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  #181  
Old 06-18-2017, 09:03 PM
Jimmyspy Jimmyspy is offline
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Well, I've put 1500 miles on the truck since the last round of work. Everything seems to be holding up well. Ride quality has definitely improved with the coilovers. However, they've also made it apparent how limited my current setup is in the rear. Bumps that the front end soaks up without issue will make the ass end of the truck jump. Part of this is probably just the nature of a light weight, short wheel base vehicle, but I don't think the shackles, lift blocks, shitty super lift shocks and expo leafs are helping things any. Also, the rear axel not being centered in wheel wells is getting rather old (causes a bit of rubbing when the rear axle articulates). So, I've started looking into quality shocks and actual lift springs. But it's just window shopping for now, as I'm not gonna pull the trigger on anything until after the semester is over. I don't have the time to work on it right now anyway. Haha

On a more interesting note, I took the truck to an offroad park this weekend with a local 4x4 club. (For those in the SE Michigan/ NW Ohio region, we went to Bundy Hill in Jerome Michigan) I ran with the "beginner/novice" group as it was my first time to the park and my first time in the dirt with the coilovers. The truck performed flawlessly, making the hour and a half drive up there, wheeling all day, and making it back home without a hiccup. I was the only non-jeeper there, but the truck had no problem keeping up with the stock/mildly built rigs. I did make liberal use of the front skid plate (ground clearance between the front tires might be a little lacking. Haha). Also don't have anywhere near the amount of articulation that the SFA jeeps have, but that's just the nature of the SLA suspension.

I need to get better about taking pictures while doing truck things. Wheeled all day and only took like 3 pictures.
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  #182  
Old 06-20-2017, 07:09 PM
ILivermore43 ILivermore43 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimmyspy View Post
Well, I've put 1500 miles on the truck since the last round of work. Everything seems to be holding up well. Ride quality has definitely improved with the coilovers. However, they've also made it apparent how limited my current setup is in the rear. Bumps that the front end soaks up without issue will make the ass end of the truck jump. Part of this is probably just the nature of a light weight, short wheel base vehicle, but I don't think the shackles, lift blocks, shitty super lift shocks and expo leafs are helping things any. Also, the rear axel not being centered in wheel wells is getting rather old (causes a bit of rubbing when the rear axle articulates). So, I've started looking into quality shocks and actual lift springs. But it's just window shopping for now, as I'm not gonna pull the trigger on anything until after the semester is over. I don't have the time to work on it right now anyway. Haha

On a more interesting note, I took the truck to an offroad park this weekend with a local 4x4 club. (For those in the SE Michigan/ NW Ohio region, we went to Bundy Hill in Jerome Michigan) I ran with the "beginner/novice" group as it was my first time to the park and my first time in the dirt with the coilovers. The truck performed flawlessly, making the hour and a half drive up there, wheeling all day, and making it back home without a hiccup. I was the only non-jeeper there, but the truck had no problem keeping up with the stock/mildly built rigs. I did make liberal use of the front skid plate (ground clearance between the front tires might be a little lacking. Haha). Also don't have anywhere near the amount of articulation that the SFA jeeps have, but that's just the nature of the SLA suspension.

I need to get better about taking pictures while doing truck things. Wheeled all day and only took like 3 pictures.
I have the same issue with the back haha
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  #183  
Old 06-21-2017, 09:35 AM
Jimmyspy Jimmyspy is offline
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I have the same issue with the back haha
Hey, I was actually just reading through your thread on shocks. Haha. I'm thinking about going to the FR36s leaf springs with the Bilstien 5125s. Not sure what I'll do for bump stops yet. I'm hoping quality shocks and getting rid of the half assed rear lift will settle the back end down a little.
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2002 Ford Ranger XLT 4x4, ext. cab, 4.0L v6
Superlifted
33x12.5 Duratracs

1995 Ford Ranger STX 4x4 ext. cab 4.0l v6 SOLD
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  #184  
Old 06-21-2017, 09:37 AM
ILivermore43 ILivermore43 is offline
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Default Re: jimmyspy's '02 4x4

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimmyspy View Post
Hey, I was actually just reading through your thread on shocks. Haha. I'm thinking about going to the FR36s leaf springs with the Bilstien 5125s. Not sure what I'll do for bump stops yet. I'm hoping quality shocks and getting rid of the half assed rear lift will settle the back end down a little.
I think my main issue is the superlift shocks

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  #185  
Old 06-21-2017, 08:25 PM
Jimmyspy Jimmyspy is offline
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Originally Posted by ILivermore43 View Post
I think my main issue is the superlift shocks Sent from my SM-G935P using Tapatalk

