Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Suspension Travel and Flex Test

Yesterday I decided that, since my suspension is completely stock with no lift and about 29" tires, I should see what the suspension travel is like...basically I was really bored. Here are just some quick pictures I took at a dirt lot behind a park.



This was actually taken on my way out. I figured I'd sport my Ranger-Forums sticker at least once.

These two on the right and bottom were taken when I first got there. I found a little hill/bump and decided to go up it, surprisingly, the little truck made it up no problem despite the back wheels spinning in the dusty dirt.










 These last three pictures on the left and bottom are the best examples of the suspension travel and flex. In all honesty, I'm pretty surprised at what this little Ranger could do for being stock. I think a spindle lift and a rear block is in my future.





Thursday, July 24, 2014

Ford Ranger CB Radio Installation

Before you start, make sure you have all the parts needed. To make it easy for myself I just bought a kit with everything included here. However, I found myself stretching the life out of the 6 ft cable it came with; I would definitely suggest a 9 ft cable especially if you have an extra cab or plan on mounting the antenna on the back bumper.

I first started by drilling the antenna mount to the side of the bed behind the driver's side. (I only used the two top holes)

Don't worry about only using the two top bolts on the mount, it holds fine and trying the tighten the bottom two is more trouble than its worth. Tighten the antenna and connect the cable to antenna. The hole to the left of the mount is a perfect spot to feed the cable because it goes down below the bed and is hidden pretty well.
                                                                               ^
The picture above shows the cable running through the hole down under the bed and under the cab.
Under the cab and on the right side of the driver's seat there is a rubber grommet. This is the best way to feed the cable from under the cab to the inside of your cab.
In order to remove the grommet take off the black, plastic panel with a screw driver like I did above. Be careful, this panel does tend to crack!

I've already taken the grommet out, and you can see where I fed it through. ^

With the 6 ft cable, you'll need to feed it under the carpet, or plastic flooring in my case, if you do this, you'll need to mount the CB next to the stick.

If your like me with the cheap plastic flooring, it's easy just to feed the cable through the top of the flooring.
Drilling your CB next to the stick like I did is a perfect spot, however I'm about 5'11" so if your taller your knee might bump into it every now and then. As for the mic, I just lay it in the cup holder, I don't see the need for extra holes in the dash.

The red and black cables aren't very long, so I drilled a hole next to the gas pedal because my fuse box is in my engine compartment.

These two pictures show where the red and black wires ran out of the fire wall.                                                                                  










I used a little bolt on the inside of the fender as the ground.


After some trial and error, this is the fuse I ended up using. It allows me to turn the CB on and off only when the car is on. This way I know for sure that if I leave it on on accident, it won't drain my battery.

I hope the pictures helped!