Prioritizing repairs, improvements, and upgrades on a work in progress

[600$04Ranger]

Looking for opinions, suggestions, or stories. When you bought a broken or beat up Ranger dreaming of transforming it into something better. What was your vision? How did you or did you, accomplish this?

I paid $600 bucks plus $125 towing for my 2nd Ranger (first 4x4 Ranger). A 2004 xlt 4.0l extended cab. Despite the hole in the passenger side valve cover from broken timing chain guide allowing chain to saw completely through the plastic cover, a row of dents along the passenger side, a dirty interior, and mismatched tires, I decided to buy it. Thought I might get lucky and just replace timing and maybe get a valve job even though I had never pulled a motor before. I'm a bit of a dreamer and an optimist or possibly I am just stupid enough to be dangerous.

Long story short......The new timing kit wasn't the fix. Pulling the motor a second time to re time the motor with the special timing tools everyone recommended buying wasn't the fix. Pulling the motor a 3rd time to get both heads machined wasn't the fix. Finally after a 4th time pulling the motor (alone, outdoors, on a slightly sloped gravel driveway) and rebuilding the entire motor was the answer!! Whew! Also, my $600 Ranger has tallied up at least $6000 in tools, parts, loctite, and lube. Not to mention a couple cases of beer.

At times I considered quitting and selling for scrap but knew I would hate myself for giving up and failing to follow through on my delusions of grandeur. I'm tenacious and stubborn. Just enough to be dangerous

So now I have a high mileage 4x4 that runs excellent except for a few vibrations, and some foreseeable preventative maintenance. My budget doesn't allow me to take less than a decade or so to turn it into something like RaceRanger's or many of the badass trucks I admire on this site. It's gonna be a process. Next on the list is a couple lower control arm ball joints coming in the mail tomorrow. Part of my desire to drive a truck that doesn't clunk, shimmy, wobble, gyrate, howl, moan, groan, or squeak excessively. A little of each is alright as long as they don't occur in unison. Progress not perfection. Little by little I am gaining confidence in my trucks abilities and reliability. I'm not going to include a complete list of repairs completed because I need a few days to write it out and would rather spend my time fixing shit before it breaks. Anyways, what's your story? Don't be afraid to include tragedy as well as triumph. I spent countless hours screaming unmentionable and garbled words as tears washed the bits of greasy grime from around my shrunken eye sockets. Yeah, not pretty But I continue to abuse myself non the less. Just stupid enough to be dangerous. Over and out!

 

[DILLARD000]

You're committed at this point, so keep at it
& slowly\surely you'll have a reasonable\reliable vehicle
that you can take pride in, knowing you did the work yourself.

 

[55trucker]

Looking for opinions, suggestions, or stories. When you bought a broken or beat up Ranger dreaming of transforming it into something better. What was your vision? How did you or did you, accomplish this?

I've never done that, have always taken the position that buying a vehicle which is in considerably less than desirable condition & attempting to *renew* it will always end up costing more money & my time instead of purchasing a well taken care of *turn-key* vehicle that I can get into & drive right now....and isn't that the goal in the end?

 

[pjtoledo]

having one of the engine hoist wheels hanging in the air is a nice touch.

I'm in the rust belt. our first consideration is if there will still be a Ranger left after the time needed to fix it up.

have fun wrenching.

 

[Uncle Gump]

I have bought a couple trucks that needed repairs and were loaded on a trailer after purchase. The engines always ran good but a couple needed either a clutch or an auto transmission. The rest of the trucks were in relatively good shape other wise... except for a good cleaning and some maintenance. It's always a gamble and you need to know when to throw in the towel and make them a parts truck. You're well beyond that at this point... so plug away until you're happy with it.

 

[Blmpkn]

You thought it would be cheaper & easier.. sure..

BUT.. at 6k, you're still under half the price of what a decent 4x4 ranger goes for up my way. So you're still ahead.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

My parent's bought my '85 for me when I was in high school because they didn't think it would drive get very far from town and was only a two seater but was still good enough to run parts for my parents shop and shuttle my brother around in town.

19 years later it hauled the three of us across four states to the 20th anni TRS Roundup.

Only things original to the truck when I got it in 200 is some of the interior. the body and the frame... for now.

The first time my wife heard "one piece at a time" she freaked out yelling "that is your song!"

 

[600$04Ranger]

having one of the engine hoist wheels hanging in the air is a nice touch.

I'm in the rust belt. our first consideration is if there will still be a Ranger left after the time needed to fix it up.

have fun wrenching.

I just noticed that as well and wondered if anyone would comment. I was a shit show at times. Wasn't trying to make it end in disaster or injury but came damn close at times. Learned what NOT to do even if I tried getting things right the 1st time. One of the reasons I am sharing some of my mistakes so others might avoid them.

