More Bronco hear say.

[wildbill23c]

The C-Channel frame found on the Tacoma and the Tundra sucks you go down the freeway and you can watch the bed bouncing along behind you due to the weakened frame underneath....It doesn't do anything for offroad capability, well ok, yes, it just breaks easier the Tacoma and Tundra both are IFS, neither do great in offroad conditions due to the limited amount of flex...they rely on electronics to try and move power around to a wheel that may be touching something with traction. At least with the Tacoma you can get a rear locker, the Tundra has never been offered with a locker or limited slip (no the ALSD automatic limited slip) isn't limited slip its using the traction control, stability control, and ABS to pretend, and it does work, but in conditions where you have to rely on it for a long period of time it'll overheat the ABS module and disable not only your ABS, but traction control, stability control, etc. There are of course aftermarket limited slips and lockers available, but for a truck that Toyota pretends to be an offroad toy its severely lacking the stuff that the new offroad Ranger has from the factory. Would I buy a new Ranger, no, would I buy a used one in a few years, maybe, just depends on my needs, but would most likely be in the 3/4 ton field though if I got another truck LOL. The Tundra is 10+ years old, quite dated, and nowhere near the quality of older Toyota vehicles...Nobody can say how the Ranger or anything built the past couple years will hold up in the long term, but honestly we are still running 30+ year old RBV's around daily, so comparing that to a 30+ year old Toyota and you just don't see that many Toys running around anymore.

I'm not a fan of all the electronic crap in any of today's vehicles, I guess probably because as most of you grew up driving without antilock brakes, traction control, a dozen airbags, etc. we just learned to drive properly and don't need that stuff, but of course with today's laws you can't buy a new vehicle without that stuff....what I worry about, and I'm sure I'm not the only one, You buy a $40k+ truck with all that stuff in it, and you are on a limited income meaning sure you can afford all the payments, but if something major goes wrong how are you forking out a $5k repair bill type thing is what I really worry about. Sure you got what a 3 year warranty, cute but we all know in the real world its the stuff that hangs in there, or the dealer can't seem to find the problem till its out of warranty then suddenly finds that $10,000 flaw that you now have to either pay for, or get rid of a vehicle you are still making payments on. Luckily with my 08 Tundra I spent the extra $1200 and got the extended 100k warranty, saved my ass twice in ridiculous repair bills (rear axle bearings twice, and front differential once)...axle bearing work was about $1000, not too bad, but the $3400 front differential repair, that the dealer kept trying to ignore the 2 years prior to the warranty expiring, came back and bit them in the ass when they were forced to warranty it.

I just worry about that expensive stuff failing and rendering the vehicle unusable out in the middle of nowhere, stuff that say a 20 year old truck wouldn't have, and in many cases you could repair stuff on the side of the road, which with today's vehicles isn't nearly as simple LOL.

When I buy a vehicle I buy it to keep for 10+ years, what are we going to do about parts in 5-10 years? Are we going to be as lucky as we have somewhat been with all our RBV's that are 30+ years old? When all that electronic stuff starts to fail and it will fail, then what? What are the chances of being able to get that stuff fixed, or replaced as those components age?

I really honestly don't need a vehicle full of fancy touch screens, and electronics LOL....I just need to go to work for crying out loud HAHA!!!!

I'm sure as the new Rangers age and more members get them and start modifying them, repairing them, etc. our tech library will slowly grow like it has with our older RBV's. I can only hope this is the case, I'm sure other's are in the same boat, can't afford a new one, but would love to have one at some point in the next few years from the used market. I for one just am not a fan of turbo charged engines, seems they have several problems in that area....so it would be a major learning curve for me LOL. I'd love to get an offroad Ranger with a longer bed I don't want a 4 door Ranger, but seems like that's all they have on the car lots. Hopefully that changes as production of other models rises....but seems most buy them for family cars so it seems the 4 door trucks are about all you find . I honestly don't know right now if I want a 4x4 or just a basic work truck type thing. 4x4 would be nice but hell the past 2 years I've used the 4WD in my Bronco 2 maybe twice LOL.

There have been rumors about a return of the Courier, well ok, but if they'd keep it smaller than the Ranger and more of a basic work truck that may be the way I would go. Mostly just need a truck for around the property doing chores, the trips to the hardware and building materials stores, and some very light towing duties. Planning on getting a travel trailer in a few years so I'll be into a 3/4 ton pickup for those duties but honestly most of my stuff is pretty light duty hauling tasks doing projects around the house, and trips to pick a part LOL.

 

[sgtsandman]

Hard to have facts when you don't work at ford or when the damn thing isn't even out of production yet.... until ford builds something that makes me say "wow" then its just the same ol stuff with a different name on it. I'd like to see a head to head competition between the new bronco, jeep wrangler, gladiator, Tacoma, and the Colorado.

After seeing Jims picture of his truck barely flexing it reminded me of the new ranger vs Tacoma where the Tacomas wheels were all on the ground when the rangers back tire was about 5 inches in the air. They say the tacomas have a fully boxed frame up to the bed and then it turns into just a c-channel frame which allows more articulation than the ranger. Wheels won't grab when they are in the air lol. Not sure how the frame is on the new ranger, is it fully boxed?

The current Ranger has been holding it own quite well off road. I posted a few videos a little while back from different sources showing what the Ranger can do. At least one of them was with a Tacoma. Another was with a modified Jeep Wrangler and a Ram 2500. It kept right up with them.

Is it a rock crawler of the show room floor? Nope but neither is the Jeep or the Toyota. The same can be said about mud bogging.

