I feel your pain. On my 98 Mazda B3000 4WD, I've had to deal with this:

Broken leaf spring
Ball joints
Front wheel bearings
Front wheel hubs or at least the vacuum system....did away with that by going to manual hubs
Brakes, brakes, brakes....yearly thing as it was on my Sport Trac too
Clutch master - twice...two mechanics couldn't bleed the first one for whatever reason
Clutch slave - concentric with the input shaft, had to pull the tranny, Ford must have saved a bundle on this piece of plastic wizardry
Heater blend door - no heat....not a good thing up here
Upper ball joints are toast again
Broken seat retractor levers
Broken brake and clutch pedal bracket - this one scared me the most, the cast pivot lugs wore through and broke off....what was the safety factor there, 1.1?

All this took place in less than 3 years and the truck went from 140k to 180k over this period.

 

When just talking about a vehicle for daily transportation (not a weekend toy or work truck), the rule-of-thumb that I use is when repair costs exceed 50% of what the cost of a replacement vehicle would be, it's time to sell it and move on.

Remember though, when looking at the total cost of a replacement vehicle, don't just look at the amount paid to your auto dealer or bank, you should also include any additional COST OF INSURANCE in the mix. Because I bought my Ranger via a cash sale, (with no loan involved), I did not have to have collision insurance on it...which kept my monthly/yearly operating costs way down.

BarnieTrk

 

i never hv bought any vehicle except on cash basis...
agree you need to make the full calculation including insurance cost before buying the new (even if used) vehicle.
that's why these boards are full of info useful to us not only who own already but are looking to buy and can see some of the pitfals/places to inspect and or ask the sellers about.

btw, one day later and still no coolant leaks.. (crossing fingers)...

 

Glad your coolant leaks are fixed!!
The only way to know if you have repaired it too much, is when you can only resort to Duct Tape and Lemons!!
I still have my 87 ranger in my signature...I bought it brand new and it still out 4-wheels anything in the REAL world....not your neighborhood mud hole, I'm talking about real mountain goat..30 miles off the pavement by yourself 4-wheeling.
in the 23 years I have replaced the motor once, 5 speed manual trans 3 times, clutch with trans and motor changes, right front ball joints, all ujoints except 4x4 axle, lots of bushings (radius arm, anti sway bars, and front spring bases), shocks x 2, fuel pump and sending unit, BOTH fuel filters (i found a hidden fuel filter on the left frame rail hidden by the cross member, and not mentioned in the Chilton or Hayes books), both front rotors, all A/C parts except compressor, valve cover gaskets 3 times (until I discovered rubber Felpro gaskets, water pump x2, wellllllllll you get the Idea.
I had a 98 ranger xlt 4x4 4.0l 4x4 auto.......it was gutless and I am so glad I kept my 87........I sold the newer one on craig's list and have not missed it one bit.
Anyway, I think you have to know your truck's personality and it has to mesh with yours....just like a good dog....you each know how the other will handle any situation. My Truck is better than any two-step partner i ever danced with!

 

ughh here we go again more stuff broken
fuel filler hose leaking
gas tank straps rusted out
rear end pinion + axle seals leaking
rear brakes + drums
yet another new cat...
yet another alternator
airbag sensors

 

that is EXACTLY why frankenranger got converted to electric.

and No, the problems didn't go away, they are just different.

 

Adding to some old posts above, still sounds like typical maintenance for a truck as old as yours, but continue rant. We like reading. My list has been surprisingly similar to yours with a lot of exactly the same parts going bad on my '94 2.3L 5spd 207,000 miles. Really, extremely similar. Luckily I've had 11 years with it to spread the repairs out over. I didn't see clutch or core support on your lists though. Not to be the bearer of bad news but those are 2 big jobs that are likely to pop up in the near future.

Are you at least doing a lot of this work yourself? I couldn't imagine having a Ranger as old as ours and not. I'd be spending a fortune at the shop. Doing the work at home though, I've found the concept of selling a car when it becomes 'too expensive to maintain' largely a myth. I could keep driving and fixing my little ranger until it literally rusts apart and its still cheaper than a car payment.

Josh

 

passed for a sticker !! (people in Mass. will know how important this is..)
had to jury rig the horn and delete the airbag light..
celebrated by doing an oil change- 1st since may lol

but.. serious rust underneath the bed crossmembers are falling off .. and under the radiator some other steel etc is crumbling.. ahh whatever..
oh and the tires are shot.. nice when winter is coming...
the spare tire carrier rusted out and the spare dragged on the highway - took it out and threw it into the bed.. it was making a nasty grinding sound ..

any good ideas on 14 inch tires?
i prefer a/t's .. it's got firestone destination a/t 225 70 14 on now but they don't make that size anymore ..

 

My neighbor also has a 97. He has also replaced rear shackles and gas tank straps and manual tranny ( probably due to lack of maintenance). I take note of all that goes on his as am sure will be dealing with same issues on my 03 at some point.

 

I've been running Cooper Weathermaster 215/70-14 snow tires for quite a few years now on the back. They aren't very good in the rain but provide a significant improvement in snow where the 2wd rangers really fall short. On the front I've actually been running junkyard tires that cost $15 each with about 60% tread left and I highly recommend that route if money is tight.

Keep an eye on the front body mounts under the radiator/core support if there's a lot of rust in that area. Those tend to rust out and can wreak havoc on your handling and ride comfort. Core supports can be found on Ebay for around $100, but are a real pain to install.

I'll be honest, you are worrying me a little bit with the talk of jerryrigging the horn, bypassing warning lights and so on. Some of these present safety concerns that should be taken seriously and I hope you plan to get them taken care of now that you have your sticker.

 

thanks for the tire recommend i willl look into them. here you need a working horn to pass for a sticker. the ranger has 2 horns wired in line and the ground to the mount makes it work. the first horn was so rusted that the connection wasn't there. so i just eliminated it and wired directly to the 'second'' horn.. so it works but kind of high pitched lol.
i never did like airbags..there are plenty of vehicles out there without them. but that's just me.. each to his/her own. you will find it hard to buy a crash sensor for a 97 ranger online. maybe a junkyard might have them but who knows i haven't found one so far. and ford would charge a fortune for it no doubt. anyway this is basically an in town truck , dump runs etc and i'm just trying to keep it alive a little while longer. in this thread you can see how many parts have been replaced!

 

radius arm on the passenger side just fell off due rust... ughh anyway its a dealer part so whatever .. got it replaced and its still running .. barely

 

So the battle continues. Were you able to change the radius arm yourself or did you end up taking it in? Those king pins were no fun to take out. No fun at all. How does the driver side arm look?

 

took it to local shop because i have no stands or air tools or heat here...
drivers side is still on but also very rusty. might break soon... it is amazing but you can drive them (very slowly) a short distance on just
the spring. kinda scary though i'll admit. oh and don't use the brakes..

all the rust is killing everything but the engine

 

ok finally gave up after almost 9 years of ownership .... sold ...and found another in much better condition in my sig...