Back to the 2020 FX4 Salvage Rebuild

[XionUAV]

My Eibach have me at 3/8 low on the drivers side. Your rear height might be different as well. I put tremor springs in mine and I am low in the back drivers side as well.

I take it the Tremor springs are multi-leaf? Looked into multi-leaf springs before installing the shackle lift with the stock mono-leaf. Occasionally I tow a tandem-axle trailer with a side-by-side, but only once or sometimes twice a month when the weather's decent. Up to now it's been with my gas Touareg, which hauls it pretty well. Decided to leave the springs stock...for now.

Here's a non-Ranger leaf spring story for you. Years ago a couple of my boys drove 1996 and 1998 Ford Explorer Sports. Manuals, of course. All my children had to learn how to drive manuals. I was working on one of them and needed to get it inspected and emissioned for registration in Utah. The State has since done away with inspections, which honestly I'm not sure was a good idea because a lot of drivers have no clue what's going on with their tie rods, ball joints, brakes, exhaust, etc.

Anyway, I took it to a local service shop and the tech failed it because he said it looked like the rear block under the mono-leaf was made from several cut up leaf springs. I told him that was the way it came from the factory. He didn't believe me.

Went to the local Ford dealer so they could bring it up in their parts diagrams or service manuals and I would have proof. They didn't have a clue. Ended up going to a couple of salvage yards to take pictures of the springs from other Explorer Sports to show this twit tech mechanic that the stacked pieces were in fact from the factory. He finally relented and passed the vehicle.

They gave me uninformed grief about another vehicle I took there one time. Strike two and you're out. Not surprisingly the shop went out of business a year or so later. Apparently other customers were also done dealing with their BS.

And with that, the shop I took the Ranger to for emissions and inspection has been great. I've taken my somewhat ratty 1994 F250 460 farm truck there as well with no issues whatsoever. Because the Ranger has a salvage title, it has to be inspected by a State licensed tech before it can be registered. Everything passed except the spiderweb windshield and hammered wipers, which was expected. It's getting the windshield replaced as we speak so by tomorrow it should be good for registration.

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[SDXLT]

They are multi-leaf but barely. It’s 3 leafs with a helper. I had the BDS kit as well but the tremor leaf’s added almost an inch when installed and I was worried if I did the BDS it would be too high and I would have to do a diff drop. I like my warranty so opted not to do all that.

I got failed for a ball joint one time years ago in VT. I was registering it from out of state so didn’t have an option and the guy knew it. Ball joint was fine but couldn’t really argue.

 

[XionUAV]

Warranty... That would be nice.

The automotive glass shop I've been going to for years that has always done excellent work did a sloppy job on the Ranger. It's cursed, or I'm cursed. Either way.

Didn't notice the problem until standing in front of it tonight. The top of the windshield on the passenger side is close to correct with the windshield edge just barely above the roof line, but the driver side is sunken down below the roof line almost a quarter inch.

Taking it back in tomorrow morning to schedule another time to have them remove the windshield and reinstall it properly with a request to have their "experienced" people work on it this time. It also looks like there's a lot of space under the top edge of the windshield for water to pool. Can't see the bead at all. Have to do something about that if they don't get the bead closer to the edge.

The lack of quality labor associated with this thing, except for what I've done personally, just keeps coming back to bite me.

 

[Chris M]

Warranty... That would be nice.

The automotive glass shop I've been going to for years that has always done excellent work did a sloppy job on the Ranger. It's cursed, or I'm cursed. Either way.

Didn't notice the problem until standing in front of it tonight. The top of the windshield on the passenger side is close to correct with the windshield edge just barely above the roof line, but the driver side is sunken down below the roof line almost a quarter inch.

Taking it back in tomorrow morning to schedule another time to have them remove the windshield and reinstall it properly with a request to have their "experienced" people work on it this time. It also looks like there's a lot of space under the top edge of the windshield for water to pool. Can't see the bead at all. Have to do something about that if they don't get the bead closer to the edge.

The lack of quality labor associated with this thing, except for what I've done personally, just keeps coming back to bite me.

Is that an OEM "Ranger" branded windshield (center bottom edge) or something else? Maybe the glass itself isn't quite square? Or maybe because of all the body work and flexing your windows opening isn't square?

 

[got3fords]

For what it's worth in your troubleshooting; I personally never launch the Android Auto app on my phone. I plug my phone in - I actually am running the Dock Tailors phone dock (site vendor,) for about a year now and just drop my phone in and the unit does the rest for me.

Oh man than looks sweet! Damn you!

