What did YOU do today?

[JoshT]

The whole set up looks good. Obviously it’s doing what you wanted to do. How long is the trailer? How long is the bed of the trailer?

I'll have to get back to you on that one. No idea on the OAL. It's registered as a 6x12 homebuilt, but that was as a bare frame before it was modified to add the deck. I think we might have both widened and extended it a little. I do recall that it was sized to fit (with some overhang) a 68-72 F-100 or a 65-67 Galaxie as those were the rides I was looking for. Was hunting a the truck for parts, and the Galaxie to build. Never got either one.

 

[scotts90ranger]

Balance point for an explorer looks good to me, I've towed them before, they're pretty balanced and you have the center just ahead of the center of the trailer... if it towed fine then that's all that matters, I've had too light of tongue and you will certainly know...

For me today it was mostly about the camper project, my good friend headed over with his wife and two daughters to help out and at one point we kinda needed all 6 people... we got the siding glued on, started with a 3' section in the middle aligning two trim holes along the top about 6' apart with picks, me and my buddy were on ladders with picks while the girls were wrangling the side then we used the linoleum roller to lock it in place. From there we did the front section then the rear. I'm pretty sure everything is within 1/16" which is likely better than when there was no structural wood on the side... my stress on that project is MUCH lower now... after they left we went to town to get lunch then when we got home I started attaching stuff to the side. I got all the stuff but the windows and trim installed, realized when I was cleaning up the windows they need butyl rope instead of tape so I'll see about getting that...

Here's a before (early on after I got the side off) and after (as it sits right now):

 

[superj]

I'm sure I missed a post somewhere, but why is the Ranger on the trailer?

Bringing it home from colorado when my youngest son got out of the army. He borrowed it but had more stuff then fit in it to bring home. And he was on a profile that advised not to drive because of a traumatic brain injury in a stryker accident.

But, he has been fine since he was not able to drive for the first month he came back from korea and got some rest

 

[mikkelstuff]

Installed a new dishwasher for the sister-in-law (husband died finally with Alzheimer's). Disgusting how it could take 3 hours to replace a 12 year old Bosch with new same size Bosch and I just replaced ours last year. These things fight me all the way.

 

[Rick W]

Snowmageddon here in Atlanta for 30 minutes this morning. I’m getting the feather duster from upstairs to clean off my vehicles.

 

[sgtsandman]

I qualified on the M4 Carbine on Sunday. I probably could have gotten expert but the Air Force doesn't award you anything extra after you get the first ribbon. Anyway, I got a qualifying score on both iron sights and the Aimpoint 68 red dot. So, good enough. At least out to 300 meters.

 

[JoshT]

Snowmageddon here in Atlanta for 30 minutes this morning. I’m getting the feather duster from upstairs to clean off my vehicles.

I don't watch the news and ain't seen pictures of Atlanta's snowmageddon, but feel like I've might have more oil dry on the shop floor than snow on your vehicles.

Middle of day four on my week long swap thrash. The engine and transmission from the do or are on the floor. I'm working on getting everything cleaned up and accessing what I need to do/get for parts.

So far.i need to get replacement connectors for the fuel injectors and new battery/starter cables. Every one of the injector locking tabs broke off, but wires look good. Ordered a set off Amazon and will attempt it depin and repin in the new connectors. The starter end of the cables looks like this, and the terminals have been replaced a time or two.

Not looking promising to have the swap done this week. I should have everything ready and might start pulling the Ranger drive train on Tuesday or Friday. Right now the thing I could use most on this project is another set of capable hands. Dad wants to and tries, but with his physical/medical condition he just can't do much.

 

[scotts90ranger]

So far.i need to get replacement connectors for the fuel injectors and new battery/starter cables. Every one of the injector locking tabs broke off, but wires look good. Ordered a set off Amazon and will attempt it depin and repin in the new connectors. The starter end of the cables looks like this, and the terminals have been replaced a time or two.

I had the same issue and did the same, no real issue other than the little red clips on the nose of the connector aren't as good as the originals but I saved one of the originals and put it in the one that broke...

 

[racsan]

Got home from work & ran my escape up on ramps to see where my driveway leak was coming from, looks like its atf & coming from the left side where the halfshaft plugs into the transmission. Oddly enough the transmission doesnt seem to be low on oil, Guess thats good. Got the trailer hitch & wire harness to put on sometime. Going to try & beef up the hitch mounting points to the body when I install it. Once the weather stabilizes Ive got some bodywork to do on the rear wheelwell arches.

