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

[rumblecloud]

Got some cool parts in today. Bedside steps

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I don't think they'll it on that BMW

 

[Rick W]

I’m reaching crisis mode on the Missing Linc (87 2.9 4WD, short, short). I put in 93 seats, but my fat ass has the driver side leaning about 2 inches to the left (no rust), I don’t know why. The armrest balances it out, leaning at least 2 inches to the right, but the top edge is killing my arm where I had the surgery. The front right speaker is the only one that usually works, and now it is cutting in and out. And now my low beams blink on and off occasionally. Oh crap.

To refresh, when I put in the four bulb Lincoln headlights, by accident, I reversed the ground with one of the low or high beam wires. The result was that when it’s on low beams, the outside lights light low beam, but the inside lights come on with a dull Amber. When I flip to the high beams, the inside lights light high beam, and the outside lights go to low Amber. As much as I want to keep my things all original, I thought that effect was cool as hell.

Apparently, that burns up the low/high beam/turn signal multifunction switch on the steering column. The one that was on the truck when I got it was obviously hot and quit working. I put in a new one 1000 miles ago, and now the low beams are flashing again.

Being organized, I thought that if I had to remove the seat to fix the leaning, I might as well fix the speakers behind the seat, and if I’m going to take the steering column apart, I might as well go in and fix all my dash lights (gauges side are flickering on and off), and the V belt on the cassette player is gone. And of course, the left front speaker.

I had extra speaker boxes for the rear, so I figured I’d put new speakers in them before I deal with the rest of it in the cold. Weather was a mild 47° today, so I figured it was an excellent day to take it all apart and put it all back together. Well, at least that was the plan.

So I started this morning with the speakers in the garage with the heat going. I pulled out two spares I had.

First thing was to take out the round speaker covers and speaker. Five minutes, right? Wrong. It’s a sheet metal screw, but the head that shows on the outside does not have a slot, it’s not a Phillips, and it doesn’t have a hex head. It is literally round. How in the hell did they install that? I used long-nose needle nose vice grips to start to unscrew the screws from the back, from the threads, but I couldn’t get them out far enough to to grab on the round head on the outside. Btw, I wanted to save those 4 inch round covers for another project. So I took out the Dremel Moto tool, and I cut slots in the heads with a tiny abrasive wheel. That was a trial and error with 4 or 5 different cutting things, that only took me an hour. But I eventually got them out by using a tiny composite blade.

I used the same composite blade to cut slots in the faces of the boxes. That was after I had to split the back off the boxes, they were glued on solid.

I marked the sides, and then used the same composite wheel to cut across the face and down the sides.

Then I cut 7“ x 10“ plywood pieces to fit inside the boxes to hold the speakers. I had to clear the workbench for 25 minutes to be able to cut a 7 inch width on the table saw.

Then I had to extract the end of the last blade that broke off in my saber saw to install a new blade and saw the oval holes in those plywood pieces.

Then I spent 15 minutes looking for my electric stapler, and (I hate to admit this), I spent 10 minutes figuring out why the bottom of the stapler wouldn’t close over the Staples before I figured out I was putting them in upside down. But I finally got some felt stapled across the faces of the plywood.

I’ve had the speakers for probably 30 years, a 4 x 6 set.

I didn’t correct the upside down picture because that’s pretty much how the whole day went. When I cut the oval holes, in four places, I swerved in a little bit to create four bumps so that when I put the speakers in and screwed them down, they were actually pressed into place to avoid vibration.

With the felt, I had to push in the 7 x 10 panels so they were snug with the outside frame, again, no vibration. I used wall board screws to hold them in place. I will replace them with some nice looking black pan head screws before I install them.

When I replace the screws, I will sand down the two sides, so they’re flush, on the table sander.

Instead of using the existing back panels, I will use a piece of the 1-1/2” dimple foam used for soundproofing and packaging. But I don’t want you to think I’m doing that simply because I didn’t realize the 4 x 6 speakers were deeper than the original speakers and I can’t get the original back on the boxes.

Then I laid down prostrate in the driveway at 5:00, and Lincoln licked my nose, while I was wondering what I was ever thinking when I thought I would get five or six things done in one day.

A couple items in there might help somebody

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

@Rick W , for your headlight situation, it sounds like it’s pulling a lot of power through the light switch. Best way to deal with that would be to build a heavy duty harness with relays. One relay for high beams and one for low. Use the existing headlight wiring as a trigger for the relays. I’d say just buy a heavy duty harness (Bronco Graveyard sells them cheaper than I can build one), but you don’t have factory lights.

 

[Rick W]

@Rick W , for your headlight situation, it sounds like it’s pulling a lot of power through the light switch. Best way to deal with that would be to build a heavy duty harness with relays. One relay for high beams and one for low. Use the existing headlight wiring as a trigger for the relays. I’d say just buy a heavy duty harness (Bronco Graveyard sells them cheaper than I can build one), but you don’t have factory lights.

Thanks, good advice. That’s one thing I’ve been considering for when I troubleshoot it. I have the relays and plenty of wire heavy enough. Like I said, I like the effect, but not if it’s going to be a pain in the ass.

I may just wire the lights properly, because four high beams across the front of the Ranger with the Lincoln Grill would probably still be pretty cool. I even thought of changing the inside lights to Amber foggers.

First, I have to troubleshoot it, but the creative juices are already flowing…

 

[Rick W]

Afterthought, the back lighting on the left instrument circle with the gauges is going on and off also, but it’s not going on and off at the same time as the headlights. I thought it was just burned out illumination bulbs until it lit up again, but now I’m wondering if the two are related. Any thoughts?

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Afterthought, the back lighting on the left instrument circle with the gauges is going on and off also, but it’s not going on and off at the same time as the headlights. I thought it was just burned out illumination bulbs until it lit up again, but now I’m wondering if the two are related. Any thoughts?

Maybe a bad ground or three. I’m always upgrading the main grounds on my stuff. That in itself helps a lot. Usually the body ground on these trucks is a piece of 10 or 8 gauge run to the core support and a few braided connections to the frame which only work as long as they last and the frame ground is good. I’ve seen a 4 gauge frame ground rot to junk inside the insulation with no visible indication. It just sounded extra crispy when I flexed it and I got curious and skinned the insulation back.

I run 4 gauge welding cable for starter power and ground, frame ground, alternator output, and body ground to the core support. Use some No-Alox on the connections. I’ve been done playing around for awhile, a bad ground will cause a nightmare. If that doesn’t resolve the electrical problem, then I start looking at specific grounds for whatever circuit is being affected.