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

[Curious Hound]

Run by me again how patching the hole in the heater Box helped get the shock done?

It was emotionally encouraging.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Not mine, but today’s patient is a 96 Explorer… new front axle seals, wheel bearings and axle shafts, both sides plus fog light bulbs both sides. Plus other shenanigans like my work bench and torch tanks are currently off the truck

 

[Rick W]

Not mine, but today’s patient is a 96 Explorer… new front axle seals, wheel bearings and axle shafts, both sides plus fog light bulbs both sides. Plus other shenanigans like my work bench and torch tanks are currently off the truck

Just curious, is that a new workbench and tanks (for you), or were you just moving them around?

And for everybody, have you ever looked at the stamped in dates and information, the stuff that’s hammered it to the side of the tank? I got rid of my big tanks right about the same time I got hurt in 2014, and I went to the medium size tanks. I think they call them B tanks? I bet they are still half full.

Anyway, when I turned in my oxygen tank, that tank was made in 1903 in Brooklyn, probably in the Navy yard. I’m pretty sure I brought that one down with me from my brief time in New Jersey a while back (1990?). When they weighed it, it was about a third heavier than the “new” post WWII tanks. I don’t remember exactly where the acetylene tank was from, but I remember it was marked from the Midwest, 1950s.

 

[97ranger22bronco]

It was emotionally encouraging.

It really was, it was a quick, easy victory and I finally got to cross that item off the to-do list.

Spent the day today getting the front end squared away, replaced the ball joints and outer tie rod ends and reassembled everything including adding new rotors and calipers.

Drum brakes continue to be the bane of my existence and my next big to-do is to connect the new e-brake cables which I'm not looking forward to...

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Just curious, is that a new workbench and tanks (for you), or were you just moving them around?

And for everybody, have you ever looked at the stamped in dates and information, the stuff that’s hammered it to the side of the tank? I got rid of my big tanks right about the same time I got hurt in 2014, and I went to the medium size tanks. I think they call them B tanks? I bet they are still half full.

Anyway, when I turned in my oxygen tank, that tank was made in 1903 in Brooklyn, probably in the Navy yard. I’m pretty sure I brought that one down with me from my brief time in New Jersey a while back (1990?). When they weighed it, it was about a third heavier than the “new” post WWII tanks. I don’t remember exactly where the acetylene tank was from, but I remember it was marked from the Midwest, 1950s.

So if you would have paid attention in the new tools thread…

Last night I picked up a steel workbench, torch set, compressor, and a couple brand new brake boosters for 90’s OBS F-250/350. Guy was really nice and the price was dirt cheap. I did look a little bit for dates on the tanks but I don’t remember what I found on these other than they are both out of date but still contain some amount of gas. The oxygen tank has a sticker for the place I get my tanks exchanged, so I may not have to pay for a test on that. I’ll probably have to get the regulators rebuilt if possible.

I didn’t really need the set, but it will be convenient and the price was right. I only have an oxy/propane set at home, my oxy/acetylene set has been up at my buddy Paul’s for a number of years now. It gets used somewhat frequently by me there. My oxy/propane setup here is set for cutting scrap, big oxygen tank and a 100# propane tank. Bought it that way years ago and still haven’t found the bottom of that propane tank. So it’s not a mobile setup at all and it’s not anywhere near where I work on vehicles. So this set will be convenient to where I work on vehicles, plus give me the ability to torch weld at home again.

I’ve been borrowing dad’s little torch set at home but I try to limit doing that, any time I ask it‘s “don’t you have your own torches!” So yeah, now I have another set. Current plan is to finish cleaning out my little temporary shed, move it back a couple feet from where it’s currently sitting, put the workbench and torch set in there in addition to the shelving it currently has. I’m not sure if I want to try and squeeze that compressor in there too. Basically I want to stop storing everything in my temporary shed and convert it to a workspace. It will be a tiny workspace (it’s like 7’x8’), but it will be a workspace out of the weather with a massive workbench.

 

[ifitaintbroke]

Just got the limited slip 8.8 slammed into the 98. We'll see if going from 3.55 to 3.73 makes a difference.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Just got the limited slip 8.8 slammed into the 98. We'll see if going from 3.55 to 3.73 makes a difference.

