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

[Bill]

I took a day trip up Hwy 49. I took a detour up on to a ridge to watch the sunset which had a neon look to it like those 80s graphics posters. Except, the background pine trees and Sierra Nevada foothilles instead of Miami Vice, Las Vegas, or Malibu.

I had the binoculars with me and noticed an abandoned mine. Probably gold, but there were a few chromite and asbestos mines n the area.

 

[scotts90ranger]

Went hunting with the '00 Explorer today, noticed a puddle of gear oil under the rear diff this morning but went anyway... the limited slip is chattering now and going down hill you can smell gear oil so the pinion seal is completely fried... at 256k miles I don't blame it... picked up some gear oil on the way home and will pick up a pinion seal tomorrow...

Other than the rear diff, the rebuilt engine runs great, didn't miss a beat, Friday night I found the #8 plug wire burned and almost disconnected from the spark plug so I just replaced that plug wire... ran great all day...

 

[Bill]

Installed a new battery because the battery I had in it died just short of four years. That is the shortest lifespan I've had for a battery. It's an Interstate battery from Costco. The other (Motorcraft) batteries last 6-7 years.

 

[97RangerXLT]

Our rig for the day that Justin picked out… not crazy about a wildtrackView attachment 100323

@85_Ranger4x4 got the color right this time
AJ

 

[scotts90ranger]

Ripped into the sploder to see what happened... turns out the rear axle vent hose broke off at the fitting on the axle and the fitting got plugged up (don't worry, it's orrificed, grit is the least of it's worries) and the main leak was the passenger side axle seal so I gotta get me a couple of them... Conveniently there was about 2 quarts of some nasty black oil left so it wasn't dry at least... conveniently the last time I'd gotten in there I drilled out the bottom hole so it drains most of the gunk out and I put some magnets on the inside of the cover which caught most of the spider gear chunks and clutch material that've come off in the last 50k miles... from the looks of how much the axles go in and out the clutches are shot which doesn't surprise me but I don't have any spares anymore... the bearings don't sound great but that axle only needs to live another couple thousand miles... I was curious and checked the backlash and it's somehow still in spec at .011"... ring and pinion look fine too...

Tonight I got the diff drained, sprayed off with brake cleaner, cleaned the vent, pulled the rear tires, washed off the one, sprayed some WD in the lock cylinders then called it a day. Wednesday I'll grab some axle shaft seals and pull the shafts and do that then clean and reassemble... will even top off the front diff and maybe even tighten the cover bolts I can get to... should have done all that when I had the engine out...

 

[97RangerXLT]

Well last month at the TRS Fall adventure I roasted a wheel bearing 36 miles from home. Didn't feel like messing with it in a parking lot, and Autozone only had the cheap wheel bearings and I figured the spindle was trashed as well. (Autozone does not have spindles, and yep, it was borked). Made use of my Emergency roadside service and had it flatbeaded home to deal with later at a time of my choosing and within easy reach of all my tools.

So I figured two new rotors, 4 Timken wheel bearings, two inner seals and that would be a good start from Rock Auto. Bought a new grease gun and needle insert for it. Set up the bearings and one of the rotors with greased bearings and a new seal. Got the old rotor off and wouldn't you know in addition to the inner bearing race being friction welded to the spindle, the brake pads had only 4mm material, didn't think they were that worn down as I had replaced them in 2016 and they had maybe 25k on them. Slapped it all back together with the old parts so I could move it if needed.

Ordered a set of brake pads from Rock Auto and a brand new aftermarket Spindle from Jeff's Bronco Graveyard. Cost me 126 bucks shipped to my door and it came with a brand new Spicer needle bearing and both seals. Win.(also ordered a Timken needle bearing kit with the brake rotors just in case... will post my thoughts on the differences later)

OK I got another free weekend 2 weeks or so later to tear it all apart again due to having to cancel any plans for a day trip/ mental health day for my son after a very rough week for him and a friend's wedding the following week. Also the wedding weekend I used the Ranger to transport the rotting remains of a wooden player that I tore down to pitch in the neighborhood cleanup week dumpster that the HOA provided for us ( one of the few positives of being in an HOA) it took two half a block trips on a completely trashed wheel bearing..

