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

[97 Ranger STX]

I effing hate rust and Ford engineers.

So here is my last few days on redoing the master cylinder and brakelines.

Thursday after work I
started the "let's replace the failing master cylinder" in the Ranger. This repair also includes replacing the brake lines and the booster because of rust. And to start, I tucked out as much brake fluid as I could, then then loosen the brake lines, which crumbled apart. I figured that would happen. Then remove the two 9/16 (yes, SAE not metric) that hold the mastercylinder to the power booster. Those nuts and studs were rusty, had to fight them all the way off. And yes, I soaked them in pb blaster several times over the last two weeks in anticipation. After those came off, it was time to remove the booster.

That thing is a pain in the ass. This is all done underneath the dash and thankfully I didn't have to remove dash to get to it, i did have to do mechanics yoga to get under the dash. To make this easier on my aging back and joints i used two dining room chairs and some pillows that more ore less lined up with the floorboards...
To remove it, There is a weird kotter key that holds the actuator arm to the brake pedal, then the brakelight switch and a plastic bushing must come out. This kotter key is a bit of a pain. Then pull back some noise deadening mat that covers the four 13mm nuts that hold the booster to the firewall. Yes, metric nuts on the same part with SAE nuts on the other side. WTH, Ford? Oh, those nuts are on 2 inch studs and I had to fight each one *ALL* the way off a quarter turn at a time with a deep well socket... while laying on my back contorted in an unnatural position...new booster went in much easier, but I still need to hook up the brake pedal which is a giant pain because I have to place the brakelight switch, booster actuator arm, brake pedal and bushing all at once, and did I mention I was contorted upside down with limited use of my right hand because I am laying on it?T


Yesterday I day I am working on the crusty brake lines and calipers. Ford conveniently put the nuts for the hard lines on the back side of the coil bucket at an odd angle that the fender liner is in the way of the wrench so you can only turn the wrench a degree or two. Driver side had two fittings to the soft line, one from the master cylinder and one to the passenger side wheel. Amazingly the coupling to the line that goes to the passenger side unsolved with no issues. Had to cut the line from the master cylinder with a hacksaw. New calipers, new soft lines and let's go to the passenger side.

Mother of god.. no room to get behind the coil bucket to get the wrench on the nut because of the fender liner which does not come out without removing a crapload of stuff from the engine bay. Briefly thought about cutting a hole in the liner, but did not want to repair it later. So modern problems require a centuries old solution: blacksmith. Fired up the forge er map gas torch and grabbed a cheap 7/16 wrench and bent it so that the handle followed the curve of the inner fender
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The old unit. Notice the rusty brake lines

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One of the two very rusty nuts holding the master cylinder to the booster

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Back of the master cylinder. Had to use a 4lb mini sledge to separate it from the booster.


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Looks a bit rusty

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Old brake fluid. Brake fluid is normally clear... this has probably been in there since 1997

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pulled down the noise insulation barrier to get to the four 13mm nuts

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This is how I mitigated the Mechanics Yoga... worked fairly well.

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Old vs New

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Surprisingly still solid even though it looks like you can stick a screwdriver through it

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old unit removed.

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New one in place and bolted in.
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This is the annoying little kotter key that holds the brakepedal/ brakelight switch and booster together. it is a pain in the ass.

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Old and new line from the master cylinder to drivers side front wheel. Had to fabricate that one from a straight price of brake line and create a double flare. And yes, I remembered to put the nut on before flaring the end

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Drivers side with new calipers and soft line. Waiting for the line from the master cylinder and the line from the passenger side to the softline


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Modern day blacksmithing


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See how that follows the fender? Oh and that soft brakeline below the wrench? It was rust fused to the coil bucket. tried pulling the clip out that is behind the coil bucket holding the metal part of the softline to the coil bucket. no dice. pulled about a third of the clip out, mangling and destroying it, and the line was still in. bent a small screwdriver as well. I even tried putting an 11/16 wrench on the hex part to break it free, no luck. Ended up going out to the Shed of Wonders (hey, @Rick W has the Shed of Miracles, so consider this the lesser, northern cousin...) grabbed my angle grinder and broke the metal hose part off with my hand and ground the rest of it down flush with the coil bucket and used a punch and a hammer to remove the rest. A fun 5 minutes of flying sparks and debri bouncing off the fender and coil bucket into my face...



