I have a 97 Ranger with 2.3 , is there a way to remove the catalytic converter and the truck still run?

 

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you can gut the cat and put a straight pipe in its place, it not recommended to mess with the cat though especially on these 4 bangers, it messes with the back pressure among other things and can reduce the power of the already weak 4 cylinder engines.
just my 2 cents.

 

The cats on the newer trucks don't hurt performance much if there in good condition and there are high flow cats available. If you remove it you'll have a CEL and fail emmisions if you have them.

 

Assuming you don't have to pass emissions, you can get a CEL eliminator (more commonly called MIL eliminators) to turn off the check engine light. It makes the computer think the converter is still there and functioning. More than a few places sell them for V8 cars and trucks, but there are plans out there to make your own. Or you can take the less expensive route and take the instrument cover plastic off and put a piece of black tape over the light to cover it up. However, this will prevent you from knowing when you really do have a problem. With a CEL eliminator, the check engine light will still come on when there are other problems.

Small displacement engines can pass emissions without a converter depending on how a state does emissions. In my state, vehicles are ranked by age and curb weight, with no adjustment for engine displacement. Emissions will be high, but I passed about 88% of my state's emissions test with a gutted cat in my SVO (I had no clue it was gutted; I now know it probably failed due to a faulty FPR causing a rich mixture). If you suspect the cat has gone bad and want to gut it, go ahead, most states will give you a free retest if it fails. However, I will point out that in my SVO I noticed almost zero difference in performance after I had a Magnaflow high flow cat welded into the exhaust...so do what you will.

 

Of course, those MIL eliminators are essentially resistors with a certain value that is within factory spec range that the computer agrees with. I'm sure finding the O2 spec in a Ranger manual and a trip to Radio Shack will be less expensive and just as helpful.

As noted, though, the newer style cats are not noticeable in terms of restriction and performance gain, unless said cat is clogged.

Bad thing about messing with the CEL and taping it....I had a guy with a 00 Chevy reg cab/shorty lop off his cat conv. Has a CEL and stalled out yesterday before I left the dock. He's 5.5 hours from home in Northern Louisiana and I couldn't help him (nor could he tell) because I don't know if that CEL has other codes with the cat code he knows he has. He mentioned a slight stumble like maybe bad gas, but trying to help an out-of-stater with no money who's truck does all but fire up (everything up to the actual fire up and start sounded great) with no clue where to start was a bummer.