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

[Rick W]

Well I stopped by the old secret parts hordin spot, and got the surprisingly good stock leaf springs from my original 83 ranger. Got them wire wheeled and painted. Even though it's kinda pointless, but now the axle, lift blocks, and springs are nice and black. Got everything put together on the driver side. I still need to cut the pass side original leaf spring free to get it replaced. Then it's just a matter of connecting the main brake line, and getting the conversion u joint. Also thinking about running a set of b2 wheels white, with the black squares around the cut outs, and red pinstriping, I do love my aloy bullet holes but idk these may look good. Idk there is a reason we all go with the bullet holes, i wish i could find another set of chrome bullet holes granted they need love View attachment 97326View attachment 97325View attachment 97324

Can you post a picture of your whole truck? I’m curious to see it, so I can think about what color I would paint those cross wheels, and how

 

[Roert42]

I changed a fuel pump on a trailer once.

I changed a lot of fuel pumps in shitty spots, come to think of it.

 

[Curious Hound]

I think "on the trailer" beats "in the mud" any day.

 

[G8orFord]

I changed a fuel pump on a trailer once.

I changed a lot of fuel pumps in shitty spots, come to think of it.

Have you owned a lot of Chevy's?

 

[G8orFord]

I think "on the trailer" beats "in the mud" any day.

True enough, but when you mud race, even "on the trailer" is "in the mud".

 

[Roert42]

Have you owned a lot of Chevy's?

Just the one.

 

[ThatOneGuy]

Well I've been on the struggle bus for a while now trying to figure out the drive line for the 89 8.8 swap hitting one roadblock after another. Not only that but I don't have a covered area to work and it's been raining off and on the last half of the day. Still haven't figured how to do this without drilling new holes in the axle flange. Guy at the driveline shop had my hopes up, the other day when I spoke to him but I got there and he says oh that won't work. So imagine sit here and drink this monster and maybe an idea will form. Otherwise I'll be under the truck with my giant hand held drill from the 80s I do believe this is the way its gonna go

 

[ThatOneGuy]

Can you post a picture of your whole truck? I’m curious to see it, so I can think about what color I would paint those cross wheels, and how

 

[Rick W]

Well I've been on the struggle bus for a while now trying to figure out the drive line for the 89 8.8 swap hitting one roadblock after another. Not only that but I don't have a covered area to work and it's been raining off and on the last half of the day. Still haven't figured how to do this without drilling new holes in the axle flange. Guy at the driveline shop had my hopes up, the other day when I spoke to him but I got there and he says oh that won't work. So imagine sit here and drink this monster and maybe an idea will form. Otherwise I'll be under the truck with my giant hand held drill from the 80s I do believe this is the way its gonna goView attachment 97364

Have you looked at it for a couple days in a comfortable chair first?

 

[Rick W]

View attachment 97362

Hmmmm….

 

[Rick W]

Well I've been on the struggle bus for a while now trying to figure out the drive line for the 89 8.8 swap hitting one roadblock after another. Not only that but I don't have a covered area to work and it's been raining off and on the last half of the day. Still haven't figured how to do this without drilling new holes in the axle flange. Guy at the driveline shop had my hopes up, the other day when I spoke to him but I got there and he says oh that won't work. So imagine sit here and drink this monster and maybe an idea will form. Otherwise I'll be under the truck with my giant hand held drill from the 80s I do believe this is the way its gonna goView attachment 97364

You’ll probably know this….

When I did the Road Ranger trailer I had to drill about a zillion 1/2” inch and 9/16”inch holes. Anything loose I could do on the drill press, but a lot of them had to be done right on the trailer frame itself. My thought is this: I started with a small hole, like maybe 1/8 or 3/16, and then I went to 3/8, and then maybe to the 1/2 or 9/16. And I used the rust buster penetrating oil stuff as a lubricant. That way, the holes are on center easily, and the oil kept the borings cool so I didn’t fry my drill bits and they didn’t vibrate too bad.

The only other thought I had is that the steam line to the drill looks awful thin…

 

[Rick W]

View attachment 97362

First thoughts:

In that picture, it’s hard to see what the background color is behind the red stripe along the bottom. It almost looks brown, but when I look real close, it looks like there might be a blue pinstripe or something in there. Don’t mean to be demanding, but could you send a close-up?

