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| who knew a 2wd could get so muddy? |
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| i even managed to cover the engine in mud |
Here are some pics of me flexin at the sandpit. Man that was a long time ago with my dinky little 27 inch BFG
ATs. It's amazing how much a truck can change in a year.
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| Check out the way that rear tire tucks up in there. |
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| Man those body lines flex all outta place. |
Here are a couple pics of my lightforce lights... these things are awesome
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| with the clear lenses |
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| with the blue lenses |
here are my tow hooks, these were a chore to get in there...
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| gettin more pretty |
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| not very tough to do with the impact gun but definitly a pain |
MY BROKEN RIM!!!! -- It's amazing what a curb can do in the snow.
A broken driverside shackle...
new shackle from ford: $26.17, about an hour to install. I was quoted $350 from a spring shop, saying they replace
both sides at the same time, and the hangers are normally rotted so they replace those too and all new bolts and labor. well
the hangers were perfect and so was the other shackle, and the bolts came right out and went right back in, so I dont know
what they were smoking but I saved $323.83 :-p
EDIT: happened to the otherside this spring, so I did the same thing. It broke the same way so I didn't bother
with pictures. So now I have two new shackles.
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| I have no idea how I did this and I don't really know when either |
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| the spring eyes broke right off |
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| nice new part from ford for $26.17 (not bad) |
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| all installed and ready to go |
And my very very inexpensive snorkel
Now this is the way to dry a wet carpet
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| And the wet digusting carpet. |
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| Wet carpet gone. All nice and dry now. |
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| Nice herculined floor. No more issues with water. |
Added just over a 1/2 inch of lift to my truck with a few washers. Seems like the camber will still be able to
be aligned as well, unfortunately I can't add any more without getting longer center bolts as you can see from the second
pic.
OK, got me some longer bolts and ripped everything in the front apart again, this is what I came up with afterwards.
It still aligns and I could even stick some more in there and keep the camber in spec. The only issue with longer bolts is
the thread isn't long enough so it needs a spacer of a sort to make sure the bolt can lock down and keep the radius arm tight.
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| yea, that lower nut doesn't have any threads in it, it's just a washer of sorts |
So my fuel pump started leaking from the metal elbow where the lines attach to it, for a $125 I had a new housing
with pump and sending unit and everything. Took an hour or so to do everything, I pulled the bed because it was much easier
then dropping the tank. And for the first time since I got the truck 3 years ago I finally have a working gas gauge.
Oh yea, those are the 30x9.5 Goodyear MT/Rs with the '02 Edge rims that I got a great deal on, but I didn't really
like the MT/Rs much so I upgraded, look further down for those.
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| the bed's sittin on a couple blocks on a crossmember to keep it off the tires |
So I threw in a lock-right locker and had to grind down a tiny bit on the gears, the 4.10s in a 7.5 are a little
tight and I needed to get the crosspin past the ring gear because I WAS NOT using a notched crosspin with a lock-right, nothin
but the solid hardened crosspin that came with it is going in there with it. So here is a before and after picture of what
needed to be ground.
So, I didn't much like the Goodyear MT/Rs, they were loud and weren't all that good in the snow (plus the 30x9.5s
were just small). I decided to upgrade to a set of Interco Trxus STS in 31x11.5, I squeezed em onto the 15x7 edge rims I have.
I'm running em around 26-28 PSI so they ride at least somewhat flat and don't just burn out the center. I must say I love
these tires, I do a lot of highway driving and they are wonderful. They have outperformed the MT/Rs off-road so far, and soon
enough I should know how they do in the snow, but I bet they will be a hell of a lot better. (ignore the rust in the rear
fender, it's a '94 in New England) and keep in mind that these things are on a 2wd ranger with no official lift... just
heavy duty rear leafs, some eibach coils and some washers.
So my axle seal decided to start to leak all over my brake and it's only an '02 axle, oh well. I ripped it apart
and replaced both seals and then all the brake parts. The bearings looked fine and there were no scores on the axle shafts
so I didn't touch either of those.
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| old seal |
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| all cleaned up waiting for the new seal |
For christmas (yes I know there are leaves on the ground, she couldn't wait till christmas to give em to me)
I got a set of mirrors for a 99-01, YAY. While I was pulling the mirrors I went by Ford and got the weather stripping that
runs along the door because mine was bubbling and rusting out. The part numbers for the weatherstripping were "F37Z*1021453*A"
and "F37Z*1021452*A" there's a different one for each side.
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| original mirrors and old stripping |
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| bubbling and lifting |
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| ewww |
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| the door panel removed |
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| access holes for the 3 mirror bolts |
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| old mirrors and stripping removed |
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| nice new stripping on there |
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| all done with the nice new mirror |
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| what the inside looked like |
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| just nasty |
So I finally got some new rims. I got a set of American Racing Chamber rims coated in teflon. These are a 15x8
with a 3.75 inch backspacing instead of the old rims that were 15x7 with 4.5 inch backspacing. It's amazing how much further
the tires stick out with the added with of the rim and the larger backspacing.
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| mmmmm, Teflon |
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| the old rims in 15x7 with 4.5 BS |
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| the new rims in 15x8 with 3.75 BS, boy do they stick out now |
Welp, on the June 3rd '06 trail ride I blew apart my lock-right in the first 10 minutes on the trail and had
a fun day getting home to get the spiders and back to put it all together in the rain and dark. I snapped 3 of the pins, and
actually BROKE one of the drivers. Also most of the gear teeth are rounded and chipped. And everyone said I'd never break
anything with a tired old 2.3
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| All the parts removed |
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| 3 broken pins |
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| damn, I broke a driver, WOW |
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| all the teeth on the drivers and couplers were chewed up like this |
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