High mileage Ranger - Worth investing in?

[DannyG]

I would say as the others have, drive it till things start to fail. Then fix it.

The worst mistake I ever made was letting my '92 sit. I plan to restore it so I am not worried, it has been trouble free for all of the DD life it had and has saved my bacon more than I can count. Just continue to treat it well and it will tell you when it is hurting.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

Heres the questions i ask myself when decideing wheather to dump money or "save" something...

1- Is it rotted in half?
2- Is it wrecked?
3- is it newer then 1996?

If the answer to all 3 of those are a resounding "no", then it gets fixed and kept. Never buy a vehicle expecting to get your money back in a resale.

Ive put well more in my vehicles then there worth. But ya know what? If it keeps them outta the scrapheap then its worth it to me.

 

[racsan]

As long as the frame and body don’t have bad rust issues, keep running it. My ‘92 had less than 100k when I got it, had set for several years and had many problems. The truck I have now I didn’t even know what it had on it mileage wise. The kid I got it from didn’t know a whole lot, told the dmv it had 400K miles. I laughed but didn’t dispute it. Came in handy during my divorce (not worth a damn thing with those kind of miles) found out later due to online research that it had 140K when I got it. It’s had some rear frame structural issues due to rust but I was able to fix it and mechanically it’s better than the ‘92 was. The only vehicle I had that I truly wasted money on and was wore out beyond keeping was a 71 bronco.

 

[srisitt]

A one owner, well taken care of truck, that runs fine, and you want to tear it down and rebuild it. I understand not wanting to be stranded, but where I come from, If it ain't broke, don't fix it. How do you know the PO never had anything done to the top end? that may be why it is running so good. IDK how much info you have, but it sounds like he took good care of it, and probably had it serviced and repaired regularly.

It runs pretty well. Compression feels good. It does have a lifter tick I might check out. Here is a video of it running if anyone is curious:

It's elementary at this point you already bought the truck and you own, it call it buyer's remorse.

Are you sure it's 257? because that has a 5-digit odometer doesn't it? I've never quite understood the logic for them, I had one in my 93 & my94 has an od like that,

Positive, I heard it from the original owner himself when I called him about the title. He told me a lot about the truck.

257k would not bother me. Just about anything on them is easy to fix and relatively cheap especially if you can do it yourself and I'm guessing the body is probably in pretty good shape given your location.

Honestly I'd rather have a 1991 with 257k on it than one of that year with 57k... I've had a bunch of old, low mileage vehicles that were just total shit piles. Looked nice but sitting unused is hard on vehicles. If it's rolled through that many miles, chances are it was maintained pretty well.

That's a really good point.

 

[OldMan2]

I bought a '91 fourteen years ago. The body was in great shape, paint was bad, interior needed help and engine leaked oil and the tires were bad. I gave $1100 for the truck knowing I would love this truck when finished. I've had the motor completely rebuilt with some head work, redid the interior, repainted the truck, new tires, tonneau cover, several small parts, and tomorrow she goes in for LineX in the bed. I knew I wanted to keep this truck, possibly until I die, so it was worth it to me to spend the money. I have $11,000 in it after the LineX. That works out to about $65/month. (not counting gas and oil). That is cheap transportation to me, and I get compliments from many people. When you ask if it is worth investing in, I think you need to decide how much the truck means to you. I think it is cheaper to buy a reasonably good used truck and do the repairs than it is to buy a new truck. If the truck grabs your soul, then spend the money to make it new again.....you'll come out ahead, and get lots of compliments.

 

[Ranger850]

This Truck is BEAUTIFUL.?

 

[OldMan2]

Thanks. It has been a long 14 year process, with more to do.