Ranger rear end swap from hell

[SousaKerry 503]

Well the weather man said it was to be sunny and 55 this past weekend here in Michigan so I planned to finally tackle the rear end swap on my 95 Ford Ranger.  Picked one up from a U-Pull junk yard about a month ago.

 

Get the back end of the truck up in air and the jack handle binds up so I can't release it.  So I set my jack stands and get a wrench.  Bust it loose and the truck drops violently onto the stands about 3 inches....  Boom, the rear shackles snap and the back axle falls to the ground, fortunately the wheels are still on.  Get the jack fixed, jack the axle back up put it on another set of stands while I get everything disconnected.  Pull the old axle out, and go to pull the springs, notice that the Previous owner had replaced the front spring hangers..  Pull whats left of the rear shackles and yup the rear shackle brackets are toast too.   Get out the grinder as the dang things are riveted on.  Did I mention I am doing this in my driveway.   

 

Much hammering and grinding later end of day one, have one shackle hanger in place and it's 7:30 at night and I am sore as hell.....

 

To be continued...

 

 

It gets worse

Edited April 1, 2013 by Sousakerry2

[kaiser 100]

i helped a buddy fix this a few years back. those trucks rust out bad.

his shackles broke, shock went through the bed, and the frame was close to rusting through. we welded up new parts for the frame and replaced most everything back there, even found a nice bed at the local junk yard.

[groundhog47 347]

That happened to me on the front end without tires, got in hurry and took wheels off b4 jack stand and BAM, jack slipped ou ran through fan, just missed trans cooling lines, tore up shroud (repaired, new fan, red face), next time had stands, before lowered to them jack slipped and down he goes, no damage. Thank goodness neither of us were hurt and my oil pan and your gas tank didn't get punctured.  

[Don1977 604]

Don't you just love salt on the roads. My daughter had our Ford Explorer in Illinois for 3 years and then up state New York for 2 years. I got it back the frame was bright red with rust washed it down and sprayed the under side with kerosine  that helped it doesn't look and worse then when I got it back and it been 5 years.

[SousaKerry 503]

Day two,  Raining decide to go back to bed and wait it out, get out side around 11:30.  Previous day had the O'lady take the springs to work(Sears Auto) to have the bushings pressed outta the springs go to put the new ones in and beat them like hell to get em in on the first, then on the second one I discover that when they pressed the old ones out it left the rusted fused outer jacket behind....  So I remove the remains with a chisel and whala the new ones slide right in.   Go get brake lines get home wrong size.. Back to the auto parts store.  

 

Get the axle back under everything mounted up more hammering and sore arms.  Realize about 4:30 I haven't eaten since about 8:00 and I'm starting to get the shakes.   Get food, more beating and cussing broken bolts and stripped nuts..

 

Put brakes back together first side takes 1-1/2 hours to figure out , second side takes 10 minutes    

 

Go to put drums on and find out that at some point between 1995 and 2000 Ford decided to increase the size of the center hub by about 1/8 inch so the drums won't fit.  At this point it is 7:00 on Easter Sunday and everyone is closed.   So clean up go inside and eat Easter dinner around 8:00 PM and collapse onto the Lazy boy.

 

Wake up this morning gotta go to work so have the 17 year old stepson take off the drums and him and his mom take the drums back to Advance Auto.  They get home and put new, new drums on and wheels, then I get a call at work...

 

Wheel is wobbling and making a grinding noise :banghead:

 

Long story short one of my rims is bent spare is on and Tracey made it to work.

 

Now I'm wondering if anything was actually wrong with the rear end and the bent rim was causing all the problems

[Iggy68 28]

Happy Easter weekend! Sounds like a long aggravating weekend. Sorry things didn't go better.

[squonk 43,606]

And people wonder why I don't work on cars anymore! Fords are known for bad axles and rotted shackles. They had an optional axle which is probably why your drums didn't fit. Wait until you have to remove the gas tank on that beast!

Edited April 1, 2013 by squonk

[kaiser 100]

those gas tank straps are a lot of fun aren't they? lol

[SousaKerry 503]

The step son has a 95 Buick Skylark that has only had one strap on the tank for at least 3 years...  Ain't fallen off yet.

[KC9KAS 4,744]

Well, you are probably done by now, but be careful working under your truck!

[roscoemi 245]

Sorry buddy, but laughed like hell reading this. I went thru a similar experience replacing the rear on my truck last summer. Sent the boy to town with the old wheel cylinder and brake line and he came back with metric.  Parts guy didn't know the difference, but did after I took them back. Back together and the line to the rear busted next to the gas tank, so back to town I go. Replumbed from the abs unit back solved that problem.

[Coadster32 793]

Had the bed off my 94 ranger a few years back..brake line let go, and was easier to take the bed off. While I was in there, the rear shackle was just about rusted off. Replaced them, and spray painted the frame, bed bottom etc. Looking at it now, you can't even tell I did anything,  It's all rusted out again. That road gel is killing everything. Dam it!!

[Ken B 3,189]

Great story, been there MANY times!

 

I can remember back about 8 yrs. ago I was the lead man on the snow crew at the local mall. I also took care of all of the snow clearing equipment. One of the vehicles was a 96 Ford F-250. Not a bad truck and keep in mind at that time it wasn't very old. I DREADED having to ever work on that truck. On the inside and outside it was MINT. Under the truck, ferget about it! I can remember when the starter decided to take a dump during a MAJOR snow storm. I SWEAR, all I did was look at the starter bolts and they both snapped! Talk about a nightmare gettin them damn things outta there. My brother who worked at the Ford dealer at the time told me the starter bolts snappin when guys simply looked at them is common! Funny how the older Chevy plow trucks in our fleet weren't rusted at all underneath? Not knocking Fords, that F-250 worked its butt off and very rarely broke. Matter of fact it is still part of the snow fleet at the mall. (Though quite a bit rustier)

 

Chris you are spot on with that road gel. Its bad nasty stuff.

[6wheeler 669]

I am with Mike on this. People wonder why I hung up my wrenches. Oh, the stories I could tell and the scars I could show. Well, now that it is like a new truck? It should all be good right?       Good Luck

[welderman85 53]

i did the rear shackles and hangers on my 95 ranger last summer it was not a fun job

[squonk 43,606]

Rule of thumb. When a brake line blows do them all. Even if the car/truck/toilet is going to the auction. There will be a couple of Gibroneies there that will put 2 feet on the brake pedal testing the brakes when they look at it. They will pop your brake lines, it won't sell and then you have to get it back home with no brakes.

Edited April 3, 2013 by squonk

[can whlvr 994]

sounds like a bad way to spend a weekend,fords are known to be rust buckets,you would think that ford would have treated these areas better,but my chev has its problems with things rusting too

[SousaKerry 503]

Finally was able to take the truck to work this morning.  Man it rides like a new truck, of coarse it should the whole back end is new now

 

Oh yeah also the wheels wouldn't fit do to the hub size change so two hardened die washers on each lug stud fixed that right up.  Have to keep my eyes opes for a new set of wheels now.