 

[Dirtman]

When I was a teenager I bought broken down junk vehicles all the time. Sometimes just picked up things for free that were headed to the crusher. I would tear out anything useable and frankenstien one running vehicle together at a time. I had one engine that was transplanted in no less than 4 different vehicles. It was my "good" engine that just got passed around from one junker to the next as they rotted away. I had piles of transmissions and would run them till they died then just throw in another one. Things like that were really easy back then. That GM inline six that got passed around even ended up in a 83 Ford F100 at one point and only took me a day to swap it in for the 460 that was in it previously. Everything just fit in anything back then. 30 minutes with a drill and a welder and you had new motor mounts, move the transmission cross member around a bit and wala, chevy inline six powered ford. Never spent much money though, just worked with whatever junk parts I could scrounge up.

 

[sgtsandman]

I had a 1998 Ranger XLT, 2.5 Lima, manual regular cab that I did some what what you are doing. The engine was shot (blown head gasket took out #1 and #2 piston). I threw a junk yard engine in it that had 100,000 miles less on it than the original. Installed a new clutch and slave cylinder. Replaced the passenger door after I painted it to mach. Repaired the bottom of the rusted out tailgate and painted it to match. Replaced the rear axle with gears better matched to what the engine needed for the hilly terrain around here. And replaced a lot of worn out parts the the previous owner neglected to take care of because they weren't broken yet. I got the thing running pretty well and used it for a bit before I sold it to a friend of mine for his handyman business. He's still running it to this day. Though, it looks like he operates under the same maintenance philosophy that the owner of the truck before me has. He loves the thing and uses and abuses the heck out of it.

 

[Roert42]

1. Get it road legal.
Then get it running good one small thing at a time.
After it runs good, just start replacing/upgrading things as you see fit to make it the truck of your dreams.

 

[600$04Ranger]

When I was a teenager I bought broken down junk vehicles all the time. Sometimes just picked up things for free that were headed to the crusher. I would tear out anything useable and frankenstien one running vehicle together at a time. I had one engine that was transplanted in no less than 4 different vehicles. It was my "good" engine that just got passed around from one junker to the next as they rotted away. I had piles of transmissions and would run them till they died then just throw in another one. Things like that were really easy back then. That GM inline six that got passed around even ended up in a 83 Ford F100 at one point and only took me a day to swap it in for the 460 that was in it previously. Everything just fit in anything back then. 30 minutes with a drill and a welder and you had new motor mounts, move the transmission cross member around a bit and wala, chevy inline six powered ford. Never spent much money though, just worked with whatever junk parts I could scrounge up.

Sounds like the life! Thanks for sharing!

 

[scotts90ranger]

I'm all over the board on this... The best I've done is on my '97 Ranger, got it knowing it needed a front I beam (pulled out of a ditch with a chain in the middle of the drivers I beam) and somehow they took out the drivers door in the process, and replaced it with a white one (the truck is red...) and in the process lost the door panel... Got the thing for $450, half off weekend at the junkyard yielded a red door (slightly different tone in '94 than '97, but close enough), I beam and drivers seat for $135, then sold the white door for $35, put on some junkyard tires that I mounted myself, drove it for a while like that then found a different set of tires on craigslist for like $200 on Ranger wheels.

Or the '98 V8 Explorer I got at an auction for $400 would be better... put a rear drivers side seat in it (burned somehow?) and a junkyard stock stereo for $50 for both, wife drove it for like 3 years, her dad backed into the drivers door, it got totaled (was already a rebuilt title), got $750, bought it back, put a $25 mirror on it and pushed out the dents and that was 2 years ago

As far as prioritizing, I'm horrible at it, the '98 Explorer needs valve stem seals and valve cover gaskets really bad, I've had the parts for like 2 years... had the pre cat O2 sensors for about as long and it needs those too... the blend door went out last summer, I've had that part for a couple months...

 

[600$04Ranger]

I had a 1998 Ranger XLT, 2.5 Lima, manual regular cab that I did some what what you are doing. The engine was shot (blown head gasket took out #1 and #2 piston). I threw a junk yard engine in it that had 100,000 miles less on it than the original. Installed a new clutch and slave cylinder. Replaced the passenger door after I painted it to mach. Repaired the bottom of the rusted out tailgate and painted it to match. Replaced the rear axle with gears better matched to what the engine needed for the hilly terrain around here. And replaced a lot of worn out parts the the previous owner neglected to take care of because they weren't broken yet. I got the thing running pretty well and used it for a bit before I sold it to a friend of mine for his handyman business. He's still running it to this day. Though, it looks like he operates under the same maintenance philosophy that the owner of the truck before me has. He loves the thing and uses and abuses the heck out of it.

I can relate. My first Ranger was a 2wd 96 xl. Bought it off my parents who only used it on rare trips to the dump. Realized how easy it was to work on and that parts were easy to aquire for the most part. That boring, no frills Ranger turned out to be quite capable of adapting to most situations including making it up to our local ski mountain dozens of times with the addition of studs, well placed weight, and a little winter driving know how.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Ahh yes... I have more than a few stories that I’ll have to get into later. Might have the most Ranger related stories on the site actually. But I’m about to go bend wrenches and try to make some more so story time may have to wait a bit. Every vehicle I’ve owned has its own story and adventure so far because nothing has been any resemblance of easy or normal.