I LOST MY KEY AND I'M USING A SCREWDRIVER FIRST OF ALL.MY BATTERY WAS DEAD SO REPLACED THAT, GOT THE TRUCK TO TURN ON BUT MY SHIFTER WONT BUDGE, I CHECKED EVERYTHING, DOES IT HAVE TO DO WITH ME NOT HAVING A KEYED IGNITION INSTALLED?PLEASE HELP:

 

Grumpaw's Ranger had a spa morning and then went to the first local cruise-in we've had in over a year. Local burger place that has one the 2nd Sunday of every month, but none since March of last year.
Had over 100 vehicles with every owner claiming "cabin fever" !

 

I mounted my winch in the rear and reeled it up. I now have to relocate the control box to the bed and running wires to the battery. Sheesh these battery wires are expensive tho. ​​​​​​​

 

Went to a nice little local show today, around 60 vehicles. Took a first place in 1981 to present in truck class with Grumpaws Ranger.
Had a gorgeous 1970 Ford Shortbed there with a worked over 390...owner did a total resto and did it all himself including paint and upholstery.
And an original 57 Ford Fairlane, unrestored and driven daily by it's 87 year old owner.

 

Nice Grumpaw! Congratulations!

I took Rick today and did truck things. Picked up a desk a friend was giving to my youngest and stopped by my SIL to fetch my “bistro set” she had borrowed for an event at her place.

 

Unlike Grumpaw... CONGRATULATIONS!!! Send more pics.

Had a number of brain farts today. First, I panicked. I literally had red transmission fluid leaking on the tailpipe. But I forgot I’ve been trolling around with my old transmission... wwyd with an old tranny?

second, tugging my trailered boat out of the ditch my daughter crashed it into, I forgot to engage the front locking hubs and thought my 4x had died. so now I’ve got major divots.

i need a new brain.

In better mind, I’m preparing to do rear leaf shackles snd bushings tomorrow. Loaded up with cutting wheels, grinding wheels, propane torches (not acetylene $$$ and I’m not experienced) ball joint press and of course YouTube.

 

WFH ! Actually in the garage making good progress on the shackles/lift.

2nd shift this week feels like an extra day every day.



Rust reformer

 

Yesterday I hit a tree trunk log on the cut face, knocked my alignment off, lucky I didn't screw up my steering rack. I had been planning on doing lower ball joints and replacing my T-bars soon, so I figured today was the day.
​​​​​​
​​​​​Took the front apart down to the frame, reassembled with new lower ball joints, new CV axles, new T-bars and got it all back together in 9 hours. I'm sore and tired and I'm heading to the alignment shop at 8am tomorrow but damn it feels good to fix a problem in a day. Now I just hope they can get it aligned as is, might still have to replace a tie rod or even the rack.

 

Took my Ranger and did truck things on Thursday. Cleaning out the sister in law’s place in anticipation of a move. A load to the dump and two loads to the Habitat for Humanity Restore donation center.

 

I’m pretty happy with this blackout especially comparing before corroded rims.

Also hit some fresh crisp winter rust.

1) wheels off
2) mask snd glasses on
3) clean and spray lugs
4) soft wire brush on grinder - do the inside. 20 years of brake dust. Repeat: mask
5) clear coat or black up to you. I wish i did black but I have a lot of clear
6) clean the outer
7) 250g snd wire marks
8) alcohol prep (you too if you like)
9) rust oleum wheel paint with rim sized stencil

After

Stencil- lots of small sheets around a donut of tape works better

Before

Lugs

 

Decided to take my truck to church yesterday instead of my SUV. Rick got to respond to a fire call that came out while I was wrapping up

 

I just Picked up mine from the transmission shop and ready to get back to fixing her up. I'm new here so I will post pics as soon as I can.

 

Only this crowd looks at the Ranger instead of the fire! 🔥

 

True. However Rick was a solid mile from the action yesterday. I’m fire police, so I go play in traffic where it’s safe.

 

I did the throttle mod (we need one in our How to.).

