Never enough time

[steamin10]

Wednesday: The Radiator arrived about 3:30 PM, and a water pump was sourced, and all delivered to my former garage now operated by Son David. Arriving there I find a project apart that is my Grandsons black Mustang of 03 vintage. A clunking noise in the right front alerted him to problems, and inspection revealed a broken spring rubbing on the shock. Tearing things down proved interesting, and found 7 pieces of spring lodged where it was supposed to be, and finding aftermarket numbers on the odd parts, not factory Ford Black. Using a spring compressor, long bars and young muscle the spring was replaced with a stock new unit. Tearing down the RT side revealed a likewise break, one round down from the top. Our guess is a lowering/handling kit was installed early on, and the parts did not hold up. The change out time was more than 4 hours, fighting the angles of various parts to squeeze the new springs in, and get the tools out. I purchased a set of rubber spring blocks, about $12, to help set the rear up until springs for that end can be purchased. The ride height is of being tail low at this point. We did not know anything was aftermarket, until apart, and then of course, you have to compensate for the changes.

So as usual, I get to wait in line with my handful of parts. The radiator is out, and revealed a blanket of fuzz stuck to the front, the tank is cracked several inches down the side. I am told that I got good service from this, and they break right there, as a common failure. We are stalled at the water pump, as bolts must be worked out slowly, they seem to be stuck, so no rest for the wicked here. Old pump is weeping from the backplate, so it must go. New serp belt and Idler pulley will round out the deal.
I have my Church pantry to clean out today, so the Black Ranger must roll to the fore and get things done.

[steamin10]

Ranger is still down, waiting the sons 'Master touch'. Early afternoon we have attcked the driveway, with the neighbors Ford skidder. It is having trouble breaking through the clay laced fill to get past the fillet of dirt next to the foot thick gravel driveway bed. It is resting with a dead battery right now, so as things go, pretty much at a snails race pace. The goal here will be to spread out three small dump loads of driveway topping and provide a bed for a wider dive by about eight feet. Fill was free, the sweat equity is hard to come by.

One troublesome Ford CL 40 skidder, and a trusty jubalee, we excavated a trench about 5 feet wide and nearly a foot deep, eliminating the fillet along the drive.We are now pushing and chunking the broken asphalt fill into the trench. By eyeball, I have way too much for the hole. No matter, we will shape the remains to edge the current parking drive, and I will roll it in with my vehicles, during the last of the hot weather. The one load of root filled black dirt will shape the berm on the house front terrace slope and disappear. As evening approached, we shut down for meals, and rest, about half done with the rough grading. Laters.

Bolted up the door, on the annex overdoor, so it is more stable now. Next step is to get an operator going on both ends.

[ken572]

Ranger is still down, waiting the sons 'Master touch'. Early afternoon we have attcked the driveway, with the neighbors Ford skidder. It is having trouble breaking through the clay laced fill to get past the fillet of dirt next to the foot thick gravel drive way bed. It is resting with a dead battery right now, so as things go, pretty much at a snails race pace. The gol here will be to spread out three small dump loads of driveway topping and provid a bed for a wider dive by about eight feet. Fill was free, the sweat equity is hard to come by. Laters.

Bolted up the door, on the annex overdoor, so it is more stable now. Next step is to get an operator going on both ends.

Hello Dave

Don't mean to change the subject,
but I thought I would ask..

Being that you have had all these Ford Rangers
thru-out the years of which you must have alot
of faith in, what would you recommend as being
the most reliable year to look for in a used one.

Thanks,
Ken

[Harold_V]

Being that you have had all these Ford Rangers thru-out the years of which you must have alot of faith in, what would you recommend as being
the most reliable year to look for in a used one.

I think I can help with this one. I'd suggest pretty much any year from 1994 on, but make it a Dodge with a Cummins engine.

Harold

[steamin10]

Ha, Cummins forever! No really I got what I got cheep. That is my mantra, it just so happens I find that once in a life deal for myself every so often. The one BAD Ranger we had, was because of previous abuse by a kid, not the machines fault. Recently looked at a 06 Supercab in nice shape for $3500. I like the extra room, and the fancy side doors. At 265k miles, I thought I would pass tho. It is like that.

[ken572]

Ha, Cummins forever! No really I got what I got cheep. That is my mantra, it just so happens I find that once in a life deal for myself every so often. The one BAD Ranger we had, was because of previous abuse by a kid, not the machines fault. Recently looked at a 06 Supercab in nice shape for $3500. I like the extra room, and the fancy side doors. At 265k miles, I thought I would pass tho. It is like that.

