Sup man welcome to EF. So tell us about your Ranger ^_^
Ah gee. Let's see, what do ya want to know? LOL, do you really want to know my tale of woe? I warn ya, I'm often long winded and it doesn't help I don't know enough to speak intelligently. I do have other skills but here I am a fish out of water. Construction I know, real handy there. Fixing my car is something I have never liked to do. Sadly my finances are such I'm forced to do as much as I possibly can now. And these problems are way over what I've ever tried even back when I was young and feisty. This is my first Ford 4x4, I got it about 10,000 miles ago. (Previous 4x4 I sold about 10 yrs ago.)
So, I could tell – or so I thought – I must have screwed up the alignment. The front tires were baby bottom smooth on one side . Done very little off roading although here it is rather brutal, at least seems worse than the Utah slickrock. Any way, I have been very gentle getting to scuba diving sites. But did twice bumped a curb (oh, that is where the turning radius is) and I assumed that was how I screwed it up. I have got new tires, and was checking for alignment quotes and got terrorized by Ball Joint replacement. The tires + alignment will wipe out my limited auto repair fund. Then there is the starter…but I'll get back to that.
We have a brand new road surface – new road, not resurfaced and the truck shimmeys on it. Certainly noticeable, but not yanking the wheel and no drifting at all. Driving I do not feel any unease in the steering other than expected in a not a new car, 80,000 miles.
My driveway is steep ****eyed angles and backing out sometimes I hear a clunk when I turn hard. (This is what got the front end repair guy all fired up with $1,0000 of repairs.) I though it was something with just turning too hard – cuz the fellow across the street is parked on the sreet. So makes it hard for me to back into it, very narrow, weird angles with lava walls (what were they thinking!)
So I am trying to see what I can do to determine just how bad it is, or if it is. Can I hold off on fixing (whatever it is) for a bit until I get some $ back into the fund? I know I will be stressing the tires again, but I am finding posts that range from the wheels will fall off when driving to not a big deal, just get it fixed and don't ignore it.
I won't be doing any off roading, for sure, just getting to work and driving as little as can.
I've found some hints of what to look for. I have a pry bar and going to see if I can figure something out. Not real sure I can muscle it though. It was hard but I've had to accept I can no longer leap tall buildings and them's big wheels.
I can use a floor jack at work. But the jack stands are too short, makes me pretty nervous to climb under there. Not really able to follow quite what PART I am looking for to do something is not helping. I seem to need Identify Auto Components for Dummies. Maybe it will look better if I get it lifted.
Here is where the starter comes in. I have the Chiltons, but they assume you have some clue what/where you are doing. (I need more identifiable items to even generally know where to be looking or recognize.)
I had the starter replaced a year ago. Just the other day it made some nasty noise and a fellow helped me roll it out away from blocking the rubbish drop. After we checked a few things and seemed ok it did start again. Chiltons suggests could be loose bolt so boldly set to looking tonight but can't figure out where to begin. I'm a little old lady and wear glasses (poor pity me
) what should a starter motor look like and kinda be located? If I knew where that was I can see about those bolts (or so I assume.)
I went to buy a floor jack since this gotta fix my own car is going to be with me for a while. But I got it part way off the shelf at CostCo and realized I was never going to be able to get it into or back out of the car. Luckily some fellow was around and saved me from maiming myself.
Geesh, this is humiliating, should I invest in a torque wrench? I have every tool known to man – except auto.
If anyone reads this, I hope they will chuckle a bit. I would, if it wasn't me typing.
Aloha.
Being a geek sucks.
