'95 xl reg cab 4x4 5 speed 2.3l

[Tbars4]

..Yesterday I jacked up the Ranger and just the amunt of movement on the passenger wheel while it was being jacked up told me it was the ball joints on that side that are my current problem..

..:shifty_ey ...So I ripped out both front axles and in the spirit of Halloween coming up I decided to haul pumpkins..

 

[IAmTodd]

Might be hard to turn that into pie though.

 

[Tbars4]

..In keeping with the Fall theme...:scratch:..How about pumpkin patches?..

..I was home on Sunday...I dropped my bags at the front door and headed off to work on the Ranger...

..First thing to do was replace the O ring for the front ARB with the one I purchased at Mcfadden Dale..Then I noticed the ding in the pumpkin...I'm familiar with these and them being related to drop bracket lifts..

..These are usually found on the top toward the drier side of the pumpkin...

...Since my Ranger don't have a lift kit I was a little surprised to find this but I know my Superlift front springs are softer than the stock springs and with removing the F150 coil spacers I gained some more up travel..

..The ding on my pumpkin was found on the top pass side which made me do a little investigating to see what it's been rubbing on...It wurns out it's been getting friendly with the cross member shown here...

..It appears it's also time for me to find my axle pivot bushings and get them replaced..:scratch:..Where did I put them darn things?

..I have some 1/4" scrap laying around and when I get a chance I'm going to add a skid plate to protect the bottom of the beam..

...This winter I hope to get around to adding a 4" lift to the Ranger so for now I just patched and installed the repaired pumpkin which also just got it's fresh 4:88 Yukons installed..

..I didn't get time to install the front drive shaft yet either...

...On another note I need to round up some O rings for the warn hubs as I have found the outer bearings grease is a bit mucky on both sides, and getting water into the hubs is the only thing I can think of that's fouling the grease on the outer bearings only...

 

[Tbars4]

..I had enough time to get the pumpkin mounted back in place but didn't have enough time to fill it up or put the front drive shaft back on..

..I did however find the time to pick up the Rangers early Christmas present and hopefully I will have time and money to install it the first of the year...

 

[Tbars4]

..My Steering gear has sprung a leak at the pitman and I'm pretty sure I am still running the original steering pump..

..Now that we've got the issue resolved with the AGR steering pump I believe the ranger will be he next candidate for this..

..:scratch:..I still need to do some ball joints and finally start a lift on this truck..and I need to find some time to get an alignment and stuff the Atlas in her

 

[Tbars4]

..I did my annual breakage of my temporary shock bolt yesterday..

..I'm hoping to set aside some time toward the end of February to get some much needed part swappage done to this poor truck..

 

[Tbars4]

..Still haven't done any repairs yet..


..But I found out at King of the Hammers I made a good decision on moving up to 33's for the Ranger..

..I spent a number of hours with the Guys from BFG and BFG Racing and in the middle of everything I blurt out, " Hey...What's going on with the 32x11.50x15's? We are having a hard time finding them all over the country"..

..I was told they are being discontinued and you have the choice of the 33x10.50 or the 33x12.50...

..I was expecting this answer but wanted to share this news as I know several members on here are running the 32's or are wanting to move up to the 32's..

 

[Brian1]

..I spent a number of hours with the Guys from BFG and BFG Racing and in the middle of everything I blurt out, " Hey...What's going on with the 32x11.50x15's? We are having a hard time finding them all over the country"..

..I was told they are being discontinued and you have the choice of the 33x10.50 or the 33x12.50...

What!?!? I should have been there to set them straight! BFGs have been a great tire for me but as mine are wearing down I have been looking at other brands in the 32R15 size.

 

[Scott B.]

I have a new of 32" ATs in the basement, to be installed on the '93 in a week or two.

Last August, I ordered another set of 32" ATs for '06 - I will pick them up this week.

If/when I have to go to 33s or 16" wheels, I will probably run Dick Cepek Fun Country IIs (I really like the old Armstrong Norsemen tires of yester-year...)

 

[Tbars4]

..For others who might read this in the future, you can stay with the 15" wheel when moving up in size of tire...

..I was with Scott on the thinking of moving over to the 285/75/16 metric equivalent of the 32x11.50x15 but they are only available in a 16" wheel size and not available in the 15" wheel size...

..This means, if you wanted to go to the metric equivalent you would have to buy all new wheels to do so..

Either way, this is a tough decision to make since BFG is dropping this size...

...:scratch:...My other thought before I moved up to the 33's was to go with Treadwright's...