Thanks Dave
It never hurts to ask.
Ken.

[steamin10]

With due respect to Cummins, I have a 97 ford dually 4 door, with the Ford badged IH 444E 7.2 Powerjoke turbo diesel. Bought at 225k miles, it had engine problems. It turns out slipping clutches in the transmission sidelined the unit, and I bought it for salvage from the repair shop of about 2700 USD. Then I learned it was a California truck, that had a program chip put in when it came to the Midwet, and the basic engine flaw was valve train wear because of used oil, being added instead of 15 quart oil changes. Short story long we replaced the broken cam roller lifters, two sets of exhaust valves and their trains, and a reground cam. One ring because of an oops, putting the pistons back on new bearings. All injectors pulled and resealed. Total cost of the 'freshen' was about $700 in parts. Once broken in, we did a speed run, on a stretch of 94, and got to where the engine petered out on the tach. Some rpm above the speedo of 95 mph. A pencil calc showed above 122 for top speed. For a 9500 lb dual wheeled long based 4 door, thats respectable. I have big boats, 23ft cuddy , and 32ft tri-axled flatbed, and have hauled 5th wheel stuff with the Reese hitch setup in the bed. Like most things, as age took over, most needs the upkeep and weathering killed to bring things into shape. The last ten years of my working life was at odds with the HR people, for performance, and thats that.

My pride an joy toy has been sitting about 4+ years now, and brake lines need reworked, but the old girl is being taken out of mothballs and readied for the road, as I dump other excess vehicles, including my 94 SHO with the Yamaha Marine built motor. It is an unpopular collectors car that is pretty much a rocket, and can hold its own with Mustangs and Cameros of its ilk. It has the advantage of being a 'sleeper' that looks like a regular Ford Taurus, and does not get followed around town like my 95 Rustang did. (Mustang SHO, that was a rocket also. In sinister Black it was a Police magnet. I loved that car).

Good friend, lifelong actually, had a Dodge he ran camper delivery with, and it had some 400+ miles on his cummins. ( I set my truck up to run the road too, but put a heavy pencil to the money side, and thought better of being away from home all the time). Next door, 72 yr old Jr Ryan has a Dodge that is absolutely falling apart from rust, but the cummins runs and runs. We have pulled the rotten bed off, and have a heavy commercial flatbed ready to go on, when he decides to move on it. ( one tonner, xtend cab, and dually). Thats who is leveling my drive right now with his pokey Cl-40. It is like a slow motion Bobcat, being tired and under powered. But you can move montains with a teaspoon with enough time and effort. Getting it done for low cost is most important. If I pay for a rental, it takes from something else, and I have lots of something elses on my list. So it goes, you trade your labor for $ value. Nothing is free, but cut the free loader and do better. Example: widen driveway because coming roadwork is going to shorten drive by some 20 ft. Bid for 20 ft by 9 foot of fill and stone finish, $1200. Option: friend widens his drive and removes asphalt topping. 3 loads of rock and topping pieces, delivered to my site. Free. One load of topsoil with lots of tree roots (loose). Free. Neighbors skidsteer, 1 qt of oil for Wisconsin engine and 10 gallons fuel. (donation). I am welding up plates on his 6 foot bush hog, and we share some projects. Value: priceless. Wanna friend, be a friend.

Now that the toe is no longer a major issue, I am pushing to get things done. Summer is nearly gone, so guys get on those projects, time is the meter, and master of us all. Never enough time.

[steamin10]

Sunday finds me on the road with mom for a piggy rescue. Eight pigs given up, and a substantial donation to the coffer. After the run in my Black Ranger, (hers is still down) we spotted a nice black X-cab with the clamshell doors on a lot. It appears to be an 06, but is sharp from a distance. 6900 is the asking price. That is tops for that year around here, but then a couple of Benjamins wont make or break the deal. Yesterday in my running, Jr next door did some more pushing of the rubble on the drive and the slabs are locking up and not moving, so a lot of hand pick and toss like Irish confetti is going to happen to finish the close end of the drive/park area. Then will come smoothing the fillet next to the area to soften the dropoff, and overseed the damage for fall. About 3 yards of topsoil and sod is ready to spread, for fill in the front yard.

