Looking good! Nice find on the seats!

 

Last week I replaced my upper left ball joint(was completely destroyed) and my lower right ball joint(boot was cracked) while under warranty, replaced the inner and outer wheel bearings, checked rear spacers(both still perfect and tight) and rotated wheels, got an alignment at Canadian tire which actually made it worse so I'll be going back and finally fixed the issue I had been having with my fuel pump for over a year. Last summer I got into an accident rear ending a litttle Mazda 3 and it tripped the fuel pump safety shut off switch(inertia) and since then it would go off every few months, no big deal right? Well last week it died about 3-10 times a day and I could reset it with the switch by the passenger switch and keep going until Thursday where it just wouldn't come back on, so I took the switch out and sure enough the inside was fried completely. So I took the 2 wires and taped em together and have been problem free since then! It's nice not having the truck randomly die at a light in traffic

Today I went on a trail ride, got stuck 3 times, twice in real loose sand the other in some nasty ruts in some way to deep water. Overall it was a great time and something new since I had never been there with the truck before and the 2wd kept up with the 4x4s pretty well

Just jeep things





Couldn't cross this creek as it would have went well over the hood but it made for good pictures



Found somewhere to flex, I was a little surprised I flexed almost as much as the colorado which has a mid travel set up...



Trailblazer couldn't quite flex like us


And my real good stuck :D ...Going to change the diff fluid tomorrow. First time I went through the hole I made it and the water went almost to the hood. Second time some of the jeeps had been through there and made deep ruts, this time it went well over my hood

 

Got a Curt basket/Extension this weekend for my self and picked one up for my friend with his freshly lifted jeep

Basket seems strong and so do the Explorer roof rails I mounted it to but I'm going to add a third rail in the center to help the middle from sagging when I do load it up. One thing to note is the powder coating isn't the greatest and it had a few marks right from the box so I'll give it a bit of paint before winter to prevent rust

Wind noise doesn't seem to be an issue either and I haven't driven enough with it yet to test for gas mileage but I'm sure it did drop a tad


31" Cooper Stt Pro, 3.5" Rubicon express superflex/Bilstein shocks





Sometime soon I'm going to mount my Hi lift jack on the side with an axe and/or shovel on the other side as with my led pods that have been sitting in my room for a few months, going to do one on each side of the basket and 2 facing back

 

I really like the look of the basket on there! Nice pick!

 

Thanks! I had been waiting for it to go on sale for awhile so I got it right away

 

Basket turned out great!

 

Thanks! I think sometime soon I'm going to try and mount it right on the cap, I don't like it sitting quite as high as it does

 

So this weekend I went to the states for my very first time, Me and my gf left Friday morning and just got back today, overall the trip was amazing with basically no troubles at all besides driving straight against a nasty wind basically the whole time
Friday we left and went to the Seven Clans Hotel in Thief River Falls, it was a really sweet hotel with a great water park.


The next day we headed out for Minneapolis, the sights weren't to great at the start but eventually we got into some rolling hills with tons of little ponds on the sides of the freeway

Entering Minneapolis, Some how the Mazda kept up on the freeway but she was working pretty good


Eventually we made it to Mall of America which was really cool to finally see for the first time, I can understand how some people can spend days there but personally I couldn't. That night we stayed at a sketchy Super 8 Hotel(I would have felt safer sleeping in the box in a walmart)
Next day we headed to Grand Forks, finally going with the wind we cruised at 70mph with ease even on the hills, stopped at "The Pizza Ranch" after being told to by many friends and I'm glad we did, who doesn't like buffet pizza and chicken, thought I was going to die after it was so good

Even with the lack of interior space she never once complained, perfect co pilot

Getting close to Grand Forks

Once we got there we checked in at a much nicer Days inn then the previous nights Super 8 then went out to "Speedway" restaurant, What a great bbq it was


All packed up and on the way home this morning


Things I learnt on this trip
-I need to regear, 4:10s just aren't enough for this little 4 cylinder with 31's. Almost any hill or wind against me and I couldn't get the truck into 5th or to actually stay in 5th without slowing coming down in speed and dropping into 4th. I'm thinking 4:56 should help without being overkill and allow me to go up to 32's in the far future
-Cruise control would have made this trip much nicer, what are people using for aftermarket units?
-I have a subtle shake coming from the front left wheel, the wheel has play in it and i can just budge it by pushing really hard on it. I already re placed ball joints and inner/outer bearing so tie rods? Idk

 

Glad to see you had a good and safe trip to the states!

 

Sounds/looks like it was a fun trip! If you wanna get the real american experience you gotta come to the PNW haha jk. Yeah I would guess the TRE's. Been through a few of those on my truck. You can go to any tire shop that does alignments and they should tell you what needs to be replaced.

