View single post by Jimmyspy

Posted: Sun Oct 28th, 2018 11:20 pm

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Jimmyspy
Shadetree Mechanic

Joined: Fri Oct 27th, 2017

Location: Toledo, Ohio USA

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Ok, so its been a busy couple of weeks(ends) for the ranger. Last weekend I met up with Jim Oaks (owner of TRS) and some other ranger and Bronco II owners at Ford's Dearborn facility. Jim was invited to Fords employee "demo day" thing for the new ranger, and put together an impromptu RBV meet up. While I was wandering around talking to the other ranger nerds, I met a couple of fellow offroaders from the SW michigan area (I found out that two of which are actually in the same 4wd club that I'm in). Turned out, there were making a trip to Roxks and Valleys Offroad Park in central Michigan the next (this) weekend. So of course, I had to jump on the chance to wheel with a bunch of Fords!

A couple pics from the meet and greet

So fast-forward to today, and the danger ranger and I made the 2 hr one way trip to Rocks and valleys. We had a great mix of vehicles; Bronco IIs, Jeeps, a one ton swapped s10, and some guy in a ranger.

We hit the trails around 10:30, after getting everybody unloaded and aired down.

This picture is pretty cool. This picture is also sideways. I don't know why.

The park isn't very big as far as acreage goes, but the trails are laid out very well. They wind and weave in and out of the woods and really keep you on your toes. The long wheel based ranger made a lot of 3+ point turns, but we didn't kiss any trees.

So while the ranger was perched up on the big wall/dirt pile thingy, I was walking around taking pictures and waiting for people to line up for a group photo, at which point I heard "Hey, the rangers leaking something..... a lot of something". Never the words you want to hear when you happen to drive a ranger.... lol The "something" was tranny fluid and the "a lot" was 2+ quarts. A little earlier in the day I took a bad line on a steep down hill and lawn darted the truck into some rocks. Didn't think anything of it at the time, but turns out I managed to crush a transmission cooler line, which then began to leak. Thankfully, it was right where the hard line meets the soft line, so I was able to cut off +/- 3" of hard line and put the soft line back on (and take a trans fluid bath in the process -__-). It was a fairly minor incident that could've been much worse, but I was still checking the transmission fluid every time we stopped haha

Please excuse the upside-down photo

If you look closely in this pic, you can see me giving an emergency transmission fluid transfusion...

This tank started life as a 2wd s10. Its now sitting on one ton axles, leaf springs, and 40" swampers

This is Giligan, a d44 swapped BII powered by a 5.0L V8

sideways Giligan....

Another BII sporting a 6" James Duff lift and a D35 TTB

Jeep doing jeep stuff

Other random pictures

This was at the end of the day. I was busy airing up and didn't get the group photo memo

All in all, it was a great day in the woods (even if it did piss rain all day haha). It was really cool to wheel with a bunch of Ford for a change! Now I've got a transmission line to replace... and I need to figure out which CV axle is clicking and binding haha

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2002 XLT 4x4, 4.0l V6, Silver Frost Metalic, Superlifted and stuff