1969 Ranger - Project Glory Days!

[tylerb43]

Okay, I’ve decided it’s time to start my rebuild thread, share my scope of work for the project, and hopefully get some help and advice along the way. I’ve done the planning, the dreaming…screw it, I’m diving in!

Stats: 1969 Ranger F100 2wd, 390, C6, Power Steering, Dealer installed A/C (didn’t work- uninstalled), Non-power drums all around. 9” NL rear w/3.25s.

Background: I bought this truck in 1993 when I had just turned 16. It was my first truck, and I immediately fell in love with it. Been a huge bump fan ever since. It was originally black with a red interior. I had plans to “make it mine” and sanded my fingerprints off for what seemed like months saving the money to buy the paint supplies. My brother (in school for auto body at the time) painted it in my Mom’s garage. And honestly for the conditions, it ended up (and has held up) pretty well.

I drove it all through High School and some College, hence the “Glory Days” reference.

Fast forward to October, 1996, I decided to drive it to College on a very cold morning to show some friends, hit black ice on a bridge and kissed the guard rail pretty hard. I swapped the parts and half-ass fixed the damage, but the plates expired, life moved on, and it never saw the road again. It was entombed in a shed on my parents farm under a tarp….waiting for “some” day.

Now, 14 years later, it’s time to get the beast back on the road! The original scope was to “just” fix what’s broke and get it back on the road. But upon an in-depth inspection of the condition, I found that there’s a little more rust than I remember. Sound familiar to anyone? I thought, well, I’m still going to push forward knowing that I’d be forced to make some tough decisions on the fly and try my best to pull the reins on the voice that would be screaming at me the entire time to do a full frame-off. I can’t direct that much money and time to it! (that’s what I’ll be constantly telling myself)

So screw it, let’s tear this thing apart and see what happens. Reckless? Maybe. Regretful? No way, this is going to be fun!

How she looked back in the day.. (circa 1995)

Saturday morning, 11-20-10










The initial teardown is happening at my Parent's farm in my Dad's shop. It will eventually move to my shop in pieces as I have less room. Stay tuned!!

[tylerb43]

Started the teardown by myself. It's amazing how fast these trucks come apart, there's really not much complexity to them, just another reason they're awesome I guess. The existing 390/C6 will be replaced by another 390/C6 combo out of a parts truck I bought recently. As you can see, the radiator support and inner fenders are totally shot. I've bought replacements from a supplier in Riverside, CA. They came off trucks from the High Desert and have zero rust.









Stripped the interior and found the crued patch panels I welded in all those years ago. Wow, what was I thinking? Oh well, they did the job I guess.


Dad's idea to move the bed back up to the shed and out of the way, worked great of course. That's just a bail spike with a 8' pipe over it. My brother Jerod supervising the move...


Moved it outside and ready to pull the engine/trans as one unit.


More to come...

[tylerb43]

I didn't get any pictures of us pulling the engine and transmission just because I was busy holding on to it and preparing a place to put the thing. Once we did get it out of the way, the whole area had the normal thick coating of 40+ years of oil, grease and dirt. My hot pressure washer made quick work of that, and then I pushed it back in the shop to get the wheels rolling a little better. (the front drums were pretty frozen up)



After the wash: (Sunday, 11-21-10)


Then came the task of getting it loaded on my trailer. I tied the tractor loader to the rear crossmember with about 12" of slack. Then I pushed it up the ramps with my Mom steering. Worked out pretty well actually.



Here's the engine/trans that will go in the truck after a steam bath of it's own. It's heads are "Ford Remanufactured" (still have the sticker on the rear) around 20k? miles ago. I was advised to go ahead and do a little tear down while it's out and install new gaskets: Head, Intake, Valve Cover, Oil pan. Is that what you guys would do?



Or maybe I should ask that in the Engine forum...

So that's how far I've gotten so far, it's at the frame shop right now getting checked out/straightened to spec.

Any input so far would be greatly appreciated!

[basketcase0302]

tyler,

Nice to see another "Ford Family" (even the tractor right)?! Love the color of your truck, (wish I coulda' found a blue one). A lot of progress on your build. What tranny is that going back into the truck?

[tylerb43]

Hey basketcase, The C6 Cruise-O-Matic shown above is going in the truck. It came out of a '69 F100 I bought for parts. Here it is being pulled. I'm not really sure about the history of the transmission, should I hope for the best and install it, or have it rebuilt?

BTW: I'll also be taking the brake booster from the white truck.



And yes, it's pretty much a Ford family. That's a 5600, there's also a 4000 on the farm, and the big tractors are all IH.