I'm sure they're not helping matters. Haha.
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Superlifted
33x12.5 Duratracs

1995 Ford Ranger STX 4x4 ext. cab 4.0l v6 SOLD
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  #186  
Old 08-13-2017, 05:16 PM
Jimmyspy Jimmyspy is offline
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Default jimmyspy's '02 4x4

Not a huge update mod-wise, but I have been racking up the miles on the old girl. Drove her back down to Cincinnati for the last few weeks of the semester, as I had to haul a mattress home. Since I had the truck down there anyway, my roommate and I made a trip over to Vinton County Ohio to play on their unmaintained county/township roads. (For anybody in southern Ohio/northern Kentucky, Vinton county has some awesome scenery and miles of unmaintained public roads.) We didn't get too adventurous, as we didn't have another vehicle with us and I needed the ranger to make it back to Cincinnati and then back to Toledo. But, it was still a good time.


These first few were on one of the Forrest service roads in Tar hollow state park that makes up part of the Buckeye trail.






These were on Macedonia church road. I had heard this was an interesting road to run as there it took you past an abandoned church out in the woods. The church was kind of a let down, but the road/trail was fun, albeit short.





Inside of the church. It had been remodeled at some point in its life, which was kind of a let down.



Next we ran township road 3. The trail started out pretty tame, but got pretty technical about 1.5 miles in (long washed out hill climb with 3 decent sized rock ledges/steps). By this time it had started raining pretty hard and the creek bed that the trail had been weaving in and out of started to fill with run off, and I didn't really want to attempt the hill climb in the rain, so we figured we better turn around and head back to the paved road. I made time for a photo op on the way out.







From township road 3, we headed south a ways to stone quarry road. Like the name implies, the road ran next to an abandoned quarry. We spent the rest of the day playing around there and exploring the power line access roads that spurred off from stone quarry road.





An old bridge we stumbled across. Was about as sketchy as it looks. There was a noticeable sag in it when we walked across.






The power company was in the middle of replacing a number of poles on one of the lines running through the area. We came around a corner on one of the access roads and were face to face with this. Not exactly what I expected to see that far out in the woods.





As we were leaving stone quarry, the sun was going down. So I stopped and got a little artsy with the iPhone camera.















After that we started heading back to Cincinnati, stopping in mcArthur for dinner and a couple beers.










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2002 Ford Ranger XLT 4x4, ext. cab, 4.0L v6
Superlifted
33x12.5 Duratracs

1995 Ford Ranger STX 4x4 ext. cab 4.0l v6 SOLD

Last edited by Jimmyspy; 08-13-2017 at 07:31 PM.
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  #187  
Old 08-13-2017, 05:42 PM
Jimmyspy Jimmyspy is offline
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Default jimmyspy's '02 4x4

(Continuation of previous post).

The truck did great on the Vinton County trip and on the trek from Cincinnati back to Toledo. Ended up putting almost 700 miles on her in a little under 3 weeks. Which is way more than what she's used to.

This past week, I went on another run with a local 4x4 club (Glass City Crawlers, for those in southeast Michigan/northwest Ohio). We went back up to Bundy Hill in Jerome, Michigan. We had a much smaller group this time, so we all ran together instead of breaking up by skill/build level. The truck surpassed all of my expectations (and the expectations of all the jeepers). She had no problem keeping up, and walked through most of the obstacles with ease. I did add a few battle scars to the paint, and tore up a bedside with the passenger rear tire (it might be time to figure out some bump stops), but it was a good day with no real damage.

Here are some pics from various points throughout the day. I didn't do the best job taking pictures, and actually had to steal some of these from the clubs Facebook page.













The yota ran out of travel













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----------

(Continuation of the continuation)

And to bring everything up to date, I picked up a transfer case skid and a gas tank skid.



When I was up at Bundy, I drug the frame cresting a few of the hills, so I thought it was about time to get a tcase skid.

I found both the tcase and gas tank skids at a local junkyard. Ended up giving 40 bucks for the pair, which I was ok with, as the guy pulled them for me. They came off of a 3rd gen (1997) so I'm thinking they're gonna take a little work to get them to fit, but it shouldn't be too bad.


Also, I see photobucket went and fucked up all the images in the last few pages. I'll try and go back and fix those with tapatalk. If I can remember what went where.