 

[JoshT]

The whole set up looks good. Obviously it’s doing what you wanted to do. How long is the trailer? How long is the bed of the trailer?

Measured it while I was over yesterday. Deck is 6.5' wide and just over 14' long.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Started welding patches on dad’s 99 Ranger. Probably continue that on Sunday and Monday. Hopefully that will be enough to get it. Really need a lift for this stuff. Gonna have to weld one more plate then get the front wheel back on and get it up on ramps. Can’t get in a position to weld some of it with it on the ground. Ramps will at least give room for my shoulders so I can roll up on my side to weld, lol.

 

[Rick W]

I don't watch the news and ain't seen pictures of Atlanta's snowmageddon, but feel like I've might have more oil dry on the shop floor than snow on your vehicles.

Middle of day four on my week long swap thrash. The engine and transmission from the do or are on the floor. I'm working on getting everything cleaned up and accessing what I need to do/get for parts.

View attachment 106371

So far.i need to get replacement connectors for the fuel injectors and new battery/starter cables. Every one of the injector locking tabs broke off, but wires look good. Ordered a set off Amazon and will attempt it depin and repin in the new connectors. The starter end of the cables looks like this, and the terminals have been replaced a time or two.

View attachment 106373

Not looking promising to have the swap done this week. I should have everything ready and might start pulling the Ranger drive train on Tuesday or Friday. Right now the thing I could use most on this project is another set of capable hands. Dad wants to and tries, but with his physical/medical condition he just can't do much.

Your’re going to throw that away? That looks like some of the good stuff in my wire box, the kind of stuff I start with when I do my projects.

Anyway, today I continued on the Towncart, written up in the Missing Linc thread.

But I wanted to share another one of Rick’s tips.

Nobody ever has enough space in their workshop, certainly not on top of the workstations. But there are those things you want in arms reach.

Also inspired by @sgtsandman (back when I was trying to help him out with ways to keep soup cans from tipping over), I came up with this:

I took some leftover Progresso soup cans and ran one wall board screw through the bottom into the plywood between the studs of the wall. The WD-40, brake cleaner, blaster, etc. slides in just enough that they won’t fall down, but they’re right there in front of me when I’m doing something and I need them.

hope it helps…

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Oh yeah, I’ll have to get a picture, but I cleaned the trashed stickers off the back glass of my cap and laid some new on the nearly blank canvas. One of the vinyls was just made for me on Monday. Since it was nice and warm and dry today, I whipped out that little side venture.

 

[JoshT]

Your’re going to throw that away? That looks like some of the good stuff in my wire box, the kind of stuff I start with when I do my projects.

Throw what away, the Explorer or the wires? Explorer is rotted to hell. The wires, well they definitely ain;t going to be reinstalled like that.

What I want to do is rebuild the harness with larger gauge welding wire for the cables, but I can't seem to be bothered to strip the harness and do that much right now. Instead I've got another of those harnesses from a 98 I parted out several years ago. It's in good shape on the starter end, but little rough on the neg side of the battery end. Going to clean, reterminate, and use the 98's harness and throw the 2000 harness in a box on the shelf to rebuild down the road.

In the morning I'm going to see if the vinegar and salt method actually works to clean copper wires. Hopefully by noon my new injector connectors will have arrived and can be installed along with the injector cleaning stuff. Probably wasting my time with the injector cleaning, but worth a shot.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Throw what away, the Explorer or the wires? Explorer is rotted to hell. The wires, well they definitely ain;t going to be reinstalled like that.

What I want to do is rebuild the harness with larger gauge welding wire for the cables, but I can't seem to be bothered to strip the harness and do that much right now. Instead I've got another of those harnesses from a 98 I parted out several years ago. It's in good shape on the starter end, but little rough on the neg side of the battery end. Going to clean, reterminate, and use the 98's harness and throw the 2000 harness in a box on the shelf to rebuild down the road.

In the morning I'm going to see if the vinegar and salt method actually works to clean copper wires. Hopefully by noon my new injector connectors will have arrived and can be installed along with the injector cleaning stuff. Probably wasting my time with the injector cleaning, but worth a shot.

I cleaned and checked the spray pattern on my injectors. Used a can of carb cleaner and a tire valve stem (minus the valve and a hole drilled in the cap for the stem of the cleaner) then used a 12v power source to trigger the injectors. Sprayed it a few inches onto a pizza box. Didn’t take long and told me everything was doing what it should. I watched a video on YouTube about it. SixtyFiveFord on YouTube did a video on it, how to do injector cleaning without expense tools