There's a HENRY in The Shed .......................... !!!!!!!

Drover

Drover

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The bracket is in the mail, well I have a tracking number but nothing else, so yesterday arvo I fit what I can and trim the skirt to get ready, well I get a good look at what the missing bracket will look like, a bit of bench work, 20 mins later I have a bracket made, so finish the whole thing.. When the proper one turns up I'll check which one is best but for now I'm happy.. The Ranger is set up, for now, something else is bound to get me inspired but later on ....

Went a nudge bar to scare off the Bump Park idiots at Woolies, place crawling with doderers, a nice ECB bull bar is just a lot of $$$$, don't do night or sunrise driving so Skippy not a problem and locally its horses so a bull bar make no difference .........

IMG_20251203_161456.jpg............... PS: not crooked, I wasn't square on when I took the pic.. I checked as a bit OCD with that stuff...
 
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Drover

Drover

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Here I was thinking either the smart battery BS had been shut down or they dropped the stupid idea with this model............ WRONG, its been showing 14 on my monitor because the battery, original, was knackered, 2 jump starts so a new one was quickly fitted, thankgoodness for these month long Black Friday sales, now the voltmeter will drop down to 12.5 until I burn some power, bugga, I Iike to park up with a fully charged battery not a 75% job ..... all for some dumb idea of saving some HP, idiotic.
 
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Drover

Drover

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I sold my boat to cover things, the Jeeps turbo had a fault which only showed itself when towing, 30kms and into limp mode, the fix after much testing which ended up being nearly a grand was a new turbo, easy enough job except you had to pull the motor out, so $2K for turbo but at 10 years old, 160K km so while pulling the motor out may as well replace all those things that are hard to get at, mounts, oil cooler, hoses so not much change out of $10,000 we worked out, labour being the killer then what would be next ????? so goodbye Jeep .... The Ford fitted the specs, basic model, no Tow Bar, a virtual clean skin with only a hard lid, CB and roof rails , so No Towing, minimal annoying bells and whistles, an easy decision really ............... The painfull part is looking at the list and tallying up what Ive spent on it but did it all in one hit instead of drib and drabs, mind you I did it all myself be double the price if it was workshopped... so that keeps me sane(ish)..................
 
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Drover

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The Tow Test has started, 350kms completed on a 30-33c day and I'm glad I removed the Thermo valve in the Tranny, the tranny temp before was throwing 100-120c on a 28c day now its in the 97-101c on a bluddy stinker of a day, far better temps, be interesting to see what it does on a cooler day.. Pretty sure I will add a set of coolers when we return and make it fully air cooled .... Miss the amazing grunt of the 3lt V6 and 8 speed box of the Jeep but this Ranger is nice to tow with .......
 
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Drover

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1400 kms covered and I would hate to see what the Transmission temps would have been in the 36c days when I was towing if I hadn't done the by pass modification,coolant got to 102c and tranny to 107c on one long drag and that was working gears and revs, nothing wrong with cooling system asit all dropped back to under 100c quickly but easy to see why some boxes cook .............. today was only in the low 20's so temps sitting down at mid 90's so much happier.... Fuel burn comparable to the Jeep and while I do miss the mighty V6 and 8 speeder on hills, I actually have to work and I can't drag past slow jobs now uphill, but its a very comfortable tow horse .............................. when I get home I will improve things so the temps should stay in a nice spot. .
 
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Drover

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Well the 3800km test run completed, nice fuel economy, ran well though I will need to upgrade the rear springs in due course ............. While in Canberra we did some Boxing Day special shopping at Kings, 110w fixed panel $49, 30lt drawer fridge $200 ?, gave it a mock up test and went really well and now that I'm home and its all fitted properly, used my old GEL battery from van that was okay and coupled with the ProStar controller with the panel on the roof racks its working way better than I expected ..... turn it on and in about 30 mins its down to 3c, even quicker if the panel is in the sun, once its at temp I can leave it in garage running all night and power draw is bugga all, so Im very happy.................. Its main job is for transporting stuff from ALDI 60kms away when we go for a restock instead of chilly bags with ice blocks..

Son had a 100a slim lithium and in a moment of stupidity I said Nah, I haven't got anything to charge it, what a numbskul, I should have just bought a Dc/DC or something, lifting the damn GEL onto the tail gate near killed me then I had to lift it up under the hard lid into it's box.... Stupid old person.....


