Installed the new black carpet since it was too hot to work on the engine disassemble. Still have to put the seat bolt holes in but have the brackets in place to do that.

 

Spiffy new battery in my 09 DD. The old battery was a bit over 4 years old so it was toast.

 

where did you get this high mount LED?

 

Replaced the rack and pinion in my 2003 for the SECOND time because the original replacement I bought had some weird size inner tie-rods, and when they became worn out I couldn't find replacements, so I had to replace the entire rack and pinion just so I can replace my inner tie-rods next time they wear out. Anybody who has a 98-2011 Torsion Bar Ranger and has replaced the rack and pinion knows how much it sucks. It's much easier on the coil spring trucks.

 

That's a bummer.
​​​​​​Im probably gonna have to do it a second time as well, since I used a cheap parts store reman the first time and I beat this truck up frequently. What a PITA job. I'd rather drop the transmission than take that front end apart.

 

Disconnected more parts to pull the engine. I had 10 hr+ days of work last few weeks so no time for truck teardown. Bought and assembled a new engine stand so I can mount the replacement motor and get some of the new parts installed before it goes in the truck.

 

Knocked out the dreaded 3.0 timing cover gasket leaks last week. Also threw on a new timing set, new water pump, new thermostat, and new upper and lower coolant hoses while I was in there. It's nice to have the truck not leaking from almost everywhere.

 

Nothing major, but it's an improvement nonetheless. Stopped by the local Big Box Home Improvement store and picked up some by-the-foot runner for $1.49/ft. Took some heavy-duty scissors and cut out a form-fitting pad for the tailgate. I tend to use the tailgate as a workbench. On my old truck, I tore the living crap out of it. Hopefully, this will keep the inside of the tailgate looking respectable.




Roll it up and use the red hook-n-loop strap to corral it.

 

Replaced the wimpy stock 'horn' (and I use that term loosely, it's more like a 'meeper') with a pair of Hella Supertones.

 

Video video video? These horns show up in Japanese street racers. Is it the same twine sound?

 

No idea. I just know it's a twin tone and it's a helluva lot louder than stock. You can find a sample audio here.

 

Scored a pair of level II tow hooks for $10 at the junkyard! Not on a level II just a normal "FX4 Off Road". Going back for the 4.10 8.8 Posi rear tomorrow!

 

Level II branding was a 2003+ thing. In 2002 the "Level II" was referred to as just the Fx4 Off-Road, and that was the only Fx4 package. Then in 2003+, Ford offered two separate Fx4 packages. The Fx4 Off Road package became the lesser optioned package, and the Level II became the heavily optioned package. So your tow hooks came from a 2002. It's got a transmission cooler, so unfortunately it won't have the highly desired shift lever assemblies (only on manual transmissions), so the only worthwhile parts on it are the tow hooks, the interior, and the rear axle. Check to see if it has a rear tow hook as well, they were optional back then.

 

I see, here is the sticker. Didn't see any hooks, there was a hitch receiver I could use tho. Are powerdome hoods still worth something or have they become common now? It has one in good shape dunno if its worth pulling just to sell?

 

I forgot the torsion bars can be worthwhile too, although the 1 code bars also came on 5.0 Explorers and heavy GVWR Rangers, so they're not that uncommon. 2001-2003 Powerdome hoods are worthwhile to the right people, however they were on all 4x4 Rangers and 4x2 Edge Rangers, so they're still pretty common.

 

Time to "Light 'er up!" I swapped my tonneau cover for a basic shell topper for more storage space. With the headroom I decided to add some lights inside it so it would be easier to scrounge around after dark. I had some scrap LED strips laying around, as well as a couple electrical boxes and wiring.

Installing the lights was the easy part.




Wiring them, as well as getting power, was another story altogether.

As for power, here's the backstory. I reclaim lithium 18650s from old laptop battery packs. Last year, I came across some oddball batteries in a pack... 17670s. Had never seen that before. But I scavenged them anyway and they've been just sitting in the same drawer as all the 18650s I have. So I decided to put them to use in the topper to supply power to the LEDs. The advantage here is the lights will not be connected to the truck battery at all, so leaving them on accidentally will not drain the truck battery. I ordered a cheap (read: $4) battery holder off ebay (listed for 18650s, but it will hold 17670s just fine). I have 9 of them, so keeping extras laying around in case they're needed on short notice is no problem.

