Completed Project Kirby's 1991 Ranger Build Up

[4pullingGM]

Makin progress! I've thought about building an offroad trailer to pull around, I bet you're gonna miss yours. But, you get to buy more goodies!

 

[BKennedy]

The gray Duff arms cost more because they have some superduperspecialishish powder coating. I asked them to send me the arms raw but they don't do that.

Sorry I did not reply sooner but I am getting the Explorer dirty.

Sent from my XT907 using Forum Runner

 

[Kirby N.]

Makin progress! I've thought about building an offroad trailer to pull around, I bet you're gonna miss yours. But, you get to buy more goodies!

We haven't used it in a long time. I think with a pickup I can sleep in the bed just as easy. It was so old and rough, bit with all the interest I got I probably could have gotten $1,000 for it.

The gray Duff arms cost more because they have some superduperspecialishish powder coating. I asked them to send me the arms raw but they don't do that.

Sorry I did not reply sooner but I am getting the Explorer dirty.

Sent from my XT907 using Forum Runner

Good for you man. No problem! I ordered 5.13 gears and a pinion install kit today. Great prices and service from http://crazyedsperformance.com that's where I get all my parts.

Ed also has a housing with spindles I am going to buy. I think I am going to run stock shafts also to save some coin. When it's gets an arb I will put in chromos. I am pretty excited about that!

 

[Kirby N.]

All dressed up with no where to go

Mounts are moved on and a fresh coat of paint

 

[Kirby N.]

Some good news! I got a shipment from James duff!

They are pretty! I also got my yukon 5.13s for the front and an install kit from crazyedsperformance.com

Last week I also made a trip to the Great Lakes to pick up a jeep for my wife. 2006 lj rubicon to replace her 2005. She has been car less for a couple months. I stopped in Madison, WI and went four wheeling with a couple of my oldest and best friends: Chuk and Jeremy. 3 Rubicons on a trail was a odd sight for that a area. We had to go at night, due to our schedule but it was fantastic. Chuk has a 2003 tj rubicon and Jeremy has a 2006 lj rubicon

Now for the bad news. Last Sunday I got home from church and the ranger was hissing and blowing antifreeze all over. It looked like it was coming out of the block. I decided it had to be a lower intake gasket, unfortunately.

So off with the intake today.

This looks like the culprit

I am not sure if I should put a new gasket on and reassemble or have a valve job done and have the heads checked. Any suggestions?

 

[BKennedy]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh, you went with the gray. Rustoleum hammered gray is nearly a perfect match for the radius arm color. I painted the knuckles and RA caps to match. The Solid diff covers are also nearly the same color.

Sucks you have to do repairs not planned.

 

[RockRanger]

I had a head gasket blow on my 86 with a 2.9. It had 170k on it. I pulled the heads put new gaskets and head bolt in and drove it another 100k. Never did a thing to the heads. My brothers 95 ranger had the intake gasket let go and I just put a new gasket in. It is still going probably 20k miles on it now.

 

[Kirby N.]

Thanks for the advice. I took the lower intake to a machine shop to be dipped. It has 200k on it and gets up to 20 mpgs. I had a mechanic tell me a fresh valve job can be hard on a tired bottom end, so I am thinking of replacing the gaskets and hoping for the best. I ordered gaskets and sensors and a bunch of new parts from rock auto yesterday. Should be here in a few days.

 

[Kirby N.]

I got a pile of parts in from rock auto.

I almost have it ready to go back together:

But I can't figure out where these o-rings go that came with the intake set. I have 6 of them.

Any ideas??

 

[Kirby N.]

I couldn't find it in any of my manuals, but it looks like the later ohv motors had a plastic upper intake that used the orings.

 

[Kirby N.]

I got the Ranger all put back together and running well. When I ordered the lower intake gasket, I decided it was a good time to replace lots of parts. I got new temp sensor/ sender, new coolant hoses, new serpentine belt, new plug wires, I even put a new injector wire on where a squirrel almost chewed completely through. I was going to put new injectors in, but then I priced them. So I cleaned them up and put new ends/ orings on them. I had the lower intake hot tanked because it was filthy and I painted the valve covers and thermostat housing. Of course they are pretty much covered up now.

When I got it all together and fired it up, it smoked like crazy and ran poorly. So I was bummed because I was sure it was a head or gasket. Then I got to thinking and checked the firing order. Sure enough. Had a wire crossed. I fixed it, then it ran great!

After I got the ranger together, I put new plugs in our 2006 Rubicon Unlimited. It took me 15 minutes flat with a plug socket and an extension. no wobbles or u joints or blind corners. They were all super easy to get to. Then I looked at the intake. Then I got angry at my ranger and ford for a while! That jeep is so easy to work on. I still like my ranger too I guess.

 

[Kirby N.]

I made another order last night because it was cyber monday. Ruff Stuff and Ballistic fab were having a 22.5% off sale and a 30% some/20% the rest off sale. I needed to get my track bar and steering sorted out anyway.

