2.9L Problems - Few different symptoms

The age of the truck and where it has spent most of its life are two factors I thought about with my 1988 4x4 ,2.9.....I made a plan for a TOTAL mechanical rebuild ....AND so Here is what I did...(I was still working days) then,... so I had the whole braking sytem re-built by a local garage...Found out part of my acceleration troubles was related to dragging rear drum brake....When I got the truck back it was still sluggish ...so went to eves and went to work on it myself....Here is what I found ....When folks tell you they have replaced hard to get to parts ,they may not have,(HA), ...Original part numbers tell the true story!.....Soooo I removed the bed and started at the back of the truck and worked forward ,(talking total re-build here),dropped and cleaned the gas tank,(glad that I did),replaced everything that went in there,double checking float levels match to fuel gauge .....replaced ALL fuel lines sump resevoir ,front pump and fuel filter( had ORIGINAL ford manufactors e-numbers,oh how many times were they to have been replaced by OTHERS down through the years?...let me check my out of date service records,hello Ford dealerships,and private garages !) ,which were hidden behind Off road shielding.....Replaced ALL sensors,went through fm146 tranny ,re-enforced same with one inch thick pan ,(that flexing feeling is GONE),Took truck out for test drive,...damn thing burnt rubber in second and third...had not done that in years!!!...... Still had a problem though when truck was run for some time and shut down ,it would barely turn over!!...Man was I pissed!!!....I forgot to do one last thing!!!.....I forgot to replace the battery negative to to motor ground strap!!! I don't how the truck even started at ALL!...That strap was corroded beyond belief !!!!...Truck runs BETTER mechanically than when I brought it new in 1988 !... Now got to do the springs and get rid of the d-28 ...still would consider the 4.0 or the 5.0 if the heads go...but for now I'd take her across country and back...Did I say she shifts well?..That bottom tranny plate change-out made ALLLL the difference there,damn thing is so stiff I do not believe that the reverse to 5th gear problem,(prime reason fm146s fail), is an issue now ,...we will see ...ANYWAY hope that my long windedness has helped someone....later..

If it wasn't my grandfather I would consider doing that. lol He is willing to spend money if I can give him a good reason to, which fortunately I have.

So, here is where we are at.

That sound is only under load or when you put your foot down on it. The rear shocks (probably the fronts) are toast. You push on one corner of the truck hard and the whole thing does a shimmy. lol

The sound seems to more fluctuate by speed than RPM so I've come to the conclusion fix what we know is wrong. I don't think the sound is related to the engine and I believe the truck is dropping to low so something is rubbing causing that sound.

We (well he's paying I'm doing the work) replacing the shocks probably next week. Have to order them in as we are going with Monroe including the coilover overloads for the rear (not a lot more cost).

Then, as someone pointed out a code reader, we ordered one from Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000EW0KHW/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000EVYH36/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

After running the self-test I found a code 31 and 63, so with the shock order will be coming a TPS. I'm not dealing with the code 31 just yet as it could be bad vacuum lines. I just got 10' of 4mm and 5mm vacuum hose for my Subaru so I'm waiting until I get the engine back in that and will start redoing what I can with the left over, then buy what we need to finish it out.

Plus I'm considering doing a full tune-up.

Almost ready to place an order for parts. I'm trying to figure out what size vacuum hose is used on the ranger so I can replace part, if not all, of it.

Any ideas?

Plus two different shops believe the noise is either the yoke/u-joints going way out of angle due to the shift from a load w/ bad shocks or just flat out a bad u-joint.

We won't know until we get the new shocks on.

lstevens76 said:

Almost ready to place an order for parts. I'm trying to figure out what size vacuum hose is used on the ranger so I can replace part, if not all, of it.

Any ideas?

Plus two different shops believe the noise is either the yoke/u-joints going way out of angle due to the shift from a load w/ bad shocks or just flat out a bad u-joint.

We won't know until we get the new shocks on.

Click to expand...

I would just take a piece of the vacuum line from the truck to the auto parts store for the correct size. The u joints I just replaced were ten dollars. I rented a tool to replace the u joints. Good job for a Saturday. Replacing known parts is not wasting money. I would not buy the shifting comment. I bought the current ranger I am building for 300 dollars and I am replacing lots of stuff but its like a hobby to me.