Troy's 1996 XLT Ranger

A new-to-me, very well cared for 1996 Ranger XLT that I feel that I lucked into for a good price. I've had it for a few months now and I couldn't be happier with it.

Specs:
4.0L
5-spd
Extended cab
134K
BLUE dash and molding
vinyl flooring that is BLUE
Newly reupholstered split bench in BLUE
Yup, the inside is BLUE (and not just a little). It's pretty sweet.
Pretty much stock.

While this is my daily driver, I plan to accessorize this for the purpose of gallivanting into the mountains on my weekends. While I don't expect to do much modding, I suppose I'll use the posts that follow to provide a bit of a pictorial history on the toys I add to it and probably the places I go with it.

Enjoy.



UPDATES (Things I've done/replaced*):

*note: This is my first foray into doing mechanical work on my vehicles beyond installing a radio here and there. This list is mostly for me so that I can keep track.

ham radio install
clutch (super brute)
master cylinder
slave cylinder (used a sealed one from a newer model ranger on accident...seems to be working fine)
flywheel
clutch hose
rear main seal
needle bearing
negative battery cable
universal joints (2) rear shaft
transfer case gasket
outer tie rods
inner tie rods
upper ball joints
lower ball joints
universal joints left and right front axle
brake rotor right front
brake pads front
housing for cruise control sensor on passenger steering knuckle
front wheel bearings left and right
auto locker bearings left and right
add a leafs in back (skyjacker)
springs in front (skyjacker)
shocks (rancho 5000) x4
steering gear box
power steering hoses
heater control valve
spark plugs (motorcraft, 0.054" gap) (9/16/13, 148k mi)
spark plug wires (motorcraft) (9/16/13, 148k mi)
serpentine belt (9/16/13, 148k mi)
recharge k&n air filter (9/16/13, 148k mi)
coolant flush (9/17/13, 148k mi)
oil change (9/11/13, 148k mi)
battery
interior accessory 6-fuse panel
brake controller
bench-to-bucket drivers seat mod
alternator

Here are the pictures of it that I received from the previous owner.









I did warn you about the BLUE, didn't I? :

You're going to get sick of me posting pics. I'm always like this.

Here it is when I brought it home. Shortly after I got it home, I installed my HAM radio in it. I screwed the ashtray shut and installed it there. I was pleasantly surprised that the trim panel beneath the rear window is made of steel sheeting - my speaker is solidly mounted there.





I've since moved, so now I have to drive a bit further to hit the mountains. Not too much.

More pictures, you ask? Why, yes, I do have more.

Even before I bought this Ranger, I was talking to a guy about a tool box he had for sale. I couldn't believe that this hadn't been sold by the time I got my truck. I like the construction of Weatherguard boxes. Coincidentally, the diamond plate pattern matches the diamond plate on the bed rails. On the down side, that's an awful lot of diamond plate in the back of that truck.

Here it is at Wind Mountain. At this point, I had the small Ham antenna that I used on my car installed - didn't look right.





Segue forward, here's a pic at Cougar Rock sporting it's more appropriately sized and placed antenna. This was a much more aggressive drive so it's also sporting more dirt. Much better.

The clouds are obscuring what really is a breathtaking view. Maybe next time I'll post some clear pics.





Two things became evident during this trip to Cougar Rock. On the way up, I noticed that my back end tends to slide around quite easily on gravel roads. Putting it into 4wd helped this, but I can't help but think that I need more weight at the rear of the bed. Second, on the way down I had an instance where I applied a little brake to slow down as I approached a curve and due to the bouncing of wheels over the rough road, my anti-lock brakes engaged. This got my heart pumping as I didn't feel that I could get control as I approached the curve. The next two items on my agenda are weight in the back and a switch to turn off the anti-lock feature when I'm in the woods.

Clean looking truck. You are right that interior is BLUE.

Thanks for the comment! And while I wouldn't have dreamed to seek out a truck with a blue interior, I wouldn't have it any other way. Every time I get into this truck I smile about it.

BLUE!!

I added a couple more tool boxes. This should help keep weight over my rear tires while cruising up the gravel roads, plus the benefit of added trunk space.





I also removed the Weatherguard emblems from the saddle box. They didn't match the newer (but more abused) side boxes anyhow. Plus, I plan to mount a couple cleats there for convenience of hanging gear (packs, etc).

I still haven't resolved the anti-lock brake issue (switch) and had another occurrence of it engaging on me at a bad time. Another thing I notice is how nice an extra couple of inches of height would be.

So, almost two years since I've update this. Believe it or not, I come to this site pretty regularly. Just don't post too much I guess. I'll try to get caught up.

