howdy from south texas!!

[superj]

i recently got this good looking little truck from my uncle. he turned 80 and started having trouble with his knee so he asked if i wanted to buy the truck from him. i wanted a small truck again so this was perfect.

i have some experience on rangers and Mazda b2300 trucks from my dad owning a plumbing company and he would only buy those trucks as company trucks. i would do all the maintenance on them which only consisted of fluid changes and normal stuff because they never broke down. i drove a 98 b2300 single cab five speed all over texas doing plumbing tests and when i left to my current job, that ol Mazda had a bit over 300k on it and still looked and ran great.

i didn't know what a ranger edge was till getting it home and wondering why it was such a stiff riding truck compared to the old company trucks so google informed me about the suspension. i am glad its heavier than the regular single cabs because i have this truck for trips to the hardware store for wood and drywall (which made my 98 gmc Sonoma step side into a low rider).

this truck has a bit over 200k miles on it, which is low miles around here. it starts up immediately and no check lights are on. it looks good and has a sprayed in bed liner. the only negative things i have found is the clutch is very low to the floor and it needs a receiver hitch on the back.
its never had a ball on the bumper and having a receiver hitch has saved a few vehicles in rear end accidents so that's a big reason for me to put it on because while i may occasionally to my little 5x8 trailer, it will be very rare.

anyways, i have been reading the site for a number of days waiting to receive the email letting me post. i had to change to an alternate email to get access so i am finally able to post. i checked out a bunch of sites prior to picking this one to join, it seems more adult than a lot of the other ones out there.

i am ex-army and went to college for aviation maintenance. i have been working in aviation for almost 20 years now. i have lots of experience working on cars because i was always to broke to pay someone else to do it, ha ha ha. unfortunately, my wrists have paid the price of being on the computer or on a wrench full time so its hard to do major mechanical work anymore without having to live on pain killers for a few days afterwards. that's a huge bummer because i have always modded my vehicles. i put a 302 and c6 in my wrangler a few years back, swapped 4 cylinder bmws to 6 cylinder engines, changed auto transmissions to standard, run my own exhaust, suspension work from coil overs for autocross racing to lift kits for off-roading, and attempted a stand alone engine management system before learning i am not computer literate enough to do that. too bad because my little 325i bmw would have been a blast with that turbo kit on it.

happy to be here though and always enjoy the old school forums like this versus the brainlessness you see on facebook and that type of stuff.
jason

 

[rumblecloud]

Welcome to TRS.
Thank you for your service.
Annnnnndddd nice lookin' Ranger.
The fact that it's Red puts you in good graces with certain people on this forum.

 

[superj]

thanks.

its funny that my two single cab five speed four cylinders both happened to be the same red. that 98 gmc Sonoma and this 04 ranger.

do they make performance suspension kits for this truck? i have never looked but thinking back to my Sonoma, it came form the factory with the sport kit on it and it was fun to drive through the turns. factory lowering springs, front and rear sway bars, wide rims with low profile tires.... i bet this ranger would be just as fun. this has the same suspension set up my 01 frontier had with the torsion bars so i bet they need to be reclocked, or replaced to do anything serious for lifting or lowering, right?

 

[rumblecloud]

There's tons of stuff available, but there are much more knowledgeable people on here to help with that.
Take a look in the Tech Section as well, especially in the suspension section. Lots of links and explanations.

 

[Uncle Gump]

These torsion bar trucks can get a bit of lift or drop with a turn or two on the torsion bar keys. The trouble is going to far. There is only so much travel and raising or lowering them loses either rebound or compression travel. So there is a limited amount you can go and still maintain a decent ride. They also make different stiffness torsion bars.

Nice looking truck.

Welcome to TRS...