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

[sgtsandman]

The last time I had to pull the cap, I just used my engine puller and some cargo straps wrapped around the roof rack cross bars to lift it off.

 

[Rick W]

Aluminum wheel polishing:

Has anybody used this Flitz stuff?

I bought these but I haven’t tried them yet.

A couple years ago I got a half dozen gallon cans of the old-fashioned really aggressive paint stripper. Great stuff, very dangerous, you can’t buy it anymore. It was a giveaway.

i’ve had some pretty crappy looking aluminum wheels, and most are clear coated. It only took a few minutes to get the clearcoat off, and the underlying aluminum looked pretty good. But where the clearcoat was worn, the aluminum was white and corroded. I did my YouTube research, and I sanded it, then fine sanded it, and then wet sanded it, and then I used Mothers Mag cleaner and polish. By the time I was done, I almost died from the effort, I did six wheels. I’ve got like 15 to go.

Before I got the heavy duty stuff, the aircraft finishremover was the best I found. It worked with repeated coats and brushing it.

I’ve also heard you can use regular old Comet to polish the wheels to a 90% finish, and then use the mag polish to bring out the shine. Does anybody have any experience with that?

Whatever I do will get the rattle can verathane finish coat.

All advice welcome. Might be best if somebody came down and showed me seven or eight times…

 

[Rick W]

got this a couple days sgo. Did TRS send it?

I thought they were built in factories, yes/no?

 

[ekrampitzjr]

Got the Ranger inspected yesterday, then replaced the headlamp and driving lamp bulbs with Auxito LEDs. These were plug and play. They are definitely brighter at night, and so far I'm happy with them. I did have to re-aim the headlight assemblies to raise the beams after removing and reinstalling them.

 

[mikkelstuff]

Finally added gas hood struts to my 2002 4WD Ranger XLT.

 

[ekrampitzjr]

In partial defense of small businesses, if you’re a one man band, it’s really easy to end up overwhelmed and way behind on keeping up with things. It’s not that you don’t care, it’s that there’s just physically and mentally not enough of you to go around. A lot of time the small business if it’s just one person, to make enough money has to do the work of three people and can’t afford to hire a second person unless they can turn over even more work. As a small time contractor, I couldn’t afford to hire another person, but I’m always behind in book work, estimates and phone calls. Have to take care of the person throwing money at me first. It’s a brutal cycle. Dad had an advantage when he was in business because his wife, my mom, handled most of the phone calls and book work and stuff. I don’t have a wife to help me with that. Even if you’re successful enough to hire someone, do you have any idea how difficult finding a decent employee is these days? And whoever came up with the idea of “free” estimates should be drawn and quartered. Why yes, I’d love to waste 3 hours of my time writing up a detailed estimate so you can tell me that Billy Bob down the road with no license or insurance said he would do it for $500 cheaper.

Not saying that you’re not completely wrong with small business being their own worst enemy, just that it’s not always a simple thing and if you haven’t tried to have your own small business, you’re missing out. It’s not a fun thing.

Usually though, I think it’s easy to tell the difference between a small business that’s overwhelmed and one that straight up doesn’t care. Attitude will tell you that.

Yeah, I understand about the struggles some small businesses face.

But I recently had two different "little guys" who were supposed to be in the business flake instead of meeting me at the house to give an estimate on clearing some brush and limbs. "Flake" means didn't show up for the appointment, didn't call, didn't text, couldn't be reached. After the first one flaked, I went to the second, which also flaked. I was ready to proceed after the estimate and was going to pay cash, because I simply wanted to get the work done before the leaves came back for the spring. Before that a plumber flaked. Relatives and coworkers report they experience the same stuff.

Most would-be customers don't have time for that garbage. And that's how the big guys who do respond as expected remain the king. People who flake don't last long at most larger service companies. They get fired.

Another example: I approached one outfit as discussed in another thread about whether it had considered making and offering replacement torsion bars for the Rangers that use them. It's been a couple of months with no response. A simple "no" would have been adequate.