After lining up a hook-n-loop strap behind the holder, I screw it to the frame.




That will hold the batteries in place. Once that's done, it's time to wire it to the lights.




My SOP is to always use heat shrink. I can't stand using electrical tape as that never lasts... and gets all gooey after a few years.

Add a short length of surveyor's tape when installing the batteries....




.... to make it a gozillion times easier to remove the batteries when they need changed.

Once it's all powered up, bring the hook-n-loop together to bundle it all up.





Now I can ramble around the topper in the dark without fumbling 'cuz one hand is holding a flashlight.




I put a strip on each side, with separate switches, so I could have light no matter which of the 3 windows I open.




I will eventually go back and tidy up the wiring, but now I can SEE!

 

Had something in the back of my mind for quite a while, and decided tonight was the time to get it done. 15 years ago, I inherited a nice set of road-side emergency reflectors from my uncle. I knew I had them laying around somewhere, and decided to find them and add the kit to my DD road-side gear.



Miro-Flare model 18. The kit is model 18BF. It's a METAL box, not some cheap plastic crap that's available these days.

Open it up and there's 3 reflectors inside.



The three springy-things in the lid are to hold flags, which weren't in this kit. I may fire up the sewing machine and make some, though. Would never hurt to have them!

Each reflector opens like an old-fashioned flip phone.




The reflectors are keyed to the red shell/base so then it's fully opened, the reflectors are standing straight up. No fumbling around.

Good, old-fashioned 50-s or 60-s technology that beats the pants of the cheap crap being peddled today. If I ever come across the need to deploy them, it'll be nice to know I have a GOOD set of reflectors! Especially some with the weight to stay in place, not be blown clean into Kansas by a passing car.




FYI, these can be had on ebay.

 

Back when I had been putting in my new radio head (this thread), I pondered about the possibility of installing some sort of manual over-ride for the back-up camera to be able to trigger it without putting the truck in reverse. I didn't think it would be that difficult, and since the back-up camera had a separate power wire to run between the back-up lamp and head unit.

The back-up camera gets its power from one of the back-up lamps, which in turn sends the 12v up to the head unit to trigger it to switch the display to show the video feed from the camera. So to manually turn on the camera from the drivers seat, all I needed to do is apply 12v to the input wire that's run with the video feed. However, doing so would have an undesirable side effect.. it would turn on the back-up lights........ which might be confusing to some drivers at best, and dangerous at worst.

So my solution was simple. Install a blocking diode right before the last connection before the back-up lamp. This will allow current to flow from the lamp to both the camera (powering it when in reverse), plus trigger the head unit. But it will stop any current flow the other direction, as when I would flip a switch in the cab to power the back-up camera from there. So a couple days ago I installed that blocking diode in the tail lamp assembly. Sorry, I forgot to take pix.

Yesterday, my switch arrived. I didn't want just any ordinary, plain-jane, run-of-the-mill switch. I wanted to be able to trigger the camera from the cab two ways. One, flip the switch, just like most people would think is 'normal', and have the back-up camera come on no matter what. The other way is to flip a switch and have to hold it to keep the display on. This meant I was on the hunt for a special switch, not something you'd find at the local hardware store, home center, WallyWorld, even the auto stores.

In technical parlance, I was looking for a single-pole double-throw center-off switch. Either ON-OFF-(ON) or ON (maint)-OFF-ON(mom), depending on how the manufacturer chooses to designate it. In the center position, the switch is off. Push it one way, it clicks and stays on until you return it to center. The other direction, it will only stay on as long as you hold it there.... let go and it springs back to off by itself. And let me tell you.... these are rare critters.

