88 Ranger...how reliable?

[Spades]

Hello! I am new to the forums, and I am looking for some advice. I recently aquired a 88 ford ranger extended cab 2.9l 5spd 4x4 pickup. The interior is clean, it has 124k miles, and body is pretty straight with a new cheap-o paint job on it. It came with new street tires and some very nice new snow tires, and a new battery. No major leaks, and I purchased it for a few hundred bucks.

The reason it was so cheap, was because it had been sitting for a year. The gas had turned nasty and wiped out the fuel pumps when the previous owner tried to start it. After some work cleaning everything up(including the tank), I am into it around $200 for the new high pressure pump on the rail, the new lift pump and fuel gauge sending unit in the tank, a new high pressure power steering hose, belts, spark plugs, oil change, new antifreeze, and fuel filter.

The bad news is, the truck still isn't really drivable yet. I found that there is something weird going on with the lifter of the rear passenger side cylinder...it seems to stick at times. The compression numbers are very good, but a little low on that one cylinder. The lifter is sticking at times or something of that nature...I wont know exactly till I pull the head off. I am pretty sure it isn't piston rings, because sometime the compression is great and the engine runs perfectly...other times, lower compression and a occasional misfire on that one cylinder. I know there is a possibility that I may have to buy or rebuild that head, so I am accounting that into the budget. If I keep the truck, I would probably buy a set of loaded world performance heads.

The truck seems in decent shape, seems to have been maintained well...the bluebook value is still greater than what I will end up having invested even if I put new cylinder heads on.

What I am hoping to find out, is what I could potentially end up spending after the truck is running well again...how are the transmissions in these? the t-cases? front and rear ends? I don't know very much about these trucks, and I want to know what I could potentially spend keeping it on the road. It will be a daily driver if I end up keeping it, mostly driven during the winter, and putting less than 1500 miles on it a year.

Any suggestions, advice, or help from people that know these trucks better would be great! I am at the point where I am trying to decide if I want to keep it...or fix it up, sell it, and buy something else. Thank you in advance!

 

[adsm08]

Welcome to TRS.

The 2.9 is great if you take care of the oil and cooling system. The 5 speeds are ok, but could be better. I put 185K trouble-free miles on my original 5 speed, then put the wrong fluid in it on some bad advice. Towed with it and blew it up (actually got another noisy, vibration riddled year out of it before it died). T-cases are great. manual shift is better, the shift motors tend to break.

The axles are good. They aren't the best ones that Ford ever used, but Ford had some great axles (9" and D35 for example). They are still really good. I have the 7.5 and D-28 in my truck, 188K original miles, and in her younger days my truck was a full-on work horse.

Sounds like you made a good purchase. Keep it, drive it, love it.

 

[ranger_mclaren]

2.9s are a strong motor if well taken care of and you should have a FM-146 tranny and BW-1350 t-case, dana 28 front axle and a 7.5 rear end not sure of gear ratio. I'd keep it!

 

[59flatbedford]

well as far as the 2.9 goes i was highly impressed with mine last weekend when i changed headgaskets. First of all it had two headgaskets on one side, which eventually went out, why i had it apart. But one piston had a good 1/4" by 1" chip off of the top edge, all the valve stem seals where completely gone. the funny thing is i bought this thing for 600 bucks drove it three hours home without a problem and drove it around town till it blew the head gasket. although now that i have it back to gether i think it has a collapsed lifter but my dad has had one on his 4.0 for about 4 years now and it still runs fine.

 

[adsm08]

yup. The 2.9 cologne is capable of some pretty amazing things.

 

[Southern_Trendkill]

Great truck, as long as you don't overheat it. Take my old 88 for example.

Some guy bought it in Alaska, and used it there until 96, then moved to Washington with it. Sold it to his neighbor, who parked it for 10 years, until I bought it. I flushed the radiator and did a tune-up, then drove it to Maine in 4 days, and used it all through the winter. Never had a single issue, except that the heater wasn't very powerful.

Then I sold it to a buddy of mine, who drove it about 80 miles a day, until he overheated it and cracked the block.

Last thing I knew, my mechanic bought it from the junkyard because he recognized it, and threw a new engine in it, and uses it for hauling.

 

[Spades]

That answered some questions! The truck seems in good enough shape, and if I am looking at spending another $500 to get heads for it, I am ok with it. I just want to make sure I can get at least a year out of it before the next major repair. It is impossible to predict anything, but it helps to know if I have a decent starting platform.

I was planning to get a suzuki samarai or a geo trooper, but then this truck showed up, and I figured I could at least fix it up and sell it even if I decided not to keep it.

I don't plan on driving the truck hard for the next couple years. I don't tow, and I won't take it off road, not even to go camping, untill I have the money set aside in case I break anything.

p.s. "FM-146 tranny and BW-1350 t-case, dana 28 front axle and a 7.5 rear end"...i think that is correct, I looked it up ford fleet website vin decoder when i first bought it. I know for sure it is a 7.5 rear, and that it is a open diff...can't remember the ratio.

 

[Southern_Trendkill]

That answered some questions! The truck seems in good enough shape, and if I am looking at spending another $500 to get heads for it, I am ok with it. I just want to make sure I can get at least a year out of it before the next major repair. It is impossible to predict anything, but it helps to know if I have a decent starting platform.

I was planning to get a suzuki samarai or a geo trooper, but then this truck showed up, and I figured I could at least fix it up and sell it even if I decided not to keep it.

I don't plan on driving the truck hard for the next couple years. I don't tow, and I won't take it off road, not even to go camping, untill I have the money set aside in case I break anything.

p.s. "FM-146 tranny and BW-1350 t-case, dana 28 front axle and a 7.5 rear end"...i think that is correct, I looked it up ford fleet website vin decoder when i first bought it. I know for sure it is a 7.5 rear, and that it is a open diff...can't remember the ratio.

Probably 3.73, that's what mine was, and it had that same setup.

 

[Nhaz]

try running some seafoam through it. it may unsticky the lifter.

 

[Carlos Murphy]

88 Ranger

I've had my 88 Super cab, 2.9 auto about 5 years, off roading it 4 years, 149,000 miles on it.

33" Baja Claws, no lift, I cut the fenders and added rubber flares from JCP. Richmond Lock-Rite, Revolver Shackles, Rough Country shocks, custom bumpers with receivers front and rear for my 8000 lb. winch, rock sliders, 80 cu ft scuba tank with 15 ft hose.
Had to have the trans rebuilt shortly after I bought it cuz some idiot did a valve body mod to make a cheep shift kit and the trans was beating its self to death.
I eliminated the internal fuel pump after it failed and replaced the external pump with a Holly Hi-Output, don't want that internal pump to fail on a trail in the desert or in the mountains.
http://s864.photobucket.com/home/ChuckPringle

Forgot to mention I replaced the rad with a Explorer rad, twice the capacity and I made a snorkel but have not found water here deep enough to need it.

 

[PaleBlue90]

Forgot to mention I replaced the rad with a Explorer rad, twice the capacity

thats the best mod you can do for the 2.9 IMO i had a 2.9 in my 89 and it went south at 350K on it. and ill admit i was not nice. revlimiter going through mud quite a few times.

before you pull the head try some marvelous mystery oil, if that doesnt get the lifter to stop sticking then pull the head. i did it to mine when i had a lifter stick, i never had a issue after that