Many things broke/failed on the truck, more so than just the engine. Six months after I bought the truck I had the radiator pop. Ever since then I've been fighting overheating issues, way before I started loading it down. The thermostat/temp sensor part really gets under my skin though. I've had four fail (at $200 each) without letting me know I was overheating. The temp sensor is on the cold side as well. So when the unit fails it usually gets stuck in the closed position. So no hot coolant is registered by the temp gauge. Poor engineering. And yes, I check my fluid level weekly because of this.
I can't really complain about the engine itself. My comment towards the motor was more of how much of a pain it is to work on and how I believe engineers should spend more time working on things before they are allowed to design anything. I'm not saying they're not smart, applicable knowledge escapes most of them. Best example is the water pump. It requires a slide hammer to remove. I could rant for hours on things that went wrong, but it would waste more time than anything.
The hard reality is I'm spending all of my trip money getting the thing to stay on the road with how it is. Quite frankly I don't want to spend more than necessary to get the truck rolling. Here's whats going through my head. Hopefully everyone will see the method to my madness.
Payload capacity on a 4x2 2.3L Ford Ranger is 1260 lbs.
Flippac: 390 lbs
National Luna 40l Fridge: 64 lbs
Dual Battery: 60 lbs (est)
National Luna Power Pack: 12 lbs
3 AT Boxes (20"x 12.25"x 24.0"): 135 lbs
1 AT Box (20"x 9"x 24.0"): 39 lbs
4 Fuel Cans: 40 lbs
20 Gallons of fuel (Aux): 126 lbs
14 Gallons of fuel (Main): 88.2 lbs
5 Gallons of water: 41.5 lbs
5 lbs propane tank: 8lbs (est)
Maxtrax: 17.66 lbs
HiLift: 30lbs
Spare Tire: 60lbs (est)
Me after el baño: 160lbs
So far we're over capacity at 1271.36 lbs. That's without food, cooking gear, clothing, sleeping gear, papers, cameras, recovery gear, air compressor, bumpers and more. Quite simply its time to relieve some weight no mater how you slice it.
Now, to carry all this weight I could do the axle swap/suspension beef up route. Money is the factor here.
Dana 44 Front:
Axle: $200
Bearings: $50
Ring n Pinion: $300
Shocks: $300
Springs: $200
Ford 8.8 Rear:
Axle: $200
Bearings: $50
Ring n Pinion: $300
Locker: $700
Springs: $200
Transfer Case: $200
Transmission: $200
Transmission Adapter for motor: $200 (If I don't swap motor)
Front Driveshaft: $200
Rear Driveshaft: $200
Just for estimation I've gone with $200 for most everything, though as we all know it gets way more expensive after that. Forgetting about the bolts you have to get, powder coat/pain, u-joints and so on. That's $3500 on the low estimate side. Not including fabricating everything to work properly and we all know it will cost easily $5000 or more. For that amount of money I could be at the end of South America watching ships leave for Antarctica. For more comparison, I spent roughly $6000 for my North America trip in 2007 which was 22,000 miles in 10 weeks.
Then there's the engine swap. I've found a few used Cummins 4BT motors for $3000 but on average they go for $5000 as a long block. That's just the motor, not including replacing the transmission or having an adapter made, fuel delivery system, wiring, brackets and pulleys for pumps, motor mounts, rebuilding the engine cradle, HAVING to do a solid axle swap for clearance and all the other unforeseen items.
The best option overall is to simplify, loose weight and actually start my trip.