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

[Rick W]

Practice in heavier metal until you get good at controlling the puddle. Then start trying thinner gauge metal and learning how to fine tune the machine and using smaller rods.

practice, practice, practice.

Ditto, ditto, ditto…

After almost 50 years, I’m still using my stick welder, but it’s not worth a crap on anything thin. It’s really designed for things like angle iron and such. You can buy a wire feed welder at Harbor Freight for like $125 which is infinitely more controllable on light gauge stuff. I’m at the end of my journey, but if I stumbled up on an extra 150 bucks I’d still buy one today. After the few things I’m doing though, I don’t expect any more projects.

My direct advice would be practice, practice, practice

 

[Rick W]

My dad has a drill press, unfortunately it’s apparently defective. It was a brand new Delta, but the chuck wobbles. It’s pretty solid all the way up, but as you pull it down, the wobble gets increasingly worse. Delta refused to do anything about the drill press. A drill press is on my list of tools to get. Actually at this point I’d really prefer a milling machine. Just no place to put it right now.

I’ve done rudimentary turning and I’ve hand filed and sanded a lot of stuff. Most recently I turned down some leaf spring bushings. Energy Suspension said they were the correct bushings but they were not. I needed the project done, so the bushings got modified.

Hot glue guns have their use. I always considered them a hobby tool and not much practical value. Then I was helping a contractor buddy with some kitchen countertops and he whipped out a battery powered one to fix the shims in place. If a shim got set and it wasn’t right, it just popped right off and could be re-set. I used to brad nail shims but if you have to pull the shim, then you have to deal with the nail. I ended up buying my own battery powered one and it gets used for anything that needs a quick temporary or permanent hold (depending on the situation) and I’ve used it to make temporary plugs for stuff like the back of an AC compressor to keep dirt out until I could get it mounted and the hose on.

I’m not familiar with the Delta, but a lot of the chucks on drill presses and equipment like that are a friction fit over a cone shaped shaft. If that is the delta set up, it might be as simple as the chuck is not seated properly.

Put something soft, like a folded up towel, or a box or a piece of wood on the platform underneath the chuck. Then take a piece of hardwood like a piece of oak, put it against the top side of the chuck, and try to knock it down with a hammer. If you rotate it two or three times, and it is a friction fit, it should pop off.

Inspect the inside and inspect the cone shaft, for any defects or damage. You have to be very careful not to wrap yourself around the axle, but you could take something like jewelers rouge, put it inside the chuck, and the outside of the spindle, turn on the drill press, and gently push them together to smooth out any deformity. Then clean it very well, and tap it back in place by putting a piece of oak underneath it and gently but firmly bang it and get back up. Of course, making sure it’s centered when you do it.

My two cents, hope it helps

 

[Rick W]

Soooo, I’m not used to working on a deadline with my harebrained schemes. I spent last evening and a couple hours today just going through all the marker lights, tail lights, strobe lights, light controllers, etc. to make sure I have what I want for the trailer. I did the same thing with my scrap steel & aluminum piles to make sure I’ve got all the pieces I might need for doing the step up on the trailer, the truck dolly for the axles, etc. etc..

Turns out I had 90% of what I might need. I had to buy a couple of tail lights, the mustang turn signal sequencer modules, and a couple other little things. On the steel I was in good shape, and I’m very happy I’ll be pulling the pile down to next to nothing.

Here’s the rub, makes me nuts: In the process, I realized I needed a 9/16”x 1/2” shank drill bit for fabricating all of the spring holders and equalizer holders. It’s probably the last time I’ll ever need it, and none of the Home Depot and Harbor freight sources had one. I had to go to the big “real” hardware store (Howard Brothers in Atlanta), and the doggone thing cost me $25! I don’t think I’ve got that much in all the rest of the steel put together.

Anyway, with that drill bit, and the stuff I got on order, all I need to do now is put in the hours in the 90° + heat and torrential downpours to get it done.

(And, tee hee hee, if you think my upside down & backwards coupler is driving @lil_Blue_Ford nuts now, wait till he sees what I’m doing for the tongue/pin!)

