I know they make them with rubber floors and manual windows, I drive them regularly. But they still have friggen satellite radios, cruise control, and can haul about as much as an older F250. The funny part is, with all that extra capacity they put 4ply tires on the things.

I don't expect them to build a truck that can get 30mpg that only costs $10,000 but I think they could do a little better.

 

All that satellite radio,cruise, etc is added options.

What did a stripped down 96 F150 cost new? 15k? In 15 years they way things have jumped in price, I dont think that is too bad

 

Last year was the last year for the Ranger. Id know... I bought one lol. Then traded it off for a real truck! I think Rangers were rated to tow somethin like 3500 lbs? Then the fact that a bare bones Ranger was $18,000 and a F-150 was $23,000.... $5000 more and you could get a real truck lol. $2000 more and ya got that Dodge (Fiat) Express with a ground pounding Hemi

 

The "hemi" is JUNK. It is NOT even hemispherical designed heads. Dodge should be sued for false advertising.

All I know about a ranger, is I own a 04 w a 4.0(207hp/238tq) 5spd and 4:10 gears. It will out tow my brothers 96 F150 6cyl(15hp/260tq) 5 speed 4:10 gear truck and get better milage doing it.

I am not knocking these older truck, just defending NEWER technology

 

Never gonna happen a 4.9 with a stick and 4.10 hahaha mine has 3.55 and will pull a house

 

Not saying it cant do it, but my ranger will run circles around it doing it AND get better milage

 

They're not junk. If you look at the heads, the combustion chamber is Hemi shaped except with two gigantic quench pads on either side to reduce chamber size. They have two rockers hafts, opposing valves, etc..just like the original Hemi engines. The quench pads are necessary to improve emissions and reduce detonation.


The Ranger died simply because Ford refused to put modern engines and power trains in them and well do any kind of updating at all. They're pretty much had the same basic dash structure since '94. The last engine update the Ranger got was the 2.3 Duratec in the early 2000s.

 

4.9 is built to tow and last long doing it the 4.0 sohc is a timing chain nightmare

 

The ranger got dropped for ONE reason and one reason only. It was taking sales away from the F-series line and chevy was gaining on the sales numbers. Ford figured if they drooped the ranger, then people would buy a F150 and the beloved 30+ year track record of the #1 selling truck could be saved. I for one, will NOT buy a F150. I bought a ranger because i wanted a "little" truck, and I will buy another "little" truck, weather it be a toyota, nissan, isuzu, etc since Ford no longer offers one here in the states

 

Many ranger buyers switched to small cars instead or defected to other makes. The Ranger was discontinued because no one was buying them - because they've essentially been the same since '98 with an interior that dated to '94.

They sold 350,000 rangers in 1999. Just 55,000 in 2010. Ford sold almost 550,000 F-150s in 2010. Ranger sales were not taking anything away from the F-series.

 

And ford did that on purpose. You cant tell me if they offered a 4 door or diesel, the sales wouldn't SKYROCKET and surpass F150 sales? Then ford would be in the conundrum of loosing sales numbers to chevy. It was a marketing ploy, and it worked

 

What I do know from personal experience......

my neighbor (a close relative)- adult, not a kid) across the street had a 2003 Dodge 4x4, 4-door cab, extended bed, V10, auto, etc with the factory (dealer installed) lift kit. At 3 years of age with 45,000 miles (all in Los Angeles)...
1. The piston rings let go- engine replaced under warranty
2. Valve guides let go- heads replaced under warranty
3. Transmission failed 3 times, rebuilt 2 times by factory, 3rd time he was on his own
4. Diff gears failed- owner replaced

Then he comes to my house one day in 2006:

The front lift kit is literally falling off the truck (yup, the metal is actually tearing). Factory has issued a recall but, available parts are limited to the front right (IIRR)...no parts available for the left front

Where imminent failure is likely, dealers were authorized to conduct repairs at any qualified welding facility- in this case the dealer sent the truck to Midas muffler, where they mig welded the structural cracks (ok...stop laughing that hard now!)

Now it's at my house with the front wheels sitting like a duck! The oem lift kit was definitely made overseas- gauge (thickness) of metal was clearly sub-standard for a vehicle of this size and weight. The replacement parts were basically stamped steel plate (about 18 gauge) which covered the entire lift kit parts that attached to the frame, Just one little issue--- besides being only 18 gauge (or about), the material was full of containments. As I took my grinder to reduce the mig welds to see conditions, the metal plate heated very irregularly showing multiple hot/cold spots within the same area. As I choose my oxy/acet torch with a large brazing tip, utilizing copper coated rod, the metal plate literally developed hot spots in the adjacent areas, where metal areas about the size of a penny "suddenly liquified", with absolutely no direct flame impingement. Within a minute it looked just like a piece of metal that had been sitting out in the elements for 30 years and had rust-like holes in it- except it was still shiny of course.

Sitting back for a minute and giving this some thought, I took some 1/2" flat bar steel and with heat, gently formed an inner and outer brace along each of the lift kit components, then welded up any suspected/visual cracks or fatigue locations.

The owner helped the whole time.....when done, he asked me what I thought....my response:

1. Don't drive this thing over 30 mph
2. I doubt if this will hold for more than 3 weeks
3. Get this thing to a dealer and trade it in

9 weeks later he knocked on my door, one of the parts was starting to fail again in another area, not one single Chrysler dealer in Los Angeles would touch the truck on a trade in (well one in Valencia offered him $500 for his truck, wheels and tires basically, the truck would be scrapped), he found a GM dealer that would give him $2k (mind you this was a new $50,000 truck 3 years prior)- and asked if I would weld it up one more time...I looked at it and said, yeah, but give the dealer a call first to see if they will just tow it- they did.

The Dodge trucks are crap (not that everyone's trucks don't have some type of issue) , to this day the same mfg builds the Nissan & Dodge full size truck auto trans- the torque converter impellors (V8 trucks) are only brazed in still, which causes eventual torque converter failure-

but for any mfg to allow critical safety related components to be used that do not meet the most basic stree demand requirements and additionally take no action on conditions that will kill occupants and place others on the roadway in immediate jeopardy is criminal!

But this is or was the corporations "value system"- let em sue and we will provide support when it's convenient!

 

You must be mistaken. Dodge built so much quality Fiat had to buy them. LOL

 

Except 1) the chassis of the Ranger dated to 1982 and they would have had to totally redesign the Ranger, 2) most Ranger buyers said they were just buying it for cheap transportation, not as a cheap truck, 3) the focus groups said that they didn't want a 4 door if it would cost more - and it would, 4) a diesel in the half-ton truck class is problematic for getting past the EPA, 5) the compact pickup truck market has tanked in recent years because of the small price differential between those and the full sizes, while the capabilities of the compact trucks don't begin to rival them.

 

Sorry, a sale is a sale, no matter if it's an F-150 or a Ranger. I also doubt 4-door Ranger sales would have done anything. You now have a giant-small truck that gets the economy of a full-sized with the capability and cargo capacity of a compact. They even had a fairly competent turbo diesel in the late 80s and still no one bought them.

Yes Ford neglected the ranger and sales suffered, but small pick-up sales in America have been decreasing for well over a decade now - from all makes - which is want made them hesitate to update it. New emissions, crash, and general safety standards were rapidly approaching and would have required a complete redesign of the North American ranger.

I also see Beechkid is still telling the same lies. Blatantly lying about failing brazed torque-converters as well as Nissan and Dodge trucks using the same transmissions (they don't). There was never any recall or issue with suspension components tearing off/breaking for that generation of Ram either.