What did you do to your Ranger today? (Part Deux!)

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Well, as soon as I’m done with this cup of coffee, I’m gonna start throwing parts at the Ranger. With luck, it will be ready to be fired up for the first time later today.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Well, so far a couple pesky tasks out of the way and about to go whole hog at it. Got some music going and in the zone and we be wrenching! Well, I be wrenching anyway.

Ex messaged and said her dog has to be put down. I said sorry, I’m fixing the truck today. Not much I could do anyway. It’s not that I don’t care at all, it’s that I don’t really feel comfortable driving the F-150 out there leaking gas and the Ranger isn’t done yet so… we are bending wrenches.

 

[cbxer55]

Put a new grill on it. The old one, one of the lower mounts was busted and it was cracked in three places. Ordered it black, but it effin came chrome. No one would paint it. Took it to a "Wrap" shop near me, and they did an excellent job wrapping it in Satin Black. Turned out great! Now for a new bumper, likely wrapped the same color. Then I'll have them wrap the hood and wiper area in the same color. Maybe the roof between the doors and the tail gate. Time will tell.

BTW, the grill / headlight surround on my 04 LIGHTNING was also busted. Took me a while to find one, but found a chrome unit at a local pickup truck salvage yard. Once again, no one would paint it. Same wrap shop wrapped it in Oxford White. Turned out beautiful. Looks like new and it matches the paint around it perfectly.

Man, this wrap stuff is great!

And quite possibly, since the two grills are chromed under the wrap, they may be stronger and more resistant to cracks than an un-chromed piece?

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Well… she lives… has a pretty mighty roar out of the open headers. Pretty sure the entire neighborhood now knows it runs

still got a few things to do before it goes for exhaust, but hot dang she rumbles! And there was zero hesitation to start. GrrrROAR!

 

[Vindictus]

Called around today and found a rear sway bar at my favorite junkyard
Good reason to leave work early Friday

 

[scotts90ranger]

So far have the rear driveline removed, front driveline unbolted from the transfer case, transmission drained (oil is black and gross and bunch of fines on the drain plug magnet...) and 4 of 5 transfer case bolts loosened (didn't grab a 9/16 or adjustable wrench to get the linkage off so I could get to the 5th). Stopped for dinner, we'll see if I can get the transfer case dropped at least tonight...

 

[ekrampitzjr]

Removed ugly rusted ball which I will never use because if I ever tow anything it'll be on a Class 3 hitch. I have the filler which came with the truck (!) but might leave it out (1) it doesn't go flush, it's larger than the rebate and (2) I hear they get lost so if I do use it I'd attach it underneath somehow, maybe a piece of dowel and drill thru and put a cotter pin or something. I think it looks ok without it. Rear bumper could well get replaced anyway later.
PB Blaster is great, far better than WD40 for loosening up rusted stuff. Got that tip from TRS.
View attachment 89448View attachment 89449View attachment 89450

WD-40 is not really intended as a penetrant for freeing rusted fasteners. Its best use is lubricating hinges and the like.

PB Blaster works, but it seems to be a little thick in some applications. Kroil and CRC Freeze-Off are two of the best penetrants. Kroil in particular has worked near-miracles for me, but it's hard to find on shelves.

 

[ekrampitzjr]

Put a new grill on it. The old one, one of the lower mounts was busted and it was cracked in three places. Ordered it black, but it effin came chrome. No one would paint it. Took it to a "Wrap" shop near me, and they did an excellent job wrapping it in Satin Black. Turned out great! Now for a new bumper, likely wrapped the same color. Then I'll have them wrap the hood and wiper area in the same color. Maybe the roof between the doors and the tail gate. Time will tell.

BTW, the grill / headlight surround on my 04 LIGHTNING was also busted. Took me a while to find one, but found a chrome unit at a local pickup truck salvage yard. Once again, no one would paint it. Same wrap shop wrapped it in Oxford White. Turned out beautiful. Looks like new and it matches the paint around it perfectly.

Man, this wrap stuff is great!

And quite possibly, since the two grills are chromed under the wrap, they may be stronger and more resistant to cracks than an un-chromed piece?

Pics, doggone it, pics!

 

[cbxer55]

Pics, doggone it, pics!

I know. Haven't had any sun since I got these done. Raining today. Maybe this weekend. Weather looks fairly docile.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

This truck…

It was back to work on the green Ranger today. Took care of a couple little things, then got the fender liners and front fenders loosely on. For the most part that went well. For some reason they’re making the header panel sit low though and I’m not really sure what’s going on. There might be enough adjustment in the brackets, but I don’t think it’s supposed to be that low. Especially because the grill doesn’t clear the bumper. Again, I might be able to lower the bumper and make it work, but I don’t think I should have to. Gonna have to give it a good inspection when I’m more clear headed.

Hooked up the laptop to bleed the ABS and checked codes. It’s saying a coolant sensor is out of range, despite both being new. Not sure what to make of that unless I have a dead sensor. Also said the intake air temp sensor was not reading. I have a sensor but can’t find a plug in the harness for it. Couple dumb codes (4x4 module can’t see the transfer case). ABS battery voltage too low. Huh.

Tested ABS module. Tests fine. Still a low voltage complaint. Battery at 11.8 volts. Tried to do an ABS bleed. Says activating valves then says that the service procedure was interrupted and stops. Still the low voltage code, still tests fine, still won’t service bleed. I’m lost.