You don’t like the current Ranger or what the Bronco and replacement Ranger could be. That is your right. I think you are being unrealistic on your expectations though. No mass production vehicle manufacturer is going to build what you expect or what many of us on this forum want. The bean counters will never allow it.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I wouldn't say its an excuse on Toyota's part. It honestly sounds like they are keeping shit simple compared to everyone else which is a point everyone seems to make. Dirtman nailed it on the head honestly. Everyone cries that theres too much tech and then get mad they didn't have power seats. Oh and they have a manual transmission available too. Go to 7:12 minutes and they show the articulation difference. Its pretty substantial when talking about rock crawling or trail riding.

I just found it laughable they would take almost $50k for a midsize pickup and you couldn't even get power seats if you wanted them. That was a common option on most mid level trim trucks in the 90's. They added power seats and LED headlights because the Ranger had them.

Really right now, the Gladiator checks the most boxes for me. Solid front axle, 4 wheel disc brakes, boxed frame, manual 4wd, manual trans, nice dash, more room in back seat, nice tow rating... it has lots to like. Just make it a freaking solid hardtop.

 

[sgtsandman]

Thought a hard top was an available option or are you talking about a permanently attached steel one?

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Thought a hard top was an available option or are you talking about a permanently attached steel one?

Yeah, like a normal truck.

The internal rollbar thing almost makes me claustraphobic. It would also be less leaky. It is also one of my concerns with the new Bronco, I am probably the only guy that would prefer to not have a removable top Bronco though.

 

[91stranger]

It's not that I don't like them its just not the same truck as any pre 2011 ranger IMO. The ranger has zero, and I mean ZERO, resemblance to the original rangers from any time frame... They should have just called it an f-75 (half of a f-150) lol. Show me one resemblance other than the ford badge. I'll wait.

As to the half boxed frame response where the bed moves while driving.... That is the same style frame the rangers had... All my rangers have had c-channel rear halves and boxed front half and no one complained then. Maybe your bed bolts are loose lol. I think some of you are just TOO loyal to the brand and can be quite hypocritical. And I just showed in the video that it DOES help with off-roading. Clearly you missed that part in the video where the ranger wheel was 4-5 inches in the air and the Tacoma was still touching.... It also showed the ranger wheel spinning in the air when its supposed to have traction control or whatever they call it now. Why didn't the wheel touching the ground spin instead of the wheel in the air? like I said, traction wont matter if your wheels aren't touching.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

Semi's run a C Channel frame.

Thats good enough for me.

 

[fastpakr]

I don't really care one way or the other on the frame. My understanding is that you can create the same strength with less material by boxing the frame. Either version would have to be engineered to meet the appropriate demands, so I'm not clear on a closed frame necessarily being stronger unless they both weighed the same.

 

[Dirtman]

If a semi frame was boxed it would probably be so rigid it would simply crack too easily from the stress.

 

[sgtsandman]

Flex certainly does help.

As far as brand loyalty, yeah, there is some there. To be honest, I was seriously looking at a Tacoma or a Frontier when the new Ranger was announced. The deciding factor was that I have a friend who sells for a Ford dealership and I would rather give him the commission than some stranger. Otherwise, it would have been one of those two, depending on who gave the better deal.

Could they have done a better job with the new Ranger? Probably. Does it look like any from the past? Nope. It hasn’t since 2012. Rangers have more or less reflected what their bigger brothers at the time looked like and the new Ranger is doing the same.

With few exceptions, vehicle manufactures are building what they think they can sell the most of, regardless of brand. In the end, it comes down to what they think is going to give them the most profit with the least amount of capital investment. Thus, why we have a reworked World Ranger.

Would I like better? Sure. But I can wish in one hand and... well you know the rest.

 

[Ramcharger90]

Have it equipped with a small furnace in the bed and equip the engine to run on poop fumes !!!
Grumpaw

Can do that either anymore.... Thanks Timothy....

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

As to the half boxed frame response where the bed moves while driving.... That is the same style frame the rangers had... All my rangers have had c-channel rear halves and boxed front half and no one complained then. Maybe your bed bolts are loose lol. I think some of you are just TOO loyal to the brand and can be quite hypocritical. And I just showed in the video that it DOES help with off-roading. Clearly you missed that part in the video where the ranger wheel was 4-5 inches in the air and the Tacoma was still touching.... It also showed the ranger wheel spinning in the air when its supposed to have traction control or whatever they call it now. Why didn't the wheel touching the ground spin instead of the wheel in the air? like I said, traction wont matter if your wheels aren't touching.

Not being loyal to the brand, my Ranger (that I have had for 20 years) has the same style of frame as the Taco.

Can do that either anymore.... Thanks Timothy....

 

[rusty ol ranger]

If a semi frame was boxed it would probably be so rigid it would simply crack too easily from the stress.

Exactly my point.

What if i got 2 tons in the bed and im bouncing across a off camber ditch? Crack the frame?

Extreme case but yes, i prefer nice thick C channel

 

[Dirtman]

It was always my general understanding that most c channel frames were also tempered steel more along the lines of a leaf spring, while box frames are not. I've welded on many C channel frames that were clearly not tempered and some that clearly were.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

It was always my general understanding that most c channel frames were also tempered steel more along the lines of a leaf spring, while box frames are not. I've welded on many C channel frames that were clearly not tempered and some that clearly were.

Most Ford frames (at least mine) are mild steel, nothing fancy. They can use some pretty fancy stuff on newer trucks.

Exactly my point.

What if i got 2 tons in the bed and im bouncing across a off camber ditch? Crack the frame?

Extreme case but yes, i prefer nice thick C channel

It isn't anything new... the old Bronco had a boxed frame too.

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