I need a light truck, I have a 91 Superduty with a 460 - It gets 9 mpg. I have a 96 Bronco - 12 mpg. I need a truck now or with in a few months - It is not a rush situation.

There is an ad (Craigslist) for a Ford Ranger XLT 96 with busted rear differential. It is a 157K truck and looks OK (it is not fantastic and it is not beat - just OK) Looks good except some minor stuff: CD player broken, Power Windows broken, Lock to camper shell broken, Power locks broken and it is purple (lovely color if you are a funky guy - I am not)

It is a V6, but I am not sure if it is a 4L or a 3L or if it has a 8.8 or a 7.5 diff. I assume it is a 7.5 (Because the bigger diff would not have failed) but could be wrong. The guy tells me the diff is making a lot of noise and there is a lot of metal in the oil.

Question: If I bought a junk yard diff, what would I pay? It this a $200 diff? Also I am assuming a day to get it out and a day to get the new one back. Along the way if Mr. Murphy loves me, I would need pads for the perch, shocks, and brake pads (maybe drums) - maybe $500 total??

Question: If I bought a set of new seals and bearing - $130? (assuming the gears are still good), any idea how much time and money it would be? I am wondering even if the gears are bad, is it better to just rebuild the thing in the truck and not mess with the axel removal?

Question: If it have a 7.5, is it worth and effort to get a 8.8? I want a "bolt in", not a welding project, so likely the Ranger 4L 8.8 donor?

Questions: I think I can buy a similar truck (same miles, condition, etc) for $2000. So what is a truck with a bad diff worth? I assume a shop would rebuild the diff for $1000, $1100. There should be a discount for the risk - Is this a $900, or $500 or $200 truck?

Please Help me think through this. Also, I can afford to be a little picky, after all if this one does not work out, my money is good at any number of deals - I do not have to buy this truck. What cha think??

 

Wow, lots of questions. I'm not going to answer all of them, but I will give you my $.02 on a couple of them. First, it is my opinion that the large rear end can go out as easy as the small one. Why? Because 20 year old truck rear ends start to slowly leak and they eventually run out of oil. My '98 Ranger has a slow rear end leak. I've checked it to make sure it's not dry and I actually have purchased the cover gasket to stop the leak, it's just that I haven't had time to install it yet. Perhaps the rear end on your potential purchase went out because it was low on oil.
Second, while you could probably put in a bigger rear end on this truck, I'm a big fan on keeping it factory. If you've ever done work on a Frankenstein truck, you soon get a headache when the parts that you've purchased (by using the VIN numbers, BTW), don't match up with what you take off the truck. It really is wonderful when you can run the VIN by the dealer (or even your aftermarket parts supplier) and he/she gives you the right parts the very first time.
One more thing: One advantage to owning a truck of this age is that you can go to the RockAuto site and see all the parts that are on wholesaler closeout, are on reduced prices, and will ship from the same warehouse.
BTW, if this truck was on good shape (except for the rear end, of course), was near me, and was at a good price, I'd ****** it up in a heartbeat.
But that's just me. (I own a '98 Ranger, BTW)

 

I'm pretty much in the same boat as you, Ive got a 97 FSuperduty Quigley with 460 and 5:13 gears that gets 7 mpg, my '96 F350 Power Stroke service truck that is big and awkward to run around in and my 78 F150 that I really don't like using for a daily driver in the winter. I just purchased a 99 Ranger 4x4 Flareside 3.0L 5 speed for $1150. I knew when I bought it that the engine had a miss. But I also knew I could buy a new long block for just under $2000. The truck is in amazingly good shape for 220,000 miles. It has had a tree branch fall on the roof and hood according to the PO. Steering is tight, 4x4 works as it should, interior in great shape. I put the new long block in it and it should run a LOOONNNGGG time now. Yeah I'm in it just over $3000 at this point which is about what I would have paid for one that didn't have a major problem. But now with the new motor in it, I know what I have. I have done this type of thing with lots of vehicles over the years (including my 2001 Freightliner semi that has made me a LOT of money) and it usually seems to work out. The key is buying it right in the first place and knowing for sure what the worst case scenario is going to cost to fix.

 

The diff should not be breaking. It's a design that's hundred years old and has not been improved upon significantly.
So there's a lot of abuse in that truck,
Please move on, you're only buying a bucket of broken parts.

 

You are in kalif, so there should be better options available. Too many 'broken' items and the small stuff does cost!

So if its more than a couple hundred bucks, I would not mess with it. You will end up with more $$ in it than its worth even with yard parts. You have not even gotten into engine or trans issues if any there!

 

Rangers came with both axles, I have a 3.0l with the 7.5 and another with the 8.8 so both will fit under there the only difference is with the driveshaft mounts.

Could be more could be less, for a project like this(low budget) If you can get an axle in good condition then just run it, don't spend money on it if it's not noisy or leaking.


Given it's age I'd say the price of scrap, if it was an 06 with a rust free body and nothing else mechanical wrong with it then maybe $2k. We paid $2500 for the 04 we have 2 years ago, it came in good shape except that the engine was in the bed in lots of rusty pieces. I bought another motor for $900 and put it back on the road, it needed nothing but some brake pads for safety.