97' XLT V6 3.0 Fixer Upper

[GreeneDog]

Hello fello Rangers! So this is my first truck i've ever bought. I drove my dad's 02 Dodge Ram for a while in High School but this is the first time i've owned a truck myself.

So a little back story, the wife and I decided to get rid of both of our sedans and get her a 2017 Honda Pilot for our family vehicle. At first I was going to fix up my brother in law's Ram 1500 but it ended up being around $7k to get the engine replaced. Not worth it.

After looking around for a bit, one of my wife's relatives said they were selling their Ranger for about $2k. Went and test drove it. It ran. So I bought it.

Really I only need it to drive to work which is about 15 min from my house. Got it home and started noticing things were wrong. Hood wouldn't open well (nothing a hammer can't fix) something was leaking coolant (turned out to be rusty water), and there was a slight squeak coming from the serpentine belt somewhere. All things that I can manage to fix really.

Now, i'm not a mechanic, I don't know much about how engines work really, but I know enough to be dangerous and not enough to also be dangerous........

I figured that I could manage the squeaking part without having to rip apart the engine and end up with a box of screws that I didn't have before I started.

Boy was I wrong......

For those of you who are like me and don't know much about vehicles, word of advice......DO NOT....I repeat....DO NOT USE WD-40 TO STOP A SQUEAK COMING FROM SOMEWHERE ON YOUR SERPENTINE BELT!!!!

My engine sounded like I opened up a pig slaughterhouse where about 12,000 pigs were dying. This was on a Wed. I had to drive to work and back with my truck sounding horrific. It was embarrassing. My boss followed me home to make sure I didn't break down on the way back.

This truck was just going to be a beater truck I used to get to and from work, but since i've been working on it, i've decided to get her running nice and put some money into her and make her my own. This will be my first fixer upper truck and I'm hoping to learn more about how everything works.

With the backstory out of the way, here's the part where I talk about what i've done so far, some before pictures and plans for the future.

Took off the serpentine belt and saw the alternator was squeaking, so I bought a new one. Didn't fix the problem. Checked the power steering pump, it squeaked too. After figuring out how to get the power steering pulley off (thank you youtube) went and bought a pulley insert extractor set.

Did you know that those pulleys are plastic? Two pulley extractors and a prybar later, the steering pump was off and the pulley lay in pieces. I replaced them both and put a new belt on as well.

When she roared to life there was no more squeaking! It was a very proud moment lol.

I then changed the oil, transmission fluid, replaced the water pump because it was leaking, flushed the radiator and changed out the spark plugs and plug wires. She's been running great since then.

I haven't decided what I should do next, but after being under the truck I saw that she needed some work down there. New tierods and the exhaust system is looking a bit rusty. Also she needs new wheels, so when I get those done I'll probably do the rotars and brakes as well. I want to lift her about 3-5" but that will probably be much later once I get all the rest fixed up.

With the exterior I've decided to go with the truck liner full body paint job. Although, I haven't decided if I want to go straight black or a different color.

I haven't decided what I want to do with the interior but I've been thinking about taking out the passenger seat so my giant German Shepard can lay down next to me while I drive around. He's really going to be my only rider with me.

Thanks for reading my long post! Ill post a couple photos of my truck and give y'all updates as I replace, fix and upgrade parts.

 

[GreeneDog]

 

[adsm08]

For those of you who are like me and don't know much about vehicles, word of advice......DO NOT....I repeat....DO NOT USE WD-40 TO STOP A SQUEAK COMING FROM SOMEWHERE ON YOUR SERPENTINE BELT!!!!

Belts squeak because they are slipping over something in the drive system. Adding a lubricant doesn't usually make that better.

9 out of 10 times the slip is caused by the smooth side of the belt being glazed, and so if you have a squeaking belt just buy a belt.

 

[GreeneDog]

Yeah, I figured that out lol. Never again. Ive learned my lesson

 

[Ranger850]

also if the grooved side of the belt has thousands of tiny cracks (dry rotted) it will squeal, but you've fixed the problem already so...

 

[Uncle Gump]

I'm a little jealous of the rust free trucks from the south...

I've done the bed liner thing from the body line down on a couple Rangers in the past. It was done for chip protection and to cover my less then stellar body work. I used the Rustoleum stuff... after a year or so it seemed the dirt would etch in and it seemed to sun fade too. It certainly didn't look as good as it did when new. As clean as that one appears I would be hard pressed to do an all over and would probably spring for a cheap paint job.

 

[GreeneDog]

I was thinking about getting a paint job but Im worried about the same thing about chipping and whatnot. Louisiana isn't very strict on big trucks keeping their loads of rocks and dirt held down and in the area where I live there aren't many sidewalks so all the shoulders are basically gravel or dirt. Thats why I was thinking of the rugged exterior so I won't have to worry about it. Plus it would be something I could do myself and not have to buy extra equipment.

 

[Uncle Gump]

I get what you're saying... just sharing my experience with the cheap bed liner I used really. At the end of the day... your truck... your choice.

 

[GreeneDog]

Thanks for the input. I actually was looking at some cheaper stuff but if its gonna fade or dirt's going to adhere to it over time I'll probably get something on the higher side. You get what you pay for lol. Some of the liners they have out now come in different colors too. I was looking at like an OD Green or possibly a dark blue....not sure yet.

 

[Ranger850]

I've also seen where guys have the spray in bedliner over the top rails of the bed too , for added protection

 

[GreeneDog]

Here's a couple more photos of the engine. The replaced alternator, power steering pump and pulley and the water pump. Its not leaking rusty fluid anymore.

 

[DannyG]

Looks like a solid truck for a little commuter.

I have never liked the whole truck in bed liner craze, I prefer a nice gloss on my truck/car. I will say though a matte OD green or Sandstone is quite attractive. If you do eventually go the route of either paint or bed liner always choose quality materials. You will thank yourself later.

Welcome and enjoy the madness!

 

[91stranger]

The squeaking belt is an easy fix. All you need is some baby powder. Get the bottle of baby powder and sprinkle it on your belt and this will stop the squeaking. When you put wd-40 on the belt you just made it slip worse. Never use any kind of liquid on the belts, even belt dressing isn't worth the money. It's $1 at dollar tree and worth every penny when you instantly stop a squeaking belt.