1998 Ranger XLT Purchase Advice Please

[kngelv]

Last year I picked up a 1997 2WD Ranger Supercab 5 speed with the 4 banger. Bought it off a buddy for $800.00 mainly to teach my 15 year old son on how to drive a stick. Eventually the rear brake line burst inside the frame rail next to the tank. While looking to repair I found some cracks in the frame and lots of rust holes. I knew the body was rusty but did not realize the frame was this bad. A guy down the street has a 1998 2WD Supercab with the 3.0 V6 5-speed manual, no rust on the frame and 194K mileage. He got it from an uncle in North Carolina so it has not seen salt. All body panels are in good shape except it has a red door and white hood on an all green truck. I live outside Detroit so finding a rust free truck this old is rare. My son wants it because he wants a stick. Took it for a drive yesterday and it drove fine but has a weird acceleration issue. Once you hit 65 it takes forever to get to 80. I'm talking 10-15 seconds in 5th gear. No clutch slippage just sloooow. Other issues are the red door has a manual window crank while the stock door is powered. I think I could swap the door panel from the 97 since it is powered. also the rear door on the passenger side will not open. Other than needing tires the rest looks good. Is it worth $1500.00. Any ideas on the acceleration issue. Thanks.

James

 

[rusty ol ranger]

The acceleration issue is being a 3.0.

Secondly, did you check the frame real good? The 98+'s seem to rot worse then the 83-97's. Usually around and behind the rear spring shackles.

If it runs and drives and is solid 1500 is fair.

 

[kngelv]

Yes the frame is good. It's weird because the 4 banger from the 97 seems to have better acceleration once you get up to say 60mph. Unfortunately I'm not replacing the brake line on the 97 so I can't do a direct comparison. Once I saw how bad the frame was I no longer felt comfortable having my kid drive it. I might keep it as a parts truck for the 98.

James

 

[mtnrgr]

Reason the 3.0 took longer to reach 80 from 60 is your on 5th gear. The 3.0 is a high rpm engine, it makes its hp & tq above 3,000..with it being in 5th gear that would explain why. Drive it again, yet this time leave it in 4th gear, 3.0 needs the higher rpms..once you do that in 4th, and all is good then the engine is good. In 5th gear it brings the rpms way down, when doing this, your lugging the engine. The 5th gear is for long commute really...a 3.0 with a 5spd is your better choice then a 3.0 with an auto.

Don't pay any attention to rusty, he has bagged on the ole 3.0 for ever..it really is a great engine. Rusty recently discovered his 2.9 is not German, it's an American 4cyl with 20 hp..

 

[rusty ol ranger]

Reason the 3.0 took longer to reach 80 from 60 is your on 5th gear. The 3.0 is a high rpm engine, it makes its hp & tq above 3,000..with it being in 5th gear that would explain why. Drive it again, yet this time leave it in 4th gear, 3.0 needs the higher rpms..once you do that in 4th, and all is good then the engine is good. In 5th gear it brings the rpms way down, when doing this, your lugging the engine. The 5th gear is for long commute really...a 3.0 with a 5spd is your better choice then a 3.0 with an auto.

Don't pay any attention to rusty, he has bagged on the ole 3.0 for ever..it really is a great engine. Rusty recently discovered his 2.9 is not German, it's an American 4cyl with 20 hp..

Even a 3.0 should be able to accelerate better then a lima from 60-80. Athough most 4 banger trucks had 4.10 gears...that 98 probably has at best a 3.55. That would probably account for the difference.

As for the 2.9 vs 3.0....im not gonns hijack the thread but....

If there was a drag race between a 2.9 with 300k, ticking lifters, cracked heads, and a rod knock racing a factory fresh 3.0....id have my money on the 2.9.

That being said though yes the 3.0 is a solid engine. Just the wimpiest of the ranger 6's.

 

[Shran]

Try shifting a lot later than you normally would. Let it sing... you won't hurt it.

5th gear is more or less optional, I rarely use it in my 4 cylinder truck. If you have 3.73 gears or higher (numerically lower) then you may find that to be true as well... some trucks came with 3.55s, 3.27s, etc... those are commonly referred to as highway gears because they keep your RPM down at highway speeds. There is nothing wrong with staying in 4th gear until you get up to the speed you want and only then shifting into 5th. Even then, if you are driving in hilly country, you may find that you have to drop down to 4th quite often.

 

[Josh B]

I had no idea about these engines when I got the 87, and to this day cannot recall specifically which engine it had besides being a 6. I am however beginning to understand it better because of the shifting thing. At that time the only place I knew I could hit 5th gear was on a very long downhill slope between Nashville and Huntsville.
Any place else it bogged down in 5

 

[don4331]

@kngelv : Is the federal sticker on the door frame? I'm interested in axle code. (As door is replacement, I wouldn't trust what is on door). Otherwise, you have to check axle direct. '98 Ranger with 3.0 came with 3.45s as stock, but SuperCab should have 3.73s. As indicated, the small 6 is much happier with 3.73s or 4.10s. Depending on what you find, the '97 should have 4.10s, so depending on how good of shape the axle's in you might want to swap. The cool thing about '98 - it takes speed off the tone ring in axle, after the gears, so changing ratios doesn't impact speedometer.

