Well the whole issue is they make this product for the foreign markets so apparently they already have the tooling. And I don't buy the emmisions issue they all ready have diesels that are epa certified so they know how to make that work. It is the fact that probably less then 5% of the sales would be Diesel unless the price of gas does go to $5.00 a gal then that number would go up. It will take a major competitor bring a small diesel truck online before Ford will move. And that is the reason Ford will never be the number one auto company in America. They are always playing catch up with the competition. They let the Japs have the hybrid market and now they are whining because the Japs won't sell them the parts to make Hybrids.

 

d ranged if i may. i have said it before and i will say it again. the emissions are not even a factor in this. power is not a factor and acceleration isn't a factor. it's money like the second part of you post said. the 2.8 diesel liberty is not by any means considerd anything more than a suv. it passes emmissions with flying colours. it's turbo charged so while slow off the line she will kick your butt after 1800 rpm. that rules out emissions because i know that if diamler chrysler can do it ford can do it. it's more of a qeustion of will the market be there for them if they do it. if they do it and it doesn't sale they stand to lose millions of dollers if not in just developing a small deisel that can pass emmisions in the us. modern deisels are nothing like the old monsters you used to see. there is no more black smoke unless there is a problem. they aren't loud like they used to be. the deisel liberty you can hear the ping but not the roaring pipes. and it's not really that loud. it would outpull and outrun my 3.0 five speed anyday and i think my lil ranger runs pretty good. ford can't just build the deisel engine and toss it in stick in a showroom and stand to not lose much. the engine itself must be desinged the controler program has to be written a control system has to be designed the fuel system has to be designed the transmission has to be designed the rear end has to be designed. turbos have to be designed unless they find a suitable turbo and start a contract with that company. the intereior of the truck would have to be alterd aswell. your normal gasser doesn't have the snd dampening materiel you need to keep a customer happy when you stuff the deisel engine in it. everything that has anything to do with the truck at all must be tested for compatibility with that engine. ok at this point you already have a year of work at least and god knows how much money invested and any one hang up can kill it. next prototypes have to build and tested in the reall world then alterd if needed. then display models all decked out go to shows for a market study. if it doesn't go over well then it's over. if it does then they consider production. lets say they build em and they sell ok. ford has lost some possibly broke even. this could = no more deisel ranger. it sells great then they have a new cash cow. if they can't move em then it is a gient financial loss for the company with a massive scar on the reputation of ford and ranger trucks. now they have to ballance all of this ask themselfs is it really worth it.


steve exactly what it smells like.

 

They seem to be able to spend money on High Performance Mustangs that are built from scratch that they are not going to make a 1000 units a year. Yet they are not willing to bring a Ranger Diesel to the US market that they are already building in other countries. I have been to the Mexican Ford website and I can read enough spanish to figure out that they run about $15500 US dollars. They are just not sexy enough for Ford Execs.

 

bumpin_BII , I would love a Ranger Super cab with the 2.8 CRD from a Liberty. Whats the chance you snag one for me to transplant?
Dan

 

i've had that thought myself lol.
sadly that is a very expensive engine and it actually would colst less to buy the entire liberty from the bone yard in a few years and just have it all at once. it's truly a good idea but really would cost more than it would be worth to most ppl.also it is only available with a automatic

 

I agree the auto sucks. I think a 5 speed from a F150 would be strong enough though, as the 4.6 V8 only made 290 torque. Worst thing would probley be shifter placement. The 5 speed behind the 4.0 in the Ranger may even work if one did not beat on it too bad.
Dan

 

i'd say the five speed being the 4.0 would hold up pretty descent actually. the f-150 five speed would be ideal though. one behind a 302 would be about right in weight and strnth to handle the deisel. an adapter would have to be made of course and the crank tail or input shaft one would need extending most likely (the deisel may already have enough crank one would just have to see though) and you'd have to get the strongest clutch you could for it (the turbo hits all at once in it so the dampening springs would have to be massive) and the drive shaft should hold to it ok. the rear end well you would tear out a 2.3 or 3.0 rear end pretty fast i imagine. it may actually hold up though. on shifter placement you could always go with a racing cable shifter (i haven't seen them in a while but it has a yoke that sits in the trans and bolts inplace of the stock shifter and cables run to the handle wich is bolted in the cab in the original position) you could even devise a hydraulic shifter with some thought. the tires would need to be about 10 inches wide to handle the power when the turbo spooled up you would have to get stiffer springs maybe shocks in the front. the leaf springs would need to have traction bars installed to limit twisting and the frame should have any problem dealing with it. but mounting the engine would take some thought. there is plenty of room under the hood for it all so that isn't a problem it's just stuffing it all in there and making it work right. it's something worth cheking into though. the 2.8 liberty is very quite for a deisel and pretty smooth so you'd still have a pimp ride. the road drip tube i would elminate and run the drain off hose to a much larger canister than stock though. it's big enough to hand 4k miles of driving in most areas then it over flows. but the last 2.8 we had come through the eliminated the drip completly. personally i'd just dump it into a filter and pump it back to the fuel tank myself. it'd burn as good as deisel and all you need to do is change filters once in a while.

 

What is this road drip tube? Is it like the pre pcv system where the crankcase vapors go to the air?
Sounds like a great project. I think the rear froma 4.0 V6 is a 8.8 ring gear. That would hold up to the torque fine, and if the trans from the 4.0 V6 would work the shifter would not need to be moved.
Thanks Dan

 

Considering the huge success the power stokes have been in the super duty line, it is hard to believe that ford is not selling a diesel ranger in the U.S. Although, I am sure that some modifications would be required to satisfy the US EPA, it seems feasible to bring the mexico/europe/brazil/etc. diesel small cars and trucks to the US. I wonder if one could get a diesel ranger imported to a local dealer? I imagine the cost would be astronomical even if you could find a dealer willing to try. For what it's worth I've sent emails to ford on this, with meaningless "feel good" responses. I think 30 plus mpg out of a turbo diesel ranger is possible based on what the VW caddy, and the new VW TDI get. Just my two cents.

 

Where i live Regular gas is 2.79 pr/gal and diesel is 3.40 pr/gal, thats enough to keep me in a gas vehicle.

 

Don't forget one small detail: Diesels run forever. They don't want to sell you just one truck if they can sell you a new one every 4 years.

(--Okay, lots of us can make our Rangers last for a long time, but I'm talking about the masses. Enough people not repurchasing to put a dent in their residual profits...)

 

good call dave check out VW's new tdi pretty insane watch the video on their website where they froze a diesel golf to -25 F and cranked it right up it's amazing but to continue on this convo of marketability nissan and toyota are in the exact same shoes as ford in this dilema they have small diesel trucks available in the foreign market but there is "not enough demand" in the U.S. for a small diesel pickup truck which is funny cause right now im tryin to find a way to drop a diesel in my BII