Got all the parts, seated the new needle bearing in the new spindle, greased it, set the new seal. Spent most of a Saturday fighting the old spindle out of the knuckle. The 5 nuts came off without issues or stress. The spindle, yeah not so much. Went and ordered a slide hammer spindle puller just in case.. that was 60 bucks shipped. Went back outside and got another brilliant idea.. grabbed the old rotor, an old spindle nut from my Auto to manual hub conversion anput the rotor on and tightened the nt snuggly. Grabbed a 32 inch long pry bar and put it behind the rotor and against the knuckle. That popped it right off. Whire wheeled the knuckle, slapped some antiseize past on the new one put it all back together. Late in the day had to wait another week to do the other side. Cleaned and lubed the hubs while I had them off too

Got it all done and the first thing that happened was the brake light came on. Not the orange ABS light that has been on and I have been ignoring for 18 + years, but the angry red one that means you are low on fluid or have serious issues. Well the reservoir is full. Brake pedal feels good. Fluid looks like crap and is likely original, or at least 18 years old...

And that brings is up to last weekend. And I was sick. Gonna try and bleed the brakes and change the fluid at some point. If the master cylinder is bad, I am looking at a new master cylinder and new brakelines as the old ones will likely break on trying to remove them.

Ugh..

So how are you all doing?

 

[Rick W]

Well last month at the TRS Fall adventure I roasted a wheel bearing 36 miles from home. Didn't feel like messing with it in a parking lot, and Autozone only had the cheap wheel bearings and I figured the spindle was trashed as well. (Autozone does not have spindles, and yep, it was borked). Made use of my Emergency roadside service and had it flatbeaded home to deal with later at a time of my choosing and within easy reach of all my tools.

So I figured two new rotors, 4 Timken wheel bearings, two inner seals and that would be a good start from Rock Auto. Bought a new grease gun and needle insert for it. Set up the bearings and one of the rotors with greased bearings and a new seal. Got the old rotor off and wouldn't you know in addition to the inner bearing race being friction welded to the spindle, the brake pads had only 4mm material, didn't think they were that worn down as I had replaced them in 2016 and they had maybe 25k on them. Slapped it all back together with the old parts so I could move it if needed.

Ordered a set of brake pads from Rock Auto and a brand new aftermarket Spindle from Jeff's Bronco Graveyard. Cost me 126 bucks shipped to my door and it came with a brand new Spicer needle bearing and both seals. Win.(also ordered a Timken needle bearing kit with the brake rotors just in case... will post my thoughts on the differences later)

OK I got another free weekend 2 weeks or so later to tear it all apart again due to having to cancel any plans for a day trip/ mental health day for my son after a very rough week for him and a friend's wedding the following week. Also the wedding weekend I used the Ranger to transport the rotting remains of a wooden player that I tore down to pitch in the neighborhood cleanup week dumpster that the HOA provided for us ( one of the few positives of being in an HOA) it took two half a block trips on a completely trashed wheel bearing..

Got all the parts, seated the new needle bearing in the new spindle, greased it, set the new seal. Spent most of a Saturday fighting the old spindle out of the knuckle. The 5 nuts came off without issues or stress. The spindle, yeah not so much. Went and ordered a slide hammer spindle puller just in case.. that was 60 bucks shipped. Went back outside and got another brilliant idea.. grabbed the old rotor, an old spindle nut from my Auto to manual hub conversion anput the rotor on and tightened the nt snuggly. Grabbed a 32 inch long pry bar and put it behind the rotor and against the knuckle. That popped it right off. Whire wheeled the knuckle, slapped some antiseize past on the new one put it all back together. Late in the day had to wait another week to do the other side. Cleaned and lubed the hubs while I had them off too

Got it all done and the first thing that happened was the brake light came on. Not the orange ABS light that has been on and I have been ignoring for 18 + years, but the angry red one that means you are low on fluid or have serious issues. Well the reservoir is full. Brake pedal feels good. Fluid looks like crap and is likely original, or at least 18 years old...

