What did you do to your Ranger today?

[Spacenut]

Rear brakes and a wax job.

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[TxOTRRanger]

New tires, Goodyear Wrangler ATs, and ya'll these are the quietest all terrain tires that I have ever had. Off road test this weekend maybe.....

 

[k1w1t1m]

Installed seat covers. It was hard on the fingers but very worthwhile in my opinion. I like them. They probably will need a little tightening in a day or two. The marks you see is my sweat.

 

[theprinceofsnj]

Nothing major. Just an 78027 mile 710 change today.

 

[23HRPXL]

Put a leather cover on the steering wheel I bought from Texas Custom Interiors. Fit is ok, not as good as factory and probably would be better if I could have taken the rear plastic shroud off of the steering wheel, but that would require taking out the the airbag, which I am not doing.

 

[Doc]

Installed seat covers. It was hard on the fingers but very worthwhile in my opinion. I like them. They probably will need a little tightening in a day or two. The marks you see is my sweat.

Nice !

 

[Doc]

Love Bugs = Car Wash …every other day …

 

[Doc]

….

 

[Figarou]

I added Diode Dynamics C2Rs. It has brighter light output compared to the C1R.

 

[Titchadesh]

Went to the dealership recently to chase down sounds coming from the driver's side CV Axle (which is brand new) and they recommended I get myself a front diff drop and the improved geometry should eliminate what I'm hearing. I have a 2.5" lift and 33" diameter tires so I am right about at that threshold where one might be necessary. I researched the available options (not many) and decided to go with Peak's since it is the least intrusive and easiest to undo if for whatever reason I needed to. I'll tackle that probably next week.

They also mentioned that the rear driveshaft carrier bearing was likely going out. The labor to replace the bearing cost as much as replacing the complete driveshaft. As has been discussed many times on this forum, the 2-piece is a flawed design and it feels brainless to pay that kind of money to someone else to install a flawed design. So I went the route of going with the Tom Woods Ranger 5G 1-piece upgrade that I would install myself. I do have a harmonic vibration between around 65-75mph that I always attributed to my lift/larger wheels & tires and after reading everyone's experience with having a huge reduction in hwy speed vibrations, and improved starts/stops, figured I could benefit from TW design.

Removing the old driveshaft wasn't too difficult, but was definitely the longest part of the process. I generally only use hand tools and tend to avoid powered when it comes to critical components to avoid stripping or over/under tightening, and in this case my hands were definitely tired by the time I removed the last bolt because those suckers are in there tight with previous thread lock.

Before going under the truck with it, I had the TW DS to be what I felt was fully extended with a decent amount of spline showing. I attached the TW DS to the transfer case and then went to lift up the end to the rear axle and was about an inch short. It was at its limit to where I could physically extend it and so in that moment it appeared to me that TW built me a DS that was too short. This was at 9:30 at night and so I was pretty upset at that point having expended all that energy to remove the old shaft and being right at the finish line and unable to mate to the rear axle.

Called TW office first thing in the morning and they double-checked their build measurements against my flange-to-flange measurement of 67.25" and they felt they had built it correctly. Suggested that the slip yoke could be vacuum locked and that is why it could not extend further than it is. Ran to Home Depot to grab some calcium sulfonate grease (thanks to this forum I already knew which kind to grab) and a grease gun to force grease into the slip yoke and hopefully force the vacuumed air out. This ended up working and after applying as much force as I could muster was able to break the lock and fully extend the DS. Installing after this was a breeze.

Test driving on the highway I had about an 80% reduction in the vibrations I was accustomed to at that speed. When I had my new set of tires installed, the tech said he had a hard time perfectly balancing the right rear and so knowing that, can at least attribute that last bit of vibration to that. No delays in starts off the line and it seems to come to a stop more smoothly. Happy so far!

 

[Doc]

My wife took it to Bingo…(4 days a week) …

 

[LaBalbe]

Noticed that the skid plate was hanging low on one side, so got it up on the ramps to have a look. It turns out that at some point, I sheared off the two front bolts holding up the skid plate. Anybody know what size they are, and can I just pick some up from the hardware store or do I need to special order them from somewhere?

Also, any advice on getting out the part of the bolt that's still stuck in there would be appreciated. It appears as if they're sticking out the top end, so I was thinking of going at them with a set of pliers and trying to crank them down enough until I can grip them from the bottom and basically keep doing the same until they come out, but if anyone has a better suggestion, I'm all ears.

 

[dozxab]

Noticed that the skid plate was hanging low on one side, so got it up on the ramps to have a look. It turns out that at some point, I sheared off the two front bolts holding up the skid plate. Anybody know what size they are, and can I just pick some up from the hardware store or do I need to special order them from somewhere?

Also, any advice on getting out the part of the bolt that's still stuck in there would be appreciated. It appears as if they're sticking out the top end, so I was thinking of going at them with a set of pliers and trying to crank them down enough until I can grip them from the bottom and basically keep doing the same until they come out, but if anyone has a better suggest, I'm all ears.

You didn't mention which skid plate but ya, if you can get it moving with pliers or vice grips, go for it. Just remember, you could damage the threads with those tools and may only be able to go up. The other option is an easy out. They should all be the same size screws, pull one out and match it up. My go to for that stuff is Ace Hardware.

 

[LaBalbe]

You didn't mention which skid plate but ya, if you can get it moving with pliers or vice grips, go for it. Just remember, you could damage the threads with those tools and may only be able to go up. The other option is an easy out. They should all be the same size screws, pull one out and match it up. My go to for that stuff is Ace Hardware.

It's the front skid plate, right behind the air dam. Actually, it seems to have gotten caught on the air dam, which is why I noticed it hanging down. Otherwise, once I got it loose of the air dam, it popped right back into place, so I'm not too concerned about losing the plate at this point. The two rear bolts seem to be holding it just fine, so I'm comfortable dealing with this next weekend and just driving the truck normally until then.

Thanks for the suggestion, makes a lot of sense. I'll try going up instead of down.

 

[TxOTRRanger]

It's the front skid plate, right behind the air dam. Actually, it seems to have gotten caught on the air dam, which is why I noticed it hanging down. Otherwise, once I got it loose of the air dam, it popped right back into place, so I'm not too concerned about losing the plate at this point. The two rear bolts seem to be holding it just fine, so I'm comfortable dealing with this next weekend and just driving the truck normally until then.

Thanks for the suggestion, makes a lot of sense. I'll try going up instead of down.

At least you were able to find exactly where the problem was.

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