Just bought a bunch of diesel for my tractor @$2.49, gas hit $3.59 for a few days when BP refinery here in whiting announced an 'outage' that would impact production. Two weeks later we are at $3.19 and falling as summer runs out. So I bought nearly $150 in fuel in one week. Ouch.

[steamin10]

Monday night, and the Rescue Ranger is returned, after some heated temper tantrums in the family for the delay on what was supposed to be a 'simple' job. It has been running with some aggravating coolant leaks for some time now, until the radiator tank cracked and failed, forcing me to sideline the Machine. Sonny jumped at the chance to support this Dad, but that turned into a mystery quest, as the truck had a 2 course radiator, instead of the prescribed 4 row, to support 3.0 and 4.0 cooling. So, the correct 4 row came in, but would not fit the wider fan shroud. This caused some confusion, and parts reading. Finally, the water pump was changed with broken bolts, new serp idler, and belt, new thermostat (gasket leaking) and finally a used radiator from another Ford suv, 4 core that had been taken as parts a year ago, and on the shelf. Because we have broken up at least 3 Ranger based trucks, we have a lot of spare odds and ends. So the new rad is being returned unused. All fluids checked, and a test drive and idle show no flaws, other than a need for an oil change soon. Parts only cost about $90, while returning the $150 new rad unit. So I ducked a bullet there.

Mom is happy she has her private wheels and freedom again, so after the pain and suffering, the next few days will determine if we have all the bugs out. Murphy and his gremlins lurk in the shadows, ya know. So vigilance is key. I hate turning control over to others, but really did not want to tackle this one, and was happy to pass it on.

heat has been hi with hi humidity, so any actual outdoor work has been ignored other than picking up spent grains for the Birds, and taking some appliances to the Re-store, for resale to support Habitat for Humanity. some rather violent showers around 3, cut most anything outdoors, but thats what tomorrow is for.

[spro]

Hi Dave. This heat with humidity has at times beaten me to 3 changes of shirts and cold showers. Other things too but this isn't what I'm ready for now. I used to have a sweat towel but now there is something different with these new "memorial" towels. It is probably a different subject but if you are cool in certain areas, you/I may persevere at longer stretches within these climates.
Edit. These things have been around for a few years but not as 27"x16" size. I didn't even know they were until I heard that Lowes was selling them. Could be the difference between a hot day and a day you can't remember.

[steamin10]

Went to the Doc on Tuesday, and to my surprise he scalpel-ed me again. My toe is now a chronic problem, where I had thought I had it beaten. Other doc called with the last blood tests, to discuss changes in meds. Oh-oh, I feel a disturbance in the force. Not only have I been essentially down for six weeks, my spirits are flagging from the loss of summer accomplishments.

To that end a tracked bobcat has been promised for the weekend, 3rd time now. We shall see if it happens so the drive projects can advance. It is a balmy 70 degrees after yesterdays storms.

I think I will focus on repairing my aging deck a get rid of the 'snake heads' of the ends of popped planks. They curl at the ends, and presents a fair hazard to walking. I have some used planks, that I will cut in and screw down to eliminate the problem. Once done, I will spray some deck preserver and call it good. TTFN

[steamin10]

Thursday, a dead Ash tree between the houses is leaning over farther than before. It has been killed by some kind of boring insects that make holes about an 1/8 inch in the wood, not in the cambium layer. It died last summer and is now a skeleton. The fourth tree contractor showed up around 5 pm, and started whacking the higher limbs from over the house. The tree stretched from one side clear over to t the driveway side, leaning about 15 degrees. It had leaned to be only a foot or so from the roof, and was in danger of toppling on the house with the heavy bias of the head. The bucket truck had about a 30 ft reach, and a small Stihl saw was taking it down piece by piece to about 8 inch diameter stock, and thrown by hand into the cleared driveway. The standing log will be dealt with later, as there is only about 12 feet tween the buildings.

Now Saturday, the track skidder of Mustang make, showed up with a brush bucket, and cleared the cuttings, and rolled another large pile of pulled tree scrubs together for the prohibited burning. After a bucket change, the skidder will flatten and shape my driveway fill Sunday morning, if the predicted storms hold off that long. I hope to use the soft fill, and taper the edges into the low front lawn with the previously stockpiled dirt, about 4 yards worth, to soften the abrupt level change of about a foot.

True to form my Karma has major thorms moving in from the West Sunday morning, that will shut down the workings. So all I can do is cross my fingers I can some work done before the machine has to go back to another job site.