New Member from Seattle, WA

Heyo! :hi:

I've had this blue 1994 4x4 5-speed Mighty Max for a couple years now but I'm finally getting around to giving it the attention it deserves (I've yet to think of a good name :think: ) I bought it from a very nice dude down in Olympia and, at the time, it ran. The only issue was that the shifter had a HUGE range of motion, but I could still find all the gears. Come to find out with a little digging that the tube the shifter end fits into was busted on one side and, if I tried to shift into 2nd too aggressively, the shifter would just POP out! No bueno. This was manageable for a while until, one night driving on I-5 apparently the bolt that holds the harmonic balancer to the crank just you know...disappeared. I didn't find out til I got home and saw the harmonic balancer just wedged between the motor and the body. There's some damage to the end of the crank and the tranny needs to be dropped to fix the shifter issue so I'm looking at getting the engine rebuilt and doing a little cleanup on the tranny too while I'm in there. So I'm in for a real fun time!

Anyway, I'm glad to have found this forum because I'm gonna need some help/input and seeing other people's builds is already inspiring me to start tearing into it. Thanks to whoever is in charge of this place!

Attachment 24714Attachment 24714

Here’s a photo, pre bath. I’ve since washed all the moss off and gotten it ready for the “real” work.

Oops! Sorry for the shitty double sideways photo �� I’m still figuring all this out!

Hi and welcome to mightyram. Your harmonic balancer adventure could've ended a lot worse but crank damage etc is still bad. The shifter probably needs a rebuild kit as there's a nylon cup on the end of the shifter lever and a rotator ball that either wears out or just breaks. The shifter ends up feeling like you're stirring a pasta pot lol. You should be able to take the shifter out through the cab and fix it without dropping the gearbox. Biggest thing to be careful of is stripped threads when removing/installing the shift lever. The parts are easy enough to get and are relatively cheap. Don't worry about the sideways images, it's not you. Sometimes something goes glitchy uploading depending on the source and the site automatically does it. Post pics and ask questions! :thumbup:

Welcome to the forum. Great to have another new member from the PNW. Looks like you have some work ahead, but what else do you have to do during the lock down? Have fun with the truck.

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Originally Posted by dirtreynolds

Oops! Sorry for the shitty double sideways photo �� I’m still figuring all this out!

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In my experience, the site doesn't like portrait photos. Try to stick to landscape format and it should work fine.
Nice looking truck.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by geezer101

Hi and welcome to mightyram. Your harmonic balancer adventure could've ended a lot worse but crank damage etc is still bad. The shifter probably needs a rebuild kit as there's a nylon cup on the end of the shifter lever and a rotator ball that either wears out or just breaks. The shifter ends up feeling like you're stirring a pasta pot lol. You should be able to take the shifter out through the cab and fix it without dropping the gearbox. Biggest thing to be careful of is stripped threads when removing/installing the shift lever. The parts are easy enough to get and are relatively cheap. Don't worry about the sideways images, it's not you. Sometimes something goes glitchy uploading depending on the source and the site automatically does it. Post pics and ask questions! :thumbup:

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Stirring a pot of pasta! Ha! That is hilarious. That's exactly what it feels like! I wish it were just that nylon cup, but its the metal piece that the nylon cup sits in that's busted. Replacing the nylon cup works for a little while but then because whatever it sits in is no good (not sure the technical name for that part), it breaks and we're back to stirring pasta. I'll try to post pictures of the actual stuff as I start tearing into it again. Thanks for your input so far! :)