 

[sgtsandman]

Crawled under the 2011 to investigate the exhaust noise that sounds like a hole in a pipe. Sure enough, the weld at the connection flange for the driver’s side catalytic converter rusted through.

I can’t complain. It’s a Walker and I got 5 years out of it at a 3rd of what Ford wants for a new one.

Time to save up some money for a replacement. At least I know what to expect this time around.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Yeah, I understand about the struggles some small businesses face.

But I recently had two different "little guys" who were supposed to be in the business flake instead of meeting me at the house to give an estimate on clearing some brush and limbs. "Flake" means didn't show up for the appointment, didn't call, didn't text, couldn't be reached. After the first one flaked, I went to the second, which also flaked. I was ready to proceed after the estimate and was going to pay cash, because I simply wanted to get the work done before the leaves came back for the spring. Before that a plumber flaked. Relatives and coworkers report they experience the same stuff.

Most would-be customers don't have time for that garbage. And that's how the big guys who do respond as expected remain the king. People who flake don't last long at most larger service companies. They get fired.

Another example: I approached one outfit as discussed in another thread about whether it had considered making and offering replacement torsion bars for the Rangers that use them. It's been a couple of months with no response. A simple "no" would have been adequate.

Yeah, that’s no good. If I say I’m gonna be there, I’m either there or gonna let you know that something happened and make new plans. Time is valuable to everyone. If I’m way backed up, I’m gonna tell you.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Crawled under the 2011 to investigate the exhaust noise that sounds like a hole in a pipe. Sure enough, the weld at the connection flange for the driver’s side catalytic converter rusted through.

I can’t complain. It’s a Walker and I got 5 years out of it at a 3rd of what Ford wants for a new one.

Time to save up some money for a replacement. At least I know what to expect this time around.

If you need a patch welded till you can get a replacement, let me know, I’ll hook you up. Wouldn’t be the first exhaust I patched to get another year out of.

 

[bobbywalter]

Patched frame on ranger.....pretty sure finished off engine in b2....went for a cruise with young bob....in his identifies as a ranger thing.....


My ranger really needs some attention.

I went to look at some 4.0 engines. They would not let me floor run them so I told em to pound sand....pricing isn't horrid...350 to 475 range. I traded off my 4x4 Mazda L trans I built for the planned Ecoboost swap for another 4.0 m5od....so I was bummed not bringing a 4.0 home yesterday thinking I was going to swap it out today.

Would have been nice to have had that out of the way....maybe next days off...

 

[bobbywalter]

Just a quick followup.

The greenhouse and planters were assembled soon after I got them. In the greenhouse are seed-starter trays with heirloom tomatoes, long skinny eggplant, mild habanero peppers (yes, they exist, sounded interesting), zucchini, pincob corn, and two planter pots with pygmy date palms that are supposed to be fairly hardy in cool weather and produce small fruit. We seem to have had our last frost here around 10 April, when we had a couple of chilly nights.

This year the above-ground garden is experimental to see what will work here. If you guys are interested, I'll keep you posted. And recently I used the Ranger to get tomato cages and more planters.

I am interested in the results of the garden.

 

[Bill]

do you need a hard top or would a soft topper work?

I bought one for my old f-150 to use when camping or if I had something in the back I didn’t want to get wet. Worked great. Less then 5 minutes to tuck down out of the way when not using it.

A hard top. Half of the reason I want one is so I can put things in the back, out of sight, and locked up.

 

[sgtsandman]

If you need a patch welded till you can get a replacement, let me know, I’ll hook you up. Wouldn’t be the first exhaust I patched to get another year out of.

I’ll contact you off line. It’s right at the cross over flange where the two pipes merge together. Any patch job would definitely be temporary.

 

[ekrampitzjr]

I am interested in the results of the garden.

After a delay because (I guess) cooler weather, the tomatoes finally began sprouting. The corn was first to pop up. It looks really good, and later this month I'll transplant it to the yard. No sprouting yet for the other stuff.

 

[cbxer55]

Recently put some old 1974 Cragar Mag Master rims on my 98 Ranger. Just got these knock off spinners in Monday. Going to install them on the truck today.