But here are my thoughts: I’d paint the wheels silver with rustoleum like I did. I think they actually call Aluminum now. (Dollar store 2” brush full strength).

The blackouts around the openings, I would paint them the same color red as your stripe. Get a pack of artist brushes at the hobby lobby, or Walmart ($5?) and use one that’s about 3/8 or half inch. It’s easy to keep it in the lines. Full strength over the silver, 2 coats max. Silver will cover in one coat.

Then I’d get trim rings. And I would get the black center caps to match the black rack.

I’d consider painting the toolbox the same color red, at least the top/cap of it. Paint the part inside the bed black. Gloss red, and semi gloss black.

Rustoleum has four or five different reds, pick the one that’s the closest. It’s probably sunrise red. And, BTW, I’m talking about buying a quart and then mix it 70/30 with mineral spirits or paint thinner, and then use a foam brush and a 2” or 4” foam roller on a warm day in shade, so it’s sticks, but it flows. Wears like iron.

Repaint the pipe rack with semi gloss rustoleum. On the horizontal runs on the top and the level that holds whatever, get a red vinyl pinstripe the same color as your low red stripe, and run it right down the middle. The beauty of the vinyl is, if you don’t like it, you can peel it off and do it over.

An old trick of mine is also to put pinstripe on the rain gutter over the windows. On yours, I’d do that same red again, but I might also pick up that brown or whatever the secondary background color is and do a double stripe

If you look on eBay, filter for located in North America, and then just search for pinstripe tape. You can get it any width and in virtually any color for a few dollars. Usually takes a week or less.

My 2cents, hope it helps

 

[broncc]

Dynamat on the ashtray.

 

[ThatOneGuy]

OK so I got it figured out I wasn't interested in the drill struggles. But I had an aha moment. Out of the 4 drivelines I had 3 were the right length and one too long. 2 of the ones that were the right length had the large u joint at either end, and the other had the small u joint at either end. The two large u joint drivelines were also a larger diameter pipe than the small u joint driveline. Soon I cut one of each up keeping 8 inches or so more of the smaller pipe. then used the third as a jig for length, and u joint offset, found the perfect size cotter pins to use as shims all around the pipe, then I spot welded, pulled the pins made a first pass, then ground and cleaned the weld, then ran a second pass next to the first tieing them together, and doubling the pass width to the smaller pipe. Then 2 inches down from the seem I drilled a line of holes through the larger pipe 1 inch apart or so, and plug welded them. What do you all think

 

[ThatOneGuy]

First thoughts:

In that picture, it’s hard to see what the background color is behind the red stripe along the bottom. It almost looks brown, but when I look real close, it looks like there might be a blue pinstripe or something in there. Don’t mean to be demanding, but could you send a close-up?

But here are my thoughts: I’d paint the wheels silver with rustoleum like I did. I think they actually call Aluminum now. (Dollar store 2” brush full strength).

The blackouts around the openings, I would paint them the same color red as your stripe. Get a pack of artist brushes at the hobby lobby, or Walmart ($5?) and use one that’s about 3/8 or half inch. It’s easy to keep it in the lines. Full strength over the silver, 2 coats max. Silver will cover in one coat.

Then I’d get trim rings. And I would get the black center caps to match the black rack.

I’d consider painting the toolbox the same color red, at least the top/cap of it. Paint the part inside the bed black. Gloss red, and semi gloss black.

Rustoleum has four or five different reds, pick the one that’s the closest. It’s probably sunrise red. And, BTW, I’m talking about buying a quart and then mix it 70/30 with mineral spirits or paint thinner, and then use a foam brush and a 2” or 4” foam roller on a warm day in shade, so it’s sticks, but it flows. Wears like iron.

Repaint the pipe rack with semi gloss rustoleum. On the horizontal runs on the top and the level that holds whatever, get a red vinyl pinstripe the same color as your low red stripe, and run it right down the middle. The beauty of the vinyl is, if you don’t like it, you can peel it off and do it over.

An old trick of mine is also to put pinstripe on the rain gutter over the windows. On yours, I’d do that same red again, but I might also pick up that brown or whatever the secondary background color is and do a double stripe

If you look on eBay, filter for located in North America, and then just search for pinstripe tape. You can get it any width and in virtually any color for a few dollars. Usually takes a week or less.

My 2cents, hope it helps

I'll get some better pics when the sun comes back up. At this point I'm sure most of you are hitting the hay. But it's my Saturday lol