I Can't Believe it Survived

"Mercedes Streeter" (smart) 07/02/2020 at 15:11 • Filed to: Road Trip, gambler 500

8

7

5,000 miles in nine days. This was a truck that sat in grass for a couple years, brought back to roadworthy condition, then absolutely SENT across the western half of the country.

It drove from Illinois through Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, northern Wyoming, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, southern Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, then back home to Illinois.

On the way home we saw the great Salt Lake, visited the Bonneville Salt Flats, and I stopped at the Iowa 80 Truck Stop for the first time despite having passed by it at least ten times in the past.

Of the $500 vehicles we rolled with over the past week, the only one that did actually have a breakdown was the bus, and boy did it break down A LOT.

Here’s a list of its breakdowns..

- Steer tires blown (both) in Washington.

- Total brake loss in Oregon.

- Brake loss again in Oregon. Fix was junkyard parts.

- Stuck parking brake in Oregon. Fix was to delete the pulley to the hydraulic system that powers the brake.

- Air-conditioner killed a generator, which killed the air-conditioner in Oregon.

- Stopped running in Nevada.

- Stopped running again in Nevada.

- Alternator overcharging, killing the bus electrical system in Nevada. The fix for this one was to remove the leads from the alternator and keep the bus batteries charged using a generator.

- Taillights lost in Nevada. Fixed in Iowa when they decided to attempt to drive the final hours in one go.

- Brakes on fire in Nebraska. Turns out, even though they released the parking brake and deleted the pulley, it somehow locked anyway.

The inhabitants of the bus basically worked on the idea that they wouldn’t fix anything. Anything that broke they’d just delete and keep driving.

Eventually Sheryl and I left the bus behind to finish the final 3 hours of the drive home. It took the bus 6 hours to do those 3 hours, so I think they broke down again somewhere for something. I know there are definitely breakdowns I'm forgetting, too!

—-

This past week was the best week of our lives and neither of us could believe it even happened. <3

Sheryl is a full on Gambler now. In addition to our new Xterra toy, she’s picking up a cheap Chevy HHR and following in my footsteps with having a daily driven Gambler car.

Plan for the Ranger is to drive it into the ground. The American Racing wheels are a touch too big for the truck’s gears, so I’m saving them for a future project. The truck itself will be both a daily and Gambler until something really major breaks, which I reckon will take quite a while with how decent it is. My guess is that the frame will rust out before anything major mechanical breaks.

Our adventures are not done yet! We plan on another epic road trip this summer, just not Gambler related.

TheRealBicycleBuck > Mercedes Streeter 07/02/2020 at 16:07

2

Fair warnings on the Ranger. My 3.0 Mazda only left me stranded a few times, the most dangerous of which was the tie rod end cutting loose at speed. The other two times were both the distributor. The cam shaft gear which drives the distributor is significantly harder than the distributor gear. I drove it long enough to completely wear through two different distributor gears. It may be different on the 4.0, but it’s worth looking into.

Although this didn’t strand me, there was an issue at ~150,000 miles where the transmission lost most of its fluid , leading to the need for a transmission rebuild. There’s an inspection port on the side with a rubber plug. Fifth gear throws lots of fluid on that plug until the rubber breaks down and the plug disintegrates. Once gone, fifth gear throws transmission fluid at that hole until there’s not enough fluid left to throw at the hole. The solution is to plug the hole with a freeze plug.

If it starts running rough, check the accordion joints on the plastic intake. Mine failed on the underside and since we couldn’t see the cracks, it was difficult to diagnose.

The top gasket of the rear glass also gets leaky over time. I was told that having the truck repainted and exposing it to the heat of a curing booth accelerates this problem. I’m not sure I believe that, but I do know that the gasket will eventually leak. You’ll notice it first on the headliner just above the rear glass.

Many of the parts are a direct swap from Mazda. The reason I bought a Mazda and not a Ford was the better seats, s port mirrors, sliding rear glass, electric windows, and electric locks, all for a lower price than the Ranger. When looking for parts, the Mazda parts are likely to fit and may cost less.

Mercedes Streeter > TheRealBicycleBuck 07/02/2020 at 16:20

1

Oh yeah, I caught your comment on my last post, was driving at the time though. Tie rods appear to be good, thankfully!

This one has a 2.3 4 cylinder with a manual. I'll keep a look for those other things. It currently does have a rough idle, which appears to be a dirty throttle body and/or idle air control valve.

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > Mercedes Streeter 07/02/2020 at 19:31

1

I’d say to clean those with some electrical contact cleaner, but given the motor you have I reckon there’s a 50/50 chance a new part would be cheaper than the cleaners.

shop-teacher > Mercedes Streeter 07/02/2020 at 22:36

1

I’m not surprised a 4-cylinder 5-speed Ranger did so well, nor am I surprised that the bus constantly broke down!

MiniGTI - now with XJ6 > Mercedes Streeter 07/02/2020 at 22:54

1

Good news, my SAAB whisperer green-lit my cheap convertible for our trip to PA next week!

Stef Schrader > Mercedes Streeter 07/04/2020 at 16:28

0

Holy crap, I’m so jealous right now. I need to do more Gambler stuff so badly.

MiniGTI - now with XJ6 > Mercedes Streeter 07/07/2020 at 17:07

0

Good news, SAAB made it just fine. Only problem was the AC died after the first day and it was 95+.  But IVE MENDED A THING and have it at least sorta cooling now!