View attachment 116200
Old and new line from Master Cylinder to the RABS unit. that was a cast iron B!tch to remove from the truck and a NiCop B!tch to put back in the truck, only to find out I put the wrong size effing brake line nut on the RABS end. Eff it. called it a day, sometime tomorrow I will go under the truck and redo the flare with the right nut.

Hello 97RangerXLT, can you confirm the flare and nut size for the brake line from the MC to the RABS? I saw that it was 7/16-24, bubble on the RABS side and M12-1 bubble on the MC side. Is that the issue you ran into? Thanks!

 

[Rick W]

Finally finished swapping the plugs and the wires in the 97 Road Ranger. That truck always ran well and pulled strong, but there is a marked improvement. No gurgle out of the exhaust, which is nice.

I also took a piece of a tire that I cut apart to make a push bar for my 73 F350 wrecker way back in the day, to make a pad for my clutch pedal to extend it out a little bit. No, I didn’t tow anything, it was just another big toy. The tread was about 7/8 of an inch thick, so I cut a piece the right size, and I put a couple of grooves on it so I could attach it with zip ties to my clutch pedal without my foot wearing out the zip ties.

I’ve only driven it a couple miles, but it’s working perfectly. That thing has a stage 3 clutch in it, and I have to touch it to the floor if I don’t want to grind some gears. That meant I had to have the seat up too far or I have to grow longer a longer leg. Between the added grip, and that almost added inch, it seems much more comfortable. This is just a temp, and if it works OK, I’ll figure a way to mount it more permanent than relying on the zip ties.

I also put on a new, actually old from the shed of miracles, negative battery clamp on the front battery And I did a couple other, just maintenance things, to improve ride ability. The alternater light isn’t staying on, but it’s still flickers once in a while. I’m just going to have to chase it down.

 

[Maritime Drag Racing]

Put the CalTracs bars in the bottom hole with .060 gap, set the 9 position shocks to #3, took out a couple of plugs then put them back in because they looked perfect even after 28 passes. Also lowered the launch RPM a LOT on the two step to 3000. Some people that know a lot more than me about suspension said I was hitting the slicks way too hard after watching a couple of videos. Those were big swings from the settings we had for the June race so hopefully we're heading in the right direction. With a 2.75 low gear, 4.88 rear and 9X30 slicks it does hit pretty hard.

 

[pjtoledo]

drove it about 300 miles thru Ohio.
the check engine light came on, O'Reilly checked it, P0420
I'm sure it has nothing to do with 377,000+ miles, or the original engine burning thru massive amounts of oil.
2005 2.3 w/manual

EDIT: todays trip was 30 mpg, I don't think it's running rich.

EDIT # 2
today added a can of Dura-Lube catalytic cleaner and hit the road.
about 250 miles later the check engine light was out. stayed out for another hour and 2 restarts.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Canvas has been fitted to the Choptop… it’s temporarily permanent…

That said, it rides pretty nice now and the canvas works awesome. I can hear my tires for the first time I can remember. Usually it’s vibrating/squeaking/flapping…

 

[4.0blue98]

Turned 224k on my way to work this AM and saw this

 

[Rick W]

I’ve been researching and fiddling around, trying to figure out how to take the dashboard apart to clean out the ductwork to get more air through the air conditioner. 97 4.0 extended cab 5-sp. Everything seems to be working properly, so after 320,000 miles I’m thinking it’s just dust and dead bugs and bird feathers and leaves and who knows what.

