The Money Pit Ford Ranger

[RangeRunner17]

Just got back from Monache Meadows today. Went up on Friday night, and left this morning, surprisingly, there wasn't that many people up there and by noon on Monday, I was all alone. The new seats felt great, I couldn't feel most of the smaller rocks. Only problem I had was I could really feel the altitude, both in my lungs and in the truck. What amazed me about this whole weekend, is that I was 100% relaxed the entire time I was up there, including the drive back. But the instant I drove back onto base stress levels started rising. Don't know what from either, I have nothing going on all week.









I've decided to start seriously planning a long trip up north when I get out. In no order, I'm going to the Arctic Ocean (via the Dempster HWY), a Boundary Waters canoe trip with my dad, and Everything there is to see in between. Gonna give it about 2 months.

In the meantime, the next long weekend I get, I'm going to head up to Laurel Lakes. Do some fishing and Climb a mountain

 

[Mike.rider]

Nice build! Practically my twin even down to the seats. What are you running for rear suspension? Still stock? I'm fine tuning my new suspension now and debating bed cage or cantilever set up to go with my deavers.

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[RangeRunner17]

Nice build! Practically my twin even down to the seats. What are you running for rear suspension? Still stock? I'm fine tuning my new suspension now and debating bed cage or cantilever set up to go with my deavers.

Just an add-a-leaf... It used to be really stiff, but once I put the tent and rack (about 250 lbs) on it got much more plush haha. How do you like the Deaver's and which ones do you have? I thought about getting them for the longest time, but decided to hold off. Once I get a DD and a Garage, I'm going to overhaul the entire rear end. I'm thinking explorer 8.8 w/ discs & locker, Deavers to keep up with the front, and drop the bed to for a bed cage/tube bed with a removable tent haha. That's WAY far off though

 

[RangeRunner17]

In order to free up bed space, I've decided I need a swing out tire carrier on my bumper. I'm going to build one later on in the summer once I have some free time. I want to use the double shear hinge from Comp 4x4 for simplicity.



Here's what I have. The only problem I have is when I made my rear bumper, I didn't have it extend past the bed. Now I need it to and I'm trying to think of a strong and aesthetically pleasing way of doing so.



This is what I'm thinking. A small length of 2x2x11ga (what the bumper is made of) as shown in red, and just weld it on the end with some 1/8" sheet for gussets and to make it prettier (blue). What I have right now is in white. This is about what it would look like once the edges are all cleaned up.



Thoughts or any better ideas?

 

[4x4junkie]

That should work, only thing I'd suggest though is maybe something a little thicker than 11 ga. or 1/8" for your extension piece since it looks like that is right where the weight of your tire carrier is going to be hanging from it.

Alternatively you could maybe weld a piece of 2" wide 1/8" strip along the top of the bumper out to the end and (together with your gussets) it should be strong enough if 2x2x1/8" is all you got to work with.

 

[RangeRunner17]

HELP!!!

I didn't want to admit this until it was fixed, but I may have a huge problem on my hands...
I have some wheel spacers that I got a few months ago for the rear. They didn't fit so I forgot about them (the factory studs cant extend past the new wheel mounting surface). Until Sunday when I was rotating my tires. Checked to see if they fit, and to my surprise they did so I installed them and went for a 50 mi drive as per the instructions.
When I went to take the wheel off to check the torque on the spacers yesterday, they wouldn't budge. It seems as though the wheel is pressed on to the spacer.



So out comes the hammer, no luck. It was late so I decided to sleep on the problem. Today, I get the idea to winch it off, so I rig everything up and give it a go. Still no luck, the truck just gets pulled along. I try a couple different setups with the jack and jack stands, and get the same results. I pack everything up before making any stupid decisions.

I don't want to anchor the other side of the truck for fear of destroying my frame, and I don't think a gear puller would be big enough. All I can think of now is to take the spindle off from the inside out, and hammer the spacer out. Someone please tell me that I'm missing a very simple solution to this problem!

