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First, welcome to the forums!
Now onto questions!
What size engine is in the Ranger and is it 2wd or 4wd?
What brand of parts did you use for the suspension and ignition system?
Did they print off the results from the alignment?
When your driving the truck, does is pull or drift to anyone particular side?
How does the truck idle?
You said its driving rough but we need to determine if its the engine or the that the truck handles rough.
I hate to say this but it doesn’t sound like they did a very good job of checking things underneath as it does sound like something under there is loose (and unsafe). I know this video is for an Acura but the principals still apply.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scFbb43fwqk
In your case I would focus on more than just the suspension but I would also look to where the suspension mounts to the body and frame as you may have an issue here.
I would forget the performance issue for the moment, if the suspension is moving enough it could cause wires to be pinched or moved in such a way as to cause issue, in other words you may be able to kill 2 birds with one stone.
WOW – so I’m not crazy! Thanks Eric. I can’t believe you actually replied. I figured you’d be way to busy to reply to my topic but I’m glad you did! If it’s okay, I’d like to add just a little bit more and answer dreamer’s questions as I could really use some help on this (thanks for the input dreamer and thanks for the welcome aboard!)
Engine is 2.5L and 2wd. Type of parts I really don’t know. I had a shop do the suspension stuff and I did the ignition stuff but I got it from my local Advance Auto Parts so I don’t really remember. I did not see any print out for alignment. When I drive it, it does not pull or drift to any one side. In fact, the steering wheel does not even shimmy. However, it just seems like the whole truck is sort of “floating” – for lack of a better term. It just always seems like I’m in a very windy tropical storm with winds coming at me from all directions. Sounds strange, I know! Truck idles really fine. Another thing I wanted to add was that when I am driving, my passenger door shakes and I can hear it creaking, squeaking, squealing – whatever you want to call it. It does not happen on the driver’s side and it never happened when I first bought the truck. The door lines up fine and opens and closes fine too. It seems to be a symptom of this “bouncing” up and down I feel like on the road.
Just today, I had the differential oil checked and it was perfectly fine. I do not see any leaks of any kind anywhere in my driveway. I like Eric’s suggestion about the suspension mounts and I am definitely going to check that because it makes sense. I really wasn’t putting much stock into the performance issue because it really idles nicely, no leaks, and not bad gas mileage – it was just sort of a hope because I can work on engines but not so much on suspension. I would really appreciate any additional thoughts before I start poking around tomorrow. I’m taking the day off to try to get something done because I travel 85 miles a day to and from work and really want to find out what’s going on. Thanks again to both of you.
You might want to check the weatherstripping too on the truck. You might be hearing alot of road noises.
If you do hear creaking, again a thorough inspection of the suspension components is needed. Eric’s video will be a great aid to help you. Id be looking closely at the mounts, ball joints and sway bar bushings and end links to start with.
Hope this is some more help for you.
Dreamer – thanks much. I have checked the weatherstripping on the door. It seems fine. I’m just saying it seems to be shaking and rattling because of whatever is going on. Leads me to believe whatever the problem is it might be on the passenger side of the truck. I appreciate your help and I am going to review that video first thing a.m. when I’m ready to begin my search. It’s raining here now and has been most of the evening so I wasn’t able to get out there on it tonite. That’s why I’m taking off tomorrow. I’ll re-post if I find anything or if I decide I’m just crazy. LOL.
Since the problem seems to have started after the spring replacement I would look there ( these are coil springs , correct ? ) if the springs aren’t seated properly they could be causing the sway problem.
Thanks DioFan – Yes, it did start after the coil spring replacement; however, the replacement happened back in April of this year and this just started fairly recently (about 2 weeks). Could it still be that the springs are not seated correctly? Again, when the springs were broken it didn’t do this – it just leaned to the left a lot. Other than that, it drove okay.
Since the prob just started it probably isn’t the spring placement but wouldn’t hurt to check ( when you look at the truck from the front is it level – side to side ) I would check everything to do with steering- tie rods, pitman arm, ball joints , see if anything has excessive play. also , check the torque on the lug nuts ( never know )
Given your description I would be looking where any suspension part mounts to the body or the frame. Also take a close look at the dampers both front and back for oil leakage, if you find any it’s likely that they are bad and should be replaced. It sounds like either the cab is not attached to the frame correctly or the suspension is not attached correctly (or the dampers may be completely shot), remember to look for that ‘orange dust’ that I described in the syspension video at all the suspension mounting points as this is a very good indication of a loose part. Good luck and keep us posted.
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