The toolbox setup was pretty slick. I got it pretty organized and liked that I could use my rear window when changing lanes, etc. Here's a reminder of how it looked...



I ran into two issues. First, I have some things that I really wanted to be able to carry that wouldn't fit in those boxes. I needed more space for stuff. These boxes also left little room for carrying stuff in the bed. Eventually, I knew that I needed to switch to a canopy.


(While the boxes look uneven in this picture, I assure you they were squared perfectly. Though I found they did flex some when I parked on uneven surfaces.)

Second, during this time I was commuting 3 times a week 60 miles through the gorge...in winter. I needed snow tires, so I sold the boxes and bought some. I picked up a set of 30's with steel rims super cheap from a friend of mine. One of the tires had a rip, despite having good tread left. I ended up replacing them with new using the money from the box sale to supplement the purchase.

Around this same time, my clutch went bad. I got a quote from a few places for the replacement and wasn't happy at all with what they told me. I was pretty sure that I was getting ripped off on labor. So, I decided to do it myself.

I thought I'd mention here that if you ever get a wild hair up your ass to do this sort of thing on your own, it's REALLY good if you have an awesome neighbor with experience in these sorts of things who can help when you need it. I had a good set of tools already and rented the rest (tranny jack, torque wrenches, other misc). I learned about this wonderful fluid named Kroil that I will never be without again.

Anyhow, two weeks and a lot of pain later, the right parts (mostly) were put into their right places and my clutch came back to life to do clutchy things. All told, I'm pretty sure I exceeded the cost of the quotes I had received by a few hundred dollars (so many extra supplies to buy). However, I hand picked each of the parts that went into the truck and I learned a lot, including that I need to double/triple check that the part I order is the correct one.

While I became generally less afraid of tackling these jobs, I haven't lost the fear of screwing things up. Partly, because I screw things up as you'll read soon.

Oh, I also added a hidden-hitch tow hitch around this time that I found for sale locally. The ball on a bumper is the most worthless thing ever. Just saying.

Six months later, I noticed my tie rods were pretty worn and at least one was shot. This project I did on my own, without any neighborly assistance, and have to say I started to enjoy working on my truck. I decided that since I had to reference so many different build threads to find information on my truck that I'd document my build from start to finish and maybe make a thread of my own. I replaced all the tie rods and took the opportunity to replace all ball joints, seals, bearings and front u-joints. I have lots of pics, but eventually got frustrated with how long the project was taking and had to rush to finish before my appointment to get the truck aligned. Rushing nearly killed me here. I threw everything back together and through my fatigue I didn't notice that I had put my passenger side brake pads on backward - metal on metal. So, after my alignment, I bought a new rotor and brake pads and installed them a bit more carefully.

This project also lead me to make my first trip to the local scrap yard. I broke the housing piece that holds the cruise control sensor when I got frustrated and hit it with a hammer. Just too tired to find the small screw holding it on at that point I guess. Tough part to find new as it turns out.



But the pick-n-pull was nice.

..I salute you sir for pushing forward and doing all this by yourself..

...That's an awful lot of work and lots of stuff to learn in a short time while your vehicle needs to get back on the road..

...The knowledge you take away with these projects is priceless not counting it will save you a lot more money in the future..:biggthump

...and Blue???..:scratch:..Seriously, Blue???.............j/k..:

Tbars4 said:

..I salute you sir for pushing forward and doing all this by yourself..

...That's an awful lot of work and lots of stuff to learn in a short time while your vehicle needs to get back on the road..

...The knowledge you take away with these projects is priceless not counting it will save you a lot more money in the future..:biggthump

Click to expand...

Thanks Tbars4. I have definitely learned a lot doing this stuff. Not sure about the saving money part though - hasn't happened yet, what with all the extra things I decide to replace out of convenience and others I have to re-replace because I screwed up. I'm sure it'll get there though.

Tbars4 said:

...and Blue???..:scratch:..Seriously, Blue???.............j/k..:

Click to expand...

Isn't it awesome?!

Eventually, I hope to switch to bucket seats. I know that in order to keep the blue, I'll probably need to get some custom re-upholstery done. I'm okay with this, but finding a blue center console will probably be very difficult. But, I know they exist...

Someone just sold one here. :biggthump

After I sold my boxes, storage became a big issue. A friend of mine had some drawers he had made for the back of his pickup that he no longer wanted and I mounted them in my extended cab. They aren't perfect for back there, but close. They help a lot for some smaller storage items. Right now I have numerous tie down straps, bungies, chain and a small selection of tools stored in the drawers. On top a couple more drawers were mounted to serve as cubbies for first aid kits, misc supply containers, gloves and a bottle jack. I may add some pics of this setup at some point.

