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

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I was up in the hickory in the front yard again. Had to retrieve some stuck gear and lopped a few more branches off. Had a little mishap where the one branch was bigger/heavier than I thought, almost took dad off his feet and whipped the tree around pretty good (had it roped to lower it, but only one wrap around another tree, should have probably had two or three wraps). Going to have to section the other bigger branches more than I thought, I don’t think even rigging the truck winch to lower them would work safely. The three at the top are all twice the size of the one I cut today. Also hickory is some tough wood. I’ve pretty well destroyed a carbide tipped pruning blade in the sawzall.

 

[pjtoledo]

yesterday I drove the 2005 about 6 hours to central Kentucky to buy a 97 manual transfer case.
due to congestion on Interstate 75 I decided to take the old 2 lane route back on US 68.
made for a nice scenic drive.

 

[Rick W]

Ranger rear window is D-O-N-E. Took 31 #14 X ¾" sheetmetal screws from Farmers Co-op, a new flap disc for final trimming and lots of elbow grease LOL. Also one recharge on a DeWalt battery. These old hands are stiff and sore tonight......

Also - great tip on applying the silicone.

View attachment 92632

I don’t want to sound critical, but you can’t see through it…,

 

[Roert42]

On the MARTA lines in Atlanta (subway), if you put a $20 bill in the machine for a $3 ticket, it gives you all the change in the dollar coins. I still haven’t figured out how the crooks make money off of that. It’s a pain in the butt

I’ve had vending machines do that to me before.

Accepts $1,$2,$5,$10, and $20.

Great, I only have a $20. Buys $1 soda.

Spits out $19 one dollar coins.


-_-

 

[sgtsandman]

yesterday I drove the 2005 about 6 hours to central Kentucky to buy a 97 manual transfer case.
due to congestion on Interstate 75 I decided to take the old 2 lane route back on US 68.
made for a nice scenic drive.

Depending on the traffic and where you are driving, not only is the scenery better on the two lanes but travel time doesn’t take a hit. The higher travel speed road isn’t always the fastest way to get from point A to point B.

 

[Roert42]

If you can cruse without hitting a bunch of stop signs I tend to get better MPG in the 40/50mph range anyway. Plus a lot of times it's about the same travel time or a bit longer, but physically shorter distance traveled.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Depending on the traffic and where you are driving, not only is the scenery better on the two lanes but travel time doesn’t take a hit. The higher travel speed road isn’t always the fastest way to get from point A to point B.

A lot of times, if I have to go down Pittsburgh way, I’ll take the windy back 2-lane that’s 40-50mph with 2 lights and 2 stop signs the whole way from Butler to Etna. RT-8, the 4-5 lane main road with the same speed limits but straighter has, I dunno maybe 20 lights the same distance. Maybe more like 30 lights. I can halve my time taking the back road.

 

[sgtsandman]

A lot of times, if I have to go down Pittsburgh way, I’ll take the windy back 2-lane that’s 40-50mph with 2 lights and 2 stop signs the whole way from Butler to Etna. RT-8, the 4-5 lane main road with the same speed limits but straighter has, I dunno maybe 20 lights the same distance. Maybe more like 30 lights. I can halve my time taking the back road.

There are people I know who just can’t wrap their head around the concept that the slower secondary road can actually be faster. “But you drive faster on the other road, it HAS to be faster!”

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

There are people I know who just can’t wrap their head around the concept that the slower secondary road can actually be faster. “But you drive faster on the other road, it HAS to be faster!”

Yeah, and they also claim that if you drive the speed limit, you won’t get stopped at nearly every light and that’s the biggest crock of sh1t…

 

[sgtsandman]

Yeah, and they also claim that if you drive the speed limit, you won’t get stopped at nearly every light and that’s the biggest crock of sh1t…

Some towns, you have to drive 10 under to make that work, as long as the people ahead of you don’t screw it up. Coraopolis is like that. The speed limit is 35 but if you drive that, you’ll hit every light. Do the same at 25, you’ll usually cruise right through as long as the people ahead of you do their part.

Beaver, forget it. They purposely unsynchronized the lights to the point that you hit almost every one of them. Their thinking is that if you stay in town longer you’ll want to stop in a local store and buy something. It just makes me want to get out faster.

 

[Roert42]

Depends on the time of day too. Some side streets get longer green in rush hour then they do early and late.


I know If i drive through the one town on my way to work, if it's before 7.30 or so and I do 60, I will hit all greens ( 55mph bypass) 55 is too slow. During rush hour you need to do about 45 to avoid the lights.

 

[Rick W]

Mailbox still kicking my butt, but Sweet Pea and the Missing Linc helped me out.

I built a sturdy skeleton frame all out of treated scrap pieces, had to buy a piece of backing board for the mortar. I have a rubber wheels wagon, kids type wagon but a quality one. I put the bricks on the frame while it was standing in that wagon. The four legs that go into the ground were about 12 inches, and the brick part is about 3 feet. I was originally planning on just muscling the wagon up the new steep driveway the city left me, but the wagon is wobbly with all that weight (and I’m wobbly with all my weight), so I wasn’t comfortable with that.

With the brick, mortar and grout, it got pretty heavy, maybe 200-250 pounds. Sweet Pea came by to suspect, inspect and direct, and suggested jokingly putting it in The Missing Linc. Later, when I looked at it, the height above wagon put the brick about the midline of the tailgate, soooo, I just put some old carpet in the bed, grabbed it solid, planned my place to fall over..,.

It actually tilted right up and over the tailgate completely under control. So I drove it up the drive, turned on the Code 3 lights, straddled the curb, cut it in to where I wanted, dug the 4 holes and plopped it down. 100 times easier than the hours I was fretting about it.

The cap is a temporary cap, I’m waiting for an architectural piece that will sit on top of a piece of granite (Craigslist). I’m also reconsidering hanging the mailbox off the front. I’m on a busy road and folks keep hitting it, so I hung it out front on 2x2s that I pre-cut about 3/4 of the way, so in case someone hits it, it breaks off and doesn’t smash the post.

My next step is to put a couple of lawn chairs out there with an upside down bucket to hold the drinks while we blue sky about how it should get finished up. I figure that’ll take most of the weekend

 

[ekrampitzjr]

Yesterday afternoon I replaced the driving-light housings in the front bumper. The passenger's side in particular was noticeably fogged inside. With the LED bulbs I'm now running, I wanted every advantage at night. The beam is vertically adjustable with a screw on the back, and after removing the old ones I pre-adjusted the new ones to match the approximate aim. The new housings give great light with the LEDs.

The new housings came off eBay and were cheap enough. Turns out Expeditions of the same vintage use the same driving lights.

It turned out this wasn't the first time the driving-light housings had been replaced. The ones I removed had stickers from an aftermarket company.

Last night I also tweaked the aim on the driver's side headlight assembly, which was a little too low. If the LED lamps are engineered well, they really make a difference, so you need to check your aim if you make this replacement.

The Auxito LEDs are bright white with no noticeable blueness. By the way, Virginia passed a bill this year, which takes effect in July, to ban aftermarket modifications that make headlights look blue. Numerous other US states enforce similar rules.

 

[ben_2_go]

The Strangler made it to lunch and back. She's picked up a surge and erratic idle. I guess it's time to stop cleaning the IACV and replace it.

 

[racsan]

Pulled the bed today, going to start on my frame patching tomorrow. Doubt it will be done by sun evening. Going to rig up a couple of 2x4’s across the frame and slap a sheet of plywood over the tires for the drive to work. Might order new bed bolts & new back shocks.