Hi,
I'm new here. I was hoping I might get an opinion on the frame of this truck which is a 2005 with under 30k miles. I'm not an expert on evaluating this kind of thing but am looking to possibly purchase as I need a 4x4 truck for dump runs and work around our property. Should I be surprised at the amount of rust? I currently have a 2010 with higher miles in 2wd.
I appreciate any input!

LED

 

If mine, I'd be looking for a same year, same setup truck and switch running gear.

 

If that truck was in MN, someone could pretty much advertise it as “rust free”. That looks pretty good, assuming it’s solid everywhere.

 

Thank you both for the comments! Still thinking about this one...

 

A few years ago I got an 01 from the Detroit, MI area and it was rusted way worse than this. To give you an idea, you couldn't use a gas cap on it, because the steel tube had rusted enough to collapse the plastic sleeve the cap engages with. The bottom half of one door skin was gone- not rusty, GONE- due to corrosion. And of course it needed new brake lines. HOWEVER, there were no problems at all with the frame! On this era of Rangers for whatever reason, Ford did an unusually good job of designing the frame with appropriate corrosion tolerances, drain holes, and whatever else to prevent damage.

Which is all to say- go for it, I don't see any real problems in the photos you posted.

 

If it were mine I would just Fluid Film everything that is rusty and drive it. It looks like surface rust to me. The key is to stop it before it can get serious.

 

Okay. It sounds like the rust might be managed (stopped) and that it isn’t necessarily the kiss of death. I thank everyone for their help in this. I will follow up if I can work out a deal.

 

Well, this truck was in an auction - 2005 Ranger FX Level 2 with approx 27k miles. So it had extended cab, bedliner, leather seats, cd, power windows, more. I didn't win it. Sold for $13200. There was dry rot on all the tires., Cracked windshield, A bit of rust at chrome of front bumper. Overall a nice truck but just not willing to spend that much. Was that a good price do you think?

 

My 2010 Ranger is bare bones and 2WD. Our property has some slope and our land fill can be a huge mess. That's why I was thinking about a 4WD. How much difference can good tires make on the 2WD for grip? I'm at the point where I should get some new ones. Suggestions?
Here's my truck from almost 3 years ago.

 

That's kind of hard to quantify, but in my experience, "not much" when the truck is empty- which it would be on the way out of the landfill. What about a locker, plus low tire pressure, plus snow/mud tires? Between those 3 things you might have what you need.

 

I ended up buying a 2004 Ram 1500 SLT Crew Cab 4x4 with 185k miles on it. $4800. No rust anywhere and everything works. Probably need new tires though.
so I’m going to sell my Ranger.