- Joined
- May 14, 2026
- Messages
- 1
- Points
- 1
- City
- Gainesville
- State - Country
- FL - USA
- Vehicle Year
- 1998
- Vehicle
- Ford Ranger
- Drive
- 2WD
- Engine
- 2.5 (4 Cylinder)
Hello all, new to the forum. I've been gathering a ton of useful info here for the past several weeks (the tech articles are great,) figured it was time to start documenting my Ranger. This is my first Ranger, first Ford product, and first pickup. I've had it in my head for a while that it would be nice to have a cheap, utilitarian truck for weekend projects, camping trips, etc. Of course the cheap basic used truck is virtually non-existent these days now that everyone has to have an $80k Platinum Texas Big-Dick Ligma Edition mall crawler - mega cab to fit three car seats plus subwoofers in the back, tiny bed that is for show only and must not under any circumstances be scratched by cargo. But I digress.
I finally found a deal I couldn't pass up at a university surplus auction - a '98 Ranger, standard cab, 6' bed, 2.5L and 2WD. No options, no power anything. A basic, reasonably sized truck that's honest about what it is. A truck that is plenty capable for what 90% of people would ever need a truck to do. It was listed with 174,xxx miles and a note that it stalls when put in gear (automatic transmission.) I checked some junk yard prices for a manual transmission and decided that worst case I could stomach the cost of a swap, and ended up getting it for ~$700. Aside from the transmission issue, the paint is pretty bad after nearly 30 years of living outside under the Florida sun, and the passenger door is pretty banged up, but being a university vehicle I know it has been inspected annually and had regular maintenance - probably better than I could assume from a private owner or a truck that has been through multiple owners.
Auction pics:
It is an "XLT" trim, which I find funny, as far as I can tell it means nothing. The only things on this truck that could be considered options are the automatic transmission and the factory pinstripe. Maybe the paint, it seems to be an uncommon color (light denim blue.) Otherwise it has no additional comforts - manual windows and mirrors, no tilt steering, no cruise control, basic AM/FM radio, speedo only cluster.
Title shows that it was bought new with 14 miles in 1998, I am only the second owner. Relatively low mileage being a university vehicle, it probably never got very far from campus. From what I can gather by the miscellaneous items and papers I've found in it I think it was used by a veterinary medicine lab, specifically in the livestock program. And it has most definitely been used well, I can't begin to describe how many pounds of caked up grass and mud I've washed out of the frame, undercarriage, suspension, etc. I'm considering it "organic corrosion protection." The good news though is the frame is in great shape, no major rust to speak of. The body has some light rust where the paint has worn away, but nothing past the surface, nothing bubbling or rotting through. The tire that was flat in the auction pics holds air perfectly well, I think it just sat for a while before going to auction. Battery was dead but relatively new and holds a charge fine after jumping it one time.
First order of business after towing it home was to sort the transmission out. I knew the engine ran, it was a little rough but no codes, no overheating, no obvious issues. After some time monkeying with it I was able to get it to engage reverse, but it would stall violently in any forward gear. I replaced the TCC solenoid, along with a new filter and fluid fill, which solved that. Did not take any pictures, it was a straightforward process without much to see, and honestly more of a chore than anything. I wasn't thrilled to be putting any time or money into a torque converter automatic. Been driving it for about 6-8 weeks now and it mostly runs great. Transmission still acts wonky sometimes, especially when cold. It'll sometimes have delayed engagement and then bang into gear hard when it does bite. I'm not really interested in throwing more money at the transmission though, I'm still planning to just swap in a manual. I've been accumulating bits from junk yard trips to do the swap, hopefully that'll get done this summer. Power steering hasn't worked since I got it either, and I have no desire to fix that. My plan is to grab a manual steering box from a pre-98 when I see one come up in the junk yard and just ditch the current rack and pump entirely. Might consider electric power steering conversion at some point, but it's not a priority right now.
I was really thrilled that all of the interior plastics are in great shape! I used to have an S-10 Blazer from this era and those have not aged so well. Every one I see now has more holes than dashboard remaining, basically shards of plastic holding hands. Nothing in here feels brittle, I've had a few panels off any no dicey moments yet. Glad I don't have to worry about something shattering every time I sneeze.