And that brings is up to last weekend. And I was sick. Gonna try and bleed the brakes and change the fluid at some point. If the master cylinder is bad, I am looking at a new master cylinder and new brakelines as the old ones will likely break on trying to remove them.

Ugh..

So how are you all doing?

View attachment 100721View attachment 100722View attachment 100723View attachment 100724View attachment 100725View attachment 100726View attachment 100727View attachment 100728View attachment 100729View attachment 100730

I’m glad someone else works in sandals. Some days it’s just the route you gotta go.

Looks great.

 

[Manscout]

I removed the plastic liner and did roll on bedliner from Duplicolor. Both bumpers and the fender flares are already sprayed with it, so it will match. I am happy with the results. The biggest reason was so I could mount my spare tire better and allow my Softopper rails to sit properly on the bed.

 

[Rick W]

Well last month at the TRS Fall adventure I roasted a wheel bearing 36 miles from home. Didn't feel like messing with it in a parking lot, and Autozone only had the cheap wheel bearings and I figured the spindle was trashed as well. (Autozone does not have spindles, and yep, it was borked). Made use of my Emergency roadside service and had it flatbeaded home to deal with later at a time of my choosing and within easy reach of all my tools.

So I figured two new rotors, 4 Timken wheel bearings, two inner seals and that would be a good start from Rock Auto. Bought a new grease gun and needle insert for it. Set up the bearings and one of the rotors with greased bearings and a new seal. Got the old rotor off and wouldn't you know in addition to the inner bearing race being friction welded to the spindle, the brake pads had only 4mm material, didn't think they were that worn down as I had replaced them in 2016 and they had maybe 25k on them. Slapped it all back together with the old parts so I could move it if needed.

Ordered a set of brake pads from Rock Auto and a brand new aftermarket Spindle from Jeff's Bronco Graveyard. Cost me 126 bucks shipped to my door and it came with a brand new Spicer needle bearing and both seals. Win.(also ordered a Timken needle bearing kit with the brake rotors just in case... will post my thoughts on the differences later)

OK I got another free weekend 2 weeks or so later to tear it all apart again due to having to cancel any plans for a day trip/ mental health day for my son after a very rough week for him and a friend's wedding the following week. Also the wedding weekend I used the Ranger to transport the rotting remains of a wooden player that I tore down to pitch in the neighborhood cleanup week dumpster that the HOA provided for us ( one of the few positives of being in an HOA) it took two half a block trips on a completely trashed wheel bearing..

Got all the parts, seated the new needle bearing in the new spindle, greased it, set the new seal. Spent most of a Saturday fighting the old spindle out of the knuckle. The 5 nuts came off without issues or stress. The spindle, yeah not so much. Went and ordered a slide hammer spindle puller just in case.. that was 60 bucks shipped. Went back outside and got another brilliant idea.. grabbed the old rotor, an old spindle nut from my Auto to manual hub conversion anput the rotor on and tightened the nt snuggly. Grabbed a 32 inch long pry bar and put it behind the rotor and against the knuckle. That popped it right off. Whire wheeled the knuckle, slapped some antiseize past on the new one put it all back together. Late in the day had to wait another week to do the other side. Cleaned and lubed the hubs while I had them off too

Got it all done and the first thing that happened was the brake light came on. Not the orange ABS light that has been on and I have been ignoring for 18 + years, but the angry red one that means you are low on fluid or have serious issues. Well the reservoir is full. Brake pedal feels good. Fluid looks like crap and is likely original, or at least 18 years old...

And that brings is up to last weekend. And I was sick. Gonna try and bleed the brakes and change the fluid at some point. If the master cylinder is bad, I am looking at a new master cylinder and new brakelines as the old ones will likely break on trying to remove them.

Ugh..

So how are you all doing?

View attachment 100721View attachment 100722View attachment 100723View attachment 100724View attachment 100725View attachment 100726View attachment 100727View attachment 100728View attachment 100729View attachment 100730

Afterthought: When I was coming back from the Carlisle 40th, I burned up a wheel bearing on the tag axle (which is really a 3500 pound trailer axle) and the inner race was frozen to the axle. The way I had it put together and suspended, I was able to take the whole wheel assembly off and ride without that one wheel (something I wouldn’t have tried if there was a load on the trailer).