In my hunt for such a switch, the two words 'bilge pump' kept coming up. This meant they must be a common switch in the seafaring world. So off the the local boathouse I go. Sure, they have switches. But not one like that. Heck, they couldn't even order on! So back to the innernets I go. I finally found a suitable switch.... a if anyone cares. Seems they're discontinued now so I was lucky to have found one.

This morning broke cool and overcast. Perfect workondatwuck weather. I pulled the radio panel out and located two wires... the accessory power wire and the feed from the back-up light. All I needed to do is tap these two connections and route them to the switch. After a temporary connection to verify my plan was working (switch triggered camera without vehicle being in reverse, and the diode preventing the lamps from coming on), I then took my drill to the area to the left of the head and drilled a ˝" hole in a spot with plenty of room behind it for the switch body.



I had already pre-wired the switch with long enough leads to make today go faster and easier. Once the switch was tightened down, it's on to making the electrical connections permanent. I undid my temporary connections and did it up right, using light blue heat shrink tubing to differentiate them from the other connections.




With that done, all I had left to do was reinstall the panel and two screws. Then insert the key back in the ignition for a final test. Truck in park, e-brake set, ignition on, and flip the switch.




Perfecto! Now I can turn on the back-up camera from the cab without putting the truck in reverse. This will be nice just to check behind me... look for something that shouldn't be there (little kids, pets etc), checking a towed vehicle while toolin' down the road.... And all without turning on the back-up lamps.

 

Next project for the day: replace the old, brittle, cracked, missing cheap foam sealer on the used topper I got with some EPDM.





Removed all the clamps, and lifted the entire topper up 3˝" by putting a 2x4 under each corner. Peeled off what was left of the old crap and started laying down the good stuff.




There were some gaps in the old stuff I could almost stick my finger through! Those days are gone now.

 

Finally got the replacement engine mounted on the stand and started removing the parts I don't need. Valve cover gaskets look bad so I'll be replacing them. I have run into a lot of bottom end stuff that I can't reach or just can't remove myself. So much as I wish I could do this swap on my own, gotta be realistic. Gonna call a local garage I know and trust and get them to do the swap and weld up the seat brackets for me. They can take care of checking the transmission to transfer case for leaks as well. Should be able to have them pick it up by end of week.

 

My '96 Ranger 4.0 just went over the 375000km mark recently and it's been pretending to be a Harley or something British - marking it's territory with small deposits of engine oil.
It was the somewhat typical oil filter adapter "O" rings which I had NO trouble sourcing from my local dealer. I was anticipating a rather simple job until I got it up on the hoist and found the exhaust had to be dropped to get at the mounting bolt.
This would not be such a big problem EXCEPT the 4 12 mm bolts holding the pipes to the manifold were 25 years old - and necked down to about 5mm and seized TIGHT!!!! They all broke off. The 4 liter in a '96 is definitely 10 lbs of whatever poured into a 5 pound bag - NO room to get in with the tools required to remove seized broken studs - so it was time to pull the engine, and HOPEFULLY not need to replace the manifolds. The manifolds are not bad - about $60 each - but the single use bolts are about $17 EACH -. Anyway - the engine had to come out - which meant the 5 speed manual trans had to come off (no, the engine and trans can NOT be removed as a unit - - - ) and wouldn't you know it, ONE of the top bolts would NOT come loose - tried the long extension and flex impact socket and every other trick in the book -untill I dropped the back of the trans as far as I could with the engine pulled as high as I could get it - and put the impact on a straight extention and hammered away at it for almost 2 minutes before it released. Trans still would not come off - the dowel pins were REALLY stuck so I made a jack screw out of 4 nuts welded together and a bolt - forcing the trans and block apart on the one side far enough to get a pry bar between the bell housing and block to separate it.. Oh - and the "quick disconnect" hydraulic clutch line? The clip was rusted and brittle - and broke. (and it is no longer available from Ford or Mazda except as past of the release cyl - which is only available from the aftermarket - - -)
Anyway, it was a 9 1/2 hour job getting the engine out on day 2 (day 1 was spent breaking the studs - - - - )
With the engine out I found the lower manifold gasket was seaping coolant at the back - so I decided to fix THAT while the engine was out - and the water pump had a bit of play, so with 375000Km on it I figured I best replace that too since I already had the fan off and the pump was easy to get at - only broke off ONE 6mm bolt.

