The "Squirrel" goes under the knife...

[GRNMACHINE]

Per listing drilled rotors are not warranted against warping or cracking....

http://www.tirerack.com/brakes/brake...5&autoModClar=

[Tbars4]

..I keep forgetting to post back to this thread..

..After the long Desert trip it looks like I already have wore out the front coils...The pass side looks alright but the drivers side one is failing..So the pass side is still a hair positive and the drivers side is a bit negative...\---\ haha...not that bad but you get the picture..

...I'm going to have to come up with a taller coil too to begin with.....Ive currently got some thoughts in my head but need to get some other pressing maintenance done first...

..The funny thing is, I had lost all the weights on the pass side front tire during the trip and never realized it till about 1000 miles after I got home..

[Tbars4]

...Double checked with R1 today and their E-Line Cross drilled and slotted Rotors are guaranteed against warpage and cracking for one year..

..They said the only reason would be if the Rotors came back blue as in, caused from extremely high heat from racing which will change them to a blue color..

The drum to disc swap thread can be found here..
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/...d.php?t=321394

...Bought the cross drilled and slotted rotors for the rear to match the current front ones from them today...Just about got all the parts I need and hopefully will have a full rear disc conversion done before the 4th of July celebration..

[Scott B.]

We need a picture of the rotors...

And, I assume you are going to use rebuilt calipers as opposed to the ones in the picture, right?

[Tbars4]

..There similar to the ones on the front shown here..


..As for the calipers, I just figured I would beat on them with a BFH....That should get most of the east coast rust off of them and they would be good to go..

[Tbars4]

...A couple words about the rear disc conversion and the slotted and drilled rotors...

..Freakishly Unbelievable...

...I have never had a vehicle I could stop on a dime with....Running around with a load on the Ranger and it is simply amazing....The downside is, you want to go fast as you are confident you can stop in an instant..

[Tbars4]

..I forgot to add this but I'm almost done with the disc brake from drums swap...Just need time to get the new Lokar E-brake cables hooked up..

Disc conversion thread..
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/...d.php?t=321394

[Tbars4]

..A couple updates..

...It hasn't stopped, it's just slowed down for a bit...

...Turns out my camber issue recently showed it's ugly face...Ball joints went south on the pass side...Coil springs have only compressed a little over 1/4" evenly...

...Ordered some new parts last week and they should be here around Labor Day or so, so that should be updated...All I need to do now is get the new parts on before Truckhaven..

...And today, I finally cured the squeak from the 2000 ranger hitch and my long shackles..They wouldn't self clearance fast enough....While also today, the Ranger has finally gotten a skid plate mounted where it's most needed..Under the transfer case..

...From the looks of the dents in the frame and all around the T/C, it was just in time..

[Tbars4]

An update on E-Line Cross drilled and slotted Rotors...

...I took the Ranger up to the local mountains and played around a couple weeks ago..I knew the trip down the mountain would test the brakes out...Nothing to serious and the tuck wasn't overloaded as on long trips but the road down requires alot of braking..

..Fast forward to this week..I got a front bearing squeak 40 miles away from home and decided to use up some of my X's frequent flier miles with AAA..Pulled the rotor and it and the races look fine...The bearings and grease were the problem...

..Actually, it looks like I cooked the grease..Thankfully I have Timkens so they held together just fine..

..I use the moly grease for Ford disc brakes..

..If anyone has a suggestion on a better, higher temp bearing grease would be appreciated..Thanks..

[Tbars4]

....Since my 32x11.50x15's have been on National backorder for almost a year it's time to think about some other BFG AT K/O tire sizes for the Ranger that are somewhat inexpensive and will be available in the future as it still has DD duty..

..This has the specs I am looking at and tire weight in particular..
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....=yes&tab=Specs

..Since they don't make an 11.50 in other height tires the first thoughts were to go to the metric equivalent of 33x11.5 and move up to 285/75/16 but that requires new wheels and the tires are approx $50 more a piece..

..I am fond of the 11.50 with so I may be ruling out the 33x10.50x15's as being to skinny..

..This only leaves the 33x12.50x15 which is still easily available new and used for relatively cheap..But I should get new wheels for this width (15x8)..

Here are some BFG K/O tire weights from the above link ..

32x11.50 = 47#
33x10.50 = 47#
33x12.50 = 53#
285/75/16 = 56# (D rating)..or..59# (E rating - not severe)
35x12.50 = 62#

..Since it does have the 4 cylinder I am concerned about not only the weight of the tires but the wheels too..

..As for wheels I may need some help..

..I am leaning to the alloys as they should be a bit lighter than say the 15" $57 Cragar soft 8's I was looking at..

..Does anybody know of any good lightweight wheels for relatively cheap?..

[Scott B.]

You don't really want D or E rated tires - you don't have the vehicle weight, and won't get much sidewall deflection while running at lower pressure.

Moving up to a 12.50 will reduce your mileage, and suck power.

A 33x10.50" is the best bet. Yes, I know, they are too skinny. It's all in your mind. From a performance standpoint, they are the superior choice. Besides, skinny tires are more "Expo"...

