Maybe one day you can get on Downey's level.

 

Hopefully I don't have any cab flex like he did.

 

Good looking Truck, Dewey! I may have to wait before I start doing cosmetic work to mine. I inherited my truck a with 105,000 miles, so it didn't cost me anything until the "issues" started occurring. All the money I've spent so far has been "under the hood" issues. Shortly after I got the truck, the not so reliable automatic transmission that Fords are known for failed. Then many other engine related issues occurred within a 6 month time period. I will tell you this: when the problems start occurring, they come in waves, especially oil seals and gaskets. So if you replace anything in one area, you may as well replace other parts too while it's apart. For example, if you replace the water pump, go ahead and replace the water hoses, the T-stat, the timing chain cover gasket and oil seal (also the timing chain too) because every gasket and seal on Fords start leaking much sooner than they do on other makes. When I replaced the transmission, I didn't replace the rear main oil seal on the engine. So now it's leaking. Recently I had a new oil pan gasket and valve cover gaskets installed. Also a new coil and belt pulleys.
So the money I've spent so far on the "free" truck is equivalent to what it would have cost me if I bought it. But I will have a very reliable truck as soon as I replace the rear main seal. Which is a lot better than making $600 dollar monthly payments on a new truck. That's what I keep telling myself.

 

I've replaced all of that and more on my truck. lol. You can pretty much assume that any vehicle that is at least 15 years old will leak, especially when it has more than 100,000 miles. Vehicles these days aren't designed to last forever, and neither are the parts.

 

WOW! Your truck is giving me some crazy ideas on what I want to do to mine. I have a long way to go to catch up with all the mods you've done so far. I don't even want to know how much you've spent on the cosmetics AND the mechanical work. I've got to finish the repairs under the hood before i jump into the cosmetic part. Like you said, ALL vehicles develop leaks of some kind due to age, but the leaks I've been experiencing are not really old age leaks and they are multiple leaks that would be expected maybe after 150,000 miles. Major leaks around 100,000 miles is not normal. I have a GMC with 170,000 miles with no leaks. I also have my ragged but reliable 1987 Isuzu Pup pushing close to 300,000 miles with only small leaks due to age. Maybe it's just my luck that every Ford I've owned I had to keep a large pan under the truck at night to keep the concrete from getting oil stains. Regardless, I still like these Rangers and the Vulcan engines are pretty much bullet proof despite pesky leaks that occur. What kills a lot of these engines is the cam synchronizer that could fail anytime after 70,000 miles. Some trucks go past 200,000 miles and it doesn't fail. A friend of mine had his to fail driving on the interstate which instantly killed the engine. And he was already aware of the "strange noises" under the hood but ignored it for many months.

 

The good thing about Ford leaks, is that they help prevent rust.

 

SAS is well underway. Only things left are steering and shocks. I'll post pictures once it's drivable again. So far, I'm a week and 2 days in.

 

Right on. Looking forward to seeing it!

 

What the crap kind of build thread is this? Almost done with the SAS and no pics? Do you realize how lame you are right now?

 

Lol for real. Come on Dewey, ever heard of a thing called progress pics?? Whata jabroni

 

Okay, you've twisted my arm. Pics coming up

 

Here the progress pics are. Had to redo the front twice and the shackles once before it got to be pulled out of the barn. Holes are drilled in the frame for the gear box bushing sleeves. Still need to weld the plates on and then bolt on the box.
Pinion shins were also oudered to get it back to 0 since it's a little negative right now.

 

Holy **** that thing is wide man!

 

 

Is it supposed to be that tall upfront or is that something that needs to be tweaked....?

 

The leafs will settle a bit. He could also raise the rear and get some bigger tires. I'm more concerned about the pinion angle on the front axle. He might have to rotate the axle to get the pinion pointing at the t-case due to the low pinion diff which will require the axle c's to be cut and turned to get the caster dialed in. If not, that's gonna be a harsh d-shaft angle

You may have said it already, but what leafs are you runnin dewey? RS44044's?

 

Yeah, those are what I'm running. I have shims coming to get the pinion back to 0 degrees. I won't have a drive shaft for a little while, so I don't want to tweak the pinion too much before the drive shaft is in. The axle already had leaf perches on it too, so the angle at which I mounted the leafs couldn't be changed.

Once the front is settled, I'll lift the rear to match. I hate the "bulldog" look

 

What size tires do you plan on going with in the end? 40's?

 

Id prefer for now (and so would my wife) to go up to just a 37, but only time will tell

 

He's running adapters so he can run his old wheels. Once he gets the new wheels, it won't be as wide.

Well, unless he goes 14 wides. -.-

 

Yeah, gonna run 24x14s with some 37x12.50s

 

Strrrrreeeeettttttcccccchhhhhhh

 

Any advantage to the wide stance, or is it purely an aesthetics thing in your application?

 

Baller lol

 

I personally would never want to drive a ranger this tall with narrow axles. Too afraid of flipping it over in a turn.

As Shaun mentioned, I'm currently running 1.5" adapters to go from the 5x5.5 to the 5x5 of my rims (they were dual drilled 5x4.5 and 5x5). My goal for the time being is a nice set of 20x12 rims with some 37x13.50s it should sit a little narrower, but also have a meatier look to the tires.

Yeah, only when my wife lets me