900$ Ranger - Help! Didn't see before bought..

[Oh2Ranger]

I own a 2002 2wd Duratec XLT already, that is my daily and commuter, but I stumbled across another ranger on craigslist that I thought was a hot deal.

I bought a 1998 4.0 5r55e 4x4 XLT with all the power options, bed liner, straight body, and a rebuilt engine all for 900 bucks. Kicker was the tranny was toast. Lost reverse and slipping real bad in all forward gears. I drove it home ~ 30 miles and put it on ramps and started tearing into removing the trans. Then - I - Saw - It. The front cross member is all kinds of beat up. I bought the truck at night (bad, I know) but he had others interested in it right behind me. The title is clean, and it drove straight, didn't pull, or make any funny or awkward noises, but it sure looks rough:

The owner said that he drove it like that the entire time he had it, and the owner before him was the one who had to have done the damage.

I don't know much about welding, so I really don't know what can be fixed and what cant. I don't plan to jump stumps with this thing, it will mainly be a road vehicle.

Can this be fixed, does it look ok to drive on? How could I fix it? What kinda money am I looking at?

Thanks, appreciate the help guys :

 

[Oh2Ranger]

Heres a few pictures incase your eyes aren't sore enough..

 

[Chance]

Good deal if it has a rebuilt engine and good body IMO (as long as the engine is truly fully rebuilt).

That is a perfect excuse to solid axle that beesh and slap a 5 speed in it.

If you want you can have the old section of crossmember that I sawzall'd off my truck if ya feel like weldin er up to fix it

Oh and I got my old a-arms too.

 

[shane96ranger]

If it were me, I would take it to a body shop with a frame rack and see if they can straighten that collar on the frame and then reinforce it by boxing it in. They will tell you how bad it's bent and if it's within spec. Most places around here charge 100 bucks an hour on a rack; I doubt there's much more than an hours work there. I would definitely replace the control arm rather than repair it.

Just another thought I had: be sure to use an alignment tool on your torque converter. The 5r55's fail quickly if this precaution isn't taken. I would also advise you get the valve body sleeved.

 

[dbp]

That is a perfect excuse to solid axle that beesh and slap a 5 speed in it.

Lol...exactly what I was thinking.

 

[bcost882]

you should be able to just weld up a new piece and chance's stuff should be good for you. thats still an awesome deal even with the damage. wonder how it felt goin over speed bumps haha

 

[that_one_guy]

That is a perfect excuse to solid axle that beesh and slap a 5 speed in it.

i second this

 

[ElleShooTiger]

Lol we bought an identical truck as yours, 4x4 supercab, fully optioned, but it had a rebuilt trans and "blown" engine with 240k miles (ran great but had some water in the oil, drained it and it runs fine now, no more water!). The body is very nice which was a huge selling point, and we only paid $750 for it.

I'm guessing it ran over a rock or concrete barrier, you'll definitely need a new control arm. As long as the two plates where the arm bolts into are still parallel, you should be able to leave the frame as-is. The bushing is pressed in, and that part of the arm is an upside down U, now its just closed in a bit, its not life-threatening and really should still work just fine. It just looks bad.

 

[88_Eddie]

that's F'ed up, there is no way the guy didnt know that it was that screwed up, it looks like he hit a rock doing 45 mph, i know it was only 900 bucks, but i doubt you would've paid that much if you had known

 

[ozziemo27]

that's F'ed up, there is no way the guy didnt know that it was that screwed up, it looks like he hit a rock doing 45 mph, i know it was only 900 bucks, but i doubt you would've paid that much if you had known

you could do that kinda damage going half that speed, bud

 

[88_Eddie]

yeah, 22.5 mph, that's what i ment

 

[ozziemo27]

yeah, 22.5 mph, that's what i ment

........ what

 

[88_Eddie]

........ what

you said he could do that kind of damage going half that speed (45mph)......22.5........just showing off my long division skills

 

[ozziemo27]

you said he could do that kind of damage going half that speed (45mph)......22.5........just showing off my long division skills

pretty sick, bro