What did you do to your Ranger today?

[DukeCanBuildit]

Hey everyone, new here. I bought a '21 Ranger Lariat. As I'm sure most everyone knows, the cupholders are no longer lighted. I ordered a pair of nice, wired, aftermarket led cupholder lights. The installation process on these calls for drilling small holes in the bottom of the cupholders. Upon doing this, I discovered that the key fobs now work only when the fob is in the cupholders. Did I mess something up badly? Thanks in advance for any advice.

Welcome John,

You may have blindly drilled into something - kind of like when a homeowner drills a hole in drywall to hang a picture and finds out they have PEX pipe.

1. I don’t think the cup holders were ever lit
2. On some models, there’s a dead fob chip reader under the cup holder

I hope you didn’t find it by accident. ? Or, you might have wired something to a place you shouldn’t have. You might want to disconnect your wiring and see if it resolves. If not, head back inside and have a couple shots of whisky.

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[JACER]

Congrats on your new Ranger!



Cupholders were never lit on any years.

On Rangers, probably never. But I had a 2015 Explorer, & they were lit. On a 2017 Explorer, no they were not lit. I'm certain it was a bean counter thing!

 

[AzScorpion]

On Rangers, probably never. But I had a 2015 Explorer, & they were lit. On a 2017 Explorer, no they were not lit. I'm certain it was a bean counter thing!

It would've been nice to have them lit up even if it were part of the Ambient Lighting. We had this discussion before and some bought these cup holder lights which look pretty good.

 

[Racket]

Today I finally got the front Eibach's installed with the one-and-three-quarter-inch lift. I then installed the AVS deflector and re-aligned the headlights.

Then I polished the damper.

 

[JACER]

It would've been nice to have them lit up even if it were part of the Ambient Lighting. We had this discussion before and some bought these cup holder lights which look pretty good.

Yes, I've got several of these. Gifts mostly. A pain to keep charged.

 

[RARanger]

Installed my dash cam this morning. Mounted camera on passenger side of rearview mirror, routed wiring under headliner and was able to tuck it in between A-pillar cover and the bit of headliner that is beneath it. Then tucked it in weather stripping down to the footwell and across to the USB ports in the front to power it. Turns off with truck, after a few seconds, which I am fine with.

my only concern is if the spot I ran it between the headliner and A-pillar is an issue if the bag were to trigger? I tried to get a peak in there and couldn’t really see if the airbag is in that gap or not. Also not sure if it’s an issue since most of the time no one is in the passenger seat. What do you guys think?

 

[Glocker]

It's really good stuff and a bottle will last you a LONG time. I bought mine from a local power sports dealer, but it's on Amazon.

 

[JAKE2.3]

Been off most of the week with a sick kid. With warmer temperatures, I took advantage. Got the mustang out of the storage garage and brought to my own. Then washed the ranger and the mustang. Fixed a couple of mysterious scratches in my ranger that were hiding under winter salt.

Side note: First time I used my new pressure washer and foam cannon. I may never wash a vehicle again without it. I was like a kid in a candy store. Better yet, was looking down my nose at all the other dads as they drove by with jealousy. Peasants.

 

[Glocker]

Been off most of the week with a sick kid. With warmer temperatures, I took advantage. Got the mustang out of the storage garage and brought to my own. Then washed the ranger and the mustang. Fixed a couple of mysterious scratches in my ranger that were hiding under winter salt.

Side note: First time I used my new pressure washer and foam cannon. I may never wash a vehicle again without it. I was like a kid in a candy store. Better yet, was looking down my nose at all the other dads as they drove by with jealousy. Peasants.

I love the stance on your Mustang!

 

[AzScorpion]

Been off most of the week with a sick kid. With warmer temperatures, I took advantage. Got the mustang out of the storage garage and brought to my own. Then washed the ranger and the mustang. Fixed a couple of mysterious scratches in my ranger that were hiding under winter salt.

Side note: First time I used my new pressure washer and foam cannon. I may never wash a vehicle again without it. I was like a kid in a candy store. Better yet, was looking down my nose at all the other dads as they drove by with jealousy. Peasants.

The pressure washer and foam cannon make washing so much more fun and easier. Been doing it this way for years and could not go back to just bucket washing after this. Here's the foam cannon I really want but it's $1,500.

 

[JAKE2.3]

I love the stance on your Mustang!

Thanks! I hated the stock height, just looks way to high. I don't like the slammed look though either, just want something that handled well. It's dropped an inch on steeda linears (stiffest I could find). The wheels are 19*10 / 19*11 gt350r replicas. Tires are 285's and 325's.

 

[Glocker]

Thanks! I hated the stock height, just looks way to high. I don't like the slammed look though either, just want something that handled well. It's dropped an inch on steeda linears (stiffest I could find). The wheels are 19*10 / 19*11 gt350r replicas. Tires are 285's and 325's.

Mustangs sit too high from the factory! I did Eibach Sportline springs with my car and it got it sitting just right! Not too low and not too stiff. I need wider tires! My wheels are genuine BOSS 302 wheels (2012/2013) measuring 9" and 9.5". I can't remember but I think I'm running a 295 on the rear. I got the wheels and (almost new) Continental tires for $600 though!

 

[Strokerduster]

Mustangs sit too high from the factory! I did Eibach Sportline springs with my car and it got it sitting just right! Not too low and not too stiff. I need wider tires! My wheels are genuine BOSS 302 wheels (2012/2013) measuring 9" and 9.5". I can't remember but I think I'm running a 295 on the rear. I got the wheels and (almost new) Continental tires for $600 though!

yep, I had the same wheels....

 

[JAKE2.3]

Mustangs sit too high from the factory! I did Eibach Sportline springs with my car and it got it sitting just right! Not too low and not too stiff. I need wider tires! My wheels are genuine BOSS 302 wheels (2012/2013) measuring 9" and 9.5". I can't remember but I think I'm running a 295 on the rear. I got the wheels and (almost new) Continental tires for $600 though!

That's a deal! I'm about $1,200 into my tires (not wheels) that have 14k miles on them now. I'm hoping they can get me through another summer. Wide wheels and tires are great, but they ain't cheap ha.

 

[Fawnbuster]

I swapped out my OEM Intrusion beams aka crash bars for the Readylift bars, impressive design, I am not a metal gauge guy and I forgot to take an end view side by side photo before install but to my naked eye these new bars appear to be every bit of 3/16" thick or a tad more and the OEM bars looked to be about 1/8th inch thick. I did attach before and after Pic collages, I used a Lenox Metal max 4.5" angle grinder blade to cut about 75% thru then finished that cut off with the Lenox medium to thick metal blades. If I owned a 6inch grinder I could've cut them entirely off, that blade is a beast! The Sawzall blades worked but I used them all, because of the angles and tight space I could only use part of each blade before dulling it or banging it and bending it too many times. If I had a lift I may have been able to cut more with the grinder from below, I didn't want to have my face right under the sparks laying on my back.

I sprayed bedliner on the new ones to help with corrosion, going to add 1 more coat later. I know they are powder coated but that's sure to take a beating on short order. The only other thing I did that wasn't on the instructions was to drill a small hole in the plastic liner and the hard plastic crash bumper behind and above the rear bar and ziptied it once to keep it from flapping and or rubbing and lessen debris. Due to pulling the liner back for install I wasn't sure if it would go back to its original state.

Broke my cheap impact wrench at some point prior to starting but my Ridgid cordless one was able to get the lugs off easily.

Used a Menards rebate check to buy a 12 ton bottle jack and a set of 6 ton jack stands, worked great ?


Thanks Dukecanbuildit for your insight.

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