Hey yall my name is Wes I am new to this forum yet allready adicted.
My question is, what would you guys recomend for a daily driver that would handle some light to moderate offroading? I need something relatively cheap and decsent on gas, yes i know its a truck.

Little background story I just turned 18 and fresh out of high school, but i have had my share of vehicles, when i was 15 i drove a 93 bronco (OJ MOBILE as my dad called it), turned 16 got a 95 F350 it got about 7mpg, sold it and got a 98 Cherokee, however it wasnt a Ford so i let it go and picked up a 86 Ranger 2wd (it was free). Right now i have nothing and am just looking around.

Do F150s handle offroading well, are 250s or 350s better?
Any years better or worse?
Any information or suggestions are a big help and greatly appriciated

Thanks Wes

 

Id follow in Dillins footsteps but I just dont have the strength to give you my cell number.


Your budget is factor #1 but if you want as close to bulletproof in 100% stock form Id say buy a 79 F150 on the low side of $ and a 01-up Super Duty on the high side however neither are very fuel efficient.

Your wrenching capabilities, available tools and also having a roof over your head to wrench on the truck would be factor #2. A mid 90s Ranger with a 4.0 would be my choice for a capable economic platform especially if you swapped in an EB D44 and along with the 8.8 in the rear. Some 4.56s and 35" tires would be pretty bad ***.

 

tools space and abilities not really a problem
didnt think of a lifted ranger definatly gonna have to look into that
thanks for the quick responce

 

I recommended a Ranger with an EB44 swapped in to replace the D35ttb. 35" tires are very hard on a Ranger front end. I constantly broke u joints, shafts and hubs on my 96 Ranger with 33" swampers and also very briefly 35" ssrs.

 

i also vote a 4.0 ranger/explorer. its the most bang for the buck. enough power to be fun and zippy with gears, and you can still manage double digit mpg's on 35's. but truthfully, i would've kept the cherokee. i'm actually looking for one for a new family car. i love them, simple to work on, cheap, and they are pretty damn reliable. my last one went to well over 300k miles without any major issues or rebuilds, plus they already have solid front axles.

 

78/79 F150 or Bronco or pretty strong when it comes to the drivetrain and cheap, but not necessarily reliable or efficient. Though they are cheap to fix when they **** out.

86-97 F350 with a dizzle for decent mpgs, gas for cheap, either or decently reliable if you find one that hasn't been beat to hell. Again, depends on what your budget is. If you're going to be beating the crap out of it off road and expecting it to be a reliable daily driver these might be your best bet, but you'll need to do some work to soften up the suspension if you like your kidneys where they are and plan to offroad it much.

99 and up superduty has the solid axle so decent for offroading again, and these are very reliable, but if you plan on burrying it in mud there are more sensors to get effed up and sealed unit bearings are $$$$ if you're going to put big tires and play in the mud. Like Kris said, gas mileage isn't all that great, but fuel mileage on the 7.3/6.0 is decent. Again, budget allowing.

I don't know that the ranger is going to do all that much better on gas with the ancient power trains in them and add that to all the work that would need to be done to it to make it viable offroad with any sort of reliability and performance and ehhh.. not my first choice, but it could work if you want to keep it stockish and put some 33s on it I guess.

 

I ran a power train on your mom.

 

funny i did to

 

paul, i have some buddies that run rangers and they do pretty good all around and i believe they are still getting 15ish mpg's with 4.10 gears and 33''x14'' boggers and another on 34''x10.50'' ltb's. they are both 4.0 5spd trucks. both locked front and rear, bonus points: while 4.56's would be better almost all of the 4cyl trucks came with 4.10's and make for an easy junkyard axle swap

 

4 poppers came with smaller axles i think and in the later years weren't even available with 4x, though I had a 3.0l v6 "off road package" rangar with 4.10s, but it were open f/r. However the exploders of the same year with ttb had a d35? while the ranger had a d27? or something like that and IIRC it is a bolt in deal. Further, the exploders had disc brake 8.8s that could be swapped in (desirable because of the matching bolt pattern), but they are spring under while the ranger is spring over, making it a little bit of a PITA to swap.

 

the ranger is definatly a good thought but i think im gonna need a fullsize to haul feed and do farm work, so i have to deal with the mileage, and yeah Dan i did like that cherokee and with the 4.0s you cant kill them only flaws the unibody and it didnt have a truck bed.

http://s1020.photobucket.com/albums/...9190014461.jpg

Captian P4
86-97 F350 with a dizzle for decent mpgs. whats a dizzle?

 

dizzle or deezle=diesel, you know, those loud clanky motors that sound like they have a rod knocking at idle

well, seeing as you need a fullsize bed for hauling duties but you would still like some mpg's i vote later model f150 4x4 with a fuel injected 300 straight six and a manual tranny if you can drive stick(1987-1996 would be the years to look at) the ttb front axle will be fine for moderate offroad use with 35's or smaller. and on a plus side, these trucks can be found damn near anywhere for pretty cheap and in decent shape.

 

real trucks don't have spark plugs Dan

 

Yeah I know what a diesel is I may be a kid but im not that ignorant, I just never heard someone refer to the legendary 7.3 as a dizzle such a childish name for for such a manly motor

i was looking into th 4.9s but didnt know if it would have the hauling power

 

Paul, this kid just called you a child. Get 'em!