//If you don't feel like reading, or just can't, skip to the bottom there's cliff notes\\

This weekend was the MDR Night Race in Lucerne Valley CA so since I was going to specate anyway I figured it would be a good idea to take the Ranger out and put some miles on it. This was only the second time out since finishing the cage, and only the fourth time out since linking it.

The truck was running great, took it off the trailer Friday night and went for a drive with Adam. Truck was running great for the 10 miles or so we did... and there is where that ended. Got the truck back to camp on Friday night and noticed it idling at about 1500 rpm in gear and 2500 in park. It was late and we were tired so we left it.

Saturday morning we starting looking for the problem and figured out that the Idle Air Control valve was stuck open. It had a bunch of sand and crap in it (good bye K&N) so I cleaned that out and it was good to go again.

So by 8am Saturday it was Desert - 1 Ranger - 0

With the truck idling I had to take it out and see if it was fixed. So Phil hopped in the truck with me and we took off on the race course. We covered about another 10 miles and came back, truck was working great. When we got back to camp however I looked down at my passenger wheel and noticed something missing... my AVM hub was gone. Some how or another it got knocked off.

It's now 10am Saturday... Desert 2 - Ranger - 0


//AVM Repair\\

Fine, so the hub is gone. I can replace that and my cv is still broken so I don't have 4wd anyway. I grabbed a cap from a can of carb cleaner and duct taped it over the hub to keep dirt out of the bearings. With that fixed and the truck aired down we decided to head out to do a lap of the 50 mile race course. Right off the bat the truck had fuel pickup issues. We added 5 gallons to the cell, fired it back up and took off, the issue seemed to resolve its self.

We set off down the course making a pretty good pace for just being out to have fun. For those that know the area we averaged over 45mph from SF to the Rock Pile and hit a max speed of 65mph (stopped to check on the fuel issue, so I checked the GPS). With the fuel issue fixed we set off on the course. We made it to Mile Marker 18 at an average speed of 37mph (not fast, but not slow) when **** hit the fan. I came over a hill into a set of large rollers, hit two big ones, the suspension compressed, rebounded, compressed, rebounded, then there was no dampening.

My friend Brian waves me down and we get out to see what the problem was. Some how or another I ripped the bottom out of my front left coilover. The wiper seal and seal head were resting at the bottom of the shock and the oil had spilled all over the lower arm, and desert floor. The shaft was jammed into the side of the shock body. We had to press on to get the truck back to camp to asses the situation.

11:30am, Saturday, August 16th, Desert - 3 Ranger - 0


//Blown shock, see the shiny part at the bottom, that is supposed to be INSIDE the shock\\


//That stuff, the oil on the ground, is supposed to be inside the shock too\\

Now were in the middle of the desert and need to get back so we push on forward, slowish, but moving. We get to about MM 20 when the fuel issue comes back. The fuel pump start wining really loud and the truck cuts off from lack of fuel. We investigate and find nothing besides a hot fuel line and filter. We get it fired again and keep moving, continually fighting it trying to die from lack of fuel. We make about 25 miles of the course when we find an access road to get us back to camp. The truck stops and dies three more times when we finally give up and send someone back for a truck to tow it back.

1:00pm Saturday... trucks dead... Desert - 4 Ranger - 0


//Towed by a Chevy... gasp!\\


Sunday morning it fires up and drives onto the trailer. Son of a....

So I have a ton of work ahead of me...


//Loaded up heading home, at least the F-1 didn't let me down...\\



If you don't feel like reading all of that here's the cliff notes...

8am Saturday, stuck IAC...
10am Saturday, missing AVM hub...
11:30am Saturday, blown front left coilover...
1pm Saturday, trucks dead, fuel issue.

Now go back and read the story... lol

 

geeezzzz Jason sorry man

 

Dang man that sucks. At least it looks good lol

 

wow Jason, talk about bad luck!

how did the shock even do that?

 

I'm not real sure, I'll know more when I get it off the truck but the scenarios that I can think of are it either A) shock bottomed out some how, maybe limit strap stretch (didn't fail, it's still there) or B) it hydrolocked and blew it out or C) the circlip just randomly failed

 

Dang man that is some horrible luck...the f150 had 2 of sabatoshed your ranger so it could look like the hero.

 

odd, im interested in seeing the pics of the shock after tear down!

 

It will be a couple weeks but I'll post pics when I get it apart for sure...

 

Ouch man that sucks but that truck is still so awsome I would love to have a baja truck like that.

 

sucks

 

Build it, break it, fix it, make it better. It sux sometimes, but it's what we're all about.

 

Damn jason should of bout FOAs (:

looked like a great time, sucks bout the damage but thats the fun in it right?

im back in Charleston we had problems with buses ill be back in january so we need to plan something!

cant wait to see pics of it being fixed

 

Good call, cause then they would have just blown when I pulled it off the trailer and I could have spent the time I wasted driving my truck drinking beer... lol

Yup, it happens. Gotta find the weak links somehow...

For sure... I know we'll be in Laughlin one of the weekends in late Jan for the SCORE race.

 

oh no jason! sucks to see her down, but **** happens and i'm sure she'll be back together in no time.

 

Sounds like we have the same fuel pressure issue. I got drug off the trail last time i was out for an intermitent fuel pressure issue. The pump was overheating and would only run for 5-10 min before turning off.

I sent the pump back to summit and they replaced it. Hopefully it was just a crappy pump.

Good luck figuring it out! I feel your pain!

 

dont care for FOAs huh? LOL

 

Dang sounds like a rough weekend. The F-1 looks good though.. what a champ. I totally want an ext cab fx4 in black

 

That's putting it nicely... And it's not based on any bias and is completely founded... anyway...

 

please explain!

glad to see her gettin used though jason!

 

yes explain!

I want to get some 14" or 16" coil overs for the front, i dont want to make the wrong mistake!

 

either way there are many proven companies for not such a large price difference.

Im still curious why jason doesnt like FOA. I thought he even had a tour at FOA and was endorsing them not to long ago

 

Nope, wasn't me. I've never been to their place nor have I ever endorsed them. I have done alot of work with Sway-A-Way, been in Kings shop, and know the guys from Bilstein, but never had anything to do with FOA.

 

That sucks a lot!