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

My Ranger is back on the ground again, and closer to it now. I installed the DJM 4/5 kit. Between school and work it ended up taking 4 weeks, but the end result is great. Now I just have to solve my battery issues so I can move it .
In not-ranger news, I tried welding for the first time. It was stick welding, I didn’t think it would be so hard, I just kept blowing holes through the thin sheet metal. Maybe the other methods would be easier…

Thin material can be done with a stick welder, but it really shines with thick and tough materials. I learned welding with an oxygen/acetylene torch set (actual welding with proper rod). My first electric welder is a Lincoln AC-225, which works reasonably well, but I’m not particularly good with it. You also need a pretty small rod for thin stuff. I ended up buying a big Lincoln MIG welder, thing is 240 volt and holds a 44# spool of wire. Big heavy sucker, but it’s a great welder. Getting down to the end of that spool now. Dad bought a Harbor Freight Titanium inverter style wire feed welder which worked great up until it decided to stop feeding wire hot. I haven’t figured out what went wrong with it yet and of course it was out of warranty. I was irritated at not having a portable 120 volt wire feed so I picked up a used Lincoln Weld-Pac which with a new gun liner works great for exhaust and small repairs.

MIG and wire-feed are probably the easiest to learn. Torch too, but it’s a dying art I’m afraid. Still, I do find use for it at times. Practice is a big thing and there’s a few reputable people on YouTube that give welding advice.

I’m not familiar with the Delta, but a lot of the chucks on drill presses and equipment like that are a friction fit over a cone shaped shaft. If that is the delta set up, it might be as simple as the chuck is not seated properly.

Put something soft, like a folded up towel, or a box or a piece of wood on the platform underneath the chuck. Then take a piece of hardwood like a piece of oak, put it against the top side of the chuck, and try to knock it down with a hammer. If you rotate it two or three times, and it is a friction fit, it should pop off.

Inspect the inside and inspect the cone shaft, for any defects or damage. You have to be very careful not to wrap yourself around the axle, but you could take something like jewelers rouge, put it inside the chuck, and the outside of the spindle, turn on the drill press, and gently push them together to smooth out any deformity. Then clean it very well, and tap it back in place by putting a piece of oak underneath it and gently but firmly bang it and get back up. Of course, making sure it’s centered when you do it.

My two cents, hope it helps

Yup, it has the friction fit chuck (Morse Taper I believe it’s called). It’s not the chuck, it’s actually the entire assembly that holds the chuck and goes up and down that has movement. The farther down you run it, the worse the wobble.

Soooo, I’m not used to working on a deadline with my harebrained schemes. I spent last evening and a couple hours today just going through all the marker lights, tail lights, strobe lights, light controllers, etc. to make sure I have what I want for the trailer. I did the same thing with my scrap steel & aluminum piles to make sure I’ve got all the pieces I might need for doing the step up on the trailer, the truck dolly for the axles, etc. etc..

Turns out I had 90% of what I might need. I had to buy a couple of tail lights, the mustang turn signal sequencer modules, and a couple other little things. On the steel I was in good shape, and I’m very happy I’ll be pulling the pile down to next to nothing.

Here’s the rub, makes me nuts: In the process, I realized I needed a 9/16”x 1/2” shank drill bit for fabricating all of the spring holders and equalizer holders. It’s probably the last time I’ll ever need it, and none of the Home Depot and Harbor freight sources had one. I had to go to the big “real” hardware store (Howard Brothers in Atlanta), and the doggone thing cost me $25! I don’t think I’ve got that much in all the rest of the steel put together.

Anyway, with that drill bit, and the stuff I got on order, all I need to do now is put in the hours in the 90° + heat and torrential downpours to get it done.

(And, tee hee hee, if you think my upside down & backwards coupler is driving @lil_Blue_Ford nuts now, wait till he sees what I’m doing for the tongue/pin!)

