I am looking into possibly buying an 1984 ranger, 4 x 4, 2.8 v6, Carburated not fuel injected, 5 speed manual OD, with limited slip rear end. The truck body is real straight and clean, it is coming from the original owner, but the truck has 250,000 miles on it. it runs pretty good, lacks some power, went through a transmission rebuild and new clutch and throw out bearing a short while ago. water pump, timing gears, etc. He also redid most of the front end bushings. It won't pass a smog test....but I have the resources to fix it and make that happen. Other than what seems to be somewhat a lack of power, the engine runs pretty good, quiet. I already had it go through a pretest for a smog test and the guy said the compression was good....he didn't actually check the compression, just looked at the emission numbers. In reading other postings at this site, I thought that the transmission was a Mitsubishi...but the owner said it was something called a "TOKO-YOKO" or something like that...not a Mitsubishi or Mazda tranny. It is the stock one that came with the truck...just recently rebuilt. He also showed me how Ford seems to bolt it to the bell hosing on an angle...causing ultimately oil in the tranny not to reach all important areas. He has since extended the oil fill port on the tranny with a 90 degree plumbing fitting which now allows the tranny to be filled a little more with oil to assure complete internal coverage, I guess this was a tip he got from the transmission rebuild shop to get better life out of the tranny. He uses synthetic oil in the tranny.

I don't believe that the 4 x 4 was engaged much....seems to work just fine.

My questions: What are the weak issues with this truck. typical problem areas to be aware of? Is there a tranny other than the Mazda or Mitsubishi that was an option? 2.8 v6 typical engine problems? What about this tranny, is it a week piece of junk, a bad ford design or what?

Thanks for your input!

 

Computer assisted carb engines can be tempermental to adjust to pass emissions. Is it computer assisted?

In WA state, any vehicle that has had the emission systems tampered with/removed and fails emissions is subject to the owner spending unlimited $ to make it pass. If no tampering, then I think you must spend $200 every time you run it through emissions n an effort to make it pass. Check with your state if needed. Remember, the above can come back to bite at the time you sell it. Smart/educated buyers in WA run em through an emissions test before buying. With the miles this truck has, a converter could be needed. Then there is was I mentioned above.

With all the miles on this truck, make sure it's priced right, regardless of all of the money that current owner has put into it.

 

the mazda and the Toyo Yogko are the same transmission. but you say it has a removable bellhousing, correct? only the mitsubishi has the removable bellhousing. not sure, but ford seems to have moved away from the mitsubishi transmission. i have only heard of the 80's rangers having them along with the mazda, then in the 90's to present they use the mazda. i dont think they make the mitsubishi anymore so the mazda must be the upgrade.