Late 90s Ford trucks/w4d owners/really all shade tree mechanics

@RiotDemon doesn’t look that bad in either. This has basically lost the rocker panels. when I bought it previous owner ducktaped them over. But I knew I bought into a rusty old 22 year truck/people carrier. Unbolting some stuff is basically a shower of rust and cursing.

Sorry about you dad. At least horses don’t rust. And that’s a good looking horse. There is something satisfying about throwing yourself into a rust bucket. Till there’s not cause they wear you out. That one day of hah I beat you truck

@unksol the truck was in great shape in the first photo. That was way back in 2001. The second photo it was still pretty good, just starting to lose some clear coat and I had some issues with electrical and the ac. It really went poopoo after that second photo… Mostly when my ex had it.

I was told to avoid rust buckets. I had an 82(?) Toyota GT briefly before I got the ranger. It was full of rust. I was in a car accident that totalled my first truck. GMC Sonoma. The GT was just to hold me over for a bit. The insurance was ridiculous because it was a two door, red, and a GT. They didn’t care that it couldn’t go that fast anymore.

/image 82 Toyota GT red sedan

Wrong color, but looks about right.

@RiotDemon common sense is avoid the rust. But all up north. They salt the roads. It’s going to happen. For a lightly rusted used car you have to go south then bring it back. Better be a steal to plan on buying it. Take a one way flight. Finally seeing it. Then drive it home

Or your heavy into restoration and just after the body.

I’m not into classic car restoring just shade tree mechanic work. Although I do like those shows where they save a classic from the junk yard.

@RiotDemon I had a 2000 Ranger, manual transmission of course.

Fun vehicle to drive… Probably most fun “car” I’ve had. I didn’t need a truck and only ended up getting it because I got a fantastic deal on it… Really glad I did though.

I sold it just before I became a father. Figured needed second row of seats.

As it turned out, when we had the kid if I was watching him, I’d just use my wife’s car, the car seat never budged… We just swapped cars depending on who had the kid

… no need to have sold my ranger, I could have kept my poor Ranger a few years longer.

I’m excited to see Ford have a new small pickup coming out in a few years… I was disappointed that the new Ranger was so big. I have no use for a big truck. Small vehicles are more fun to drive. No idea if the upcoming Ford Maverick will have manual transmission… If it does, I know what my next vehicle will be.

@PooltoyWolf Video bonus:

@PooltoyWolf I did not recognize it. Google lens figured it out though. Any significance? (Without spoiling for anyone else that wants to recognize it.)

@PooltoyWolf did they forget to put suspension in that thing? Looked fun!

@RiotDemon The location is home to one of the largest remaining turn-of-the-century state hospitals in the country, and is ripe for urban exploration. Check my other YouTube videos if you wanna see! As for the suspension, I’m not sure, but holy shit that thing was bouncy LOL!

@PooltoyWolf I love urbex! I’ll have to check them out later, I should be sleeping.

@RiotDemon I think you’ll enjoy them. Sweet dreams haha

@PooltoyWolf lol when I started typing in was mainly thinking that series of ford f150s/expeditions/explorers/broncos that have so many parts (and issues) in common. Then well 4wD. Then let’s go all in. In did my first rear diff fluid change a few weeks ago. That is one purdy truck. They don’t make them like that no more.

@unksol My buddy is its 3rd owner and it has spent its entire life since new on Long Island!

@blaineg I don’t like rust I’m just not a new car kind of person/prefer to do my own work/spend money elsewhere. Ford made some bad decisions in those series. After what it took to get the trailing arms off I might revaluate that position. Might be getting to old for this shit.

@unksol
Those bolts look dry. Did you use a penetrating oil or something? PB Blaster is good for tough bolts. I think it’s essentially a mix of transmission and lighter fluids.
Also, drum brakes - ugh.
/giphy drum brakes ugh

@eonfifty lmao. I used PB. Liquid wrench for days. Hit them with a hammer. Used an impact. Heated them. Put the nut back on and tightened it. Getting the nut off was not an issue. Those came off asap. Getting the bolt out of the sleeve was the issue. And there is no way for PB to get in there without threads to follow although I damn sure tried. And yes I went at them with a sledgehammer. They were not moving. You could not knock them out. Had it in stands for like two weeks and kept spraying them.

