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

[alwaysFlOoReD]

I started to install a set of leather bucket seats. They are not exactly a direct plug and play. They were from a Suburu Forrester.

And looks like swivel too...lol.

 

[Curious Hound]

And looks like swivel too...lol.

Special feature. Push a button and the passenger door opens, then the seat swivels and tilts to dump the passenger out. Real handy for dropping the kids off at school or for girlfriends who wander into the wrong part of the "hot/crazy" matrix.

 

[JoshT]

Well, I set out to slap the rear of mom’s Explorer back together right quick and get on to the choptop. 50 trips around collecting tools up again for the project because I kept forgetting what apparently was always the next tool I needed (a garage would at least keep the walks shorter, but I’m still short what i need to make that happen), I got it almost all back together and find the slide pins are sticking bad on a caliper (well, actually both, because I didn’t think to check when I put it on and the side I started with happened to be stuck exactly where I needed it to be, the other side was not though).

Since they moved but not well and when I slid one out, and the first one I slid out was pretty clean I tried hitting it with some grease and sending it back in, which didn’t work. At that point I had enough of working on the Explorer for today. But let me back up for a minute. While I was working on the Explorer I was interrupted with a parts delivery and dad decided to work on his Ranger which required my help a few times and also to get the AC stuff squared away (condenser and orifice tube replacement).

I know someone is liable to insist I should replace the accumulater too, but the system had good pressure, we just found evidence of a potential leak on the condenser when we pulled the core support, and verified by cleaning it and waiting a week or so. The AC was blowing cool but not cold too, so I really wasn’t surprised. Since the system really wasn’t open long, I don’t see a need to change extra parts. Everything else showed no evidence of a leak. I’ll just vac it down for an hour or two, make sure it holds pressure overnight at least, then fill it up.

So after all of that, I finally got to tinker with the choptop. Took glass cleaner and cleaned all the glass and mirrors and lights. Made sure all the lights work (they do, but for some reason I have hyper flash). Not sure why, I can check but I don’t believe there are any LED lights in it yet. Wondering if the blinker module thing is going bad, but I wanted to go to LED and put a new variable/LED blinker relay. So I guess we’ll see if that fixes it. Found I had an intake tube leak because I had forgot to hook up the tube over to the valve cover (oops), bet it runs even better now. It ran pretty good when I brought it home other than not being real happy at idle, but I’m betting that oops will help it with more than just idle.

Didn’t get to the brakes like I wanted to on it. Guess that’s tomorrow. Oh well, some things got done today and some didn’t but progress forward happened and that’s good enough. So I’m now on the front porch with a cigar and beer after a tasty dinner and I don’t really feel like I can complain. Tomorrow is another day. Yesterday is ancient history. If tomorrow doesn’t happen, then oh well, I did what I could.

This post sounds so familiar. So apparently there's a leak in the AC system on the '99 Ranger, last summer the AC was underwelming, this year it's barely working. Cool air but mot much. Probably just needs to be rebuilt like what is being done on your dad's Ranger, but I'm hoping to do a V8 swap in the next couple years, so don;t want to spend the money on this engine's AC syste. Bought a can of AC fix last week, but haven't gotten round to it yet.

Haven't gotten round to it because I've mostly been driving it the last week because the car id due for oil change and I haven't gotten round to it yet. I normally just have it done on the car since its so close to the ground, but when I stopped in the week before last the normal place wanted to use an extractor instead of the drain plug. That's a big negative, and I told them as much. They said something about it being policy now because the drain plug "disentegrates" on Kias and Hyundais. That's funny considering that both are clean rust free metal and have lasted through regular oil changes for the last 170k miles.

Thursday I went to drive the F-100 into town to put fresh gas in the tank and the driver side front caliper decided to start sticking a few miles from the house. Couldn't do anything but limp it back home and the brake was smoking by the time I arrived. I had hoped to get a few of these things knocked out today but it was over before I knew it.

Also get to either dig into the dryer or go appliance shopping since the drum stopped turning last week. Can't complain it's an old dryer I got free out of my grandmother's basement 15 years ago when I bought my house, one of my cousin's had stored it then because it was old and they got a new set. Only money I've put into it was a heating alement about 6 years ago. Also when moving in I gave my neighbors $50 for the washing machine that they were replacing, it worked but the balance ring wasn't right. If I've got to buy a set I'm not too upset about it and can't complain about the ones I've got.

Maybe tomorrow, maybe Monday since it's now a federal holiday.

 

[Bear in the woods]

The original discussion has disappeared. IDK.

We need some positive news. What did you do to your Ranger taday?

Took the old 90 model down the trail to the pond. And kicked back a while

 

[JoshT]

Special feature. Push a button and the passenger door opens, then the seat swivels and tilts to dump the passenger out. Real handy for dropping the kids off at school or for girlfriends who wander into the wrong part of the "hot/crazy" matrix.

 

[Snoranger]

Special feature. Push a button and the passenger door opens, then the seat swivels and tilts to dump the passenger out. Real handy for dropping the kids off at school or for girlfriends who wander into the wrong part of the "hot/crazy" matrix.

 

[JoshT]

The original discussion has disappeared. IDK.

We need some positive news. What did you do to your Ranger taday?

Took the old 90 model down the trail to the pond. And kicked back a while

Ok, ok, I get the message. I drove it, is that good enough? Kind of went Dukes of Hazzard meets Smokey and the Bandit on a dump run.

