Cars? What do you drive?

[Roert42]

I’m not sure what all years have the fiber backed aluminum we found on ours. It’s the fiber that is doing all the trapping of the dirt and moisture. Not to mention the lack of any real clearance to allow stuff to drain/fall back out.

My 1998 didn’t have the shields that I remember but still had some similar rust issues at the front of the bed above the exhaust. There was some over the fuel tank as well but I think the tank shields the bed some and slows the process.

Those pictures I posted of the red bed are from a 2003, so minimum started in 2003

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

My 85 has a peice of galvanized tin pop riveted to the bed to divert heat from the exhaust.

I have had zero complaints about excessive heat in the bed.

 

[cbxer55]

Picture would be 1000x cooler if you were in front of an F-35... Lightning II

True. But neither the Thunderbirds or the Blue Angels fly those things.

 

[Roert42]

My 85 has a peice of galvanized tin pop riveted to the bed to divert heat from the exhaust.

I have had zero complaints about excessive heat in the bed.

Yeah but don’t worry. These fabric heat shields don’t come loose and rattle like you see on those old ones.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Yeah but don’t worry. These fabric heat shields don’t come loose and rattle like you see on those old ones.

I did have to re pop rivet it once.

Bed needs rear rockers and wheel arches, structure underneath is fine.

 

[19Walt93]

Fords and rust have always been a thing. The running joke when I was in high school in the 80s was that the perfect truck was a Ford powertrain in a GM body.

As far as the heat shield thing. As soon as petroleumjunkie412 showed me what happened to his bed, I ripped mine out. There was a LOT of dirt trapped up behind them. Thankfully, my rust issues were no where close to what he has. I have been pretty diligent on keeping the salt off the truck and hosing the underside of the truck down with Fluid Film. Petroleumjunkie412 didn’t have that luxury since he bought used.

In our shop if someone said GM disease we knew they meant a chrome bumper with rust holes in it.

 

[19Walt93]

That stupid glue on heat shield they used under the bed and cab is the worst.

My 2011 has very little rust, and almost non when I bought it back in 2017. Except for the bed, and only right where that heat shield was. Soaks up all that brine and holds it right under the bed where it cant dry out.

That's why you guys have so much rot, that brine is way worse than ordinary salt. And ordinary salt sucks. There was an owner notification program a few years ago to pull the heat shield out of F150 quarter panels, I've never seen it bother on Rangers.

 

[RangerBilly]

When we bought our '93 Ranger, our plan was to use it for hauling lumber and firewood and other bulky things to and from our off-grid spot. We had an old Mazda 626 for daily commuting. Unfortunately, the Chicago salt gremlins ate the rear spring towers, which couldn't be repaired. So the Ranger, at 12 mpg city, became the commuter car. Yikes! Luckily, our son bought his first new car, a 2019 Mazda 6 (the base model with more bells and whistles than I can count!) so he "gave" us his 2002 Honda Civic 5-speed. It gets outrageous gas mileage (about 30 city), and the problems that it DOES have are mostly annoying, like no working headlight ON reminder. And the shifter pops out of fifth gear. The Ranger is now the backup vehicle. But I like working on it, go figure!

 

[sgtsandman]

In our shop if someone said GM disease we knew they meant a chrome bumper with rust holes in it.

Chrome bumpers have been a mixed bag in my experience. Some hold up great and other don’t last long regardless of brand.

That being said, I have noticed that GM and Dodge seem to have rotted out bumpers more often.

Ram and Ford seem to be in a competition to see who’s body panels will rust through first.

 

[racsan]

I saw where they put brine on the roads today- and it warmed up to 45! I will definitely remove any heat shielding if I get a newer ranger. I’ve noticed the metal sheild over the gas tank of the hhr is half rotted away, scary given that the exhaust is close by. It had a heat shielding cover on the fuel line that caused a rust pinhole. I was able to replace the whole line with a fleabay plastic replacement line. Waiting on a new alternator to arrive for it now. lights dim & get bright in the morning and blower motor speed changes.

 

[sgtsandman]

Yeah, the tell tale sign is the continuous white lines running down the road in the same pattern as a tar truck spraying the road before they dump the gravel chips on top of it.

 

[snoranger]

The brine they pretreat the roads with is just salt water. Once it dries up, it’s no worse than driving the day after it snows and the roads are covered in salt.
The calcium chloride they mix with the salt is brutal. They either fill the truck with salt and spray calcium chloride on it (This is known as a “hot load”), or they have a separate tank on the salt truck to spray it on the salt as it’s spread (this is a pre-wet system).

Calcium chloride, as I said already, is brutal on steel. This is one of the reasons stuff rusts so much faster now. They also mix sand with the salt to help with traction... the mix ratio has changed in the past 10+ years to more salt, less sand. The idea is to melt the snow/ice faster.

 

[Jim Oaks]

Meanwhile........

I bought a Jaguar XJ8 for $3,500.

More to come.

 

[Ranger850]

Meanwhile........

I bought a Jaguar XJ8 for $3,500.

More to come.

Congratulations

Didn't Ford use that for the Lincoln LS ?

 

[pjtoledo]

Meanwhile........

I bought a Jaguar XJ8 for $3,500.

More to come.

so,,, you now drive something that has a fancy booty and wears a bonnet?