder i lost control.

so for 25 bucks, that'll get fixed. other side is next!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk 2

I just did both sides in my 94 Ranger.
Had to get the rivets out. Drilled out with no issues.

 

[jhammel85]

I'm just happy these mounts are so cheap and readily available. Should be easy too!

I'm running 30 x 10.50's. I'm still not sure if it was hydroplaning but I'm certain this mount and my wheel cyls are to blame at least partially.

I can't be mad. It's 26-27 years old, has 180k on it, Drives 60 miles a day on the highway and hasn't really let me down (*knocking on wood*). I'm OK with replacing what looks to be an original wheel cylinder and a shock mount that's just as old. That's A-OK in my book.

 

[bmerr98]

180k?!?!?! That's just getting broke in good! Around 7000 miles per year average. Way below what most vehicles get. I got my 1998 in 2008 with 145k on it. It's got 232k+ now.

Keep 'em rolling!

 

[jhammel85]

Exactly! I'm happy with that. I do think the A4LD was replaced though. The tag shows it to be an 85 and I doubt the dummies before me got a reman. The gov inside was printed as an 84 too. The trans was probably from a junkyard but...so far so good...

I bought the truck in Dec 2009 with 130k on it for a grand. Other than reg maintenance, I haven't done much. Body lift since the mounts were being replaced, muffler, tires, rims, stereo...that kind of thing. Damn previous owners really hacked up a lot of things but that's just how an old truck is.

 

[1994Ranger$$$pit]

My 94 has 160K on it and had 90K when I bought it.

 

[jhammel85]

I wanted to up date this. I'm good to go! The truck feels better than ever with the repairs. Here's the actual shock mount and the finished look on the frame.

The only "problem" I had was that I used an Air Grinder with a tiny little 2" cut off disc to cut the rivets out. The problem was that it made tiny cuts so you you chiseled it out, it just closed up and you can do to it again or try to work the metal a bit so it chipped off.

The 1st two were done with that and the last one was with the trusty old 4" grinder. Much, much better. Took two minutes, literally. I also painted the area up a bit because I embarrassingly nicked it a few times and didn't want to have little patches of paint. Figures the one time I do that i do it on my own truck...

Anyway, here are some pics: