kishy's 1985 Ranger

[gadget73]

the bearings can get crappy in those. I took the one for my S10 apart and re-lubed them. Usually its one of those oil impregnated bushings and eventually the oil dries up. If its well designed there will be a felt packing around it for an oil reserve, and just getting some fresh oil into the bearing and felt will make it go again. Of course the felt turns to dust sometimes and then you're a bit SOL on fixing it.

[DerekTheGreat]

A bad blower motor put that much of a load on the alternator to cause the belt to squeal? Huh... Also, the behavior of your blower is exactly what Ashley's does on her Mark VII. 4 hour job so no thanks. In the summer, the A/C must keep it cool enough as I've never noticed a reduction in air velocity.

Yeah, that's why playing with open diff cars in the snow sucks, they're unpredictable..

[gadget73]

fan is probably not bad on the Mark VII but it may have stuff in it. You can open the cover up to clean it relatively easily, getting the motor itself out, F that. Whatever asshole designed that should be sentenced to changing them for eternity.

[DerekTheGreat]

Oh, worth a peek I suppose. Sure hope it's not the motor haha.

[kishy]

Any surprises found in the hamster wheel?

Nope. Pieces of leaves, but I knew there would be, because it spits out leaf pieces periodically. There are more hiding somewhere because I can hear them rustling around with the fan on, but it's not really that much of a priority. My allergies would appreciate me getting them out but I'm also not going to stupid lengths to take it apart either.

OTOH I think there's a heater core access door of some kind in this...never paid much attention, but pretty sure the dash doesn't have to come out to get in there.

the bearings can get crappy in those. I took the one for my S10 apart and re-lubed them. Usually its one of those oil impregnated bushings and eventually the oil dries up. If its well designed there will be a felt packing around it for an oil reserve, and just getting some fresh oil into the bearing and felt will make it go again. Of course the felt turns to dust sometimes and then you're a bit SOL on fixing it.

I would assume that once it starts acting and sounding like mine did, there's no value in trying to take it apart and re-lube things? It's not like an alternator where one can very easily and readily locate rebuild bearings from a number of sources.

A bad blower motor put that much of a load on the alternator to cause the belt to squeal? Huh... Also, the behavior of your blower is exactly what Ashley's does on her Mark VII. 4 hour job so no thanks. In the summer, the A/C must keep it cool enough as I've never noticed a reduction in air velocity.

Yeah, that's why playing with open diff cars in the snow sucks, they're unpredictable..

Well, it's a 40 amp 1G, so...

My open diff Panthers are perfectly fine in the snow, they'll break both sides more or less in harmony when I'm trying to get them to break free. It's not an open diff problem, it's more likely got something to do with the reasonably grippy snow tires.

[DerekTheGreat]

Oh, it's an open diff prob. Your wide doughnuts remind me of what it was like trying to get my Ranger to do similar things. Always worked better with weight in the back, probably "tricks" the diff easier. My '85 Panther sucked too. What worked reliably was to try and get the wheels to break free with minimal effort from the engine and then let 'er have it. Alternating between turning left and right helped too. Have you tried doing doughnuts with a car that has a functioning posi? Night and day difference, lemmie tell ya. Predictable. Look on FB for the doughnut video of my Firebird, that was fun, but on pavement.

Edit: Wait, it wouldn't break the tires on snow?? That poor, weezer of an engine..

[BigMerc96]

My Town Car does amazing donuts in the snow with its 3.08 open diff and torquey NPI. Had a co-worker with a 4cyl Ranger that had a functional posi in it (probably the only part of its drivetrain and worked as intended) that was trying to do donuts in the parking lot at work after we closed one night. He just could not get that truck to spin. It'd break the tires loose no problem but it'd just understeer when trying to get it to spin. So I showed him how it was done with some proper Panther donuts. Afterwards he looks annoyed and goes "you're burning oil". lol.

[kishy]

My Town Car does amazing donuts in the snow with its 3.08 open diff and torquey NPI. Had a co-worker with a 4cyl Ranger that had a functional posi in it (probably the only part of its drivetrain and worked as intended) that was trying to do donuts in the parking lot at work after we closed one night. He just could not get that truck to spin. It'd break the tires loose no problem but it'd just understeer when trying to get it to spin. So I showed him how it was done with some proper Panther donuts. Afterwards he looks annoyed and goes "you're burning oil". lol.

That's exactly what mine does. Understeers very annoyingly. The camber of the outside tire in the turn goes too far positive (as a product of the caster?) and it starts acting more like a ski, but sideways.

Since the Panthers will break the rear loose right around 2k, you don't have to rev a lot to have fun. The Ranger's sweet spot is around 3k, but the steering angle to get the intended result is pretty specific. Has to be turned enough to encourage both rears to spin, but can't be turned too far or the skiing understeer happens.

[DerekTheGreat]

That's weird. If I had to make an "emergency" turn around in my '11 Colorado, I'd always pop the clutch and hook the wheel hard to the left. Worked like a charm with it's G80 Gov-bomb. "One Owner." "Never abused."

