What did you do to your Ranger today?

[Cmar]

Mine is filthy after 3 months of almost constant rain ( hey who would have thought in alledgedly the driest inhabited continent) we have a dirt drive way that is now seriously in need of filling - actually used the diff lock a couple of times to avoid tearing it up more, a car port that has a 2" lift of dried mud, and a Ranger seriously in need of a good clean inside and out. Will post before and afters once I get my lazy arse out of this chair. You can actually see a little bit of the mud in my maintenance pic from last weekend.

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[Colo_Ranger]

Performed an alignment at home today. I was able to crank up the caster to help the 35s clear the rear of the fender. Then we set camber with the new upper control arms (combo of lower and upper adjustments). Last we fixed the toe and centered the steering wheel.


I did forget to replace the nut on the long bolt that goes through the coil bucket so I will need to do that tomorrow. then I can torque those (which is really just crank them down as much as possible since getting a torque wrench in there is near impossible).

The truck drives great, holds straight really well.

 

[DukeCanBuildit]

Take a guess…

I was originally going to do this over Christmas but you know how it is - stuff gets in the way. They were mighty thin.

If you plan on doing this yourself and you don’t have the brake piston cranking tool, try to find one with a hex end, rather than the T-handle version, shown here.

You will be able to get a wrench on the hex version and your hands will thank you. It took a lot of force to crank the pistons down. I was wearing work gloves and had two shop towels wrapped around that T-handle and it was still digging into my hands because of the force needed. Sore hands aside, the tool performed better than I expected. Especially after seeing videos of bent T-handles and warped backing plates. I didn’t buy an expensive set. I simply picked a cheap one on Amazon ($35 CAD) and hoped for the best.

Orion Motor Tech Brake Caliper Tool Set - 24 pce

USA: https://a.co/d/04Xe9N55. ($25)

CAN: https://a.co/d/01U8Zwfx. ($35)

It even includes 2 steel brake calliper hangers - nice!

Note: Took it for a short test drive after. All works as it should. Gas mileage went way up, oil no longer smells like fuel, there was a wicked increase in horsepower, and the transmission shifts like butta!

 

[IdahoRanger]

Take a guess…

I was originally going to do this over Christmas but you know how it is - stuff gets in the way. They were mighty thin.

If you plan on doing this yourself and you don’t have the brake piston cranking tool, try to find one with a hex end, rather than the T-handle version, shown here.

You will be able to get a wrench on the hex version and your hands will thank you. It took a lot of force to crank the pistons down. I was wearing work gloves and had two shop towels wrapped around that T-handle and it was still digging into my hands because of the force needed. Sore hands aside, the tool performed better than I expected. Especially after seeing videos of bent T-handles and warped backing plates. I didn’t buy an expensive set. I simply picked a cheap one on Amazon ($35 CAD) and hoped for the best.

Orion Motor Tech Brake Caliper Tool Set - 24 pce

USA: https://a.co/d/04Xe9N55. ($25)

CAN: https://a.co/d/01U8Zwfx. ($35)

It even includes 2 steel brake calliper hangers - nice!

Note: Took it for a short test drive after. All works as it should. Gas mileage went way up, oil no longer smells like fuel, there was a wicked increase in horsepower, and the transmission shifts like butta!

Did it help the lean?

 

[Chris M]

Did it help the lean?

I was more curious about the bed height.

 

[DukeCanBuildit]

Did it help the lean?

I was more curious about the bed height.

You two, of all people, know that new brakes fix everything - it’s level, plumb, and, as the old man used to say, flatter than piss on a plate!

 

[Ranger Mel]

You two, of all people, know that new brakes fix everything - it’s level, plumb, and, as the old man used to say, flatter than piss on a plate!

Plus it increases the towing capacity, right??

 

[Chris M]

Plus it increases the towing capacity, right??

Only if he added those Toyota bumpstops.

 

[Ranger Mel]

Only if he added those Toyota bumpstops.

I think that causes under performing drivetrain!

 

[DukeCanBuildit]

Only if he added those Toyota bumpstops.

No, but I did go with some fancy-schmancy rotors.

After 99,000 kms (62,000 miles), the rears were at about 1-2 mm on the inner, 3 mm on the outer and the rotors were a bit rough looking. That pattern was the same on driver and passenger sides of the truck.

The fronts didn’t need to be changed but now they might never be changed again. By me anyway. But, I did have a new set of front and rear rotors, so both had to be done.

 

[Dr_Strangelove]

@DukeCanBuildit - I ordered that Orion toolkit because I can't find one even close to that price without the t-bar on it. I've got to get this job going on my end as well. I s'pose it's sore hands for me.

I saw a pneumatic one for $150 - if I were doing this 10x a day as a tech I'd pick that one up in a heartbeat.

Thanks for the link!

 

[Colo_Ranger]

After installing my new UCAs, I needed a way to secure the ABS line. I designed and printed a screw/zip tie holder.

 

[TxOTRRanger]

After installing my new UCAs, I needed a way to secure the ABS line. I designed and printed a screw/zip tie holder.

High tech ROADKILL engineering lol.

 

[TxOTRRanger]

It is not necessarily what I did to it, but it was raining this morning on the way to work. Nature gave it a Free rinse off.

That's a ROADKILL Win.

 

[LaBalbe]

Washed out the bed, installed the new bed mat, and replaced the boot on my parking brake.

Bed mat was delivered wrapped up in Paw Patrol paper, which confused Thing 2 a bit.

The brake boot was a bit of a PITA, because as soon as I'd get it stretched over one side of the frame (a cheap, plastic piece, BTW) it'd pop up off the other end. Two hands just weren't enough, so I had to recruit Thing 1 to help. They'll be using it now they're learning to drive, so it's only right they get involved in maintaining the truck, too.

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