Remove AC Bracket - (Timing Belt) 94 Ranger 2.3 2wd

[robrilla]

My timing belt broke and I am having a very dificult time removing the AC bracket. I need to move the bracket to take the timing belt cover off to replace the broken belt.

I think there are 5 bolts holding the bracket on and I have the 4 easy ones removed. the 5th one is on the bottom of the bracket near the stering system.

I took off the wheel well cover to try and gain better access to the bolt but had no success.

All the manuals I have read simply say "Remove the bolts and move the AC/Bracket and Power Stearing pump aside" with no other information.

I have attached a drawing of where the bolt is (Bolt 13) but the drawing fails to show all the other parts that are in the way.

Thank you for any help you can give,
-Rob

 

[gjm4l]

Put one or two of the easy bolt back in snug then go blind style. Theres room for a rachet to swing below it and after its broken loose it should come right out. I said put a bolt back in top cause itl hold the assembly in place while you get that pita bolt out. You can stare at the bolt from underneath but i just went by touch lol. Goodluck oh and welcome.

 

[robrilla]

Put one or two of the easy bolt back in snug then go blind style. Theres room for a rachet to swing below it and after its broken loose it should come right out. I said put a bolt back in top cause itl hold the assembly in place while you get that pita bolt out. You can stare at the bolt from underneath but i just went by touch lol. Goodluck oh and welcome.

Did you take the power steering pump out first?

 

[gjm4l]

Nope. No need. You only need a little room to get to the belt. Course i did my 92 ive never seen yours but i dont think theyr different. Besides to get the pump off you gotta have a puller for the pulley. In the online magazines theres a good writeup but im not sure how detailed it is. The biggest pain for me was getting the balancer off the crank to get the belt off/on. Mine was rusted on.

 

[LearjetMinako]

I have done this so many times on my 96 Ranger. First, you need to unbolt the A/C compressor. Second, unbolt the P/S & A/C bracket. There should be a total of 4 bolts. 3x larger 13mm and 1x 10mm. 1x 13mm of them is under the A/C pump, the 2x 13mm are on the bottom, 1x 10mm is towards the of back of the bracket in the middle. Once you got the bracket unbolted, it is just a matter of lifting that SOB bracket just a little to the side. All while holding the A/C pump to do so.

 

[bad*dawg]

Yours is the clearest yet in getting the d**m cover off. Having problems seeing all four bolts though and planning on renting a puller for the PS pump so I can remove the bolts to better get at those bracket bolts I can see. Right now I see no need to pull the crank pulley.

 

[bad*dawg]

96 Ranger 2.3L a/c p/s bracket

Have loosened four bolts one behind the ac, one a little lower and to the right and two 13mm down lower but the bracket is still rock solid. Must be another bolt I haven't seen or found

 

[LearjetMinako]

You probably missed the 1x 10mm bolt. It is kinda hidden in the middle of the bracket.

 

[likea3andit]

I know I'm late to the party, but I thought I could try to clear this up a little after just now going thru the same thing...

apparently the 94' 2.3l SOHC is slightly different than the rest of them (based only on spending half a day on Google trying to find an answer). This particular truck has 5 bolts that hold on the mounting bracket. 2 are under the a/c unit; 1x10mm and 1x13mm. 2 are behind the a/c and p/s pump; 1x10mm and another 1x13mm. very similar location of the first 2 just about 6-8in. further back. I'll note here that the 2 13mm attach vertically and the 2 10mm attach horizontally. now the 5th bolt is 1x13mm and is under the p/s pump.

every other source I could find either said 3 bolts or 4 bolts. Now, either a slightly different year was being referenced or the 4.0. if it was a 94' Lima 2.3l, then it was in a different vehicle. resulting in a different mount (even if remarkably similar). I'm not sure if there is something different about this year and model but I found a lot of people with the same question I had. followed by the same 2 wrong answers. also when looking at images. you need to look very closely to the details. a 95' or 96' look almost identical, with only very small differences. in most situations you're fine watching videos or referencing similar year models. but apparently not for the p/s pump bracket.


EDIT: just finished putting the power steering assembly back on. To answer OPs original question. "how can you get to the bolt?" I had to remove the rubber return line before i was able to get a 13mm ratcheting box wrench to fit onto it. Because of the position of the p/s gears, a socket couldn't get in there.

This is the first big task I have done where the Haynes book and Google couldn't give me exactly what i needed. On the 94' you also have to remove the crank sensor bracket in order to remove the washer from the crank pulley. Not in the book or videos i found (2 bolts and some type of pin that took me about an hour to realize was a pin and not a rusted out bolt) I'm sure that OP has already figured all of this out (being that he posted this 8 years ago lol) but I had the exact same issues that he was having and wanted to post an answer so that hopefully it'll be here when someone else Googles it down the line.

 

[bmaly]

I know I'm late to the party, but I thought I could try to clear this up a little after just now going thru the same thing...

apparently the 94' 2.3l SOHC is slightly different than the rest of them (based only on spending half a day on Google trying to find an answer). This particular truck has 5 bolts that hold on the mounting bracket. 2 are under the a/c unit; 1x10mm and 1x13mm. 2 are behind the a/c and p/s pump; 1x10mm and another 1x13mm. very similar location of the first 2 just about 6-8in. further back. I'll note here that the 2 13mm attach vertically and the 2 10mm attach horizontally. now the 5th bolt is 1x13mm and is under the p/s pump.

every other source I could find either said 3 bolts or 4 bolts. Now, either a slightly different year was being referenced or the 4.0. if it was a 94' Lima 2.3l, then it was in a different vehicle. resulting in a different mount (even if remarkably similar). I'm not sure if there is something different about this year and model but I found a lot of people with the same question I had. followed by the same 2 wrong answers. also when looking at images. you need to look very closely to the details. a 95' or 96' look almost identical, with only very small differences. in most situations you're fine watching videos or referencing similar year models. but apparently not for the p/s pump bracket.


EDIT: just finished putting the power steering assembly back on. To answer OPs original question. "how can you get to the bolt?" I had to remove the rubber return line before i was able to get a 13mm ratcheting box wrench to fit onto it. Because of the position of the p/s gears, a socket couldn't get in there.

This is the first big task I have done where the Haynes book and Google couldn't give me exactly what i needed. On the 94' you also have to remove the crank sensor bracket in order to remove the washer from the crank pulley. Not in the book or videos i found (2 bolts and some type of pin that took me about an hour to realize was a pin and not a rusted out bolt) I'm sure that OP has already figured all of this out (being that he posted this 8 years ago lol) but I had the exact same issues that he was having and wanted to post an answer so that hopefully it'll be here when someone else Googles it down the line.

Do you know if the '95 bracket is the same? I am having a devil of a time getting this bracket off. One of the 13mm bolts broke.