89 Super cab with a 4.0 swap

[RowdyFitz]

Since I have a spare truck behind the garage, (I got it free from a pot farm out in California, I just had to haul it home) I pulled the alternator off and put it on this truck. That seems to have been the charging issue… lol

But in the process, I broke the plastic intake tube. Luckily I had a spare 3 piece but I had to clean it and find new hose clamps for it. I put the alt and intake tube on then repinned the oil gauge since it hasn’t worked this whole time. It’s reading on the high side and the tach is now acting all screwy. The tach started the other day and doesn’t have anything to do with the oil gauge wire. I’m also gonna pick up a new T-stat today.

 

[RowdyFitz]

I put about 230 miles on it yesterday. It dod really good. At 70-75 mph I got 15.8 mph there and 16.8 on the way back. The difference was there was more down hill on the way home. I still have a charging problem. Maybe it’s the battery terminal, I’m gonna clean it and see if that helps. It was charging at 14.3 yesterday morning. Now it’s down to 12.3 when driving and it struggled to start back up. If I remove the battery cable it stays running. I’m gonna rebuild the alternator and see if that helps.

 

[410Fortune]

Miles! More
Miles! The bugs can be worked out. Your doing great.. the 4.0 is awesome in the old rangers plenty of ooooooomph

The old 89 style charging harness has to go
The way it’s routed around the entire radiator support and all of those fusible links

I basically will use the 96-01 style 4.0 charging harness and adapt it to your 89

My 88 melted the alternator wire connectors years ago, simplified the system to the later model stuff, put the alternator charging fuse in the power box instead of fusible link and goood to go

The tachometer going nuts, was this all of a sudden? They tachometer heads wear out and the needle gets jumpy

Don’t forget your alternator has an internal voltage regulator that must be powered, the battery light on the dash is directly related to the power for the internal voltage regulator.
There is a alternator/ generator fuse many people always forget exists…

 

[RowdyFitz]

Miles! More
Miles! The bugs can be worked out. Your doing great.. the 4.0 is awesome in the old rangers plenty of ooooooomph

The old 89 style charging harness has to go
The way it’s routed around the entire radiator support and all of those fusible links

I basically will use the 96-01 style 4.0 charging harness and adapt it to your 89

My 88 melted the alternator wire connectors years ago, simplified the system to the later model stuff, put the alternator charging fuse in the power box instead of fusible link and goood to go

The tachometer going nuts, was this all of a sudden? They tachometer heads wear out and the needle gets jumpy

Don’t forget your alternator has an internal voltage regulator that must be powered, the battery light on the dash is directly related to the power for the internal voltage regulator.
There is a alternator/ generator fuse many people always forget exists…

The engine has tons of low end torque. I can take off on flat ground without giving it any throttle.

For the charging system, it’s all from the 91 explorer. I’m gonna clean the batt terminals today. The battery light hasn’t came on at all.

The tach started getting wonky after I swapped the transmission.

 

[RowdyFitz]

Well instead of doing something important like troubleshooting the charging system, I decided to start building a bigger dog box. I’m gonna angle the headache rack but I wanted to get the frame together first. It’s bolted down to keep measurements true. I decided to build a 15” storage box into the front of the bed. I will be able to fit a small generator, several furl cans and a ice chest with some room to spare.

 

[donalds]

Someone been running dogs

 

[RowdyFitz]

Someone been running dogs

Yes sir, I’m inflicted with the illness…

 

[donalds]

My son has a black and tan coon hound that is one loud *****
Hear her from a mile away at night

We named her after my step mom .. Beverley lol the dog is the pretty one lol

 

[RowdyFitz]

My son has a black and tan coon hound that is one loud *****
Hear her from a mile away at night

We named her after my step mom .. Beverley lol the dog is the pretty one lol

That’s hilarious!!!

 

[RowdyFitz]

That’s hilarious!!!

I have mostly Walkers but I do have two Bluetick crosses. My walkers are higher powered and cover more ground but the bluetick are more mellow.

 

[donalds]

I have mostly Walkers but I do have two Bluetick crosses. My walkers are higher powered and cover more ground but the bluetick are more mellow.

Walkers fun to train for sure
Blue tick hounds are mean at work but nice at home

We have a English red tick bo now he is a Animal

That dog will come to get you to go hunting lol
I found him chewing a tree in half to get the raccoon out of it in half

 

[RowdyFitz]

Walkers fun to train for sure
Blue tick hounds are mean at work but nice at home

We have a English red tick bo now he is a Animal
View attachment 429168
That dog will come to get you to go hunting lol
I found him chewing a tree in half to get the raccoon out of it in half

I love it!

 

[RowdyFitz]

Well it isn’t done yet but it’s getting there. The doors took a long time to build. I’m basically winging it as I go and I’m doing a lot of thinking along with cleaning up old dirty metal.

Yesterday morning I decided to tear the spare bathroom toilet apart while I was taking care of the kids. Finally found out why it was backing up.

 

[RowdyFitz]

 

[410Fortune]

Can’t believe the shark made it past the bend in the John lol
Keep up the good work! I will be building a “dog box” of sorts for my plow truck so the mutts can go plowing with me

 

[RowdyFitz]

Can’t believe the shark made it past the bend in the John lol
Keep up the good work! I will be building a “dog box” of sorts for my plow truck so the mutts can go plowing with me

Yeah, it made it past the first bend but cot stuck in the high point. I could see the open mouth through the hole when I pulled the tank out. I couldn’t get it out with the snake so I got a piece of old water hose to push it backwards.

For dog boxes there are tons of easy styles to make. I used to have one that spanned the width of the bed but only went to the wheel wells. If you want it over the bed rail like mine then about 6” high with a 6” wide hole is the sweet spot. Unless you have big dogs then 7” is good. Any less they can’t fit their head out or if it’s bigger, they can squeeze out.

Or you can build a wooden box and just cut 6” holes. For bedding, pine or cedar shavings are nice. Some guys use straw.

 

[410Fortune]

One of our dogs is large lol she needs to do more jogging and swimming that is for sure
The other two are small and active hahaha
I plow 2-3
Miles of road and the mutts love to run but it can be dangerous for them out there in winter (moose) so if I am able to put them in the truck with me (single cab) then maybe ranger (the fat one) won’t get so big each winter lol

 

[RowdyFitz]

Put a couple hundred miles on it yesterday. Found old cabins and a collapsed rock house. About 40 of it were hard miles. I failed to get adequate pictures. I will try harder next time. I determined that:
I have a charging issue
My dimmer switch caused the headlights to stop working
I have to lift the rear about 3 more inches
I need to either need to cut the rear fenders or pull them
The front fenders need to be trimmed at the bottom
I drove 80 miles to where I hunted, put another 40 rough miles on it (10 were in 4wd low due to rocks, mud and steep terrain), and drove home.

 

[RowdyFitz]

I added a ground wire and it’s fixed most of my troubles. The fuel gauge still doesn’t work and the headlights only works on high beam when I pull the dimmer. I ordered a new one, drove to town to pick it up and it didn’t come in.
I’m gonna go dig around to see if I have a good used one to get me by until the new one is here.

 

[RangerX]

Damn, no pics of the Ranger.