How about a change in topic. What's the worst Ranger you've ever owned? I've owned 4 in my life, a 1980 Mazda B2000 (Yes I know its a Mazda, not a Ford), a 1983 Ranger 4wd, 1998 Ranger short cab, and my current '00 Ranger extended cab.

Of all of them, the 1998 almost broke me from Rangers and Ford altogether. I bought this truck as a gift to myself upon Graduating college and getting a good System Administration job that paid nicely. As I drove it from Spokane to Seattle, small load in the back, the driveline bearing in the transfer case shattered, the metal fragments cracked the transfer case. This was at all of 2000 miles!!! I limped to Seattle since I had to work in 2 days. Because I was in Seattle at the time I couldn't take it back to the dealer I got it from. The local dealers were actually rejecting my warranty since I didn't buy it from them - it took going to 3 dealers before one would accept my warranty. After giving the truck to them for repairs, it took 1 week to fix it, this was at about the same time the railroads were having a problem finding railcar space and so I had to pay for a rental car.
End of first problem. 1 year after getting it repaired, the windshield started leaking around the seals and Ford wouldn't honor the warranty on it since my truck had over 10,000 miles on it. I had to replace the windshield to fix it but not before ruining the carpeting and getting the overhead fabric all moldy and rotten. Then the MAF fails. After the MAF failed on me I drove it to the nearest Ford dealer and traded it in on the spot - for my '00 Ranger, the best one I've owned yet. I'll never go back to a short cab truck again - I need my space!!!

 

Great, just what I own. I sure as heck hope my truck is more reliable than the one you had. This is my first Ranger so I hope it's the one that sells me on Ford. If not then I'm going back to Toyota.

 

I've only owned 1, so I suppose it is both the best and worst Ranger/B that I've ever owned. But in keeping with the spirit of the post I'll list the annoying things that were broken when I got it or very soon thereafter:

-Windshield crack
-No key for bed toolboxes
-Clutch
-U-Joints
-Lower Ball Joints
-Heater Plenum/Air Blend Door
-Center Console Lid
-Door Ajar Light/Dome Light
-Key doesn't work in locks very well (still only marginal)
-Instrument Cluster lights
-License Plate lights

Still, it is the best truck I've owned.

-Jim

 

I have only owned one, the "99 XLT x-cab 2wd 4.0L that I currently own. I bought it used from a dealer. There were a couple of minor things wrong which the dealer fixed before Iwould take delivery. So far the truck has performed well and I am very pleased with it. I wish they would put leather seats in Rangers (I understand that is an option for 04?). I am thinking about doing a seat swap with an Explorer so I can get leather seating.

Someday maybe a new air intake system and exhaust and possibly a computer chip to boost performance slightly. Nothing major however.

So far so Good! I hope my luck with this truck holds out!

Happy Holidays to all you Ranger owners!

 

In own a 96 b2300. It has been a great vehicle for what i got. I knew going in that i could have some issues, it is a flood recovered vehicle that i bought from my work. I had to replace the windshield ~250 and had to put new rubber all the way around ~150. other than some nagging electrical issues, that were expected, and seem to be ironed out now, it has been a reliable vehicle.

 

I have owned three rangers: '95, '97 and '99. The '97 had the typical dome light problem, the '99 has considerable wind noise around the driver's door. No real problems with the '95 , yet. But the worst truck is my '92 Mazda B2200. It's been a money pit from the first day till now. Been trying to sell it but can't find anyone as dumb as me to buy it.

 

i had a 97 ranger extended cab until 90,000 miles and not a single thing ever went wrong with it. i think the only light that ever burnt out was the 3rd brake light. so now i have a 98 regular cab and the seats are more comfy but i miss the extra room. here is the broken list so far:

left side instument lights burnt out
drivers door does not shut tight, wind noise/leaks water
blower fan speed only works on 1 and 4

 

Ive only owned one ranger a 99 4 banger automatic lwb model that ibought new in NYC it was ordered custom for somene who cancelled the order and i got a heck of a deal on it ( also bought it where the company i worked for bought all their work vans)
in like four years and 80,000 miles ive tortured it towing all kinds of stuff i shouldnt, all over the country, gotten hit three times in it good( twice while parked), abused it, and except for changing oil, front pads, and air filter, aint done a thing to it. I love it and swear by my Ford trucks. My next truck will be an F 150 tho cause it is a little small for what i use it for although the mileage on it is great

 

Hmmm, hopefully I just got the jinxed one that time.