Drill bits have gotten a tad pricey lately. So have a lot of things though. I just stumbled across a guy selling a box of brand new drill bits, think there’s like a hundred or so in there and they’re like 1/32 smaller than 1/4” and I paid $30 for the box. Probably a lifetime supply of those bits, but it’s also one of my common sizes (well, 1/4” is, but wobble these in the hole a little to ream it and call it good, for the price, why not).

I’m not going to be bashful about my concern over your hitch usage. I don’t trust those couplers used in their proper designed form, much less your version, and I think I have some valid reasons after having hitches fail.

 

[sgtsandman]

Soooo, I’m not used to working on a deadline with my harebrained schemes. I spent last evening and a couple hours today just going through all the marker lights, tail lights, strobe lights, light controllers, etc. to make sure I have what I want for the trailer. I did the same thing with my scrap steel & aluminum piles to make sure I’ve got all the pieces I might need for doing the step up on the trailer, the truck dolly for the axles, etc. etc..

Turns out I had 90% of what I might need. I had to buy a couple of tail lights, the mustang turn signal sequencer modules, and a couple other little things. On the steel I was in good shape, and I’m very happy I’ll be pulling the pile down to next to nothing.

Here’s the rub, makes me nuts: In the process, I realized I needed a 9/16”x 1/2” shank drill bit for fabricating all of the spring holders and equalizer holders. It’s probably the last time I’ll ever need it, and none of the Home Depot and Harbor freight sources had one. I had to go to the big “real” hardware store (Howard Brothers in Atlanta), and the doggone thing cost me $25! I don’t think I’ve got that much in all the rest of the steel put together.

Anyway, with that drill bit, and the stuff I got on order, all I need to do now is put in the hours in the 90° + heat and torrential downpours to get it done.

(And, tee hee hee, if you think my upside down & backwards coupler is driving @lil_Blue_Ford nuts now, wait till he sees what I’m doing for the tongue/pin!)

Deadlines are one heck of a motivator though. I had to make sure the trailer was ready by Memorial day the last few years for use in the parade so that those who can't walk in the parade could still participate. I really had to scramble to get each side sanded, sealed, primed, bed lined, and painted early enough that everything was dry come parade day. When the tongue bar broke a couple years back, it was the same thing so that it was ready for the next camping trip. It wasn't fun, but one heck of a motivator to get things done!

 

[bobbywalter]

Well, rain brought progress to a halt, so I’ve been working on my parts books for my trucks and searching various things…

Hitting a solid wall though. I bought a Jegs cage (Jegster Ranger 10 or 12 point cage, forget exactly which I bought) for my Choptop awhile back. I have part of it tacked and roughly fitted (halo bar, main hoop and front legs) in the choptop but the front legs are pretty close to the dash to try and give me enough room to get past them and in the seat (I’m really not a fan of how in the way they are, but I’m not really sure what can safely be done about it). At any rate, before fully welding it (and building the rest of the cage), I wanted to fit some tube clamps on the front legs so I could remove them if I needed into the dash (there isn’t enough room to even pop the panel free that goes around the gauge cluster and radio/HVAC stuff).

I bought the cage because it was rated and it was cheaper than I could buy the steel for. At the time I didn’t have a bender and nobody I could find local had a bender either. After I got the cage I bought a bender and a 180* die and some extra steel to match the cage. Here’s where the problem is, the cage is 1-5/8” tube (1.625”) and it’s 0.134” wall. I really would prefer interlocking clamps (I can find 1.625” external sleeve type clamps but I’m not particularly excited about that design). Jegs doesn’t sell any clamps I could find that fit. Neither does Summit. So far my searching has found a few rare places that have 1.625” interlocking clamps, but they are all for either 0.095” wall or 0.120” wall. The only way to make the 0.120 wall ones fit would be to turn down the ends with a lathe to fit 0.134 wall. I don’t own a lathe and with the exception of a buddy who needs to fix his lathe (and he lives in GA), I don’t know of anyone able to modify the clamps. If it wouldn’t be so expensive I’d be tempted to buy a 1.750 die for my bender and rip the Jegs cage out and re-do everything in 1.750 tube with a 0.120 wall just to have a standard size.