Guess your front tires need to have traction in order for it to work well too. With my Ranger I used second gear..

[gadget73]

Nope. Pieces of leaves, but I knew there would be, because it spits out leaf pieces periodically. There are more hiding somewhere because I can hear them rustling around with the fan on, but it's not really that much of a priority. My allergies would appreciate me getting them out but I'm also not going to stupid lengths to take it apart either.


I would assume that once it starts acting and sounding like mine did, there's no value in trying to take it apart and re-lube things? It's not like an alternator where one can very easily and readily locate rebuild bearings from a number of sources.
.

compressed air and a shop vac through the hole gets a lot of it out. Air to break it loose, vacuum to suck up the bits that come free. Not 100% perfect but its about all you can really do without tearing into things to a stupid level.

Oiling the motor may or may not work. I tend to take things apart to see how they fail and if they are fixable even if I do end up pitching it afterward. I've gotten a lot of mostly seized motors to run again as long as they were not left powered while stuck. That makes the windings fry and then its over.

Crap donuts is partly a wheelbase vs track width thing. My S10 does about a 180 then just kinda moves sideways. open rear, tires with no grip, and way more than enough power to break them loose. That thing will light a one-tire fire like nobody's business if I were so inclined. Might spin a little better with a posi but it no has. The Mark VII when it had an open rear would do donuts but it also got stuck super easy. Still gets stuck even with limited slip, but thats the shit tires on it mostly.

Limited slip is a bit of a double edged sword in the snow. Its more inclined to spin out, but less inclined to get stuck. The S10 will get stuck if it sneezes snow, same with the Mark VII, especially when it was open. The Towncar will go through damn near anything and its extremely easy to control as long as you put a little thought into what you do. It did that even when the limited slip was so toast it wouldn't break both tires free on a sheet of ice. It got stuck a lot easier then though. Panthers really just have good weight balance and handling characteristics for snow driving. I don't drive mine in the snow anymore but if I had a beater Panther I wouldn't hesitate to go out. I'm not scared shitless like everyone else around here who thinks you need a lifted 4x4 to get your bread and milk with an inch of snow on the ground.

[DerekTheGreat]

Try and control a power slide with an open and then try it with a limited slip. Night and day & the limited slip produces reliable results.

Ashley's Town Car never got stuck with her snow tires. My car saw maybe two light snows with posi & same snow tires. It was retired shortly after that. Posi + snow tires is a damn good combination and like you said, 4x4 isn't necessary in most situations.

[GM_Guy]

On the topic of quiet exhaust and stainless construction, has anyone had experience with the Walker Stainless Steel Quiet Flow, or had their hands on one for a close look? Seems promising if you want the loudness of most stainless aftermarket mufflers.

As for Magnaflows, they are not a muffler, save your money and use a straight pipe. Was not impressed at all with the magnaflows I had on my truck (true dual, 2.5", aftermarket cammed sbc350). Ended up with aluminized turbo mufflers to quiet that beast down to an acceptable roar. But being a year round vehicle, a lot of those mufflers rotted away.

[sly]

Magnaflows on my cars have been great. Thrush welded would be more economical though. You definitely don't get Magnaflows for a quiet ride. They're made to be straight through with minimal muffling. Nice thing is they're stainless.

[kishy]

Have a call in to a local transmission shop to try to source the extension housing bushing for the manual trans (Toyo Kogyo TK5). Apparently, there is a bushing which supports/centres the output yoke (or the output shaft, I'm not sure which) and that would be the source of my wiggly output yoke and therefore the reason why the seal replacement never cured the loss of my precious MT-90 gear oil. The new seal has pretty low km on it so I'm hoping there's a way to do this without destroying it, that seal has become harder to source since I bought it way-back-when.

Edit: or maybe not. The exact SKF part I bought has doubled in price but can still be sourced. SKF 13759 crosses to Ford E5TZ-7052B. Searching for the Ford number shows me some new old stock ones out there, and also Timken 2655. The stock image for the Timken part on RockAuto is totally the wrong part, but Summit shows 2655 as being what looks like the right part...except it lists it for various automatics. I don't doubt there could be overlap but the application info for the Timken doesn't make me think it'll fit the Toyo Kogyo trans...

Rear main oil loss is getting crazy. Visible marks underneath it after being parked less than 5 minutes. Might have to do that on my off time for the holidays.

I'm giving some thought to trying to find a limited slip rear end for this truck. The whole deal, housing and all. Options are limited for donor vehicles, to minimize modifications it would have to come from a Ranger and I think it would have to come from prior to 90ish due to a change in the diff flange (as I have no interest in changing driveshafts). Alternatively, find a limited slip 7.5 in a car (Mustang?) and disassemble, then teach self how to set up gears.

[DerekTheGreat]

Well, at least with a diff swap you could get better gears. What's it got now, gear wise?