For about six months, I had way too much stuff stored behind my seats including heavier tools, hi-lift jack and tire chains. I spent this time haunting the sale ads for a decent canopy. Side doors are a must for me. Additionally, I want the doors to have a single lock and handle to open them. Most fiberglass canopies fail for me in this regard - having two handles per door, each with its own lock. Ugh. I almost bought a canopy of this style anyway, with matching paint too, but missed the sale by about 20 minutes.

Finally picked up an aluminum utility canopy that fits my needs perfectly. I expect that at some point I will paint it to match (or paint both the canopy and truck to another color - current thinking is either black, OD or burnt orange - but that's a conversation for another day).



I'm bummed about losing the visibility I had with the diamond truck boxes, but the space and utility of a canopy just can't be beat! I'm hoping soon to build a basement for the back - storage underneath a sleeping platform as seen posted by others here. Great functional use of the space in back!

Troy H said:

...

This project also lead me to make my first trip to the local scrap yard. I broke the housing piece that holds the cruise control sensor when I got frustrated and hit it with a hammer. Just too tired to find the small screw holding it on at that point I guess. Tough part to find new as it turns out.

Click to expand...

That sensor is actually one of the front ABS sensors.

The cruise control sensor is in either in the transfer case or rear axle.

Scott B. said:

That sensor is actually one of the front ABS sensors.

The cruise control sensor is in either in the transfer case or rear axle.

Click to expand...

Yes, thank you. That's the one.

I remember seeing the hole in the front, expecting there to be a screw from the backside holding that bracket on and feeling a bolt that went to something else (wrong thing) and a small post that didn't have a hex head - I couldn't see that it was torx head as it was in cramped quarters and I was frustrated and tired. Once I broke it off I got answers and I was much happier.

I remember the first time I pulled one of those apart - I felt similar to you.

It's amazing - once you get it apart, the way it is put together makes sense!

That's what she said!

It's amazing the difference that a couple extra inches can make.



Money and time finally converged for me this past week and I was able to fix some problems that had been lingering for quite some time. Primary on the list of things needing my attention was my failing suspension. I had noticed my rear shocks had failed and the truck gained a comical bounce as I drove over speed bumps, despite having extra weight in the back of the truck. The springs were getting quite the workout. I picked up a new set of Ranchos, a long set of AALs for the back and replacement springs for the front from Skyjacker.

Installation of these items was much simpler than I had predicted it would be. I expected these springs would be under a huge amount of tension, but this wasn't the case at all.

For the leaf springs, holding the leaf pack together with a pair of c-clamps kept everything in check. I did have to cut off and replace the leaf clamps and during reassembly, I sent the u-bolt top plates (?) with a friend to get the center hole enlarged as the new bolt that held the spring pack together was much larger than the old one.

The front springs were easy as well, once I was able to lower the knuckle to its max. I found that removing the tie rods and shocks allowed for greater travel. I'm not sure this did anything to help, but I removed the stabilizer bar as well. With these things done, I didn't have much difficulty getting the new springs in.

I also replaced the steering gear box and this task took the most effort. The idea seemed simple enough - two hoses, pitman arm and three mounting bolts. I'm not certain how the pitman arm was pressed on there before, but it was a pain to get off. I ultimately discovered that the puller wasn't going to work and I finally succeeded by using one of the pickle-fork style removers after grinding it to widen the opening a bit.

Here's my truck after the work, waiting for its alignment. It took them a bit of extra time to get the alignment done, they initially wanted to replace the camber bushings and ultimately determined that it wasn't necessary. Whew!



Decided to clean it up a bit...



It's like a whole new truck! Recovery after speed bumps, etc is immediate. I no longer feel like the back is going to slide out given the slightest provocation, even though I'm still driving on balding tires. I gained about 2.5 inches in clearance with the changes.

This past weekend, I took a drive to the top of a favorite rock quarry. I could've gotten a picture with a much better view, but this is the pic I've got.

Got the tire problem fixed. Set of 5 BFG 31's on steel rims. Gotta love craigslist.

My short list now includes probably painting the fender flares and bumper moulding. I'm also strongly considering trimming my front bumper ala Tbars rig as evidenced by this piece of blue tape that my truck has been sporting for the past two weeks.



I am also keeping an eye out for a rear tube bumper and eventual winch/brush guard. That said, my focus is going to be on building the platform for the back.

Nice truck!

Great looking truck!

I broke the shields for the speed sensors as well and just didn't bother to replace them.