My track bar will have a ballistic flex joint on the lower end (2") and a ballistic fab poly joint on the other (2.63") both threaded opposite ways. I like this setup because I don't have to weld to a bushing, they both have 1.0 x 14 thread studs on them. I will have my buddy with the machine shop who helped me with the rear disks thread a piece of DOM and add wrench flats. That way I dont have to weld in bungs. I had a bad experience once!!

For the brackets, I bought ballistics upper because it matches the poly joint 2.63" wide and 9/16" holes.

For the lower, I really liked Ruffstuffs offset bracket. I plan to cut the stock bracket and weld to it also to gain an inch or so of length. However, the ballistic joint in a 2" has 1/2" hole and the bracket has 2" width and 9/16" holes. I asked each company about this and they said it is for heims. I am not doing that again on my track bar. Luckily, ballistic sells some weld in reducer spacers to accommodate 1/2" bolts in 9/16" holes. So I ordered those too.

I also ordered ruff stuffs Chevy 1 Ton TREs. Buying them from Ruffstuff, I don't have to ream the passenger tierod end to mate up to the draglink for over the knuckle and they were pretty reasonable. Hopefully they are good quality. The steering links will all be made by my buddy with the machine shop from threaded DOM also.

Lastly, I ran across Synergy MFG's low misalignment dust boot for TREs. These will do well to stop the steering flop common with chevy TRE steering. On my explorer this caused a little dead spot in the center of steering. Not awful, but noticeable. I saw another company build something similar, but these are nicer with the metal dust shield. I will let you know how I like them.

They are here: http://www.synergymfg.com/Synergy-Low-Misalignment-Tie-Rod-End-Dust-Boot-p-30954.html#.VH5o2zTF-So

They wont let me order them direct, so I got them through crazyedsperformance.com

 

[Kirby N.]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh, you went with the gray. Rustoleum hammered gray is nearly a perfect match for the radius arm color. I painted the knuckles and RA caps to match. The Solid diff covers are also nearly the same color.

Sucks you have to do repairs not planned.

I have only been able to locate one cap. Still looking for another as well as coil buckets. Argh. Will do on the paint. May have to weld on different shock mounts too. These are stupid.

 

[dkchrist]

But I can't figure out where these o-rings go that came with the intake set. I have 6 of them.

Any ideas??

Those are for the plastic manifold 4.0 OHV. 94+ I just did the same thing. I panicked slightly too.

 

[Kirby N.]

I got the ballistic parts, synergy and ruff stuff parts.

My buddy ed had a spare front end in his bone pile with some of the outer stuff I needed. Spindles, brake parts, axle shafts. I mostly wanted the spindles as they are so hard to find. I also ordered an empty carrier. I also bought a new set of rotors rather than have the old set turned. I plan to use later ttb hubs because I found the warn lockouts fit much better on them. The axle I gutted had some scary steering and it looked like someone had started cutting off the cbushings with a grinder and a torch and given up. I am suprised it held up with the barely welded on spring pads. I would guess someone threw it in a cj at some point. Here it is post gutting:

 

[Kirby N.]

In case you didn't notice, my project has been on hold. I had to remod a bathroom. It's done and turned out nice so I can focus on the ranger again.

House mods aren't as fun but atleast they hold thier value.

I spent some time at the junk yard this week. I still need some coil buckets, some spring cups and a radius arm cap. My buddy saw this little gem of a dents side and sentence down to grab some parts. By the time I got there someone had robbed the whole front end. No cups or caps left. The buckets had an ugly shock mount and bump stop integrated so I decided to hold off on them too.

At least I grabbed a set of 250 shock mounts. They are the 4 bolt ones not the 2 bolt ones. I need to clean them up and paint them.

I have a buddy coming on Saturday to help setup the front gears. Hoping to get them knocked out. Here is the parts pile. Some assembly required...

 

[BKennedy]

I noticed, but my SAS took me six months and I don't even have a steady job.

 

[Kirby N.]

I am in a similar situation. I work 2 or 3 part time jobs so I can be available to take my kid to school and pick her up and do homework everyday. I keep busy though.

 

[Kirby N.]

Got the 5.13 Yukon gears setup today.

Decent pattern. Started cleaning up the shafts and removed the ujoints. I am putting in a new set of spicer 5-760x joints, but I had some problems with the caps on the stock shafts in my exploder spinning caps. So I guess I'll do full circle caps. I need to get some. I think lowes has them??

 

[BKennedy]

Nice pattern. That is an expense I could have avoided by doing it myself but I am not confident with gears so I farmed it out.

I noticed on my build, that I got real enthused when I ripped the old suspension out. Then it tapered off. Got enthused again when I rolled the new axle under the rig for the first time. That lasted until I was finished. I was nearing obsession when I drive it around the back yard for the first time. Of course, you have done this before. For me, it was a huge undertaking.