 

[got3fords]

If you want to add wireless AA, there are a number of aftermarket adapters available. I use the AAwireless Android Auto wireless adapter in both my 2021 Ranger and my wife's 2022 Toyota Rav4 Hybrid Limited. This one is the original. Others are cheaper, or offer multiple phone support and other advanced features, but I've stuck with this one because it just works.

After having wireless connection in my loaner Bronco, and my wife's Edge, I realize how handy it is. Just ordered the AAWireless on Amazon.

 

[got3fords]

After having wireless connection in my loaner Bronco, and my wife's Edge, I realize how handy it is. Just ordered the AAWireless on Amazon.

And then I felt guilty, so I went to the Red Cross website and donated to hurricane Helene relief. Boy, some people have it really bad right now.

 

[TJC]

Folks are going to be starving soon if FEMA or the Fed Gov doesn't step it up. 1,000 still unaccounted for.

 

[XionUAV]

Is that an OEM "Ranger" branded windshield (center bottom edge) or something else? Maybe the glass itself isn't quite square? Or maybe because of all the body work and flexing your windows opening isn't square?

Yes it has the Ranger logo at the bottom.

Chances of the glass not being correctly manufactured are extremely slim, and chances of the cab frame somehow being tweaked are zero. Something like that would be completely obvious in other misalignments,

The old glass was set perfectly. I went back and looked at pictures just to verify. The original impact damage was only to the front left corner and did not extend past the front frame rail mount. Airbags did not deploy. The last competent body and frame shop inspected the entire vehicle after they fixed the other body shop's poor work on the front frame rail and said everything was good.

Whoever installed the glass just didn't do it properly. When a new windshield is installed, the old polyurethane is removed and the frame cleaned (at least it's supposed to be), a new bead is made around the frame, is allowed to setup for a short period then the new windshield is set in place and pressed into position with tape applied mainly to help keep the glass from sliding while the poly cures. This one appears to have been pushed down into the frame too far on the driver side.

Inexperienced unsupervised new tech, experienced tech having a bad day, in a hurry and being sloppy, whatever. Don't do a job right the first time, end up doing it again. Or in my case, redo half the work myself or find more professional professionals. This glass shop had always done good work for me in the past though so this sloppy Ranger install is an anomaly.

THIRTY MINUTES LATER: But now that I've been thinking about it, a simple installation error that pronounced seems unlikely. There has to be something else going on. It's for good reason I nicknamed this truck "Whitemare."

 

[XionUAV]

After having wireless connection in my loaner Bronco, and my wife's Edge, I realize how handy it is. Just ordered the AAWireless on Amazon.

That looks like a nice little unit. In my case I like to charge the phone while driving because I listen to audio books so the phone is plugged in anyway. Still would be convenient otherwise.

 

[got3fords]

That looks like a nice little unit. In my case I like to charge the phone while driving because I listen to audio books so the phone is plugged in anyway. Still would be convenient otherwise.

I thought about that, I figured I can just plug it in, in the rare case I need to charge.

 

[XionUAV]

The glass shop was super nice and said that yes the top driver side of the windshield sunken down in the frame about a quarter inch compared to the passenger side wasn't right. While they couldn't explain why it was like that, they agreed it needed to be corrected and will schedule a redo next week after the polyurethane dries completely. They mentioned getting another windshield on hand just in case they do find there is something off with the one they installed.

 

[Cabose-1]

Glad they are making the windshield install correct. Quality labor is a super rare commodity now a days with any industry. Just dont make workers like they used too.

 

[rang19ca]

It is sad that you, as the customer, can't trust the labor quality in so many jobs today.

 

[XionUAV]

Glad they are making the windshield install correct. Quality labor is a super rare commodity now a days with any industry. Just dont make workers like they used too.

It is sad that you, as the customer, can't trust the labor quality in so many jobs today.

I'm going to give the guys at this shop the benefit of the doubt on this one. They normally do good work otherwise. It will go back in for the redo sometime the week of October 14th.

In the meantime got a couple more cans of Tuff Stuff upholstery cleaner and will go to town on the seats. They're pretty nasty.

Alignment is scheduled for Friday. Place called Fat Bob's Garage. They specialize in 4X4 and off-road builds.

Got the skid plate on. That's the last major body piece. Still have small stuff to do, like install mud guards. And get it registered. Guess that's kind of a big thing.

I'll run some cleaner through the next couple of tanks of fuel just for good measure.

Time to clean up my side of the garage so the Touareg can live there again. It got kicked out when the Ranger came home in early spring. It's been the staging area for the past half year.

Every time I look at a picture of the thing from the front it reminds me of puffy smiling Botox lips. It's just happy to be here.

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