What did you do to your Ranger today?

[Junior Blue]

Thank You Phil. Did the supplier give you a number to for the extra lug nuts?

Forgot "call" Did the supplier give you a phone number to call for those nuts?

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[TVRangerSTX]

I used this as a guide:
https://www.ranger5g.com/forum/threads/how-to-paint-ford-tailgate-emblem.5762/.

Not too hard, but I did break one of the ears holding the camera. They are very fragile, so be careful. Didn't seem to affect the camera when I reassembled it, as there is a brace across the top. Yes, I did paint the large chrome oval, black to match the black letters. I was able to remove everything, and paint and replace in 3 days, so not too bad.

Good luck!!

Thanks

 

[P. A. Schilke]

Thank You Phil. Did the supplier give you a number to for the extra lug nuts?

Hi Pete,

Did the contact via Ebay Contact the seller. Slow to respond but patients is the virtue here eh?

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired

 

[TVRangerSTX]

Hi Folks,

Today I replaced all the two piece lug nuts on the Ranger and also on the the Lincoln MKX... The new ones are solid and not prone to the swelling phenomena of the OEM Ford lug nuts. Not one of Ford's finest ideas for sure. Ranger lugs are 12mm X 1.5 and the MKX are 14mm X 1.5. Ranger at 100 ft. lb. MKX at 162 ft lb (Yikes!).

best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retried

Geez, Phil, you'd think someone woulda addressed this when they were working at Ford I know, I know , they were counting beans and not listening to you!

 

[P. A. Schilke]

Geez, Phil, you'd think someone woulda addressed this when they were working at Ford I know, I know , they were counting beans and not listening to you!

Hi Trevor,

On my MKX, almost two thirds of the lug nuts were 21mm + I had to use a brass hammer on the socket, then remove and clamp in my vice and drive the lugnut off the 6 point socket. These lug nuts are useless but to dump into the trash. What a shame for Ford. A customer negative for sure. I did try a 22mm six point socket on some and started to round off the edges of the lug nut, so stopped and resorted to hammering the 21 mm impact socket onto the lug nut. I did not use an impact on these lug nuts as I was afraid it would just result in rounding off the edges of the nut. My CP impact is a real beast at 140 psi of my 60 gallon air compressor and this process needed a much more gentle process by hand. Not the time to play NASCAR pit stop with the air wrench..

Okay...another back story..... Back in the late 70s early 80s we had fancy wheel covers. (hub caps for most folks, but inside the industry we call them wheel covers). These wheel covers simulated an aluminum wheel with plastic lug nuts as accents...all plastic with an aluminum trim ring and backing plate with teeth to grab the steel wheel. My next door neighbor came over to my house and rang the door bell. I answered and there is one really pissed person standing there with a "lug nut" in his hand. He thurst this lug nut at me with a bunch of 4 letter words about Ford using plastic lug nuts! I knew right away what he did. He had a flat tire and did not realize this was a wheel cover and put his lug wrench on the fake lug nut, shearing it off the wheel cover. When I went over to his car in his driveway I asked him for his lug nut wrench which was this terrible angled vehicle provided lug wrench with the other end flattened to a pry bar like flat blade screw driver. So I pried off the wheel cover with the busted off "lug nut" and there were the exposed lug nuts. He looked like deer in the headlights. I got my real tools out of the garage and we pulled off the tire...drove to the tire store and they plugged the tire and we reinstalled the repaired tire. (I do not suscribe to supporting plugs for a permanent fix but that is what he chose) Then we used construction adhesive to glue the sheared off plaisic lug nut back onto the wheel cover.

I then opened up the glove box and removed the owners manual (which he never read...pretty typical for owners), and there it was, remove the hub cap and loosen the lug nuts.

Back at work the next day I got to my wheel tire engineer and he gave me a contact at Car Engineering for wheels/tires. I called and he already knew what was what. He told me they were making a change to all wheel covers with exposed plastic lug nuts to a size thinner than the lug wrench as my neighbor was one of hundreds of people that has a similar experience. So what was this all about...Cost Reduction. Give the premium customer a package that had cost effective steel wheels and a fancy wheel cover than to give them a true aluminum wheel with real chrome lug nuts. Sheesh!