i dnt know man...your a pretty big guy....
i would be tempted to split it and slug it to widen it for exo. even if its just the top section... i knocked myself silly too many times with the cage inside the cab..

you can get tube that is close enough to nest over and slug inner for what we do. you burn it together good and it will do its thing when you need it to.

i am not a fan of exo cages, but with cab space at a premium its ridiculously better.

my chop top bronco is setup from 30 years of observation and previous attempts and works as intended...looks stupid...but works great. i can still put a cap or canvas on it in the back...and have full cab headroom up front.. my ranger will eventually be the same way....and if i get a new ranger....or when i get a new ranger maybe is better to say....it will be similar.

a full size bronco otoh...i would likely just run a jegs style cage inside. plenty of room in there for that.

its a tough spot...cause thats a bunch of measuring to see it if its doable effectively.. but from what i remember of the jegs cage...should be doable.

 

[bobbywalter]

as to my junk.....


i adventured through cleveland on the way back from tunkhannock looking for t56 and cd009 transmissions....and picked up a 4.0 for the bronco to go with the not destroyed trans i got in anticipation of a fresh 4.0 a bit back.... it runs good.. but i really wanted an ecoboost 4 whizzer. with the ranger needing attention i keep putting off and that "other" tire killing damn thing that ""identifies as a ranger"".....i just cant do it.

maybe by the time i get to a point it needs an engine again...


i traded off my mazda L transmissions i built, because i was not worried about finding them....now that i am looking for one, there are not any.... thats just par... but i have a good m5od for now on the 4.0 and a fresh clutch. hopefully bob wont destroy the poor thing. i think i might get some 31's for it to drive on the street. the 36's are hard on it. i have a pile of parts to snorkel it as well....

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

i dnt know man...your a pretty big guy....
i would be tempted to split it and slug it to widen it for exo. even if its just the top section... i knocked myself silly too many times with the cage inside the cab..

you can get tube that is close enough to nest over and slug inner for what we do. you burn it together good and it will do its thing when you need it to.

i am not a fan of exo cages, but with cab space at a premium its ridiculously better.

my chop top bronco is setup from 30 years of observation and previous attempts and works as intended...looks stupid...but works great. i can still put a cap or canvas on it in the back...and have full cab headroom up front.. my ranger will eventually be the same way....and if i get a new ranger....or when i get a new ranger maybe is better to say....it will be similar.

a full size bronco otoh...i would likely just run a jegs style cage inside. plenty of room in there for that.

its a tough spot...cause thats a bunch of measuring to see it if its doable effectively.. but from what i remember of the jegs cage...should be doable.

So far the cage hasn’t been a real issue for me other than it’s awkward to get slid past the front legs where they are at. I’ll have to get a pic. I got it tucked in about as tight as I thought I could get away with. I was really trying to keep this one a little more factory in appearance. I have a couple ideas for a full on trail rig along the lines of your monsters but I need to clear out a few projects before I get to that and I’m gonna have to source newly used axles for it since some of mine that I had collected for projects got stolen several years back…

 

[superj]

I love torch welding. You can makebthebtwo pieces of metal look like they were one piece the whole time.

I traded my stick welder for a small mig because i don't build trailers or any heavy metal work and the mig has been great for 20 years now.

My cousins husband is in the army and got sent to Korea in june.. tank driver. Hopefully nothing fucky happens.. because she's "due" in November lol. Good planning

Your cousin will be fine. We have been guarding that line in korea for over 50 years and nothing happens. I probably would have went there as my nexr duty station back in 98 if i hadn't gotten out of the army since all my buddies had just come from there

 

[Rick W]

I’m not going to be bashful about my concern over your hitch usage. I don’t trust those couplers used in their proper designed form, much less your version, and I think I have some valid reasons after having hitches fail.

Hmmm. So you’ve pulled trailers with this lil blue land rocket (talk about weird modification/use!!!), and you’ve had trailer trouble, and you think it was because of the hitch?



