As a fan of synthetic lubes, I generally change most of a new vehicle's fluids as soon as possible. This includes the coolant (though Ford's new coolant is much better), the engine oil and transmission fluid at the very least. That's been true with my 2004 Ranger 4WD too.

Doing this stuff is expensive but to me, a worthwhile expense since I believe it preserves the "like new" performance of a vehicle longer. Nevertheless, I like to save money when I can and so it was refreshing to hear that Ford installed some serious syrup in the rear end of the Ranger which has resulted in substantial reductions in differential failures. While Toyota and Nissan trucks still have problems with burned out rear ends, this issue is no longer a concern to Ford.

The lube is called RE (for "really excellent", NOT!). It has a service life of 750K miles. It is a real synthetic lube that costs about $28-$35 at cost. Like most true synthetics, it runs noticeably cooler at high speeds. In addition to protecting the differential much better, it also helps a bit with gas mileage. When I talked with the folks at SynLube, they advised that there was nothing better for a differential than RE. It is used in HD trucks like Henkel and marketed by Eaton. In contrast, with the regular Ford diff lube, they recommend draining at 600 miles and replacing it with their product. Apparently, there's that much difference.

Hopefully, this is a sign of even better things to come from Ford.

 

On the first oil change for my 97 Ranger, I asked a buddy at the dealership when I could start using synthetic in the engine. He said that the 2.3 in my truck had standard steel rings in it and that I should wait until it reached 10,000km so that the rings would seat properly. Otherwise, later on in life the engine would burn oil.
I listened to him and the truck still doesn't burn oil at all.
The truck is coming due for the tranny & rear end fluids to be changed. They will both get synthetic.

 

For some years now, emissions requirements have not permitted the lengthy break-in period that older cars went through. Consequently, most new cars have their rings seated within a few hours of the first start-up. This is why cars no longer come with a break-in oil. On my 2001 Focus ZX3, I converted at 1271, on my 2002 Focus SVT, I converted at 668 and now on my Ranger, at 784.

I use an ultra synthetic that has a service life of 150K miles and though I didn't keep the cars long since I wanted another Ranger, I did have 18K on the Focus with just 9.5 ounces of oil consumption and 5-6 ounces of oil consumption on the Focus SVT after 11K. Oil consumption was something over 60K miles per quart of oil. That level of consumption would be impossible if the rings hadn't seated.

Myths die hard. Those concerning synthetic oils are especially durable.

 

You do realize that the factory fill in both front and rear axles in Ford trucks has been synthetic for years?

 

On 2WD and 4WD front axles, the lube is petroleum based. On the '04 Ranger (at least), a Dana axle is used and that is indeed a true synthetic (PAO and esters).

 

Sorry, but what??? No Dana axle has EVER been used in the rear of any Ranger based vehicle. Ford went to factory synthetic lube years ago, check your information please before providing false data to others.

 

The ONLY axles used in the ranger are the FORD 7.5 and the FORD 8.8 also the early 83 model ranger used the FORD 6.75 rear axle. Now on the FRONT axle of a 4x4 they used the DANA 28 and the DANA 35 depending on year and engine.