When I started to see what I had to do to take it apart, I went back to an old trick from the early 70s. I turned the AC on, but I turned the fan off and then I took a leaf blower and blew into the outlets on the dashboard. You start from a little space away and kind of gauge the back pressure, but on this I ended up just running them flush. I figured if I popped something loose, I was going to have to go into it all anyway. Turns out it worked like a charm, I’ve got two or three times as much air coming out, and it’s ice cold.

Yes, all that want to can mock me on this one go ahead

 

[Snatchsquatch]

I replaced both boots on my steering rack because packrats chewed a bunch of holes in them when the truck was sitting and I also replaced 1 tie rod end. I HATE packrats!

 

[SenorNoob]

...I turned the AC on, but I turned the fan off and then I took a leaf blower and blew into the outlets on the dashboard. You start from a little space away and kind of gauge the back pressure, but on this I ended up just running them flush....

I wonder if that would make any kinda difference on my truck. Fan seems to struggle when it's closed up completely and pulling outside air. I've always thought it was just pressure in the cab, because it changes when I crack a window. Maybe not?

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

So…

Among other adventures yesterday, I think I finally found the cause of vibration in the Choptop. I’ve thought I’ve found the vibration problem a few times now, but apparently my rear driveshaft runs at an angle to the side. I’m not exactly sure where the problem is but I have some thoughts. Probably gonna get under there and do some measuring and figure out a plan.

I also found that the fuel lines are pinholed. So that’s lovely. I was going to replace them anyway but hadn’t got to that point yet and of course now it’s a priority…

 

[Rick W]

I wonder if that would make any kinda difference on my truck. Fan seems to struggle when it's closed up completely and pulling outside air. I've always thought it was just pressure in the cab, cause because it changes when I crack a window. Maybe not?

If you think it’s back pressure because the cab is too tight, try just cracking the window. I’m pretty sure if you crack a window just about 3/8 or a half an inch, that’ll be a larger exit space than anything the fan in the dashboard is putting out.

Having said that, I find it hard to believe they would design the cab that airtight. I would assume at a minimum there’s enough escape from the cab to allow for the input from the air conditioner. Does anyone know where the air is supposed to escape the cab? Maybe you’ve got that covered by accident or it’s plugged?

When I got the 87, I didn’t have a mouse house in the duct system, I had a mouse condominium complex. Sucked it out with a shop VAC when I had the vents off. But it was easy to get the dash out, and I don’t have an air conditioner coil in that truck.

On the 97, I think it’s just crud that gets up against the expansion coil over the years. A big blow from the leaf blower, pops it out, but it’s unlikely it would all go back in the same place, it might suck up into the bottom a little bit, but it might clog up again overtime, not immediately. I didn’t want to go through all the work to get to that coil to clean it manually. And if the blower didn’t work, I wasn’t looking at any more work to get it done.

Hope it helps

 

[Rick W]

Afterthought. My 87 is a rattle trap compared to the 97. 97 is all pretty much there, all the gaskets and seals and such. The door seals are in good shape around the 87, but the window scrapers in such have been long gone.

When I close the door on the 87 with the windows closed, I kind of have to slam them to get them to close all the way. If the windows are open, I don’t have to do that. I always wondered if it was back pressure.

The doors on both sides have a little crease in the sheep battle from the corner of the window closest to the door lock. I never measured anything, but I think it makes more sense on mine that the door is a little bent, and it straightens out when the window is up, and that’s what pops it back

I’m just throwing this out there food for thought I’m gonna keep slamming the door until one day. I slam it and the other door falls off then I’ll worry about it. I usually drive it with the windows open because Lincoln loves that truck when the windows are open. He can do some good 360 swivel barking.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

@Rick W , the vents that are supposed to let air escape are in the doors. There’s a little flapper piece behind the door trim

 

[2011Supercab]

@Rick W
The vent in the door is to let air out when you close the door.

 

[Rick W]

@Rick W
The vent in the door is to let air out when you close the door.
View attachment 130955

Wow. I thought that was just another speaker that didn’t work.