The problem was the bolts were completely seized to the sleeves in the bushings. I’ve seen it before but never this bad. I got a single one out by cutting the head off and pulling it with the nut and the flex in my breaker bar with the pipe on was a little scarey. And I was so happy. That I didn’t have to cut that last one off.

As far as the brakes the expedition has rear disk brakes but has drums for the parking break. It’s a hat in drum deal. But when I bought it it could not shift into park. I fixed that asap but in the meantime tried to use the parking break. It seized and one side basically disintegrated. Pads gone. Hardware gone. Shoes ended up on top of each other… Trashed the back plate.

The 97-98 expeditions had a different bolt size for the trailing arms. Those had to go you can see the one basically rusted through. So the replacement parts say they are compatible but that’s cause ford changed it at the factory. So you have to drill out the frame to fit. First year problems… To have access to drill it out you need to remove the back brake plate. To remove that you have to open the rear diff and pull the axel. But… I wasn’t sure what this had been through and wanted to change all the fluids anyway. And the only way to change the fluid is to pry off the rear diff cover. Cause ford hates drain plugs. So. Since one side was completely shredded and I planned to open the rear diff and only want to do it once. I just replaced all the brake hardware while I was at it. With plenty of greese and antiseeze where needed. Wasn’t that bad to get the new ones in. The old disc pads has plenty of wear left but since I was fixing the parking breaks and one side had trashed the inside of the drum/rotor I replaced them and I always do new pads with new rotors. Just cause I don’t want the old pads to have a defect and screw up the brand new rotor.

Since you asked lol

@eonfifty @unksol Oustanding! That’s one of the best of those videos I’ve seen. The window dive was perfect.

@smartshopper2 yea yea fix or repair daily. If there had been a dirt cheap Chevy or GM instead I would have taken that. But trucks seem to last pretty well in general. I still want to get a replacement engine for the Saturn. I had not driven an automatic for 16 years except for work. And even then it’s been 7 years. I prefer stick. And getting 40 mpg instead of 14. But I found I would like something to tow shit and it can basically fit a 4x8 sheet of plywood anyway. I mean I fit a ton of 2x4s in the Saturn but people have me a lot of looks in the parking lot lol.

Yes my baby can handle this.

@smartshopper2 Or with a Buick.

@caffeine_dude Just as long as it is a Dodge.

@unksol Good luck with this!

@smartshopper2 Ford is still the #1 truck sold in the US:
Most-popular trucks (2019)
Ford F-Series – 214,611
Ram Pickup – 120,026
Chevrolet Silverado – 114,313
Toyota Tacoma – 58,183
GMC Sierra – 40,547
Chevrolet Colorado – 33,494
Toyota Tundra – 25,100
Nissan Frontier – 20,221
Nissan Titan – 9,683
Ford Ranger – 9,421

Most-popular trucks (2018)
Ford F-Series – 909,330
Chevrolet Silverado – 585,582
Ram Pickup – 536,980
Toyota Tacoma – 245,659
GMC Sierra – 219,554
Chevrolet Colorado – 134,842
Toyota Tundra – 118,258
Nissan Frontier – 79,646
Nissan Titan – 50,459
GMC Canyon – 33,493

https://thenewswheel.com/ford-2019-sales-results-united-states/#:~:text=With full-year sales of,the 43rd consecutive year.&text=Ford sold 241%2C388 Escape SUVs,down 11.3 percent from 2018.

FWIW- We have 2 Hondas, and a 2001 F350- It’s rusty, but still kicking ass at hauling and plowing…

@smartshopper2 I once transplanted a GM 350 V8 into a '69 Mustang. Interesting project, but once I got the major parts working and driving, interfacing all the little fiddly-bits got to be a PITA (for example, I never did the the Ford speedometer hooked up to the GM transmission). Quite the conversation piece, though. I finally sold it to some fool even wackier than me.

@rahulsaha hi rediculous fake user who doesn’t speak English or even read the topic. Please go away

@rahulsaha @unksol Terrible spammer, where’s the clickbait link?

@rahulsaha Yeah, those darn kids not letting you have them long enough to take a picture.

I know when I have kids I’m like “Ok say cheese” and when I look up they’ve gone to university.

Just let me take one picture before you grow up and go away to uni.

@cranky1950 But I can fix mechanical…A rust bucket is just a total loss…