 

[ExplorerTom]

I would agree- looks like when you tightened the lug nuts down, that inner lip was just small enough to go into the hub bore of the wheel.

When I've run into stuck wheels (from rust/corrosion between steel hub and aluminum wheel) kicking the wheel seems to work. Sit on the ground so you can stomp on the wheel. Kick at the 9 and 3 o'clock positions. Try at the outer tire and right at the edge of the wheel.

Good luck.

 

[mtnbike28]

I don't know if this would work or be simpler than pulling the spindle, but here it goes....

Take a couple pieces of angle iron or thick stock, bolt tight to spacer and tap some holes and use long bolts. You would tighten the long bolts on inner edge of rotor or protected scrap over rotor. Like how Toyota has holes for removing drums.

Just a thought...

 

[unreng]

dry ice to shrink and/or heat to expand...maybe a mixture of both?!? PB Blaster to round it out?

and these may help:

http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?734155-How-do-you-remove-stuck-wheel-spacer

http://www.6speedonline.com/forums/997/304938-wheel-spacers-stuck-rear-wheels.html

http://www.nsxprime.com/forum/showthread.php/180258-Stuck-Wheel-Spacers

 

[flylow4500]

I have used a porta-power from the frame to the tire before, be carful how and where you place both sides.

 

[GregSplett]

I had the wheels rust weld themselves to where I could not budge them.I finally installed lug nuts loose and hopped the wheel over a wheel chock a couple times.Broke them free with no damage.

 

[RangeRunner17]

First off, thanks for all of the help! For some reason adding heat never crossed my mind before.

Went to auto zone today to pick up a torch and a socket to get the CV nut if it comes to that. Went about heating up the center of the rim and bashing the inside of it with a hammer with no luck. I was talking to a my buddy back home who's a diesel mechanic, and he recommends against the loose lug nut option for fear of breaking a stud. I might just give that a shot on Saturday, as well as a BFH. I'm quickly running out of options, and the absolute last thing I want to do is take the entire front end apart with a wheel still on. We'll see how this plays out...

completely unrelated rant follows

In other news, today I had a grown man come and inspect my room for cleanliness (a weekly thing, although it hasn't been done in a few months) because I cant be trusted to clean despite being trusted with 12 other lives. Anyways, I have most of my camping gear, some tools and 2 seats tucked away neatly in a corner because I can't fit EVERYTHING I own in a 4' x 4' closet. So that classifies me as a hoarder. Having just the camping basics and chairs makes me a hoarder, and I need to put it "away". 90% of this stuff is less than a year old! He then goes on to say that when he was moving cross country all of his stuff weighed in at 12K lbs and he shrunk that to 7, as if that relates at all. I'm positive that if your hobbies aren't drinking or playing video games, than you don't belong. That whole thing really pissed me of, just the complete ignorance.


I took my fenders off so that's one less thing to do when the worst case becomes my only choice.


It might be hard to tell, but I need to take it easy on the faster sections haha. The A-arms might be bomb proof but the fiberglass sure isn't

 

[GregSplett]

When i say loose lug nuts I mean a turn out from snug.

A broken stud is a twenty dollar bill.

By the way I love your truck.I sometimes look out my 08 xlt f150 at the rangers now and want to trade.

 

[4x4junkie]

Agreed. seems to me dealing with a busted stud or two would be a whole heck of a lot easier than tearing the entire frontend down with one or both wheels still attached...

I would say try driving back & forth 10-20 feet on asphalt with the steering cut hard to full-lock (i'd even go as far out as 1/8" - 1/4" from snug on the lug nuts). I would think that should generate enough force against the wheels for them to pop loose.

 

[RangeRunner17]

I GOT IT!!! Ended up doing what 4x4junkie suggested and driving with the lugs backed out a bit. Both sides gave me a audible pop when they freed. It ends up that the spacer was at most 1mm too wide, and was scored about 2 mm back. Not that big of a difference.

Thanks everyone for all of the help!!!