Thinking of getting a Ford Ranger. Advice, Experiences, and Opinions welcome.

[CBFryman2 5,000+ posts]

Talk him down to 7500 and I'd take it. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

The only thing that has over my truck is 4wd, and I paid 7000 with a good wack in the bumper, otherwise good condition, with less mileage. Troy Lee Designed interior as well...split buckt/bench seat with custom embrodery and fack CF trim everywhere.

 

[saywhat? 5,000+ posts]

That is a nice looking truck


The B-series didnt become a rebadged ranger untill the mid 90's I do beleive. Im not 100% sure on that though. Anyway, suspension work isnt easy either way (as you said).

Torsions can be cranked up for an extra 5" easy...but then you really **** up the camber of your tires. This makes for bad wear patterns and terrible handleing. Lifting the rear is easy though as it uses leaf suspension like every other truck on the market and the drive shaft angle isnt uber sensetive. However, lifted trucks look better bull dogging IMO.

i know //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif i had a 87 b2200 cab plus. torsions were cranked for max drop, without being pulled (which they were for a week or so, as I had no time to reindex them once pulled.

 

[AT@T tech 10+ year member]

if you look around you can find a tacoma for around that price. my friends was a extended cab,4 cylinder,5 speed with only 36000 miles on it .it was a 2003 model. he got it from the local nissan dealership where i got my 2005 frontier from. just before you buy a truck look at blue book value then look at black book value.black book is what the dealership gave for the vehicle.just negotiate before buying.just realize that a toyota will keep their resale value alot better than a ranger.good luck

 

[CBFryman2 5,000+ posts]

edmunds seems to be the fairest price for buyer and seller //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fyi.gif.9f1f679348da7204ce960cfc74bca8e0.gif

 

[LinxuS 10+ year member]

I love my ranger. Bought it brand new... a 2005 Ranger XLT 4x4 extended cab.

Its probably one of my favorite vehicles to take off roading. My only problem is how much money a shop wants to lift it. Cost my friends dad less to lift his chevy 6" than it would to cost me to lift mine 3 or 4"...

Mine tops out at 96.4 mph.. or atleast thats the max Ive gotten it to according to the nav..

As for a stereo.. wirings pretty simple in it, nothing too hard.. getting the panel off for the radio is like 2 screws etc.. Many places to fit some big wire through the firewall.. however, the back speakers do rattle like crazy as mentioned before. It's just such a horrible design of how they decided to make them fit in the rear.

A stock 4.0L ranger is actually pretty beefy.. Being such a small truck and so light, its got a decent amount of power for its size. Keeps up with a lot of my friends cars and beats the hell out of the bigger stock trucks / suvs.

Overall.. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/thumbsup.gif.3287b36ca96645a13a43aff531f37f02.gif on the ranger!

 

[CBFryman2 5,000+ posts]

Rangers are not incredibly light for their size //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fyi.gif.9f1f679348da7204ce960cfc74bca8e0.gif

 

[AT@T tech 10+ year member]

edmonds is a good place to look also,i am just telling you to do your homework. i have never had a stock ranger ever beat my frontier. even with the 4.0 v6

 

[wilzyx 5,000+ posts]

my friend has a 95 extended cab ranger with a v6 and he beats the hell out of that thing off roading and just normally driving and its still in pretty good shape. had to replace the clutch a few months back cuz he peels out at every dam stop sign but other than that its pretty good.

 

[CBFryman2 5,000+ posts]

edmonds is a good place to look also,i am just telling you to do your homework. i have never had a stock ranger ever beat my frontier. even with the 4.0 v6

My mom's frontier SUCKS ***. it is the 4cyl though. My truck walks on it all day long in towing capacity, speed, comfort, and looks. Shifting in her truck is like rowing a boat. I personally like shorter, postiive shifting. Hers is long and smooth like butter...granny shifts even if you shift your fastest. the 4cyl has no power untill you hit 4,000 RPM and still not much of an improvement. I can stomp mine at 2,000 RPM in 2nd gear, hit full powerband b7 3,000 and ride that to 5,000. At that point im doing 50 in what doesnt seem like long at all. Works great for accelerating around truning vehicles in a hurry and passing at low speeds. In the frontier I dont even try to pass unless I have a mile of clearance. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif

The bigger engines may be a huge improvement. But the 4cyl sucks. Hell, the cluth wasnt liking towing a 19ft boat 150 miles. The suspnesion made going faster than 60 scary and I had to run it in 4th the whole way. My truck tows the boat like it is hardly back there minus the acceleration difference. It has no problem pulling at 55 in 5th and is comfertable up to 75mph. The clutch has no problem handleing it and my cluth is worn from the last idiot owner (there is a story behind it ask and I shall tell). THe Frontier couldnt pull the boat up the ramp comfertably....even with my dad who has been towing with a manual since he was my age couldnt do it with out smelling the clutch...thank god we had the silverado. My B3000 didnt hesitate much at all towing up the same ramp.

/4cyl frontier bash

 

[wilzyx 5,000+ posts]

whats the story on the clutch?

 

[supa_c 5,000+ posts]

GMC Cyclone

/ thread

 

[CBFryman2 5,000+ posts]

whats the story on the clutch?

The engine developed a vacume leak. This yeilded irregular idleing, 2,000-3,000 RPM. The owner said he tried to figure it out, and assumed it was a throttle cable. Hardly likely. He told me that his solution to the problem was to drag the cluth when it started acting up while was sitting at the stop light. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/uhoh.gif.c07307dd22ee7e63e22fc8e9c614d1fd.gif . To what extent this damaged the clutch only became apparent when I started driving the truck more and it wasnt liking to shift at time. Changing the ****** fluid didnt help and it seemed like a clutch not fully engageing. Sure enough, im going to need a new clutch in the next few months with only 47,000 on the truck.

Turns out the vacume leak was a broken hose clamp on the vacume booster for the brakes. $0.25 part and a screwdriver was all it needed. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/mad.gif.c18f003ab0ef8a0d9c27ca78d77a6392.gif

At least it wasnt the EGR valve like what the symtoms would normally point to. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[wilzyx 5,000+ posts]

lol, his solution was to drag the clutch

 

[zthumper 10+ year member]

I have a '99 XLT 4x4 3.0 that had 75000 miles on it when i got it. It has a little bump under the bumper but that all and i got it for 6500 bucks. I think i got a great deal on it.

 

[supraman1379 10+ year member]

I have a '99 XLT 4x4 3.0 that had 75000 miles on it when i got it. It has a little bump under the bumper but that all and i got it for 6500 bucks. I think i got a great deal on it.

I think you did too.

Mine came out to just over 10000 when I got it.