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

[sgtsandman]

The driving light valence came in for the 97.

View attachment 131706

The Amber halogen driving lambs I’ve had forever are about a quarter inch too large for the light holes, so I ordered these.

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I really don’t like them, but they’re the only thing I can find. I couldn’t even find anything at two or 3 or 4 times the price.

Again, the reason I’m doing this is because the eyes aren’t as sharp at night, and when I drove to nationals, the high beams just weren’t getting it by themselves. So I want some bright driving lamps pointed low to track the lines on the road.

When those lights come in, I’m going to compare the beam at night with my halogens. I’ve got a feeling I’m going to make my Amber halogens work….

Would this help?

 

[SenorNoob]

Checked fluids. Oil seems a little high. I haven't added any since last change. Coolant is normal. Can't be running THAT rich. 19.5MPG. Probably time to change it anyway. There is a drip of transmission fluid at the bottom of the transfer case. Level seemed fine. Transmission was good too. Hmm.

 

[Maritime Drag Racing]

New bullet on the way - actually my brother's spare engine for his Super/Gas Vega. 12:1 385ci, AFR 227 heads, Super Victor intake and a giant solid flat tappet that's gone 9.60 in a 2300 lb Vega. Pretty sure it's got a lot more HP than my blown up 355.

 

[Curious Hound]

Cleaned and rebuilt a spare locking hub. I have a second one washed. But it needs some sanding/filing/wire brushing before assembly and I ran out of ambition.

I've been driving around without a spare much longer than I care to admit and it doesn't give me warm, fuzzy feelings of comfort. The way I drive, one or two spare hubs in the toolbox can be a life saver.

 

[SenorNoob]

You say rebuilding, whatcha mean there? Are there parts available? I have a pair of warn hubs that one works fine and the other the handle doesn't stop when you turn it. Have to get it in just the right place.

 

[Curious Hound]

Basically disassemble, clean, re-lube and re-assemble. When one breaks, i try to find and save the re-usable pieces as spares.

For the one that you have that the handle doesn’t stop in position; there is a flat ring that has 3 prongs on its inner diameter. Those prongs are probably broken. I’m not real sure what parts are available. But from what I saw yesterday, it seems like that ring is interchangeable between the Warn and Milemarker models. The handle screws to a round piece with a cam profile molded to its outer diameter. That cam profile is what engages the prongs on the flat ring I mentioned.

You should be able to see it in my Youtube video on rebuilding these hubs.

 

[scotts90ranger]

Last night topped off the power steering fluid in the '90 since it didn't want to steer when I moved it a while ago... took like 2oz, must have been an air pocket or something, it steered just fine...

 

[danielschudel]

Fixed the two rear suicide doors so they actually pop open now with just the handles. And all new bulbs in the instrument cluster!

 

[pjtoledo]

removed the aftermarket remote start from the 2000.
one less thing to go bad, maybe it had something to do with parasitic draw.

 

[Rick W]

I went all around the Road Ranger and step trailer today to get them ready for the Southeastern Railway Museum truck & tractor show tomorrow, and Caffeine & Octane on Sunday.

I really haven’t done much except drive it a little bit since I came back from the Ford nationals. That trip really irritated my arm where I had the surgery, and then the last week and a half, I’ve had a bad case of flu. Today was really the first day I did anything, and I think I must’ve sweated 50 pounds off.

When I went out to do the one or two things I wanted to do, I found a lot more damage from when I ran over the tire tread going back-and-forth to Ford nationals. Nothing serious, but all my little funky lights were messed up down the right side, and a few more things were torn loose than I thought. So I didn’t do anything I wanted to do, I kinda just put it back to where it was before I left for Pennsylvania. But I was still happy to get a hard work day in after sitting around with the flu.

Come join me at those shows, they’re both good and the weather is supposed to be 10° cooler

 

[ekrampitzjr]

Fixed the two rear suicide doors so they actually pop open now with just the handles. And all new bulbs in the instrument cluster!
View attachment 131834

What was wrong with the doors? I know there's a guide on the site here to repairing the doors if the mechanism fails. Was that it?

 

[danielschudel]

What was wrong with the doors? I know there's a guide on the site here to repairing the doors if the mechanism fails. Was that it?

The cables detach from the handles because some plastic breaks on the cabling. When that happens, the back doors don't pop open with the handles. Doorman and others make aluminum replacements that should never break

 

[danielschudel]

Replaced headlamps. Cheap fix to look so much newer!

 

[scotts90ranger]

Not so much Ranger related but related to my '00 Explorer... Went and aired up the tires on my '97 parts Mountaineer so I could get it closer to the shop so I can pull the front diff... 2 of the tires were sitting on the wheels and didn't want to air up, one side had to jack up so the beads would seal. Then I started addressing the wasp nests, that was a mess as they were really into the mirrors and a few spots, until it cooled off tonight and got windy they were pretty aggressive so I didn't try to move it. 30 minutes ago I decided it was a good time so I fired up the tractor and the wife steered the thing over to the shop (well, in front of the driveway, close enough to do what I need). After that I did eventually confirm that it has the right gear ratio

Oh and I glued the rearview mirror button back on the '00 Explorer that fell off over the winter.

I have a family reunion tomorrow that I'm involved in setup so the '97 Ranger is currently loaded up with stuff for that...

 

[pjtoledo]

ah, Fred, are you for imprint certain this is a good idea?

on the 2005 2wd I've been chasing a wheel vibration from about 62+ mph without much luck.
after several wheel balancing's I thought I'd check the drums.
both cheap-O 9" were way out.
Didn't have much to lose so I gave it a whirl.
had to set the drum on numerous times to get a consistent reading, without the leveling ring it's hard to get the drum on properly.
drums alone aren't heavy enough to depress the leveling ring, removed it for this.

seemed to help a little. I kept accelerating thru the vibrations and at 80 everything sort of smoothed out. not completely, but definitely sort-of.
unfortunately, my 2005 with 378,000+ miles probably should not be driven at 80.

surprisingly removing that much metal didn't totally screw things up, I was expecting really bad results.

I was wondering if the balancer was true and accurate. put a known good wheel from the 2019 Edge on and it registered as balanced.