[FormerMarine1981]

Good luck on your build, looks like you're off to a good start. As for refreshing the engine and transmission there is no time to do it like now while it is already out and easily accessible. I would do whatever my bank account would allow me to do to them before they get stabbed back into the truck. Just my

[FordTruck]

Truck looks MEAN!! What color blue is that I'm thinking about repainting my highboy blue someday and Ford and IH tractors that's a good combination!!

[tylerb43]

Hey FordTruck, thanks for the compliment. That blue is called Bahama Blue Metallic if I remember correctly.

[67mann]

looks like your all set up to "get-r-done" looks like a great truck to start as for-mentioned whatever your pockets will cover--your motor and tranny are out---no time like the present. Are you gonna do(or need to do)any work on the body? total tear down--paint the frame,undercoat cab/box,upgrades/mods of any sorts?

[tylerb43]

looks like your all set up to "get-r-done" looks like a great truck to start as for-mentioned whatever your pockets will cover--your motor and tranny are out---no time like the present. Are you gonna do(or need to do)any work on the body? total tear down--paint the frame,undercoat cab/box,upgrades/mods of any sorts?

Hey man, thanks for the comment! Well, as I mentioned before, when I decided to dive in, the scope of effort was to fix just the basics to make it safe and reliable, and put it back together. I have since found that the bottom of the cab needs some pretty serious attention. It need cab mounts, cab supports and a few patches. I intend to do all that in my shop, although I've never tackled cab mounts or anything that serious before.

So I'm gonna need some help from you guys on that! -Like how in the hell do you locate the new cab mount correctly? Looks to me like there's all kinds of room for error, is there a secret?

My existing cab mounts have been "fixed" by the PO back in the 80's by simply welding 1/8" plate over them, boxing them in. I guess it worked, but I need to cut all that crap out of the way, and I don't trust any of those existing points of reference.

As for the chassis, I plan to lightly sandblast it all, paint it with Eastwood's Rust Encapsulator, and then top coat with Chassis Black. The front suspension will be replaced with a power disc brake suspension from a '73 F100 donor my brother has.

Here is a shot of the DS mount right now:

[tylerb43]

So here's the '73 Ranger XLT that will be givin' up the goods for a greater cause. It has power discs on the front. My Dad and I pulled it into his shop and removed the front suspension, etc. for the transplant into my '69.





I took the drag link assembly, question - do I or don't I need the pitman arm from the '73 PS box? (my '69 has PS also)

Also grabbed the proportion valve and electrical connector with a pigtail. I got the brackets off the frame too for the brake hoses.



And then we put it back where it was! Think my brother will notice?

[Hemmi06]

Nah he won't notice. Pile some brush around the front end. A year from now ask him what happened to the front end!!!!

[1971ford]

Inform your brother that someone stole his front end, then proceed to show him your new front end

[67mann]

Hey man, thanks for the comment! Well, as I mentioned before, when I decided to dive in, the scope of effort was to fix just the basics to make it safe and reliable, and put it back together. I have since found that the bottom of the cab needs some pretty serious attention. It need cab mounts, cab supports and a few patches. I intend to do all that in my shop, although I've never tackled cab mounts or anything that serious before.

So I'm gonna need some help from you guys on that! -Like how in the hell do you locate the new cab mount correctly? Looks to me like there's all kinds of room for error, is there a secret?

]

http://www.fordification.com/forum/view ... t+location

this should help ya get set up to fix your cab mounts And as far as your pitman arm--read this & possibly the power steering section
http://www.fordification.com/tech/discbrakes01.htm

[tylerb43]

67mann, Thank you very much for the links! I've searched several times for the cab mount stuff, but somehow I've never seen that thread, so thanks. I've read that PS article before, but I didn't remember the pitman arm stuff being so detailed in there, that's awesome. I think I'll just grab the arm and the box next time I'm out at the farm where the donor truck is.

Well, I finally got the truck to my shop (my new detached garage at my house) and started working on it. I removed the doors - found some old paystubs of mine from Walmart in 1995! Geez, I worked for peanuts back then! I got the cab loose from the mounts, removed the steering column, and then called my brother to help me roll the cab onto it's back so I could get a better look at the rusted carnage that awaited my attention underneath. I laid a sheet of plywood down on the frame and then a piece of 2" rigid foam to hopefully protect the paint and the back glass. After we rolled it back, it was actually more stable than I thought it was going to be, and ready for me to start cutting on.

And HOLY CRAP, this thing has some rust downstairs. Remember, I've never done any repairs like this before. The more I started poking, prying, cutting.. I'm starting to get a little overwhelmed with this thing. What if I bit off too much? Should I have just taken this to someone to have it done?

Pictures from my phone-
Finally at home it my shop:



A look underneath at the cab support and rear inner cab corner...oh man, that's pretty bad, right?



The cab rolled on it's back. At this point now, and I'm getting that sinking, "oh crap" feeling.