IMG_20260110_163641.jpg
 
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DRW

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Drover said:
Well the 3800km test run completed, nice fuel economy, ran well though I will need to upgrade the rear springs in due course ............. While in Canberra we did some Boxing Day special shopping at Kings, 110w fixed panel $49, 30lt drawer fridge $200 ?, gave it a mock up test and went really well and now that I'm home and its all fitted properly, used my old GEL battery from van that was okay and coupled with the ProStar controller with the panel on the roof racks its working way better than I expected ..... turn it on and in about 30 mins its down to 3c, even quicker if the panel is in the sun, once its at temp I can leave it in garage running all night and power draw is bugga all, so Im very happy.................. Its main job is for transporting stuff from ALDI 60kms away when we go for a restock instead of chilly bags with ice blocks..

Son had a 100a slim lithium and in a moment of stupidity I said Nah, I haven't got anything to charge it, what a numbskul, I should have just bought a Dc/DC or something, lifting the damn GEL onto the tail gate near killed me then I had to lift it up under the hard lid into it's box.... Stupid old person.....


View attachment 70169
Click to expand...
I’m glad it’s working for you Ian, but it’s still not a Jeep sadly
 
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Hitting the road

Hitting the road

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Drover said:
Well the 3800km test run completed, nice fuel economy, ran well though I will need to upgrade the rear springs in due course ............. While in Canberra we did some Boxing Day special shopping at Kings, 110w fixed panel $49, 30lt drawer fridge $200 ?, gave it a mock up test and went really well and now that I'm home and its all fitted properly, used my old GEL battery from van that was okay and coupled with the ProStar controller with the panel on the roof racks its working way better than I expected ..... turn it on and in about 30 mins its down to 3c, even quicker if the panel is in the sun, once its at temp I can leave it in garage running all night and power draw is bugga all, so Im very happy.................. Its main job is for transporting stuff from ALDI 60kms away when we go for a restock instead of chilly bags with ice blocks..

Son had a 100a slim lithium and in a moment of stupidity I said Nah, I haven't got anything to charge it, what a numbskul, I should have just bought a Dc/DC or something, lifting the damn GEL onto the tail gate near killed me then I had to lift it up under the hard lid into it's box.... Stupid old person.....


View attachment 70169
Click to expand...

Mate has one of those Kings drawer type fridges in the back of his FJ Cruiser...had it for at least 4 years and hasn't given him a drama and works very well...
 
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Drover

Drover

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DRW said:
I’m glad it’s working for you Ian, but it’s still not a Jeep sadly
Click to expand...

Dave, I do miss the Jeep the get up and go, the brilliant gear box and some of the bling I fear to say but in all honesty I do prefer the Ranger for towing, it may be a bit of a slug but easier to pack and actually see out of and is roomier I think but the seats, even just dumb handraulic jobs are way better than the park benches in the WK2, always wanted to rip them out and retro fit some from a WG, far more comfortable ...... Difference between German design and Italian I suppose ................................
The By Pass in the tranny does a good job at keeping ATF temps in a better area and soon I will fit a twin ATF cooler and get rid of the Heat exchanger for it, then tranny temps will be in a happier place all the time....... Not happy with ATF temps being in the high 90's or over 100 at all ...

Jeep for the town car or solo touring, it would be good for that as the Turbo wouldn't play up then...
 
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Hitting the road

Hitting the road

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Drover said:
Dave, I do miss the Jeep the get up and go, the brilliant gear box and some of the bling I fear to say but in all honesty I do prefer the Ranger for towing, it may be a bit of a slug but easier to pack and actually see out of and is roomier I think but the seats, even just dumb handraulic jobs are way better than the park benches in the WK2, always wanted to rip them out and retro fit some from a WG, far more comfortable ...... Difference between German design and Italian I suppose ................................
The By Pass in the tranny does a good job at keeping ATF temps in a better area and soon I will fit a twin ATF cooler and get rid of the Heat exchanger for it, then tranny temps will be in a happier place all the time....... Not happy with ATF temps being in the high 90's or over 100 at all ...

Jeep for the town car or solo touring, it would be good for that as the Turbo wouldn't play up then...
Click to expand...
I was reading a blog the other day, a fellow was having dramas with his Jeep going in to limp mode when towing, took it to a Dealer and they allegedly diagnosed a turbo actuator issue, they did an ECU update which apparently is supposed to fix the limp mode problem to do with the actuator?
This bloke was going to see if it fixes the problem when he next hooks his van on...be interesting if there is a follow up and whether or not the Dealer update sorted it out...
 
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