1993 Ford Ranger with bad freeze plugs

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wxo
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Location: Raleigh, NC

1993 Ford Ranger with bad freeze plugs

Post by wxo »

This Ranger belongs to the son of Maverick's and my friend Jim Hall. Today we drove to Greenville, NC to retrieve the Ranger. It will go under the wrench soon.
1993 Ranger freeze plugs.jpg
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Basement Paul
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Location: In the dirt.

Re: 1993 Ford Ranger with bad freeze plugs

Post by Basement Paul »

I'm in awe as to the cleanliness of that Ranger. There is NOTHING around here that looks that good.

Good luck.

-BP
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Fred32v
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Joined: Thu Jul 21, 2005 10:31 am
Location: Munson, OH. retired

Re: 1993 Ford Ranger with bad freeze plugs

Post by Fred32v »

I had a few Rangers, great little fun trucks and we have a few stories about them also.
BP found this beauty for me, my Dad came with me to look it over.
BP found this beauty for me, my Dad came with me to look it over.
Have fun!
Fred32v
GMC Canyon Crew Cab Short Box 4x4 V6!
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GMJohnny
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Re: 1993 Ford Ranger with bad freeze plugs

Post by GMJohnny »

Nothing beats towing a Ranger to go get some funnel cakes!

GM
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wxo
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Re: 1993 Ford Ranger with bad freeze plugs

Post by wxo »

Actually we passed up the Funnel Cakes to get some Smithfields Chicken and good ol' North Carolina barbeque. Yum yum. :D
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wxo
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Re: 1993 Ford Ranger with bad freeze plugs

Post by wxo »

This from Jim Hall:
Jim was able to remove the damaged freeze plugs this morning. In fact Jim had already removed the really bad, rear one before I got to his house. Both of us beat and prodded the front one near the motor mount until Jim was finally able to knock it loose with a hammer and screwdriver. We then cleaned the ports on the block with emery cloth and then began the real challenge. We both pounded and pounded the new brass freeze plugs but could not get them to submit. They were not going into those holes.

Jim recommended that we take another look at adjustable rubber freeze plugs and we took a break to do some internet research. There were a lot of statements about the temporary nature of these plugs but there were successes ranging from 2 years to 30 years. We decided we would go with the rubber plugs and I fetched them. We flushed the cooling system and installed the rubber plugs. The rear one went in fairly easily but we had to pry, prod and pummel the front one for some time until it finally settled into place. The motor mount was not helpful.

We flushed the cooling system again, this time with the engine running, before filling up with anti-freeze. Jim drove the truck to my house and pronounced it operational before I took him back home. The truck is making a little noise which Jim diagnosed as a bad idler pulley and we will replace that in the near future.
New freeze plugs.JPG
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Maverick
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Location: Raleigh, NC

Re: 1993 Ford Ranger with bad freeze plugs

Post by Maverick »

We wish we could have installed the brass freeze plugs but we used our discretion and decided to go with the rubber. I expect they'll be good for a few years and it would be fairly easy to replace them every couple of years. We might have been able to do the brass ones if the exhaust manifold and motor mount were removed but the exhaust manifold bolts and studs were quite rusty and I was not optimistic they'd come out without breaking.

Here's what's left of the old freeze plugs.
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Wish this had been in focus.
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We were concerned about towing with the manual transmission with the drive shaft(s) in place. I've never bothered to remove the drive shaft when towing a manual transmission but then I've never towed for 2 hours at Interstate Highway speeds. We decided to leave the two-piece drive shaft in place when we saw the rusty 12-point bolts on the u-joints and how tight they were. Breaking one would have added to our troubles. Anyway, no problem. The trans works well with no unusual noises.

That Ranger XLT is a really nice truck!! I didn't know the Twin I-Beam cold ride and handle like that. Floors are clean underneath with no visible rust. We'll do the idler pulley in a couple of weeks and there are a couple of other things that could be fixed. AC isn't working and water is leaking on the floor. It would be a shame to let that nice floor go to rust. Since the AC isn't working, I guess the leak is not from the evaporator drain. If the heater core were leaking, I think it would smell like anti-freeze. That leaves the windshield gasket as the most likely problem.
Maverick
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GMJohnny
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Re: 1993 Ford Ranger with bad freeze plugs

Post by GMJohnny »

I'm thinking that if the brass plugs would have spent a couple of hours in the freezer prior to
install you might have been able to get them in. Maybe??

GM
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Maverick
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Location: Raleigh, NC

Re: 1993 Ford Ranger with bad freeze plugs

Post by Maverick »

GMJohnny wrote:I'm thinking that if the brass plugs would have spent a couple of hours in the freezer prior to
install you might have been able to get them in. Maybe??

GM
Wish I'd thought about that. Good possibility that would have worked, at least for the one that wasn't partly behind the motor mount. Maybe next time.
Maverick
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