LM: 93 Ford Ranger

So I currently have 2 “farm trucks” on the farm...unfortunately neither of them are really TRUCKS (Disco II and 94 pathfinder) I’m constantly cutting/hauling trees & branches, old barb-wire fence, etc. I have a 5 X 8’ tilt trailer that’s okay for this but requires hooking/unhooking/storing etc.

This popped up on CL and dude loves horse-trades. I think the mudders from the poopfinder would swap right over onto the ford wheels. I’m considering a “meet at the tire shop” trade. 

Only thing that sucks is I really love the pathfinder. It’s a stick, everything works (including AC,) and it’s an absolute stump-pulling beast in 4-low. It also has a title. I only paid $900 for it but I’m still kinda torn.

What say you, GRM? 

PS: I’d love to just buy the truck & keep all 3 but I’m trying to adhere to the “one in, one out” rule.

In reply to poopshovel again :

You're considering trading a vehicle you really like, for a truck with no title, a busted back window, a hacked off exhaust and a misfire?

I always love the "Replacement titles are cheap and easy to get" line.

STM317 said:

In reply to poopshovel again :

You're considering trading a vehicle you really like, for a truck with no title, a busted back window, a hacked off exhaust and a misfire?

I always love the "Replacement titles are cheap and easy to get" line.

if you were buying it... no brainer... the trade sounds like a terrible decision. 

How many miles on it?

The OHV 4.0L is pretty bulletproof.  Lifters like to tick and replacing them means pulling heads, or just let em tick.  Intake manifolds like to leak, but that's a Saturday afternoon.  If they're auto-locking hubs, they are plastic and will fail, but a junkyard trip will find you some earlier manual hubs that are better.  Make sure to get the outer bearing nut when you scavenge; they're different and the manual hub won't fit over your original auto-hub nut.  A4LD trans is nothing to write home about, but cheap to replace.  BW transfer case isn't super strong, but for farm use it will last forever.

Check for lifter tick and trans fluid color.  If it's good, I might consider it if it's under 150-175k.  If it's a 200k truck, it's just past its prime and I'd pass unless you want constant headaches.  Plenty of $900 compact pickups out there, many without scrap titles.

These years of Ranger were bulletproof, but not because of build quality and fine engineering, but because they're simple and uncomplicated.

(I have a 94 B4000 4x4 which is just a badge-swapped Ranger)

STM317 said:

In reply to poopshovel again :

You're considering trading a vehicle you really like, for a truck with no title, a busted back window, a hacked off exhaust and a misfire?

I always love the "Replacement titles are cheap and easy to get" line.

I don’t *need* a title. It is literally a farm truck. I never even bothered insuring/registering the pathfinder as it does not leave the farm. If you have a sub-$1k running truck with 4WD 5 miles down the road from me for sale or trade, I’m all ears.

In reply to Curtis :

Thanks man. I was thinking/hoping you’d chime in. 4WD, a bed, and decent reliability/parts availability > creature comforts in this scenario.

In reply to poopshovel again :

I guess to me it's a value thing. I don't know details about the pathfinder, but a clean title adds value just as no title detracts from value. I think your Pathfinder with clean title is worth more than a damaged ranger with no title, which would make it a bad trade for you as far as I'm concerned. I bet you'd see your pathfinder for sale for $1500-ish shortly after your trade. And if it's worth that, you might as well sell it yourself, buy the $900 Ranger and pocket the extra cash.

As for the truck itself, 93 was a transition year. They were the first of the rounded bodystyle, but still carried over the dash and some interior/electrical stuff from the squarebody trucks of the 80s. This might limit some parts availability being a single year offering. I've never been impressed with the durability of the auto transmissions in Rangers, and they often cost an mpg or two vs the stick options too. Other than that an older Ranger is pretty much an anvil.

In reply to STM317 :

True that. Sadly, I really_suck at selling stuff. My plan would be “buy ranger, swap tires, sell pathfinder.” And then I’d never sell the pathfinder, let it languish and rot, and give it away.

I realize that’s a “me” problem, but it is a real thing.

STM317 said:

In reply to poopshovel again :

As for the truck itself, 93 was a transition year. They were the first of the rounded bodystyle, but still carried over the dash and some interior/electrical stuff from the squarebody trucks of the 80s. 

Not sure if this remained true for the Ranger, but the B4000 continued the same interior/electrical through 94.  I've found parts availability frustrating in the opposite manner.... too many parts and it's hard to choose which one to buy.  I looked up wheel cylinders (thought I had a brake fluid leak but it turned out to be the Krown oil treatment) and there were quite literally 3 or 4 pages I had to scroll through on RockAuto.  I checked Advance and they had 4 different options in stock; Bendix, Duralast, Powerstop, and something else, and they could get a half dozen more options from local stores the next day.

The thing I do love about these trucks is their engineering simplicity - 2 wire flasher, no airbag, simple ABS that is easy to bypass if it fails, simple stuff that is easy to diagnose and rarely fails.

Newer stuff, everything affects everything else and has 16 wires on a CAN-BUS for seat heaters.

I like carburetors.