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

[Rick W]

I went out between the raindrops and jacked up the front end of The Missing Linc to try to find out why it’s pulling to the right all of a sudden, wearing the tire. You guys know this stuff better than I do, do you think the half inch of play in the tie rod end might have something to do with it? I stuck my fingers up in the gap, but I couldn’t find anything wrong.

I rotated that tire to the rear. I ordered a new pair on eBay ($23, three dollars more than ordering the just one from rock auto) and I’ll try to keep this one parked until it comes in next week. But it is Lincoln’s favorite….

 

[Maritime Drag Racing]

Walked in the garage, looked at the truck, gathered up all the new fuel system parts and put them inside the cab so I would know where they are when I start working at it. Only have the fuel system, dropped rear shackles and header paint to do and I got all winter to do it. First thing on the list is to get it up in the air a couple feet off the trailer deck.

 

[Rick W]

Cool, wet and messy in Atlanta, but no rain predicted, so I’m going to head out and pull those couple of extra wires in The Road Ranger, and put some more paint down on the various parts and pieces, maybe just clean up the garage a little bit since I could barely walk through it right now.

If it dries up a little, the next step on The Missing Linc trailer is welding the little parts together before I flip it over. I hope to get to that, but it doesn’t look like it right now.

 

[sgtsandman]

I hosed off all the trail mud and dust that was on the 2011. There was quite a bit up under the truck for some reason, one would figure all the deepish water we went through would have washed that off...

 

[Snoranger]

I hosed off all the trail mud and dust that was on the 2011. There was quite a bit up under the truck for some reason, one would figure all the deepish water we went through would have washed that off...

No, the water didn’t do anything. This isn’t regular mud, it’s coal dust.

 

[sgtsandman]

View attachment 101671
No, the water didn’t do anything. This isn’t regular mud, it’s coal dust.

Yep, pretty much what mine looked like. The engine bay was really coated in dust. So I hosed it off too. It was so bad I couldn't read any of the markings on the fluid reservoirs. I generally don't like hosing out the engine bay but didn't have a choice this time.

 

[SCOTTY]

Trim from a Taurus trunk lid.

 

[ben_2_go]

Trim from a Taurus trunk lid.

View attachment 101674

Adding some class to the Ranger, nice. Pretty slick idea.

 

[Rick W]

Trim from a Taurus trunk lid.

View attachment 101674

That looks great!

I wanted to take a similar piece and put it on the nose of The Road Ranger to maybe mimic the talker spot on the hood like a Peterbilt or such (remember I live in a dreamworld), found one from an Aero Star that’s close, but could never get one that looks good.

 

[01WHTRNGR]

Attempted to swap my black climate controls for a silver one I grabbed from a junkyard a few weeks ago. Turns out they have different wiring harness so I tore the truck apart for nothing

 

[Rick W]

WHEEL HELP PLEASE:

TRS info says wheel bore ranges from 70.3-70.6 and wheelsize.com says the wheel bore for most rangers is 70.6mm.

My 14 inch steelies, and my 14 inch aluminum bullet holes (outlaw II) seem to both have a bore about 62mm plus or minus. Did I somehow come up with a bunch of different and oddball or off spec wheels? What gives?

When I put the 3,500# trailer tag axle on The Road Ranger, it had a 5 x 4.5 wheel pattern, and my aftermarket 15 x 8” bullet holes slid right on. But they were aftermarket.

I have a scavenged/salvage 3500 pound axle with a 5 x 4.5 bolt pattern that I want to use for The Missing Linc matching trailer. I’m at the point in the fab where I dropped the axle over the springs to figure out how much I had to cut out of the center. On a whim, I tried to mount a bullet hole wheel on the hub, and it wouldn’t fit over the center bore. Then I got one of the steelies that I bought specifically for this project, and it won’t slide over the center bore either.

I measured the hub with my six dollar plastic Chinese micrometer, and it measures 65.7mm. I knew the wheels were all supposed to be 70+. Making me crazy.

The mic won’t fit inside the wheel rim. I cut a wedge of scrap diamond plate that I could slide inside the center bore of the wheel. I buffed the edges on the belt sander, so when I wedged it inside the wheel and wiggled it, it would leave witness marks, and I could measure where it was touching inside. It came out to about 62mm plus or minus.

