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

[Rowdy Fitzgerald]

Took it for the maiden voyage. Put around 200 miles on it. Found a few gremlins, taped off the accessory vacuum ports and gained a noticeable amount of power. Still getting the shudder during acceleration, so I think it’s either a sensor or a manifold leak.

 

[97RangerXLT]

DO NOT TEST WET SPOTS WITH YOUR BIGGEST PIECE OF EQUIPMENT

that is definitely *not* what she said

AJ

 

[97RangerXLT]

loaded three bikes in it and drove to the Nickle Plate trail and me, the wife, and kid all went on a bike ride.



AJ

 

[bobbywalter]

Law of Farming, Chapter 324 subsection B line 4 states in red, bold and underlined:

"DO NOT TEST WET SPOTS WITH YOUR BIGGEST PIECE OF EQUIPMENT"

Was not a test. It's the fu.....it's the parking spot of the previous machine.

That was the residence of the old 28 foot pool...the water hole

 

[racsan]

Hooked up the flatbed for some light transporting.

 

[bobbywalter]

@bobbywalter I’ve found most factory tires to be horrible off the pavement. Even most tires they say are All Terrain tires. I was in a similar predicament last November with the 2019. I had to get pulled out as well. Even in 4X4 Low and the rear axle locked, all the tires did was spin.

Damn shame really. You buy a truck with an off road package and have to careful where you drive off road...

That is often true. I use a variety of machines and it applies across the board.

It is why I use snow tires whenever possible for winter. With these Ford trucks and the huge tires, there is not much for cost effective snow tire options... And they eat tires. Lucky to get 10 months...

This flat ground issue tells me I don't want to drive it in winter. Not in Appalachian terrain.

The fact it can't hold my tools without swaying all over the road is just a kick in the balls. I was embarrassed that it has super duty imprinted on the hood and a blue oval.... but with what I have been seeing in the field recently..I was hoping for the best... knowing it may not be very good....but I sure as hell did not think it would be this bad.

But it's getting springs tomorrow.. they ....well three spring shops in three states said the same things to varying degrees.... In trucks that get worked they have even seen Main failures in under a year the last 4 years or so. Most people don't use them hard ... He showed me 30 plus jobs since may.

...I am right at 50/50 weight split at 9500 pounds.... The gm light was 93 to 9500. Tooled out was 10400ish. Gm Truck was rated to 9500 gvw....this one was 10kplus on paper so I never would have guessed...

My ranger with those exact tools is 8800 ish ... And drives better with a 120 hp captain cave pig diesel.


Better...not faster.


It getting stuck so easy I suspect is the wheelbase. It is about 10 inches past the sweet spot ime. Gonna have that with an 8 foot bed I guess.

 

[Chapap]

@bobbywalter Damn shame really. You buy a truck with an off road package and have to careful where you drive off road...

I really don’t have much respect for “packages.” 90% of them are appearance things… adding or deleting chrome, decorative airflow devices, a sticker. The C8’s race packages are pretty intense, but that’s the only new car I can think of that has packages that actually do what they’re titled. If I were in the market for vehicle and I needed a tow/off-road/race package, I think I’d do it/ have it done myself. Think it’d be cheaper and better than what’s offered from the car maker.

 

[sgtsandman]

I really don’t have much respect for “packages.” 90% of them are appearance things… adding or deleting chrome, decorative airflow devices, a sticker. The C8’s race packages are pretty intense, but that’s the only new car I can think of that has packages that actually do what they’re titled. If I were in the market for vehicle and I needed a tow/off-road/race package, I think I’d do it/ have it done myself. Think it’d be cheaper and better than what’s offered from the car maker.

The FX4 package was still pretty much worth it with most of the stuff it comes with. The tires are the only disappointing part. A front locker or limited slip option would be nice but not a offered and they welded the ring gear to the carrier...

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

The FX4 package was still pretty much worth it with most of the stuff it comes with. The tires are the only disappointing part. A front locker or limited slip option would be nice but not a offered and they welded the ring gear to the carrier...

If you think the fx4 tires are disappointing check out the tires on a non fx4 truck...

 

[sgtsandman]

If you think the fx4 tires are disappointing check out the tires on a non fx4 truck...

Probably about the same that came on the 2011. P-rated all season tires that were fine the first year and only fair weather tires after that. Grip was just ok on wet roads after the first year and were certainly not all season.

 

[SCOTTY]

"Project Dashboard Clock" w/Sweep Second Hand - Fun Project !

Got tired of the phony vent in the center after 13 yrs & made the space useful by adding a clock. Came out pretty good.
The vents pop out pretty easy with a plastic spudging tool & a small screwdriver.
I bought a $3 travel alarm clock & took it apart to remove the snooze/light button & bulb. Also the alarm hand. Removed the white dial from the movement &
took it to a FedEx printing center to print the dial inverted (45¢ a copy). First I had to blacken the green dots on the dial with a fine point Sharpie & trace the edge
& center hole on an index card so they would come out white. I also had to paint the hands.
I didn't use the front trim of the clock. Instead, using a piece of scrap plastic I cut a plate using the fake vent as a template. Then I cut a hole in the plate for the clock window.
The movement mounted well with 3M mounting tape & some scrap plastic & epoxy to raise the movement so the dial would be centered up & down.
The front of the dial & movement butts up with the back of the clock window which I pressed through from the back of the plate. I went to my local hardware store &
picked up an O ring to use for trim around the clock window.

Right now its running on a AA battery & thats ok but I have a DC buck step down converter on the way & I'll give that a try so the truck can power the clock.
I also have some 12v 3mm blue LEDs on the way & I'll put 1 in & tie in to the dash light circuit. If it's too bright I'll figure something out, maybe a different resistor.
I'm not sure if the LEDs I'm getting are dimmable with the light circuit but I really never dim the gauge lights anyway.
I can't adjust the time from the front of course, but it's a quartz movement & as I mentioned the vent panel comes out fairly easy.
As for replacing the battery, let's hope the converter works out ok.
I have some improvements in mind but this will do for now. I wish I took more pics but I was too busy having fun with this !

Cheers !!

 

[superj]

i like analog clocks in vehicles. to me, it looks better than the digital ones on the radio or other places they put them now days

 

[Snoranger]

i like analog clocks in vehicles.

Yeah... they go great with the manual drum brakes and 8-track players.

 

[superj]

they just look higher class.

kids aren't even taught to read analog in school anymore. like cursive, the schools feel its useless, i guess. had to show my kids how to read analog clocks, write in cursive, and use an analog meter on the cars/trucks

 

[SCOTTY]

i like analog clocks in vehicles. to me, it looks better than the digital ones on the radio or other places they put them now days

I agree. Adds a nice touch to the rest of the gauges & the dash.