The power window should transfer from the '97 to '98, you have to drill out/reinstall 3 or 4 pop rivets.

Back door not opening is because the cable has stretched. PIA to fix because you need door open to get the panel off to replace the cable. Someplace on the site here is the procedure to fix it; I'll see if I can find it.

$1500 should be fair.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Yeah, the 3.0 likes high RPMs, won’t hurt it to rev, think the redline is something like 6-6,500 and the rev limiter should be set to about 5,500, so impossible to over-rev because the computer limits it. Use 5th when you are up to speed on the highway and cruising.

 

[1990RangerinSK]

Last year I picked up a 1997 2WD Ranger Supercab 5 speed with the 4 banger. Bought it off a buddy for $800.00 mainly to teach my 15 year old son on how to drive a stick. Eventually the rear brake line burst inside the frame rail next to the tank. While looking to repair I found some cracks in the frame and lots of rust holes. I knew the body was rusty but did not realize the frame was this bad. A guy down the street has a 1998 2WD Supercab with the 3.0 V6 5-speed manual, no rust on the frame and 194K mileage. He got it from an uncle in North Carolina so it has not seen salt. All body panels are in good shape except it has a red door and white hood on an all green truck. I live outside Detroit so finding a rust free truck this old is rare. My son wants it because he wants a stick. Took it for a drive yesterday and it drove fine but has a weird acceleration issue. Once you hit 65 it takes forever to get to 80. I'm talking 10-15 seconds in 5th gear. No clutch slippage just sloooow. Other issues are the red door has a manual window crank while the stock door is powered. I think I could swap the door panel from the 97 since it is powered. also the rear door on the passenger side will not open. Other than needing tires the rest looks good. Is it worth $1500.00. Any ideas on the acceleration issue. Thanks.

James

Downshift. 5th gear, as others have stated, is for cruising. It's overdrive. Always accelerate in 4th gear. Don't shift to 5th until you reach your desired cruising speed. An automatic, when you step on the gas at 60mph, will downshift out of OD. You need to do the same with your manual.

To get up to 80mph quickly, I would recommend the following shift points:
Second: 25mph
Third: 45mph
Fourth: 60mph
Fifth: 80mph.

In my '91, those shift points had me shifting at about 4500rpm. (except at 80 into 5th, speed limits here are 60 and 70, depending on the road, and I drove the speed limit. So, for 60, I'd shift to 4th, let the RPMs drop in, then shift to 5th.

You won't wreck your engine, as others have said. You're well below the 5500rpm redline.

 

[1990RangerinSK]

The acceleration issue is being a 3.0.

Secondly, did you check the frame real good? The 98+'s seem to rot worse then the 83-97's. Usually around and behind the rear spring shackles.

If it runs and drives and is solid 1500 is fair.

No. He needs to downshift. An automatic, when cruising at 60 in Overdrive, will drop at least one gear When you accelerate up to 80.

 

[1990RangerinSK]

If there was a drag race between a 2.9 with 300k, ticking lifters, cracked heads, and a rod knock racing a factory fresh 3.0....id have my money on the 2.9.

If there was a 2.9 with 300k, it would be in the junk yard, no longer running.

 

[1990RangerinSK]

I had no idea about these engines when I got the 87, and to this day cannot recall specifically which engine it had besides being a 6. I am however beginning to understand it better because of the shifting thing. At that time the only place I knew I could hit 5th gear was on a very long downhill slope between Nashville and Huntsville.
Any place else it bogged down in 5

An 87 with a V6 came with a 2.9.

83-85 was a 2.8 V6 (Cologne).
86-90 was a 2.9 V6 (Cologne).
91-11 was either a 3.0 V6 (Vulcan) or 4.0 V6 (Cologne OHV until 2000, S0HC (unknown engine family) 2001-2011). Both engines were available as options through those years, you could choose either the 3.0 or 4.0.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

An 87 with a V6 came with a 2.9.

83-85 was a 2.8 V6 (Cologne).
86-90 was a 2.9 V6 (Cologne).
91-11 was either a 3.0 V6 (Vulcan) or 4.0 V6 (Cologne OHV until 2000, S0HC (unknown engine family) 2001-2011). Both engines were available as options through those years, you could choose either the 3.0 or 4.0.

Close, 4.0 appeared in ‘90 I believe and I think 2.9 was still an option along side the 3.0 for a year or two. Think the 3.0 changed at some point too.

 

[scotts90ranger]

Last year of the 2.9L was '92 so they had 3ish years of overlap... '89 and '90 there were only 2 engine options, the 2.3L and 2.9L, there were 4 or 5 options in '88 (2.0L, 2.XL diesel, 2.3L, 2.9L) then back to 4 in '91 with the 3.0L and 4.0L added then back down to 3 in '93...

If there's a tach, it's all about rpm, in Oregon I have zero reason to be near 80mph at least here in the west side of the state... highest speed limit is 65 so don't cruise over 72mph... but in my '97 with 2.3L it has 4.10 gears and 3000rpm is like 78mph which is perfect for me since it still gets 22-23mpg there, mileage drops at over 3000rpm, I've tried... like said it's a higher rpm engine, likely has 3.45 gears maybe 3.73's at the lowest I would guess, if you're accelerating at under 3000rpm it will take a while to get anywhere...