Had a pile of trashbags that needed to be hauled off from the house cleaning phase I'm going through right now. The transfer station is 10 miles down a rough road, 3-4 of it is very rough dirt from recent storms, from my house and I had 13 minutes to load the truck and get there. "Long way to go and a short time to get there" I'm dump bound, just watch this Ranger run.Was driving kind of like the Duke boys in the General Lee (ok, not quite that fast due to lack of visibility around curves), but I made it.


@snoranger I tried to post the gif, but it wouldn't let me. ☹

 

[superj]

My son messaged the other day because the ranger was making a noise and he had been searching and couldnt find it he sent a video and i told him its not suspension relatedz it actually sounded like a rock behind a hubcap.

He finally found it this evening. The little shield popped off the foglight filament and is rattling inside the bulb housing

 

[broncc]

Was working on installing some upgrade leaves to replace my extremely broken original ones. Everything came out easier than any truck I have ever worked on (it spent years in Florida) and I wanted to take advantage of it. I gobbed some weld onto the nuts that go against the frame rail. I don't know if it will do anything but at least its an excuse to put fresh paint on it? Everything got plenty of anti-seize of course.



The lift kit u-bolts don't have enough thread now that the lift blocks are gone. No local parts stores have the bolts I need so I guess the truck is on blocks for a bit.

 

[ben_2_go]

I started to install a set of leather bucket seats. They are not exactly a direct plug and play. They were from a Suburu Forrester.

I been looking for some cheap smaller bucket seats for my '01. I like the split bench but everyone around here wants a small fortune for them if they're in good shape. I just can't find bucket seats that tilt forward that are in good shape.

 

[Lefty]

I been looking for some cheap smaller bucket seats for my '01. I like the split bench but everyone around here wants a small fortune for them if they're in good shape. I just can't find bucket seats that tilt forward that are in good shape.

I bought these months ago. I paid $200 for the pair. I think i lucked out.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

This post sounds so familiar. So apparently there's a leak in the AC system on the '99 Ranger, last summer the AC was underwelming, this year it's barely working. Cool air but mot much. Probably just needs to be rebuilt like what is being done on your dad's Ranger, but I'm hoping to do a V8 swap in the next couple years, so don;t want to spend the money on this engine's AC syste. Bought a can of AC fix last week, but haven't gotten round to it yet.

Haven't gotten round to it because I've mostly been driving it the last week because the car id due for oil change and I haven't gotten round to it yet. I normally just have it done on the car since its so close to the ground, but when I stopped in the week before last the normal place wanted to use an extractor instead of the drain plug. That's a big negative, and I told them as much. They said something about it being policy now because the drain plug "disentegrates" on Kias and Hyundais. That's funny considering that both are clean rust free metal and have lasted through regular oil changes for the last 170k miles.

Thursday I went to drive the F-100 into town to put fresh gas in the tank and the driver side front caliper decided to start sticking a few miles from the house. Couldn't do anything but limp it back home and the brake was smoking by the time I arrived. I had hoped to get a few of these things knocked out today but it was over before I knew it.

Also get to either dig into the dryer or go appliance shopping since the drum stopped turning last week. Can't complain it's an old dryer I got free out of my grandmother's basement 15 years ago when I bought my house, one of my cousin's had stored it then because it was old and they got a new set. Only money I've put into it was a heating alement about 6 years ago. Also when moving in I gave my neighbors $50 for the washing machine that they were replacing, it worked but the balance ring wasn't right. If I've got to buy a set I'm not too upset about it and can't complain about the ones I've got.

Maybe tomorrow, maybe Monday since it's now a federal holiday.

So, you can use the Ranger condenser, liquid line, accumulator, and evaporator core. Only things that change with the swap is the suction hose assembly and the pump. Actually the pumps might be the same, I never checked.

 

[Saddle Tramp]

Used mine to pull my stepson's Silverado onto the driveway so he can install the transfer case he had to rebuild.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Well, I went after the brakes on the choptop. Pulled the rear passenger side off and had to beat the drum free with a 3# sledge. Shoes were pretty much down to the rivets and the drums had some light scoring. Wheel cylinder was leaking. Thanks to @ericbphoto and the 9” drum stuff I got from him, I had what I needed. For whatever reason though, it really fought me going back together. Maybe I’m just not used to these little brakes after mostly dealing with 10” drums. Got the passenger rear all together and moved to the drivers rear, got it tore apart (sledge work again) and got the wheel cylinder swapped and bled then ran out of light.

When I went digging in my shed for the brake parts I also went looking to see if I had a tote with choptop parts in it hoping to find the part numbers for the rear shocks (they are shot on the choptop and I don’t know what vehicle to ask for to look them up again and I dunno if parts stores get the books anymore that they can look it up by size). I also had the notion that I had some axle shafts around and was poking for those. Couldn’t find a tote for the choptop (I may not have started one yet, part of my organization plans), but when I was about to give up the hunt for axle shafts (found two sets of D-28 toothpicks and one set of hybrid shafts), I found a D-35 passenger inner set with a bad u-joint. So maybe I can get the front axle fixed back up now.

 

[Bill]

I drove it to pick up a mini-HDMI to DVI cable so I could see if the Intel NUC works that someone tossed into the e-waste pile. It's never been used. I think it will make a good web browsing computer. It uses about 15 watts. The desktop I currently use takes about 75 watts. The NUC might save a few $$ on the electric bill since I leave the desktop on 24/7.

And now I'm going to shop for brake pads and shoes, and obsess about which ones to buy (Bosch, Wagner, etc) when it probably doesn't matter.