Figure I’ll deal with it later, at least I can put the rear driveshaft in. Nope, because I can’t find my locktite. @sgtsandman , you have any idea where it might have ended up? Lol, I can’t find it. Look under the truck and find a puddle of brake fluid. From a fitting I never touched in this build. All I want to do is drive this thing…

 

[sgtsandman]

This truck…

It was back to work on the green Ranger today. Took care of a couple little things, then got the fender liners and front fenders loosely on. For the most part that went well. For some reason they’re making the header panel sit low though and I’m not really sure what’s going on. There might be enough adjustment in the brackets, but I don’t think it’s supposed to be that low. Especially because the grill doesn’t clear the bumper. Again, I might be able to lower the bumper and make it work, but I don’t think I should have to. Gonna have to give it a good inspection when I’m more clear headed.

Hooked up the laptop to bleed the ABS and checked codes. It’s saying a coolant sensor is out of range, despite both being new. Not sure what to make of that unless I have a dead sensor. Also said the intake air temp sensor was not reading. I have a sensor but can’t find a plug in the harness for it. Couple dumb codes (4x4 module can’t see the transfer case). ABS battery voltage too low. Huh.

Tested ABS module. Tests fine. Still a low voltage complaint. Battery at 11.8 volts. Tried to do an ABS bleed. Says activating valves then says that the service procedure was interrupted and stops. Still the low voltage code, still tests fine, still won’t service bleed. I’m lost.

Figure I’ll deal with it later, at least I can put the rear driveshaft in. Nope, because I can’t find my locktite. @sgtsandman , you have any idea where it might have ended up? Lol, I can’t find it. Look under the truck and find a puddle of brake fluid. From a fitting I never touched in this build. All I want to do is drive this thing…

I don't remember what I did with it. Put it in the back of the truck??? Maybe I did a dummy and set it on top of the tools on one of the tool boxes and it fell in??? I just checked to pockets of the coat I wore. It's not there. So, it's there somewhere.

As far as the battery voltage, I think 11.8 might be too low and thus why it's throwing a fault. I hope the brake line leak is where you can get at it easy enough to fix.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I don't remember what I did with it. Put it in the back of the truck??? Maybe I did a dummy and set it on top of the tools on one of the tool boxes and it fell in??? I just checked to pockets of the coat I wore. It's not there. So, it's there somewhere.

As far as the battery voltage, I think 11.8 might be too low and thus why it's throwing a fault. I hope the brake line leak is where you can get at it easy enough to fix.

I thought I had seen it somewhere and put it back where I was keeping it, but I dunno. I looked around a bit and couldn’t find it. Doesn’t mean it’s not here, just that I haven’t found it yet, lol. Was hoping maybe you would remember setting it somewhere, lol.

I wouldn’t have thought that 11.8 would be too low, but I could put the charger on it and top it off. Wouldn’t be the first time I had something be cranky like that. Little concerned that my new battery is that low. I’ve been pulling the battery terminal when I don’t need it connected because I don’t want to be draining it when I’m working on it.

The leak is by the T-case. The fitting I had a fight with when I did the line originally.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Oh, yeah, the good stuff…

 

[JoshT]

Nothing to mine except drive it, but I did acquire and located parts for doing what @lil_Blue_Ford is doing up there.

I'm planning the Edge nose, 06+ front bumper, and later model tail lights and a few other items on the exterior. For the interior the goal is bucket seats from something, a center console, and a color change.

I located a local parts truck a few weeks ago. Stopped in to look at it last week, but wasn't able to get back until today due to school and schedule. Parts truck was an extended cab edge that had been rolled over. Mostly stripped, but it had a header panel, shorty center console, and door panels I was going to grab. Didn't really want the shorty console, but it would tide me over from the time I got buckets until I scored a full length console. Got there today and pulled the header panel, pulled the center console, and started to pullt he door panels until I found one of them was busted.

Before heading in to pay for what I pulled I did a little snooping and found a couple of other vehicles on the property with potential. Both a fourth and a fifth gen Mustang that could potentially provide seats, and a couple of Sport Tracs.

Went in to pay for the parts I pulled and inquire about the other vehciles. The mustangs were a bust as he's planning to fix them. Both of the Sport Tracs are being parted. I paid for my header panel, put the console back and will be returning in the next week or two to get a full length center console and maybe some Sport Trac bucket seats.

IMO I paid too much for the header panel at $65, but I avoided shipping and got all of the little stuff that was going to nickle and dime me to death.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Well, today was a rain day, so no work on the Ranger. Ran some errands today with mom then got to work on the welder. Pulled the wire out and it was a hard pull. Yanked the liner and found 4 minor kinks and one major. Figures. Pull out the new liner and something doesn’t look quite right. Call the weld shop and give them the information and they go, yup, that’s wrong. So another trip back there since I need the welder up soon. Got back and got it together. For the heck of it, I put the new 10# spool in and will keep the little spool as a spare when I run out. New wire fed real smooth through the new liner, so I’m betting it should run nice.

Also heard back from the seller of my headlights, offered free return or a partial refund which will be enough to pay for the new pigtails which are already on their way. So since I really like the headlights, they’re going in. At some point I’ll have to figure out how to make the daytime running lights work since I don’t think my truck has that feature.