EDIT: OOPS, senior moment. I had lil blue confused with @Maritime Drag Racing rig….

 

[RangerBilly]

Sorry, just getting around to posting this today, as our internet was down for several days due to the worst thunderstorm Chicago has seen in years! Made it very difficult to get to an auto parts store due to flooded streets, malfunctioning traffic signals, and submerged underpasses. Yikes!

On the Fourth of July, I finished installing a new water pump. This was a two day project. The eleven bolts securing the water pump itself were easy to remove, but the hardest part was finding two bolts in the power steering pump bracket. I used the Permatex Indian Head gasket sealer on the new pump's paper gasket. Happy to report no leaks!

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Hmmm. So you’ve pulled trailers with this lil blue land rocket (talk about weird modification/use!!!), and you’ve had trailer trouble, and you think it was because of the hitch?



EDIT: OOPS, senior moment. I had lil blue confused with @Maritime Drag Racing rig….

My first Ranger (lil Blue) got a big dent in the rear bumper from a hitch jumping the ball. Truck was only like 2 years old when it happened. Then I got a repeat of that with a like 2 year old replacement bumper on my F-150. About that point I decided that I really, really didn’t like ball hitches. When I close the clamshell hitch of a pintle, I know the only way that’s coming apart and smashing the back of my truck is if something really breaks. And with the hitch rated for 10+ tons, the hitch is the least likely failure point. My little 3k rated utility trailer has a pintle on it. I’m done playing. My preferred hitch choices are pintle, Lock-n-roll (think that’s what it’s called anyway, it’s sort of a modified pintle), and 5-th wheel. Eff ball hitches.

I’ve pulled my share of trailers over the years. Rangers, F-150 and F-350 for tow vehicles. Number of ball hitches. I’ve also had where a ball hitch was refusing to grab, despite being correctly sized. I’ve never had an issue with my preferred hitches, other than a pintle can clang around if there’s not enough tongue weight, and that’s just a minor nuisance. Probably done about an equal amount of hauling ball vs pintle. One system had a bunch of fails and one didn’t.

 

[scotts90ranger]

I've only had one failure on a ball hitch and it was on a boat trailer with surge brakes, those hitches are odd and all different... although I do have more miles with pintle than anything at this point I could go either way...

Tonight so far I've changed the oil on the '97 Ranger, changed the trans fluid on the '97 F350 then started cleaning the interior a bit cleaning up the mess the mice have left over the last couple years, so far found one dried up baby mouse, one chewed charge cord, one chewed up ice scraper and the normal droppings... dang jerks... I hopefully found where they were getting in and shoved a brass scrubber in that hole so we'll see... going camping on Monday so gotta get some things done on the tow rig in the next couple days...

 

[scotts90ranger]

Got the rest of the interior on the F350 cleaner, found another dried out baby mouse... also pulled the instrument cluster and put some dielectric grease on the connections since I "think" that is the issue with the speedo not working when it's dry outside, humidity would go up and it would work, dry out and it stops, it's annoying, having a GPS on the dash isn't the same... Still need to do some adjustments with the clutch while it's in the shop and easy to get underneath with a creeper...

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Well, yesterday I got the rear calipers on mom’s Explorer and got the brakes bled. Also put the new temperature sensor on the F-150 now that I’m home and have a big enough socket handy. Considered doing the lower rad hose but since it’s holding at the moment I’m thinking maybe I’ll get a little smarter about this and see about getting a better hose clamp and some sleeving to keep it from rubbing on the frame before I do that. Did that all in between helping dad get the new dryer put back together (I came home Thursday to find the new dryer literally in pieces in the kitchen because dad was trying to modify the vent since it has to have a tight 90* fitting tight to the back). But it’s done and it along with the washer are back in the laundry room.

Today I’m intending on filling the rear diff of mom’s Explorer and getting started on the front axle for the choptop. Still on the hunt for tires for it. Found someone with a couple Swampers for sale, but I think he’s asking a bit much for worn tires.