I finally cleaned the truck this weekend for the first time in 4 or 5 months. The aluminum rims were in horrible condition from the winter so I cleaned them during the process of changing out my driver side hub assembly. The hub caps were pretty raunchy looking too, so they got sanded down and sprayed with some wheel paint and clear coat that I had lying around.

Enjoy.


This is after cleaning the rims with simple green and 0000 steel wool









This is after painting the hub caps and polishing the rims with Mequires Aluminum Mag Polish using a Mother's Powerball - The wheels probably haven't been this clean for about 3 years.









I was a bit ambitious and decided to wash the truck as well, who knows when it'll happen again.















Poser flex on an old stump and some horse crap... hey, it's better than flexing on a curb.

 

Paint that frame and valance! Nice pictures though. The truck's lookin good.

 

Looks great! If they get real bad, you can hit them with 0000 steel wool too, works great. Then just polish and they'll look new again.

 

The frame will get painted one of these days, and that was my attempt to paint the valance... it's probably just going to get painted black with bumper paint to look like an fx4 bumper. It may just be user error, but the spray paint didn't cover the valance too well.

Um... that's what I did Trent.

 

What kind of paint did you use for the valance?

 

Looks great! Just cleaned mine up today too.

 

Of course I would skip over that sentence to the pictures haha

 

Duplicolor... I used a whole can of primer, whole can of DSG and a whole can of clear. Maybe I tried to wet sand to early, I dunno.

 

Looks good. Thats what I need to do to my wheels, they haven't been cleaned in at least a year.

 

Get ready for some neck and back pain... that work along with switching out the hub assembly has me hurting today.

 

I would sand it all down and get all the old stuff off and then get DSG(or close to it) Krylon Fusion if you can find it and paint it with that. Or you could just go the easier route and buy black Krylon Fusion and do it that way.

 

At this point Tyler, I'm probably going to sand it down a bit and then just blast it with the black bumper paint. There's already a crack in the bumper and a piece of it missing from playing around in the snow this winter, so I'm not going to go ballistic over this thing.

 

Looks great man love the 01-03 valance on the 04

nice work on the wheels hows the new bearings eh?

 

Thanks Zacharia. The valance just needs a bit more work, but it looks better than the busted up '04 valance.

The new bearings are great, I never realized just how much noise the damn things were making. I wish I didn't pay to have the passenger side installed, I could've bought both and installed them myself for the same price. Live and learn I guess.

 

Ya its really not that bad of an install, worst for mine was I found out i needed front brakes at the same time LOL

 

damn, that looks good when i get my ranger we should have a meet this summer. nice truck

 

Thanks, I'm up for a meet anytime... if I'm not working anyhow. I'm trying to find somebody to go out and hit the trails behind me (Collier's Mills) but it seems like its hard to find people in the area to wheel with.

 

Winks,

did you paint the indents on your tails? That's a neat effect. Truck is looking clean.

 

Thanks Chris, they are painted. I painted those indents years ago figuring that it would be subtle and different. You are one of very few people that have noticed it.

 

That Power Ball is a miracle maker, I love that thing.
The frame is easy to paint, rattle can Rustoleum flat black, half an hour, and good to go.

What is that little red spot under your Ranger emblem on the fender?

 

The red spot is a V6 emblem from a Pontiac Grand Prix, there is one on each side.

 

yeah, most members on here are in south jersey, im up in hunterdon county if you know where that is but yeah when the weather is nice im down to meet up and possibly wheel.

 

I had to look it up on a map... That is a bit out there, any time you're up for a meet, let me know. I'm right by Great Adventure if you ever come down this way.

 

ooo alright yeah i know where that is, yeah its a trip but we can see what happens i actually might have a body lift meet when i get my new truck. gonna try to save my money and try doin in with some people

 

That's pretty sweet! I'm really diggin the subtle little details on your truck. I had to go back and check out the tail lights, I like that a lot, might have steal that idea. Maybe the V6 emblem idea too.