telll me about early 90s ford rangers...

[id10t]

Son is turning 18 in December, I've been thinking of a vehicle for him and a truck I can use to tow a small boat (or a couple of canoes). Figure we'll end up sharing my current commuter and the truck, depending on who is going where and doing what.

Just came back from the dump, and a neighbor a mile up the road has a '93 Ford Ranger that looks very clean and well taken care of in his yard for sale at $1750. 100k miles. 4 cylinder, 5 speed manual, has a topper.

From what I understand, these little guys can easily go 200k+ if you do the oil changes and such. I know they are supposed to be the same as the Mazda B2200/2400/etc series, my B2200 was bulletproof....

[Seahawk]

Friends of mine have them and love them. I have no direct experience except for a 1986 Ranger I inherited in 1991 that ran great until my wife was T-boned in it (not her fault) in 1996.

She walked away.

Hard to go wrong at that price point but again, no direct experience on what to look for.

I really think that is a great car for a young man.

Best.

[fastfredracing]

I don't know where you are located, but rust. Check the shackles, spring hangers, and front spring mounts.

[dafischer]

Originally Posted by fastfredracing

I don't know where you are located, but rust. Check the shackles, spring hangers, and front spring mounts.

As well as metal brake and fuel lines.

[MRM]

They were manufactured at Ford’s St. Paul factory for years until safety standards changed and Ford would have had to completely retool their facility and redesign the vehicle to meet the new standards. That’s why they went out of production. They are very simple and didn’t see much change over the years, so it’s an old design that was kept in production. As a result, it has a reputation for being reliable since all the bugs were mostly worked out if it. They were quite popular, even when they went out of production. It was regulatory issues that killed them.

Short story not too much longer, they are simple and mechanically reliable, built on an old design, so much of the tech is old. It has seatbelts. It has headlights. Uhm, I think that’s about it for safety equipment. But it’s probably a great first vehicle. It’s not likely to strand him and it’s hard to get into too much trouble with the ferocious output of the tiny engine. As Paul said, it’s hard to go wrong at that price.

[KFC911]

Sounds like a winner for y'all .

Buddy had one ... passed it on to his son ... great small trucks.

[fintstone]

Nice size. Might be a good starting point for a Coyote motor.

[recycled sixtie]

Loving my 2008 Ford Ranger Sport. The only rust is at the bottom of the tailgate where water is trapped. A new one is $560 cdn. I think I will leave it as it is because you cannot see the rust unless you put the tailgate down.

[Gogar]

[id10t]

Putting the shoes back on and heading out the door....

[asphaltgambler]

Originally Posted by fastfredracing

i don't know where you are located, but rust. Check the shackles, spring hangers, and front spring mounts.

++1

[id10t]

No rust. No AC. Slow leak in brakes somewhere. New price of 1500.

On the good side interior is great, no rust on the unlined bed or tailgate and tires have plenty of tread

Still thinking ....

[oldE]

I've had an '88 and a '92, both 4 wheel drive. One was a 4 cylinder 4 speed. The newer had the 2.9 V6 with 5 speed. The 4 banger is a non_ interference engine, so when the timing belt snapped, the only consequence was a short walk to a telephone.
I believe '93 was the first year for the wishbone front suspension. A friend has an '08 and kept it going by building a wooden box on it after the factory box rusted apart.
Stone axe simple. At that age maintenance is the greatest indicator of condition.

Best
Les

[jamesnmlaw]

I gave my 1993 Ranger XLT to my wife's uncle out on the rez in OK. Regretted that from day 1. The '93 was a 4.0, extended cab, 2WD. Just a bit thirsty.

If there's no rust then you're good to go.

[cabmandone]

Buy it. The things just go... and go... and go... My BIL is still driving his rusted 80's for work and sometimes in the summer he gets out his "new" one.

[gregpark]

We found a straight, clean and rust free '93 Ranger for my 16 year old grandson. Great little truck. 2 weeks ago he backed it into one of my cars, now it has a crumpled quarter panel and f'd up bumper. My car needs a new bumper cover. He, of course, felt horrible. I didn't give him grief over it, his dad took care of that. As a first time driver he's already assigned risk insured. I told him he learned an easy lesson, if he hit someone else's car who filed a claim, he'd be back on his bicycle. Use yer mirrors kid! Could have been worse,, no one was hurt and it wasn't my 911

[id10t]

Welp, made the phone call and will be paying for/picking up the truck Monday after work.

Figure even if I put $1k into fixing the AC and such I'll still be in it for a decent price

[KFC911]

Awesome! One of my Jax buddy's just bought a 17-18' Carolina Skiff ... a Ranger would tow that and handle most ramps no problem. He's getting his sorted out in a small creek off the upper St. Johns (Cunningham) and seeing gators . We fished your backyard in a 14' aluminum Jon boat more times than I can count with a Lab... I may be back .

Great truck... enjoy!

[porsche tech]

I also had an ‘88 extended cab B2200 that was extremely trouble free. Would probably still have it if the underneath hadn’t rusted so badly. The body and interior still looked perfect (I had taken the stupid stripes off that it came with). Also had a set of studded snow tires on extra rims and it actually did quite well in the snow.

[nota]

pinto motor

but the good bit is you can bolt in the newer turbo version
that makes about 300hp