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired

 

[Sped68]

I took a claybar to it then polished and waxed it yesterday. Did another coat of wax today, pretty happy with how it turned out.
I also did my first oil change, truck has about 4300km’s or about 2600 miles. My oil level had maintained its same level throughout and after the oil change is slightly lower than before I changed it. I’ll continue to keep an eye on it now that this forum has me paranoid about fuel in the oil. On a side note accessing the filter isn’t nearly as bad as in thought and I was able to get my filter wrench on it. I was also happy to realize it runs into a little chute and drains cleanly.

i then fit my new mountain bike fork mount for the rear box. It drops in easily and just as easily removes when I’m not needing it.

 

[BcP28]

Hi Trevor,

On my MKX, almost two thirds of the lug nuts were 21mm + I had to use a brass hammer on the socket, then remove and clamp in my vice and drive the 6 point socket off the socket. These lug nuts are useless but to dump into the trash. What a shame for Ford. A customer negative for sure. I did try a 22mm six point socket on some and started to round off the edges of the lug nut, so stopped and resorted to hammering the 21 mm impact socket onto the lug nut. I did not use an impact on these lug nuts as I was afraid it would just result in rounding off the edges of the nut. My CP impact is a real beast at 140 psi of my 60 gallon air compressor and this process needed a much more gentle process by hand. Not the time to play NASCAR pit stop with the air wrench..

I had to replace all 20 lug nuts on my wife's Edge sport last year because the outer chrome jacket separated from the actual nut. Couldn't get a socket on any of them, so ended up taking a punch to pierce the outside of the chrome jacket then using a needle-nose pliers and side cutters, and a screw driver and hammer to peel and chisel the jacket off of all 20 of them to get to the raw lug (which was actually okay once the jacket was removed) Even then, the lug size without a jacket was weird (like 19.5mm or something). Worst 12 hours of my life.

Needless to say, I replaced with 1-piece lugs, and I definitely plan to do the same with my Ranger.

For the record, I use a breaker bar to break the lug nuts loose, and use a torque wrench to tighten them up; I never use an impact. The Edge was used when we got it, so probably had a few years of dealer techs sending lugs home with an impact and rounded-out sockets ?

 

[Junior Blue]

Hi Pete,

Did the contact via Ebay Contact the seller. Slow to respond but patients is the virtue here eh?

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired

Ok great! Thank You .

 

[Dhass68]

The "swollen nut" issue isn't just a Ford thing, GM and Dodge/Chrysler have the same issue, it goes back to the 60's on some makes

 

[Rl.hill421]

put a boat on it.

That’s an awesome decale btw.

 

[fusseli]

The "swollen nut" issue isn't just a Ford thing, GM and Dodge/Chrysler have the same issue, it goes back to the 60's on some makes

Add late model Nissan to that list

 

[JAKE2.3]

Installed RC leveling kit last Thursday, alignment Friday, stubby antenna in this morning. What a nightmare on the level kit. I followed the instructions, guess I shouldn't have. I should have loosened the axle nuts from the start. Getting the struts in and out was bad enough, but I managed to slip the cv joint on the drivers side (inboard) during install. Clipped the boot straps, pulled back the boot, almost had an aneurysm. Eight balls, a cage, snap ring, and a load of grease. So, pulled the shaft, did the rebuild on the bench (vertically is much easier), carefully reinstalled everything, then went to napa for replacement boot clamps. About 60 miles since and everything seems to be holding together I guess. Now just waiting on wheels and tires to be delivered.

 

[Deltasix109]

Installed RC leveling kit last Thursday, alignment Friday, stubby antenna in this morning. What a nightmare on the level kit. I followed the instructions, guess I shouldn't have. I should have loosened the axle nuts from the start. Getting the struts in and out was bad enough, but I managed to slip the cv joint on the drivers side (inboard) during install. Clipped the boot straps, pulled back the boot, almost had an aneurysm. Eight balls, a cage, snap ring, and a load of grease. So, pulled the shaft, did the rebuild on the bench (vertically is much easier), carefully reinstalled everything, then went to napa for replacement boot clamps. About 60 miles since and everything seems to be holding together I guess. Now just waiting on wheels and tires to be delivered.

Looks nice. What wheels and tires you end up ordering?

 

[JAKE2.3]

Looks nice. What wheels and tires you end up ordering?

Thanks! KMC's (xd140 satin black) with general grabbers. 17x8.5 with 275's. Almost went with 285 but thought I'd keep just a touch more clearance.

 

[psweeney]

Took the truck out for a fun camping trip this weekend and to test the prototype leafs some more. Rolls and flexes over stuff that would terrify the stock leafs like butter, high and low speed. I'm so happy with how they feel; it's so planted, stable, and smooth all the time.

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