I used to joke that right before the guy started assembling my truck his wife served him divorce papers (I realize that they are mostly robotically assembed - it was just a joke).

The warranty stuff really pissed me off, but its just water under the bridge now.

For my old B2000, I couldn't keep the hubs from overheating to save my life. I must have replaced the spindles 3 times in 3 years. The death stroke for that truck was pretty dire - the timing belt slipped 90 degrees and I kissed 2 cylinders and 4 valves goodbye in an instant, then the next cycle started and I kissed the other set bye bye before I realized what was happening.

 

Well I have owned two Rangers.. 94 XL 4x2 and my current 2003 XLT 4x4... My first Ranger which i sold to my dad, had no problems even afterr ecking it after one of month of owership, the clutch stayed good for over 100,000 miles, with only minor tune up issues (spark plugs, oil, brakes, etc). I have had no problems with my 2003 ranger in the past six months i have owned it. Well at least not any i don't associated with me beating it up on the trail. (knocked the wheel wieghts of the OEM tires, caused hella vibration, drive shaft thud from going through some deep mud) But overall no complaints what so ever

 

ive only had my 94 ranger 2wd 5sp 2.3 was gave to me by my grandfather this past spring. he was a courrier and ran back and forth to DC all the time and the truck has 381000 and still runs pretty good. when he finally gave it to me it had broke the timing belt and the mechanic said the mtor would be no good. still good enough for me. the other rangers he has are a 97 and 87. both manual trans but the 87 has a 2.9 6. id hav to say having driven all three vehicles the 87 is the best and the 97 bein pretty well crappy. all in all they get good gas milage and they are better for haulin stuff then a car.

 

1983 Super Cab Automatic 6 cylinder. Horrible piece of crap. Kept burning the intake gaskets out and causing a hard/impossible to start situation. Stranded my butt one day, and I traded it in on an Escort GT.

 

Sorry to hear about your '98 lemon.

My '98 has served me very well, all things considered.

I can't figure out why you had warrany problems with your local dealers like that ...either the truck is covered under warranty, or it isn't, so any Ford dealer is obligated to fix it once that coverage is determined.

And with a 3-year, 36,000 bumper-to-bumper warranty, there should have been no issues whatsoever regarding fixing a leaky windshield at 10K.

 

No, if you look at that warranty book that they give you with the truck there is a stipulation that certain things are not covered under warranty after a certain amount of time. Most of the items make sense - tires and the windshield among them. It may have been at 15k but I remember reading that clause and cringing because my OD just turned past that cut-off number. If I couldn't get them to fix my transfer case and driveline I didn't have any hopes they cut me slack on the warranty.

I fault the dealers more than Ford itself. I am seriously considering purchasing factory direct on my next one, but since I'm keeping my current truck (catastrophe aside), more than likely my next vehicle will be an Audi or Jag.

 

I've owned two Rangers: 92 reg cab 2wd 3.0 5spd and a 98sc 2wd 3.0 5spd (man).

I had almost no problems with the 92 although I only put approx 35,000km. I sold it with approx 95,000

I really did not like my 98 at all.

The release bearing went in the clutch twice and I do not abuse a clutch in any way. This seemed to happen every 20,000 km or so. Both times it was replaced under warranty by the dealer. He remarked that the friction disk and pressure plate were in excellent condition both times. It was just the bearing that failed.

I had many problems with water leaking into the cab and soaking the carpet. The dealer could not seem to fix this after several "attempts"

After approx one year the rear of the truck sat about level or lower than the front even when the box was empty. The dealer insisted that I did not have any broken springs and told me the suspension was fine. I never put more than 800lbs in the box.

If I tried to drive through more than 6" of snow and the wheels began to spin, the truck would start to shake very violently and you would have to give up even though many other 2wd trucks could spin there way through. I once decided to just let it shake because it was still under warranty, and it acctually broke the console that housed the gear shift away from the floor! I was hoping for more serious damage so the dealer would be forced to address my complaints. I told him to check such things as transmission mounts but he insisted everything was fine.

The speedometer quit working, which was also covered under warranty.

The classic door adjar light probem continued for the entire time that I had the truck.

I found the truck to be underpowered, and the ride was pure punishment.

This truck was not a pleasure to own at all.