Wanted, 94-97 Ranger
 

My girls brother is looking for a 94-97 Ranger under $3000, prefers a 4.0 manual but might consider a 3.0 or auto, no 4 bangers.

will keep my eyes open.

Thanks ! ! !

me too. I used to have a 96 ranger before my F-150, was 4.0 manual. too bad i traded it otherwise i would have sold it to him for 2500

There is a running 95 4.0/5sp at the local yard to me in Rahway NJ. The body looked pretty good (no dents or rust, just a few dings and some chips on the top of the tailgate) and it does run, my buddy started it up saturday as he was thinking about purchasing it for his son as his son's first car (he's about to turn 17). The seats and headliner look as though raccoons sharpened their claws on it, but other than that the truck looked and ran fine. I don't remember the mileage, as I didn't really look at it that closely. The tranny shifted fine and the clutch seemed okay to me... but we just drove it around the pot-hole laiden roadway in front of the junkyard. As of this past Saturday, it's in the "whole car" lot on the side of the junkyard, not racked and stacked for parts rapage, and typically they sell whole "big three" cars for $500-650 depending what it is. One flat tire, three corded tires, and it has a trailer hitch of some kind under the bumper (looked like a class 1). The radio is gone as is the headlight switch, and the cluster surround is on the passenger seat but it looks like most of the screws were on the floor. I have some if you need them. The passenger mirror seemed loose, but not broken, I think the screws just backed out a bit or maybe was replaced and not tightened all the way.

My friend who went with me to the yard this past Saturday was thinking about acquiring it for his 16 y/o son as a project truck, also buying the powertrain from my crewcab (5.8L, ZF, when I swap that out this summer) and making a fun sleeper. Other than the seats and the headliner, I didn't see anything terribly obviously wrong with it. Obviously a drive around a pothole road wasn't a real road test... but what we looked at seemed okay. I *don't* think my friend is going to buy it, as after mentioning it to his son he got the "honda honda honda honda" discussion. I dunno... if when I was 16 my father offered to buy me a used car, I'd have taken anything, even a pink volvo!

If the truck is still there and you're interested in it, you can come here and I'll take you over since they know me, I have access to a dolly and you can store it here for a few days to a week if that helps you out at all. You can even borrow the dolly to haul it home if you have a 2" ball on your truck. But you'll need to replace the seats, headliner and the tires for sure. I didn't see any other similar year rangers there so you'll have to go elsewhere for that stuff, but the rims/tires I'm sure they have there. They have a huge, cleanly marked (though unsorted) area for tires. Rows and rows.


I'll be there tomorrow anyway for leeching EFI bits, I'm happy to take pictures of the thing if you'd like... save you a trip if its absolutely below your expectations. It has AC and it blew "cool" power windows, power locks, sliding rear window. The tailgate latched too though it didn't open the first couple of times we pulled the handle, that mechanism is obviously a bit loose, but it doesn't rub on either bedside, so its within the tailgate and not indicating a twisted frame or such. The bed contours line up with the cab on both sides so Im guessing that it wasn't wrecked and repaired. The carpet looked okay, its filthy dirty and has junkyard mud footprints both sides, but that can be steamed out. Maybe a cig burn or two is hidden under that mud, but it didn't look bad at all. The seats are bad... really really bad... for the test drive I took a moving blanket out of my truck to sit on because I didn't like the metal seat frame poking me in the ass. The driver side is much worse than the passenger side, but the yellow foam shows through on both seats.

Definately raccoons lol.

Thanks for the info but he's looking for something he can drive without any work, he's not cut from the same mold as we are. I also appreciate the storage/dolly offer.

LOL, gotta watch those seat springs.

Fair enough.

Turns out my pal is coming here tomorrow anyway, and we're going to haul it out of there. He negotiated it down to $350, and we'll clip gray explorer seats, radio, headlight switch and a headliner and cut it to fit, so his total cost should be about $450-475 or thereabouts. He looked around and didn't see any rims/tires that would fit, so I guess we'll have to find something before he drags it home.

I'd have snagged it myself except I don't need another project in the driveway. I have two as it is.

Glad to hear it found a new home and that's a good deal.

eBay is clock full of Ranger parts

especially rims and interior components
as you likely know lots of Explorer parts fit (interior) and are usually a bit of an upgrade from the Ranger counterpart

Yeah, the price was right for sure. I just got home actually from towing it across town... took it for a quickie test drive down the street and it runs pretty good even with a flat tire in the front :). Doesn't seem to mind WOT at all. Needs new filters or a fuel pressure regulator, but we'll get that when I go back to the yard to help my buddy finish leeching the explorer interior. While he was completing the transaction, I found way in the back a gray leather interior explorer that was a rear hit, so the bits that he needs interior wise are intact. They started to nickel and dime us on the interior pieces when we asked, so I just asked "how much for the whole interior?" and they said... "oh, I dunno... $200. So, he's there now tearing out the dash, the leather seats, the door panels, the power bits and wiring in the doors, some of the floor console pieces, the overhead piece that his new/old ranger doesn't have for some reason, the visers, etc. So for $550 (plus tires) he'll have himself a fairly decent toy.

We do have to get tires for the rear end at least today, otherwise he's not taking it home. I suggested since it's running pretty good, why not pick up new cheap tires just to have decent rollers, but he wanted to go through the junkyard's tire selection again anyway, to find the correct size tire, even if the rims are incorrect. We can swap them I guess and bring the junk rims back to the other yard for scrap weight.

Though our mutual friend did manage to shove a 460 into a 92 explorer (I helped), so he might not buy my powertrain out of my crewcab after all; This morning he was eyeing the "spare" 460 I have at the back of the garage that I've been using to mock up turbo manifolds and intake bits. I also pulled out a digital aerostar cluster which looks close enough to hack into the factory dash... so maybe over the summer after he helps me do my twin-turbo engine swap I might have to help him integrate something like that into the ranger.

Looks like filters, tires, oil change, the interior bits are taken care of acquisition wise, couple of bulbs and a fuse or two, and possibly a fuel pressure regulator (I suggested grabbing one off the explorer and tossing it into my lawn cart :) ).

The really cool thing is the title was never filed as junk with the state, so they just handed it to him with the prior owner on the title. That's always a bonus here in NJ, the state doesn't have to inspect it with a fine tooth comb as they require with junk-now-driving vehicles.

kenoo, i might have just what you are looking for up here in middlesex county. 94, 3.0 auto, 105k? miles, in pretty good shape, but will need brakes soon. someone is coming to look at it tomorrow, if no go, he will let me know on monday.

tjc, how much $$$ is he looking for?

He got one, ended up with a 2001 3.0 107k, no other details yet. Thanks to everyone for their help.