Then came the fun - getting the broken studs out of the manifold. Regular drill bits didn't even scratch the studs (after grinding them almost flush with the manifold to get a flat to drill into) so I tried a cobalt bit. Just as the bit was breaking through - it broke. Now I had 3 glass hard studs - one with a cobalt bit in it. The "hail mary pass" was to get out the "blue tip drill" and blow the studs out. I had done it before (the boss saifd he'd never seen anyone drill and tap a hole with a torch) but that was 45? years ago - and my eyesight isn't what it used to be, and I've only used the torch about 5 times in the last 10 years. Anyway - I went at it and managed to get all 4 holes cleared without damaging ANY of the threads in the manifold - got everything together, cleaned up the block and rocker covers and painted everything up with the factory grey colour. One corner of one of the rocker covers was cracked and slightly rusted so my buddy tig brazed the crack before I painted it. The interior of the engine was a lot cleaner than many 5 year old engines Ihave worked on - those frequent oil changes with synthetic since new have paid off.
There had been an intermittent rattle from the exhaust the last while due to the heat sheild on the "Y" pipe being loose. The one end had been fastend with a hose clamp years ago - but the other end was loose and has actually worn through the "Y" pipe!! My buddy welded a patch on the pipe and on went another new hose clamp - - Then came the clutch connection .I ended up cutting a chunk off an old angle iron bedframe, cutting a 0.64" wide slot in it and drilling 2 holes for safety wire, and using that to replace the broken unobtanium quick disconnect clip.
After replacing the studs in the manifolds AND in the converter and installing a split flange on the exhaust (still original pipes) I put brass nuts on the manifold studs in case I'm the poor sucker who has to take it apart next time.. We got everything in and fired it up - it ran GREAT. Next day the CEL came on - I had a bad O2 sensor - I guess it didn't like being knocked around. I replaced it and a few days later I smelled gas -The driver's side rear injector top "O" ring had been pinched when I changed the manifold gaskets - so I had to pull the top manifold and replace the "O"ring and in so doing I cracked the aftermarker flushing "T" in the heater hose - and had to replace that. Two days later anothe CEL - the dreaded P1443 code. I had replaced all the hoses about 2 years ago to fix the code - removing and replacing the engine had "worked" the connections between the hoses and the valve/sensor/fittings - only about half of which had clamps installed - so on went a few more clamps - and no more CEL!!!

Other than some minor damage to the rocker panel and a big dent in the new box (that thankfully pulled out without leaving any lasting visible damage to the box) caused when the truck tried to fall off the hoist, the old girl is back to her normal self -
In over 55 years of wrenching - full time in my younger years - this was the FIRST time I ever had a "hoist malfunction"
MAKE SURE the locking aparatus that keeps the hoist arms from moving are engaged!!!!!! Thankfully the fork lift was handy to help get the truck down off the hoist - and I didn't even have to change my underwear.

 

Had a run of bad rains in the wake of hurricane Ida and others so I’ve been using my Ranger as my response vehicle for fire police calls. It’s not as comfortable as my CX-5 but I’m really enjoying driving it on the regular.

Picked up a side chair for my daughter yesterday at the thrift store. 30 bucks for a used Broyhill piece I. Good shape. Fit nicely in the bed and considered going to the drive in while I had it in there. Alas, it’s on her room now.

 

Oh? What did I do to my Ranger today? I bought one.

 

Today was “Community Day” in my hometown. I was doing traffic with the actual police. All of their vehicles are much newer. Here is a few shots of Rick hanging out with the young’uns.

 

FINALLY got my level II rear end on! Anyone ever put one on a 4 banger before or am I the first person dumb enough? Turns out the bolts/plates off a F150 are close enough to work, the U-bolts sit a little uneven because of some little "clips" on the side of the leafspring preventing them sitting perfectly but I don't see how they would fail from it? I'll keep and eye on um for the time being. Rear does have a whine to it but someone who knows better then me said its nothing to worry about.