RockRangerII refresh

[Josh40601]

Got on I70 and made use of the Utah Speed limits. It was about all she had. The soft suspension made it something I don't plan to make a habit of.

20160522_144615 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

I remember this as well. My buddy in his JK was cruising at 80 like it was his job, while D was doing everything to try and keep up. lol

Looks and sounds like you all had a great trip. I plan on hitting moab the week after EJS next year.

 

[RockRanger]

Explorerforum.com goes every year the weekend before memorial day.

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[RockRanger]

I decided to go wheeling this last weekend. Truck started running horrible around town. I tried cleaning the MAF sensor and it seemed to help for a bit then went to crap. So I installed a new MAF sensor.

20160627_144916 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

Then I took Bailey with me up camping overnight on a Daddy daughter overnight campout.

20160625_081941 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

I met up with Tracy and she took Bailey home and I went on a night run poker run. The trail run started at 7pm. I got back to camp at 2:30 am and in bed around 3:15 am. I didn't get any pictures as it was night and I didn't have anyone riding with me. The next day I wheeled into Brewer lake and did a little fishing hooked two fish but didn't land them. I only fished for about an hour though.

When I was packing up camp I noticed my glove box door got broken. Not sure if Bailey kicked it or something fell against it. I think it is the former. Anyone have one for sale this color?

20160627_201141 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

Today I changed the oil as I couldn't remember when the last change was. It wasn't terrible color but was getting there. I pull the old filter and find the last change.

20160627_144140 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

I marked the new one and install it.

20160627_141707 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

In 17 months I drove the truck 2900 miles. The speedo reads fast so actual miles is a little less. I was surprised by the miles driven. Next is to pack the truck as we are getting ready to spend three days in the Sierras wheeling fishing and camping.

 

[Rowdy Fitzgerald]

Pretty cool bud! Spend as much time with the kids as you can! If it means turning down a day of over time to make a day trip do it! My old man worked is butt off and spent very little time with us. I wish he hadn't worked so much. But it's a hard thing to juggle which is understandable.


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[RockRanger]

I try to spend as much time with her as I can. We are building with legos right now.

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[Rowdy Fitzgerald]

Atta boy!


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[RockRanger]

We went and did a three night camping/ wheeling trip in the local mountains. We went to Red Lake. The lake sits just above 9000 feet elevation. The trail is not extremely hard but has a few challenges along the way. That whole truck not running thing I thought I fixed with a new MAS came back and left me strugling on the way in. The truck wouldn't run if under 2000 rpms. Lucky for me with a doubler and not to challenging of a trail I was able to keep the rpms up and keep it running. Anyway here we are airing down .

20160629_135205 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

Truck was loaded up.

20160629_135217 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

We got to Red lake and setup camp. Bailey was exhausted from all the fun.

20160629_214450 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

The next morning I decided to hike to the top of Red Mountain. I had never been up there. It has an elevation of 8862 according to the gps on my phone. There is not trail to the top. Just start hiking up hill till it ends. The views were amazing on the way up. Here is Red Lake from part way up.

20160630_110751 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

There were some nice flowers along the way as well.

20160630_102453 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

20160630_102503 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

From the top you can see Coyote Lake. The trail we took in continues and you can also camp there. That section of trail is much more difficult.

20160630_103318 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

From the top is an amazing 360 degree view.

20160630_103307 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

When I got back down our friend Fred and his son Josh had joined us. He has a sweet Comando and teardrop traler he built.

20160630_180611 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

Here is the view of Red Mountain from across the lake from the camping spots.

20160630_144628 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

Then we decided to do some fishing. I will let the pictures speak for how the fishing was.

20160630_153319 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

20160630_154229 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

On the way out Tracy popped a bead on her Jeep. we jacked it up and using the York on my truck we were able to reseat the bead.

20160701_144306 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

My hilift adapter made the jack much more stable while we were pulling the bead on.

20160701_144317 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

Overall a fun time was had by all. Now if I can figure out why my truck won't run after the long pull up the hill.

 

[RockRanger]

Jealous that my wife has a gauge on her York On Board Air system decided I needed one. My dash is starting to get a bit full so looking around I decided the perfect spot was where the electric shift 4x4 switches would be. I pulled the dash apart and pulled to vent and came up with a game plan. First I cut the back piece that will clip in where the 4x4 control piece clipped in.

20160705_120208 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

Next tapped the 4 holes to match some button head screws I have. Here you can see the two tabs on top and bottom that the original piece clips into. Mine clips into the same holes.

20160705_131141 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

20160705_131135 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

Then I made a small plate that would secure a gauge I had laying around to the front plate. I added a few tack welds to hold it all together.

20160705_120215 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

20160705_120224 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

Here is the panel all mounted up and reading how much pressure is in the system. I have something else in mind for the left side of the panel.

