Very Mild '03 Ranger

[nb11]

Ah gotcha. Yea I'd be Ok with a 7.5 if it already had 4.10's. But the 3.73's are good for now I guess. I'd definitely want 4.10's if I get 31's. I guess if a want to SAS it I should start collecting the other parts first.

 

[Ranger Sport Honduras]

Good call. i had 30s and 3.73 and it was a dog, then i got the 4.10 and it was a bull, but it felt a bit too slow. then i got the 31s and its good.

i would love to SAS mine too.

 

[DisturbedMXer8]

Beautiful truck, man. Loving those black wheels. Nice idea with that box, too...

 

[nb11]

Beautiful truck, man. Loving those black wheels. Nice idea with that box, too...

Thank you, sir. This thing has been giving me fits. It developed a leak in the radiator, so I patched it for the time being, knowing it wouldn't last. It got me down the road for a little while, then sprung a huge leak after getting home from the store. I put a new radiator in yesterday, and on the way home from class today it went "POP flapapapapapapapapap." Blew out spark plug #2. Ugh. Luckily Napa had a helicoil kit in stock so I just finished installing one, hopefully it'll hold. If not, I don't think I can do a larger helicoil
Oh well. Maybe it'll stay fixed for a while. Maybe I'll need a new head. I do know one thing, though. If this engine has a catastrophic failure, I'm goin' 4.0 or 5.0

 

[03ranger30]

Nice looking truck man! I really like those headlights, that is on soon-to-do-hopefully-soon list.

On those Soft 8s, did the stock hubs just pop right back on?

 

[nb11]

Yep, I used the stock lug nuts and the hub caps attach to those. I rocked them chrome for a while, but painted them black. Actually, I sprayed them with gloss black and clear coat, but put too many/too heavy coats and they wrinkled up to a nice flat finish. I like them.

I personally think my truck would look better covered in dirt, but its all pavement here. I'm looking forward to hitting up some dirt roads when I go visit my girlfriend for Thanksgiving. See if I can't get stuck

 

[nb11]

I had a cool idea for a new shift knob. Had this old junk piston laying around from my RM250. For some reason, it decided to break a ring on a fresh top-end, screwing up the piston, part of the exhaust/power valve, and the cylinder.

So I started removing the old knob. I read that all you had to do was pull, but this thing was STUCK. If Ford made other parts as substantial as they make their shift knobs, they'd have even tougher trucks. I resorted to cutting/breaking/grinding the old one off.

The rubber cap and plastic that was behind it.

The core of the knob. I was trying to grind it down, and the heat from the grinder on it finally released the glue so I could pull it off.

I JB welded a bolt to the inside of the piston, and the bolt fits in the end of the shifter. It's not a real tight fit, and there's not enough meat around the hole to tap it, so I'll just glue it in.

Sorta copied adsm08's idea. I'll install it tomorrow when the JB weld has fully cured.

I've been reading various build threads and man, I would love to be able to do what a lot of guys on here do with their trucks, with the SAS's and cages and all that cool stuff. So ready to go back to my old job over the summer to earn some monies. Wanna buy a welder so bad

 

[nb11]

And here it is installed. Fits in my hand pretty well, and its quite comfy. Sorry for the low-quality cell phone pics.

 

[nb11]

I've come up with a list of what my truck needs. Pretty much in order of importance.
-Lower ball joints (boots are torn, uppers seem mint)
-Camber alignment cams
-Alignment job
-Transmission fluid change (will use royal purple synthetic)
-Rear end fluid change (RP synthetic)
-Shocks on all 4 corners (probably some cheaper monroe's)
-Headlights

Want list

-Hella 500's
-BFG a/t's or km2's 30x9.50
-Fullsize spare


Expecting to accomplish the needs list for around $500. Won't happen anytime soon, so by the time all that's out of they way I'll need new tires, and I'll upgrade to BFG's. I figure that if I have an organized list, I'll be less likely to waste money on useless crap lol.

 

[Ranger Sport Honduras]

Nice idea man, i like it a lot

 

[nb11]

Thank you, sir. I was admiring your shifter work, too, recently. BTW, I like your use of 4x4 emblems. Now make it a 4x4 so its not lying!

 

[Gotta_gofast]

I don't recommend royal purple. I would use AMSOIL products instead. In fact, look into the vendor section and you'll find a site vendor who sells the AMSOIL products. I've ran royal purple ATF in my banshee transmission (popular to run ATF in 2 stroke transmissions) and it glazed my wet clutch within an hour. AMSOIL I can run it 30-40 hours before I notice any signs of chattering or slipping.... mind you this is on a machine Yamaha designed to handle 34 hp and I am throwing upwards of 90 hp at it.

For the rear end, use severe gear 75w-110. The 90 weight gear oils can vary drastically, so AMSOIL splits this and offers the normal 75w-90 (lighter end of the 90 weight scale) and 75w-110 (heavy end of the 90 weight scale).

 

[nb11]

Hmmm. That's something to think about. Thanks for the info!

 

[03ranger30]

I like that shifter idea...might have to look into that myself

 

[06RangerXLT]

ill confirm the amsoil stuff. gotta_gofast, id recommend some motorcycle motor oil from amsoil. designed for a wet clutch application, my cbr's clutch never slips.