..They have the same tread pattern as the BFG A/T KO's..
https://treadwright.com/c-16-285-75r16.aspx

 

[Tbars4]

...I forgot to mention since I got my tires and wheels, Treadwright recently came out with :Bead to Bead Molds" and a common tire is the 285/75/16 but thy usally are in "D" or "E" versions..

 

[mounty71]

No more 32s?! I've been considering switching to 33x10.50 for a while now, looks like that's definitely the plan now.

 

[Tbars4]

..They did not tell me if there was going to be one more last run of the 32's or not but they did say they were quitting production on them...

..After searching for new ones and spares and seeing this trend before in past years before they dropped tire sizes is why I moved to the 33's when I did...I wish they made an 11.50 in the 33's and I completely forgot to ask them why they don't..

..In other news...

..I'm gathering parts for an efan swap in the Ranger..

 

[Tbars4]

..I pulled the Stinger (relay/solenoid) and the dual battery off the Ranger and moved them over to the "Project X"...

..The X will make better use of these items for now on current trips and this will allow me more space for the grinding and welding to come to the Ranger in the near future..

 

[Tbars4]

..You knew it was going to happen as soon as I put one heep part on my Ranger..

...I spent some time at the junkyard yesterday pulling parts from Volvo's..

From a 1997 Volvo 760...

From a 1999 Volvo V70

...Plus I scored a like new manual hub off a Navajo...:biggthump

..I still have to gather a number of little parts for the swap but it will be done by this Summer..

..on another note...I was talking to someone yesterday on which lubricant I like best for items like hinges and anything else that will squeak in a harsh desert environment..

..This is the best stuff I found and it last way longer than even regular PB Blaster on keeping squeaks quiet..Probably 4-5 times longer on a desert trail..:biggthump

 

[Tbars4]

..I rotated the tires yesterday which allowed me to rotate in the last new tire and wheel combo (spare)..

..Now that the other 4 are not all shiny and new, the new one sticks out like a sore thumb...

 

[Tbars4]

...Next up...Weigh in..

..I've been meaning to weigh the truck in it's daily driver mode which is loaded down for work 24/7 except for when it goes offroad...

..Tomorrow hopefully I can get this done and compare it to it's empty weight..

 

[Tbars4]

..I've been out of town for a couple weeks for work and will still be gone for a couple more weeks so there is no new build info...

..However...

...There will be some pics and other tidbits coming soon..

..One item which I've been meaning to do for a number of years was to get a weight of the Ranger in pretty much stock setup...

Specs of "As is setup" for this weigh in

Stock

2.3L Std. Cab 6' bed
Dual manual sticks

Add ons

Shell that's carpet lined
Carpet kit with split deck
trailer hitch

Kinda stock items for weight difference

8.8 Explorer axle
lockers front and rear
wheels-stock deer hoofs
Tires-32x11.50x15 BFG A/t KO's
Extended RA's
Ballistic joints
chevy 63's (rear springs)

..:scratch:...I believe those would be the only "Weight" variables as the other mods would be pretty much stock weight..

..With 3 gallons of fuel in the tank and myself out of the pretty much empty truck...The grand total weight is....

..Drum roll please...:

3860 lbs.

...This is how I run the Ranger at Truckhaven so this will be known as it's Truckhaven weight...

..Now if I ever remember to do the easy weigh in...I need to get the trucks weight in it's daily driver mode loaded with tools..

..I went and weighed the Ranger yesterday loaded for work, 1/2 tank of gas with the 33's and Street Lock steelies on it..

Total weight = 4500 lbs.

..That's only 640#'s of additional weight my Ranger is carrying daily for work as a Daily Driver but with the way it is set up now, I'm sure my little truck can easily carry a bit more..:biggthump

 

[Tbars4]

..Well yesterday was hectic and my Ranger decided to add to the mix...

..I got a right rear rotational noise which sounds like a brake pad and for an added bonus I noticed a sparatic high pitch sound coming from the fuel pump..

 

[Tbars4]

...Hahaha...Apparently the pin-striping on the Ranger is a little more noticeable than I thought..

...I come out of an REI this afternoon and there is a card on my drivers door from a color sanding/scratch specialist...Normally I wouldn't think anything of it but when I looked around I noticed none of the other cars had a card on them..

...So I looked around again and for fun I found the nicest, fanciest car in the parking lot and I put the card on their vehicle...I bet the owner of that car is still in the parking lot looking to see if there is a scratch on his car...