 

Went camping this weekend, weather was great and the truck did great for what it is. Can't wait for December, custom bumpers(with a winch) and rock sliders with a few other goodies

Onto pics







Overall it was good trip besides the Dakota blowing its trans on the way home. Surprisingly Riley's pathfinder(Had the red ranger with lights on the roof) did pretty well for stock even with its low height

Hoping to go again next month

 

Nice! I feel like this isn't the first time that dakota has had trans issues..didn't he mess it up a while back too? haha

 

Haha its not, i towed him in winter when he blew a trans cooler line. This time the trans over heat light came on a bunch of times while wheeling and then just stopped working so i towed again

 

Snagged a few picture yesterday after a quick wash from wheeling last weekend and did some researching on bumpers and what kind of design I would like etc. I also got a free winch from my dad that he used to use on his 79 Bronco, he claims its only a 4500-6500 pound winch but says its underrated and was used lots of times on the Bronco and other full size trucks so I'm fairly confident it can handle my truck, not sure on the brand because its pretty old but it'll do until I save up for a 9500 Smittybilt synthetic one




Here's the front bumper we plan on coping, I'd like all 4 of my hellas directly overtop of the winch but if I have to I'll mount my 4 black magics(Hids will be going in them at the same time of the bumpers) in front of my roof basket and do a set of Hella 1000's over top to look less stuffed in there. I would also keep the skid plate black to match the rest of the bumper to blend in a bit better



Here's the rear I'm thinking, I'd like to keep it as high up as possible so my hitch will more then likely removed and integrated into the new bumper, I'd also keep my hi lift on the roof basket

 

Hids for my hellas are on the way, went with 55w 6500k, as with green rocker switches and a hi lift mount to mount to my basket

 

I'm excited to see the hi-lift mount on the basket

 

Me too, tired of it just ratchet strapped in the basket

 

Went camping this last weekend, cracked a hella lense and dented a rock(most of it twisted out but rock sliders are a must)








Then yesterday I got my hi lift mounted up on the basket, no more ratchet straps
Hi lift 4xrac

 

Little adventuring today

 

Little adventuring today

 

Upgraded the Hellas with 55 watt 6000k Hids, followed this how to HID Black Magic Hella Conversion

I must say if you have a pair of hellas I strongly suggest doing this, its a night and day difference and very worth it. I'd say the output is easily twice as good with really good range and spread with the 4 lights
Once i aim them better and find someone with a camera and that can take decent night shots I'll get more pictures

 

New radio! Old one kinda **** the bed when I was painting the interior during summer and the crappy shop tape into the bezel let go letting my beautiful pioneer fall face first onto gravel making the touchscreen no longer use able

This one has a ton of features and will get installed properly, pretty excited to try the Bluetooth handsfree calling features etc, also going to invest in Sirius XM radio since I do tend to drive a lot and i love to in my dads Ranger

Best of all it was supposed to be $480 but the manager brought it down to $300 because I told him that was my budget

 

Got the new radio in, this time everything was properly done! Basically had to cut out all the old wiring the previous shop did when they installed my pionner but everything works great! Going to install a switch so I don't have to turn on my parking break to watch movies probably later today
Followed this guide - DIY: Ford Ranger Double DIN Install - Ford Ranger Forum
Dash kit used - American International FM-K552 (fmk552) Double DIN or Single DIN
Xm Radio kit - SIRIUS XM V300 SXV300v1 Next Gen Satellite Radio Vehicle Tuner
Overall I'm really happy with this Radio, everything sounds great and clear, I got Xm radio now and love that. The dash kit I used was great making the radio sit nice and flush with the bezel

 

Nothing new to truck right now, got laid off so not spending it on the truck as of now but oh well

In other news my gf decided to get me a richmond 4:56 gears for my 8.8. I told her I have the 8.8 31 spline(swapped from an 04 FX4 Lvl 2) but at the truck store the guy said he couldn't find any 31 spline and only 30 spline, these still going to work?
This is the kit https://www.summitracing.com/int/par...03121/reviews/
I have friends that can install them for me so at least that saves me shop costs!

Oh and I hate these tires on ice/snow

 

First off, as far as ring and pinions go, an 8.8 is an 8.8 There is no ring and pinion difference from anything I've seen.
Secondly, the 30 splines you are talking about are the splines on the pinion gear that slide into the flange the drive shaft connects to. The 31 splines you are thinking about are just the spline count on the ends of the axle shafts that go into the differential carrier, so two completely different things.
So this set should work fine for you. I've always used Yukon, but ring and pinions are all pretty much equivalent.
Sucks about the job, but hopefully you'll find something soon.