Won’t be an earth-shattering difference, but it will be a difference. Personally, I like 3.73 gears in an RBV if you’re running a stock tire size and want to try and keep some fuel economy. 4.10 gears or deeper if you’re running oversized tires.

 

[ifitaintbroke]

Won’t be an earth-shattering difference, but it will be a difference. Personally, I like 3.73 gears in an RBV if you’re running a stock tire size and want to try and keep some fuel economy. 4.10 gears or deeper if you’re running oversized tires.

Currently getting a best of 28mpg. Don't want to lose that, but if I do the v6 swap I want, it'll definitely go down some. Of course, probably the biggest single factor for fuel economy other than engine size is shoe size.

 

[ekrampitzjr]

Changed the multifunction switch yesterday. The left turn signal had not been self-cancelling for some time, and the right turn signal had started to do the same, but on the road Saturday night I felt something funny in the switch when signalling to change lanes. My headlamps had become stuck on high beam and would not dim. The position of the stalk made no difference and felt as though something had jammed.

The Haynes manual is broadly useless for changing the switch. I watched a video for the procedure online done on another 2011 and it was simple. The Haynes instructions had said that on the 2011 models it was necessary to remove the ignition key cylinder (???) and possibly the steering wheel with airbag (???) to be able to remove the upper and lower steering-column covers to access the switch. That was hogwash.

The only thing it got right was the need to remove the tilt lever if the truck is equipped with it (mine is). That unscrewed easily. I finished the job and confirmed everything worked again in about half an hour. Not a bad job. Didn't need to remove the ignition cylinder or the steering wheel.

 

[ekrampitzjr]

By the way, the 2011 in the video that required the multifunction switch had a little over 150,000 miles. Mine has nearly 170,000 miles, but that isn't a huge difference. Maybe this will give an idea of the expected life of the switch. I was fortunate in that my local NAPA had one in stock. Could have saved $$ by ordering from RockAuto online, but this was one time when I wanted to put the part in my hot little hands and fix it NOW.

 

[ben_2_go]

Topped off the oil yesterday and took'er to breakfast.

 

[MT_PLS]

Yesterday, I drove my truck for the first time since early February. I was going to swap a 2.3 Lima from a 1996 truck that had supposedly rebuilt, but when I went to check the timing, I found that the crank bearings were severely galled. Unfortunately, I did not discover that until I had already pulled my factory 2.3 engine.
I decided at that point that I might as well tear down the factory engine that was consuming 1.5 - 2 quarts of oil per tank of gas. I found most of the valves covered in thick carbon, so I sent the head off to the machine shop to get rebuilt. Surprisingly, the block was in fantastic shape, but the piston rings were so carboned up that it was allowing the massive blowby. The cylinders were all within factory specs, so I proceeded to hone the cylinders and install new rings. After getting the head back from the machine shop and reassembling the engine, my buddy and I reinstalled everything two weekends ago. When we fired the engine, it ran great but smoked 10 times worse than before!
Much cursing and diagnostics followed for the next few hours. A compression test showed that we were in the low 40 psi range. So we pulled the engine, again!
Come to find out, the piston rings must have been mispackaged (purchased from NAPA). What was listed as a a 1.5mm, 1.5mm, 4mm ring kit was actually a 1.5mm, 1.5mm, 3mm ring kit, which allowed the massive blowby.
I re-ordered rings, this time from RockAuto, and they arrived last Thursday. We verified the correct oil control ring thickness, and I spent Saturday re-assembling the engine (again!). Sunday, we were back in the shop by 9 am and had the engine re-installed by noon. This time when I fired it, we had light smoke for the first 10 minutes of break in time before the rings fully seated. I then proceeded to drive the truck for half an hour around some hilly side roads, being sure to vary RPMs and speed to fully seat the rings.
It felt SO good to drive my truck again without a cloud of smoke behind me!
I know every nut, bolt, and fastener in my engine bay intimately well now, and I also know to double-check parts specs before proceeding.

 

[Rick W]

Any job worth doing is worth doing twice.

And I guess it’s a good thing, but how are we going to find you now?

 

[MT_PLS]

I'll find other ways of making my presence known!

 

[sgtsandman]

I cleaned the inside portion of the windows in/on the 2011 while I was letting the power equipment run for their quarterly run.