The reason I’m chiming in is I found a local guy to fix it. He cut the race with a cut off wheel on a more than 45° angle, not quite down to the spindle, and then he just used a small cold chisel and rapped it a few times, and it cracked and he slid it off.

The spindle looked pretty ugly on the between races part, but of course, nothing rides there. There were a few marks where the seal rides. He used one of those rotary flappy, sandpaper wheels, and just went round and round and round, until there were no visible marks. Then he used a fine emery paper and got it down to almost shine. He had a like-new used hub and charged me 50 bucks for everything. And that was in New Jersey! 1500 miles later, not a drip came out. I did have to put a new hub on it.

I have a couple pictures of the cut and of the sanding job, but I can’t find them right now.

I got a double benefit because a few weeks later I found a 3500 pound axle for sale that had the race stuck on it, same exact situation. I would’ve never touched it if I hadn’t seen what this guy had done. I did the exact same thing, got the race off in less than five minutes, and sanded down the seal location, but I haven’t polished it yet since I didn’t have any emery paper. BTW, I got the 3500 pound axle with the one hub completely intact for 50 bucks (and I have a half a dozen extra hubs).

If I could find pictures, I’ll edit it and put them in.

Hope it helps.

 

[97RangerXLT]

My thought is to put the spindle in a vice and Drexel the old race like mentioned then cold chisel it. Grind and polish it and keep it as a field spare. I tried to dremel it on the truck but didn't have much luck.

Another winter " I'm bored and in the garage project.

I definitely am interested in seeing the pics once you find them.


AJ

 

[Jazzer]

I used that same cut/chisel technique on a rear wheel bearing and a M5OD bearing- works great.

 

[ekrampitzjr]

Forgot to mention that last Thursday Line-X got rid of some rust and recoated a spot under the bed that I had discovered when checking the diff lube. No charge.

Yesterday the Ranger did its job, first in bringing home several sheets of paneling for the house in the morning. Early in the evening, after I finished covering some old plaster that was crumbling or gone from a long-ago roof leak, I discovered my deep freezer had quit, so off it was to get a replacement. Got it home and moved the food; didn't lose anything. By the time the day was over, I was beat.

 

[Rick W]

My thought is to put the spindle in a vice and Drexel the old race like mentioned then cold chisel it. Grind and polish it and keep it as a field spare. I tried to dremel it on the truck but didn't have much luck.

Another winter " I'm bored and in the garage project.

I definitely am interested in seeing the pics once you find them.


AJ

This was from my September 16 post to this thread

It’s the race I cut, sitting on top, the axle that I polished up. The really rough part of the bottom is between the races. On the same diameter, where it’s smoother, that’s where the race was stuck. It doesn’t matter if it’s perfect because it’s under the race. And the wider spot above, that is where the seal rides. If it isn’t smooth, it will eat up the seal (it would be like a file on rubber). I got all the bad stuff sanded out, I just have to polish it with emery paper.

hope it helps

 

[ekrampitzjr]

This was from my September 16 post to this thread

View attachment 100790

It’s the race I cut, sitting on top, the axle that I polished up. The really rough part of the bottom is between the races. On the same diameter, where it’s smoother, that’s where the race was stuck. It doesn’t matter if it’s perfect because it’s under the race. And the wider spot above, that is where the seal rides. If it isn’t smooth, it will eat up the seal (it would be like a file on rubber). I got all the bad stuff sanded out, I just have to polish it with emery paper.

hope it helps

Rick, I'd get that rough part at the bottom of the picture as smooth as possible, just as you did just above it. Those burrs are potential points for cracks to start.

 

[Rick W]

Rick, I'd get that rough part at the bottom of the picture as smooth as possible, just as you did just above it. Those burrs are potential points for cracks to start.

Understood and agreed. I was going to sand it a little bit, but more from the standpoint of not cutting my hand or such. Also, keep in mind this is going to be for a very occasional use trailer, not daily driving, not part of the truck.

The method is still the same, and it will work, but you have to do a lot of work with the emery paper to really polish that part I sanded.