[NHBubba_Revisited]

So is it a bad thing when your friendly neighborhood mechanic complains that you've got too much mud in your under-carrige and under the hood? He asked if I had gotten it stuck. Ah, what an *** I am.. asking someone to work on a filty truck/engine like that!

[leftofEDGE]

Tell him to get a tissue and work on it like the dirty mechanic he is!!

Or, just spray some simple green on there, let sit for 10 mins, rinse, and dance like a fairy. Whatever you choose :p

[fx4me]

Use a pressure washer. I knocked off a lot of mud a few weeks ago with one. And you can hose down the engine compartment.

[rngprerunner]

When your mechanic mentions it, you've got just the right amount

I'm pretty sure there are a few parts of my truck being held on soley by the caked on mud...

[NHBubba_Revisited]

Yeah... "Dude, don't touch anything! It took me all summer to get it just right.."

[FMD]

power washers can do ALOT of damage, so use ALOT of care when using it. it can etch concrete so i can hurt ur truck use care.... maybe a small investment into a front skid plate to keep the mud out of ur engine compartment. i have hit plenty of mud puddles, a few, that were a tad on the deep side, yet pop my hood, and my engine looks BRAND new

[Gearhead61]

I've used the power washers at the coin-op carwash to some pretty good success. Just be careful what you end up spraying!

[Roach2004]

You should see my engine compartment

[Gearhead61]

Mine was real bad for a long time!

[a311fanam]

take a pic, i want to see

[n3elz]

Mud PUDDLES? lol! Real mudholes throw gobs of mud! I have a front skid plate and it's not a solution when you're in the real deep stuff. I'm sure it helps, but it still gets up there.

[Red_Ak_Ranger]

John we all know you invented an electrical bed operated scoop that picks up mud and throws it all over your vehicle.

Resistors, oscilliscopes, etc.

aaron

[pacodiablo]

I'm **** about mud and my truck because I need the thing to last...I can't have rust problems. Looking under it you would never know it has been buried in a swamp so bad it took two tow trucks to extract, lol.

[NHBubba_Revisited]

My LII shipped from the factory w/ a carbon steel front skid plate. It doesn't do a helluva lot for keeping mud & water out, even w/ the 'mild' wheeling I do..

[blckout]

Bleck, i hated cleaning this. i will NEVER wheel in that stuff again!

[n3elz]

I've become a proponent of leaving the mud there and here's why:

Paleontologists have gotten some of their best information from numerous fossils that were buried in mud. Why?

Simple: because mud has magical properties of preservation! If you want to keep you engine running like new, it NEEDS a mud pack. Cleaning off the mud is the WORST thing you can do.

I mean, think about it a minute: all those expensive spas, packing aging, rich overweight womens seamed faces with mud to keep them with a "glow" for a bit longer. Why would people pay for such things if it didn't work, I ask you?

Now, of course, a woman can't wear the mud all the time, so in between "treatments" the normal process of aging occurs.

But I'm willing to bet that if they left the mud on all the time -- THEY WOULD NEVER AGE!!!

There's some evidence that Ponce De Leon's "fountain of youth" he was hunting for was in fact a misnomer. It wasn't the FOUNTAIN'S WATER -- it was the MUD AROUND IT. No wonder he never found it.

Using this sterling and umimpeachable line of reasoning, I have concluded that cleaning my engine is not only a waste of my time, but actually detrimental to the life of the engine. To me, Thomas' engine picture above is an example of the youthful glow of engine health!!!

By the way, for those of you not in healthy mud areas (and not all mud is healthy, you know), I have distilled the essence of a youth preserving mud into a product I created just for you, to help you keep your engine running like new.

All I need is your credit card number...

[rwenzing]

Ford shortened the rubber splash shield on the driver side inner fender around 2001~2002 to help with a desert engine compartment cooling acceptance test. Only problem is that a lot of dirt/mud comes through the opening, especially when driving off road. Since I don't live in a desert climate, I decided that I could do without the extra cooling flow.

The long shield that was installed on the driver side of earlier Rangers is no longer available (order the old part number and you will get the new 1/4 length shield - ask me how I know). The good news it that the passenger side shield is the exact same part except the push pins are reversed. It takes about a minute to turn the pins around and you have the old long driver side shield - about $15.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Side note: It is far too easy to rip the shield(s) off when offroading, especially with large tires (or even with stockers). I reversed mine so the shields fit inside the plastic inner fenders with the push pin heads on the inside. You may have to move one or two of the pin holes in the rubber shield to get it to line up with the inner fender holes but it's easy to do.

This simple mod gives a lot more tire clearance and moves the vulnerable top edge inside where it's better protected. This greatly improves the chances that you'll keep your shields.

Here is a pic of the shield remounted to the inside of the inner fender with the points of the push pins facing outward. You can see a noticeable "witness mark" where the shield used to be on the outside.

[n3elz]

That's a very good idea. I have my shields off right now (both are full size) but they're going back on now on the inside. Thanks.