Time for a much over due update. In the past couple months, I finished up the rear bumper, replaced the power steering pump/rack, and went on another four wheeling trip to Wellsville OH.
First things first: the bumper.
Looks like I left off just after getting the shackle tabs and mounts welded in. Here it is with the light holes boxed.
Next came the receiver tube and the safety chain holes.
The flat plate meeting the rolled edge of the 2x6 tube posed a bit of a challenge. Ended up laying several heavy beads in the “valley” and ground them smooth. Was super time consuming, but I like the way it turned out.
The final piece of the puzzle was the tire carrier itself. This part actually went the fastest/smoothest. I just kind of winged it, and it came out pretty much like I wanted. I got a little bit of warp in the main piece of tube (got it too hot), but it’s not that noticeable, and doesn’t effect the function.
For paint, I went with rustoleum spray on bedliner as a base coat and VHT chassis and roll bar paint as a top coat.
A couple weekends after finishing the bumper, I tackled replacing the power steering rack and pump. If you’ve never had the pleasure of replacing the power steering rack in a torsion bar ranger, I wouldn’t recommend it. The rack is encased in the front crossmember, and is really fun to wrestle loose when you’re laying on your back covered in power steering fluid. Lol.
Also replaced an outer tie rod end, passenger wheel bearing, both rear shocks, and the rear diff cover. No pictures of the other stuff, but here’s the Solid diff cover and the Bilstein shocks.
On to the fun stuff! Went to Wellsville Ohio two weeks ago with the Glass City Crawlers. As usual, I was driving the only non-jeep. This probably the most technical wheeling I’ve done with the ranger, but she did very well. Even surprised many of the jeeple. Haha
Group photo
Looking down a large hill we had to descend
Some of the other rigs in the group
Ranger and water falls
Ranger in creek beds
Ranger getting flexy
Another group photo in front of the giant PBR can
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