3/4” of slack so I’ll order a new one.

best thing is she runs like new and even hinted at quick acceleration with normal up shifting at higher speeds.

so NOW I’ve got a new truck. 99 4.0 4.0L with 180k miles.

next: ball joints or whatever’s wobbliest

 

^ what is a throttle mod? Please share where and how you got the information. I have a 2003 3.0 and always looking for some upgrades. Thanks

 

I hate to post a link yo a different forum so here’s a YouTuber with four subscribers. his til to use zip ties to hold the linkage open really helped.

Over time the throttle cable stretches and full pedal is only part pedal as far as the engine and TPS is concerned.

 

Washed and vacuumed the truck and took some photos. Looking forward to the '06 mirrors I got coming from a fellow forum member, the power mirrors are the only non-working electro-gadget left.




I don't understand how they thought a person could sit in the back of this cab.

 

Put in toolboxes. One gullwing and a chest between wheelwells. Still have have enough bed space for a typical grocery run.

The gullwing will hold jumper cables, pliers, etc. The chest will hold whatever whoever is in passenger seat doesn't want in their floors pace or lap. Also good spot to toss a laptop or something while getting a burger, that is outta site and is secure.

 

OmG that F100 is absolutely gorgeous! My first vehicle was a 74 F100, so I have a soft spot for the F100’s of the late 60’s and 70’s. Ultimately I intended on finding one and doing a complete restoration. With the exception of the power train, I’m thinking a Coyote or turbo-diesel power plant, disc brakes at every corner; but everything else restored. I want to paint it the color of my first truck, that bright- Mt.Dew like green color (does anyone know the name of that specific green Ford used in 1974?)

 

Here’s a link to the tuner I bought...
Accel-Supere Tuner

So far I’m loving it! It’s super easy to use. I can absolutely feel the difference. I did three 1/4 mile runs on the stock tune and used my wireless ODB2 paired too my iPhone to data log some parameters (0-60, 1/8 mile, 1/4 mile, etc) using the ODBFusion app. Then I went home, popped the hood and ran a shop fan (to help cool it down a little). While it was cooling I plugged the accel SuperTuner in and uploaded the 87 octane performance tune. I went back to the spot where I had been doing my testing: unfortunately there was a black crown-Vic with white doors and red&blue lights on top. Apparently, my scientific endeavor was mistaken for “exhibition of speed”, needless to say testing the tune will have to wait a cpl days. As soon as I get a day with similar conditions (temperature, wind, etc) I will go back out and do three pulls on the 87 Octane performance tune. Once I do that, I will compile all of the data into a spreadsheet and post it for everyone to see.

 

To remedy a stretched out throttle cable, you can also get under your dash and apply a few zip ties there to achieve the same thing.

I think there is a thread on this method somewhere on this forum, but I’ll give a quick, abbreviated run down.
First locate where your throttle cable comes through the fire wall. Next, pull (yes, PULL) the gas pedal up. That should cause any slack that you may have to protrude from the end of the spring (see 1st picture). Now snug a zip tie around the base of the throttle cable (right up against the spring assembly. Continue putting zip ties on until there’s no cable showing. Your last zip tie should be right up against the piece of metal that’s clamped down over the end of the cable. Now you have successfully removed any slack in your throttle cable. You should notice better throttle response, especially if your cable has stretched significantly.

NOTE: *You may need various sizes (widths) of zip ties. Mine for example, required two different sized zip ties. I placed the white zip tie on first. I couldn’t fit another white one, so I put the narrower blue zip tie on last to ensure that there was no play in my cable. **Ive read before that ppl were concerned that this method would cause your engine to idle at a higher RPM bc they it would be like you were lightly stepping on the gas. I can assure you that if done properly, that shouldn’t be an issue. (See 2nd pic- that is a screen shot of my ODB2 Fusion app taken while my truck was idling)




And as you can see, my RPM at idle has not increased.

Hope this helped.

 

@HawaiiMud First off, the truck looks awesome! Secondly, what seats are those? I really like them!

 

Thanks! The seats are factory leathers from ford, they were an option from 04-09 I believe, usually found in fx4 lvl2's.

 

Had to find/ add air filter housing and recovery tank



Deer vs Ranger at 55mph

No rad

New rad





Now they line up

Now it closes

New fender

Net header panel,and ligjts

And grille support


All put together