My Mead Ranger

[Just Jeff]

A week ago a friend contacted me about a bike he found at the transfer site he works at (read : the dump)
He sent me one pic, and I knew that I wanted it. That week was a long wait until I could pick it up from him.
This will not be a restoration, but rather a good cleaning and then preservation of the bike. Luckily it has most of its original parts present. But it’s lived a rough life, especially to end up at the dump.
this pic is the one my friend sent me

 

[Just Jeff]

This set of pics are the day I brought it home.

 

[Kickstand3]

Looks great as found

 

[Just Jeff]

Monday I brought it to work with me to tinker with it during my down time. Got it disassembled. Surprisingly nothing broke while taking it apart.

First step was to straighten the fenders. The rear had a bad bend/dent at the back duck tail area. Got that mostly straight. And then knocked a few small dents out of the front fender. Then I had to clean a small area just to see if the paint would come back

 

[Just Jeff]

Today I was able to clean up the cranks and the fork. Came out better than I had expected them too.

 

[Gully]

Good find!! I'd like to get one like this for the wife but she says I have too many.

 

[OptimusJay]

great score, keep the pics of the progress coming. Excellent work so far.

 

[Just Jeff]

Not much got done today on the bike. But I did manage to get the sprocket cleaned up. It was pretty rusty, so I wasn’t expecting too much.

 

[Just Jeff]

Had time to clean up the stem and rear wheel today. Hardest part was not cross lacing the spokes. Just feels wrong to not lace them under/over, but that’s how the wheel was so it goes back the same way

 

[Just Jeff]

And that’s it for now. Getting busy at work again. And I want to try the OA bath on the painted parts. The pinstripes are pretty delicate and all most likely rub through them if I have to sand/buff/polish. But I really want to see it without the rust stains, so we will see.
I also need to find a matching front wheel assembly. The one that was on the bike is a Schwinn script front hub laced into an S2. And that’s definitely wrong for this Ranger.