And, you don't need to buy new wheels!

[Tbars4]

..Yea, this still see's more trails than it does "Expo"..

..It still will be getting cut and tubed as it progresses but for now I'm still thinking the 12.50's..The good thing about that is I can find these easily used to test them out before I buy new...

..plus, the way I drive the Ranger as a DD I don't think the 10.50's would stick as well..

[rickybobby]

Are you completely set on the BFG's? There are a lot of other options out there that can offer as much quality as the BFG's without the backorder. I just installed a set of Goodyear Duratrac's, and they outperformed the BFG's by a significant amount without sacrificing on road performance and are quiet as a mouse. Just my $.02 on your current dillema

[mounty71]

Here's an option

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/...d.php?t=352437

Did you get that BFG from my friend Shaun I posted the link to?

[Scott B.]

Originally Posted by rickybobby

Are you completely set on the BFG's? There are a lot of other options out there that can offer as much quality as the BFG's without the backorder. I just installed a set of Goodyear Duratrac's, and they outperformed the BFG's by a significant amount without sacrificing on road performance and are quiet as a mouse. Just my $.02 on your current dillema

Duratracs are not manufactured in 32x11.50-15 size.

[Tbars4]

..I like the road handling of the BFG K/O best and it really works well and last forever with the TTB plus it's proved well offroad...

..Thanks Mounty..I checked with him ASAP and the tire was not as good as the one I'm replacing...Cool deal on your Dad's stuff but the back spacing won't work..

...One of the benefits of getting new wheels this time is moving up to the 8" wide and getting the 3.75" back spacing..

..For now I can get some used good 33" tires until I can find/afford some wheels..I did find out as in tires, moving from 15" to 16-17" the price goes up progressively too..This is another reason I am planning to stay with the 15"..

..Trying to find some alloys for cheap like the soft 8's may prove to be a task..

[Tbars4]

..Oh boy oh boy..

..Today I got to update this old rearend thread...
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/...d.php?t=259172

..as the Ranger now has a completely inspected and fresh, warrantied for 1 year, rearend with 4.88's and the Detroit....Oh yea, the pinion seal leak is fixed...

...I did save some money as they were surprised at all the fresh bearings but amongst the spare parts I received back, I received a spare drivers side axle..They didn't like the one I had so they freshened it up and still replaced it so they could warranty it and I had them pull the front drive shaft so I don't forget and go boom..

...They also sent me home with a professional paper that explains "Your Ranger with 4.88 gears and Detroit installed.." don't do this and don't do that list...This cost about half a house payment but it's done...

..Now to find some more work so I can get the front gears done and some 33's..

[Tbars4]

..I got my cart loaded up yesterday at the home of 4WParts...I met with a couple of their different divisions while getting some wheels and I learned more in one afternoon about their steel wheels than a month of online research could have taught me..

[GRNMACHINE]

Lets see them! When I purchased the Rock Crawler Steel Wheels I did a little research. They are made in USA and had great reviews-plus they were super affordable for a 15x10. I also didnt want the red pinstripe line that other similar wheels had.

[Tbars4]

Originally Posted by GRNMACHINE

Lets see them! When I purchased the Rock Crawler Steel Wheels I did a little research. They are made in USA and had great reviews-plus they were super affordable for a 15x10. I also didnt want the red pinstripe line that other similar wheels had.

..This is no longer true..

..This is one of the many things we were discussing yesterday at the Corporate store..

..I originally bought the Procomp plain steelies just like the Cragar soft 8's with the circles (not D's) in a flat black new model number is "97"..This was a buy 3 get one free deal..

..The old model number was "98"..This is the first run of the new "97" 's which are now manufactured in China..

..The new model "97" is no longer FLAT BLACK but rather Semi Gloss..Yours truly became the first to locally bring it to their attention..

..After a couple hours of pulling different model Procomp steel wheels from the warehouse (you dang near need a presidential order to do something special here as it is the National/International warehouse) it was realized that Procomp needed to pull their Flat Black steel wheels that are displayed from all the stores and they are working on calling the new finish "Satin"..(It may change along the way)..

..The old model "98" which were truly flat black and Made in America could not be found thru their computers search as it now shows as discontinued..

..This really wasn't helping my situation as this all started with me opening a box at my local store to inspect and not only was it not flat black, it had been dropped and had a 2" flat spot on it which in turn lead me to head up to their Corporate warehouse/store.

..While this was going on we also discussed their model "152" which is a beadlock look (aka Streetlock) at this time are still the American made and flat black except another change was made that they were not aware of...

..The bolts on these are zinc plated...The Manuf. just recently changed and went with a gold colored zinc bolt as apposed to the standard silver color zinc bolt which is also displayed at all their stores...

...For my time and effort Transamerican and Procomp were very generous and helped me upgrade my non flat black wheels to something I could live with, for a small increase in price of course but they did appreciate finding out about these new issues...

..Just remember... ..You heard it here first on EF..