The steelies don’t have a round center bore. There’s a round hole, and then it’s stamped with five flat spots to corresponds to the lug bolts, so you can’t measure it exactly from side to side with my wedge, but it appears to be the same 62+/-.

Am I nuts? Wait scratch that. I know that. What’s going on with this center bore stuff?

BTW, I have a half a dozen 5 x 4.5 hubs for 2000 pound axles, and they will all easily slide into the wheels. But it’s the wheels that seems to be off spec from the literature.

???????!!

 

[Rick W]

Attempted to swap my black climate controls for a silver one I grabbed from a junkyard a few weeks ago. Turns out they have different wiring harness so I tore the truck apart for nothing

Makes you crazy, huh? It’s a Ford thing.

I have pristine 87 and 88 Lincoln town cars. All the big stuff is totally interchangeable from 85 to 89. But you can’t buy any of the little stuff like the controls for the last 20 years, so the salvage yard is the only source.

There’s a module that controls the windshield wipers. When mine went out, I got one from the salvage yard from the same year. No luck. I went back and got a couple more. No luck. Then I took the one from the 87 and put it into the 88 to try to figure out what was wrong, assuming it wasn’t the module. No luck.

I finally broke down and went to Ford/Lincoln, and found an old fart with gray hair like me, and he said it was very common practice to have different modules for those kinds of things even within the same year. The only way to get a correct replacement is from the part number stamped on the side, and not from the year make and model and accessories details.

I’m not trying to rub it in, just info for anyone else who’s about to do the same thing with something like one of those modules.

Hope it helps….

 

[Snoranger]

WHEEL HELP PLEASE:

TRS info says wheel bore ranges from 70.3-70.6 and wheelsize.com says the wheel bore for most rangers is 70.6mm.

My 14 inch steelies, and my 14 inch aluminum bullet holes (outlaw II) seem to both have a bore about 62mm plus or minus. Did I somehow come up with a bunch of different and oddball or off spec wheels? What gives?

When I put the 3,500# trailer tag axle on The Road Ranger, it had a 5 x 4.5 wheel pattern, and my aftermarket 15 x 8” bullet holes slid right on. But they were aftermarket.

I have a scavenged/salvage 3500 pound axle with a 5 x 4.5 bolt pattern that I want to use for The Missing Linc matching trailer. I’m at the point in the fab where I dropped the axle over the springs to figure out how much I had to cut out of the center. On a whim, I tried to mount a bullet hole wheel on the hub, and it wouldn’t fit over the center bore. Then I got one of the steelies that I bought specifically for this project, and it won’t slide over the center bore either.

I measured the hub with my six dollar plastic Chinese micrometer, and it measures 65.7mm. I knew the wheels were all supposed to be 70+. Making me crazy.

The mic won’t fit inside the wheel rim. I cut a wedge of scrap diamond plate that I could slide inside the center bore of the wheel. I buffed the edges on the belt sander, so when I wedged it inside the wheel and wiggled it, it would leave witness marks, and I could measure where it was touching inside. It came out to about 62mm plus or minus.

The steelies don’t have a round center bore. There’s a round hole, and then it’s stamped with five flat spots to corresponds to the lug bolts, so you can’t measure it exactly from side to side with my wedge, but it appears to be the same 62+/-.

Am I nuts? Wait scratch that. I know that. What’s going on with this center bore stuff?

BTW, I have a half a dozen 5 x 4.5 hubs for 2000 pound axles, and they will all easily slide into the wheels. But it’s the wheels that seems to be off spec from the literature.

???????!!

The 14” wheels only came on the 2wd which had a smaller hub than the 4wd.

 

[bobbywalter]

View attachment 101671
No, the water didn’t do anything. This isn’t regular mud, it’s coal dust.

tore up some tires out there a few years ago...shredded the front on the yz250....

 

[bobbywalter]

666.......




off to Metallica...
Day one in the OG ranger....."UN4GVN". AKA. THEE PIG


I put this in the Killswitch thread.....

Day two.....off to Metallica again.....in the thing that identifies as a ranger..."DAMGINC"

Damage Incorporated....living up to its name...

Treasure.......hunting these beach balls down like smeagol.....made for some adventure......

So these trusty steeds got er did......