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2002 Ford Ranger XLT 4x4, ext. cab, 4.0L v6
Superlifted
33x12.5 Duratracs

1995 Ford Ranger STX 4x4 ext. cab 4.0l v6 SOLD

Last edited by Jimmyspy; 08-13-2017 at 06:23 PM.
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  #188  
Old 08-18-2017, 08:45 PM
camodown camodown is offline
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Default Re: jimmyspy's '02 4x4

Nice pics.
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  #189  
Old 08-20-2017, 09:55 AM
Jimmyspy Jimmyspy is offline
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Nice pics.
Thanks!
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Superlifted
33x12.5 Duratracs

1995 Ford Ranger STX 4x4 ext. cab 4.0l v6 SOLD
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  #190  
Old 09-11-2017, 06:49 PM
Jimmyspy Jimmyspy is offline
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Default Re: jimmyspy's '02 4x4

Finally got around to taking care of some maintenance over the weekend.
Started off with getting an alignment and having the tires rotated and balanced (I was missing weights on at least two of them).

Then I took care of the front pinion seal leak. Pinion Nut was a PITA to get off, but the rest of it went fairly well.








While I was under there I noticed the drivers side upstream O2 sensor had backed out. Put some anti-seized on it and tightened it back down.




Finished up the day by going back over all the coilover and lift kit hardware to make sure everything was still tight (yes, I should've done this awhile ago. Haha). Found out 2 of the 3 bolts on the front diff bracket were loose. Might explain the "clunk" I've been getting in 4wd.




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2002 Ford Ranger XLT 4x4, ext. cab, 4.0L v6
Superlifted
33x12.5 Duratracs

1995 Ford Ranger STX 4x4 ext. cab 4.0l v6 SOLD
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  #191  
Old 09-24-2017, 04:38 PM
Jimmyspy Jimmyspy is offline
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Default Re: jimmyspy's '02 4x4

Took the truck back up to bundy hill today. This was my third trip up there, so I got a little more ballsy with the obstacles I was attempting. Truck kept up with my ego for the most part. There was one point where I got a little too off camber and the truck went to sleep. But after getting dragged backwards, she fired back up and didn't skip a beat.

Here's some random pics of the truck and the other rigs I that were there.




































Also had some parts show up the other day.



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2002 Ford Ranger XLT 4x4, ext. cab, 4.0L v6
Superlifted
33x12.5 Duratracs

1995 Ford Ranger STX 4x4 ext. cab 4.0l v6 SOLD
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  #192  
Old 10-20-2017, 05:20 PM
Jimmyspy Jimmyspy is offline
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Haven’t done anything to the truck since my last post, other than clean the dust out of it.

I did pick up a new welder. (This ties in with the parts in my last picture)



Also had some new shocks show up today. Went with bilstein 5125s.




I know, pretty exciting stuff. Hoping to start working on a few projects soon.


Also hoping to get the truck back out in the dirt this weekend, so badass off road pics to follow. Haha.


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2002 Ford Ranger XLT 4x4, ext. cab, 4.0L v6
Superlifted
33x12.5 Duratracs

1995 Ford Ranger STX 4x4 ext. cab 4.0l v6 SOLD
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  #193  
Old 10-22-2017, 07:14 PM
Jimmyspy Jimmyspy is offline
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Default Re: jimmyspy's '02 4x4

The afore mentioned badass pics:

































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2002 Ford Ranger XLT 4x4, ext. cab, 4.0L v6
Superlifted
33x12.5 Duratracs

1995 Ford Ranger STX 4x4 ext. cab 4.0l v6 SOLD
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  #194  
Old 12-11-2017, 09:34 AM
Jimmyspy Jimmyspy is offline
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Default Re: jimmyspy's '02 4x4

Took a break from bumper building ( BTW, I’m attempting to build a rear bumper/tire carrier for the truck haha) and went wheeling over the weekend. We went to Southington Offroad Park in Garretsville, Oh. As usual, I️ was the only ranger in the group. Here’s some photos. Some are mine, some were stolen from the club’s FB page, so they’re kinda out of order.
























Leaf spring doesn’t look happy. On the bright side, the tire hits the bedside before the shock bottoms out. Haha
























See that rock behind my rear tire? Yea, we high-centered on that. Beached like a whale. Thank god for skid plates.



Stuck on said rock.









This might be my current favorite truck picture






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2002 Ford Ranger XLT 4x4, ext. cab, 4.0L v6
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1995 Ford Ranger STX 4x4 ext. cab 4.0l v6 SOLD
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  #195  
Old 12-11-2017, 12:22 PM
camodown camodown is offline
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Default Re: jimmyspy's '02 4x4

Good stuff. Looks like fun
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