20160705_133204 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

 

[Rowdy Fitzgerald]

Dang you're a handy guy!


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[RockRanger]

I fixed my truck not running issue with a new fuel pump, filter and relay. So far so good. I also spent 6 of 9 days in the local mountains wheeling.

First I ran up to Bald Mountain. Fun relaxing and did a few of the harder side obstacles. My 5 year old isn't much for taking pictures so this is the only one I got.

20160805_145203 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

The next day we went to Red Lake again in my wife's Jeep with the family. No pictures here but was uneventful for us.

two days later I loaded up with my Dad as a passenger and we met a friend and ran Swamp Lake Trail. It is one of the harder trails in the local area. We took our time and did it over two days. The views we amazing the weather was perfect and the fishing wasn't bad either.

20160809_144446 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

20160809_145426 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

20160809_192524 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

20160809_195022 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

Came home for a few days and went for a day run to Coyote lake. The run to Coyote consists of going to Red lake then continuing onto Coyote. Once past Red the trail gets significantly harder. We were making good time and just about too the lake when I lost my steering. Got out to find a hiem on my panhard bar had broken. I had a spare in the truck with me so in short order we had the truck fixed and back on the trail.


20160813_121025 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

20160813_172907 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

20160813_172901 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

20160813_145510 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

20160813_145456 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

 

[RangerSVT]

Gotta love those long camping\wheeling\fishing trips!

SVT

 

[RockRanger]

Not many changes to the truck lately but it did roll 200k yesterday on my way home from Coyote Lake wheeling trip. I also was able to get one of the rare saginaw pumps that bolts to the power steering pump. It has a few clearance issues with my york that I am currently working thru before I get it all mounted. I also ordered the two core radiator to hopefully solve my getting warm issues on long uphill pulls.

20160902_160608 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

 

[RockRanger]

Went wheeling to Mirror Lake this weekend. While it is rather short at just over a mile long it is has the hardest non bypassable section of the local trails. we didn't have much trouble on the trail When we got to the lake we ate lunch and did some fishing. My daughter and a friends daughter caught 8 fish in just over an hour. Here was the haul.

20160903_135404 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

I also bought a duel core radiator to swap in my truck. The truck gets a bit warmer then I like on some of the long hills to the trails. Here it is next to the single core I removed.

20160904_165555 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

When swapping the radiator you need to swap the fan shroud and the lower radiator hose as well. The fan shroud came out of a first gen explorer at pick and pull. The single core shroud measures roughly 4.5" deep. The duel core is 3" The lower hose I purchased new is for an automatic ranger. I think the lower I took off was the original hose.

20160904_165646 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

20160904_164929 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

Now to finish my steering pump swap and I can fire it up.

 

[Petemoss]

Im excited to see your steering pump swap, im getting ready to start the same swap.

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[RockRanger]

To install the rare saginaw pump like many things it couldn't go smoothly. Fist thing was that the fill neck would end up directly under my York Compressor. Fortunately the housing is steel. So a few cuts with a cut off wheel I took a pie shape piece out so I could get fluid in the pump.

20160829_181305 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

20160829_181254 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

After bending it over and welding it back together with some ugly welds I put it back together. I covered the welds with rtv in case I had any pin holes to stop any leaks. With my pump I got the engine bracket so I didn't have to do any clearancing on the bracket. When I went to put the pulley back on the pump the center hole was stripped. So I had to redrill and tap it so I could get the pulley back on. Then I got it bolted back into the truck. I also converted two of the the bolts holding my york to studs.

20160906_134145 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

The shaft of the new pump sits higher which made the pump pulley hit one of my York idler pulleys. Fortunately I was able to drill a new hole and re locate the idler and reuse the same belt. Here is everything bolted back up. Notice how if I wouldn't have modified the filler neck it wouldn't have let me get fluid in around my York.

20160907_095631 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

Then it came time to hook up the fluid lines. The low pressure side went right on. When it came time to do the High Pressure side I ran into trouble. The ranger line is Metric and the pump end is SAE. On my pump they were also different types of fittings as well. So the line would thread in, it would not seal. So I took it back apart and went to a few different hydraulic shops and finally found one that could make the line I needed. He took the hard metal ranger line coming out of the box and then crimped new fittings and hoses to it. Then put the correct end for the pump on the other. I put it all in and fired up the truck. Turned the wheel slightly and blew fluid all over the garage truck and motor. I missed tightening one of the fittings. Once that fitting was tightened no more leaks. Here you can kind of see the new line I had made.

20160907_095646 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

20160907_095652 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

So far I have only pulled it in and out of the garage to clean up the mess I made. It is much quieter then the old pump and is a good starting point when I eventually add ram assist to the steering.