After getting it home, but before washing:
So my goal with this truck is to make it a "clean beater" - keep it basic, simple, reliable, and utilitarian, but freshen it up and make it presentable. Less stuff to break is better, and mechanical is preferred over electrical wherever possible. I intend to use it as a truck, it's not going to be babied and I don't want to worry about it getting dirty or banged up, and I want to keep it simple and cheap to fix when something does happen. I have a newer and nicer vehicle for a daily, one that gets much better gas mileage, so the Ranger will really only be driven when I need to use it. I'm not planning to do anything crazy with it, no serious offroad build or suspension modifications. I mainly intend to just freshen it up and make some light modifications to make it more useful, though I might throw in some fun bits here and there. I will post updates as I go, but here's the current to-do list in no particular order:
Interior
Anyway, I'm looking forward to sharing the progress, and will probably be picking y'alls brains along the way!
I finally found a deal I couldn't pass up at a university surplus auction - a '98 Ranger, standard cab, 6' bed, 2.5L and 2WD. No options, no power anything. A basic, reasonably sized truck that's honest about what it is. A truck that is plenty capable for what 90% of people would ever need a truck to do. It was listed with 174,xxx miles and a note that it stalls when put in gear (automatic transmission.) I checked some junk yard prices for a manual transmission and decided that worst case I could stomach the cost of a swap, and ended up getting it for ~$700. Aside from the transmission issue, the paint is pretty bad after nearly 30 years of living outside under the Florida sun, and the passenger door is pretty banged up, but being a university vehicle I know it has been inspected annually and had regular maintenance - probably better than I could assume from a private owner or a truck that has been through multiple owners.
Auction pics:
It is an "XLT" trim, which I find funny, as far as I can tell it means nothing. The only things on this truck that could be considered options are the automatic transmission and the factory pinstripe. Maybe the paint, it seems to be an uncommon color (light denim blue.) Otherwise it has no additional comforts - manual windows and mirrors, no tilt steering, no cruise control, basic AM/FM radio, speedo only cluster.
Title shows that it was bought new with 14 miles in 1998, I am only the second owner. Relatively low mileage being a university vehicle, it probably never got very far from campus. From what I can gather by the miscellaneous items and papers I've found in it I think it was used by a veterinary medicine lab, specifically in the livestock program. And it has most definitely been used well, I can't begin to describe how many pounds of caked up grass and mud I've washed out of the frame, undercarriage, suspension, etc. I'm considering it "organic corrosion protection." The good news though is the frame is in great shape, no major rust to speak of. The body has some light rust where the paint has worn away, but nothing past the surface, nothing bubbling or rotting through. The tire that was flat in the auction pics holds air perfectly well, I think it just sat for a while before going to auction. Battery was dead but relatively new and holds a charge fine after jumping it one time.
First order of business after towing it home was to sort the transmission out. I knew the engine ran, it was a little rough but no codes, no overheating, no obvious issues. After some time monkeying with it I was able to get it to engage reverse, but it would stall violently in any forward gear. I replaced the TCC solenoid, along with a new filter and fluid fill, which solved that. Did not take any pictures, it was a straightforward process without much to see, and honestly more of a chore than anything. I wasn't thrilled to be putting any time or money into a torque converter automatic. Been driving it for about 6-8 weeks now and it mostly runs great. Transmission still acts wonky sometimes, especially when cold. It'll sometimes have delayed engagement and then bang into gear hard when it does bite. I'm not really interested in throwing more money at the transmission though, I'm still planning to just swap in a manual. I've been accumulating bits from junk yard trips to do the swap, hopefully that'll get done this summer. Power steering hasn't worked since I got it either, and I have no desire to fix that. My plan is to grab a manual steering box from a pre-98 when I see one come up in the junk yard and just ditch the current rack and pump entirely. Might consider electric power steering conversion at some point, but it's not a priority right now.
I was really thrilled that all of the interior plastics are in great shape! I used to have an S-10 Blazer from this era and those have not aged so well. Every one I see now has more holes than dashboard remaining, basically shards of plastic holding hands. Nothing in here feels brittle, I've had a few panels off any no dicey moments yet. Glad I don't have to worry about something shattering every time I sneeze.
After getting it home, but before washing:
So my goal with this truck is to make it a "clean beater" - keep it basic, simple, reliable, and utilitarian, but freshen it up and make it presentable. Less stuff to break is better, and mechanical is preferred over electrical wherever possible. I intend to use it as a truck, it's not going to be babied and I don't want to worry about it getting dirty or banged up, and I want to keep it simple and cheap to fix when something does happen. I have a newer and nicer vehicle for a daily, one that gets much better gas mileage, so the Ranger will really only be driven when I need to use it. I'm not planning to do anything crazy with it, no serious offroad build or suspension modifications. I mainly intend to just freshen it up and make some light modifications to make it more useful, though I might throw in some fun bits here and there. I will post updates as I go, but here's the current to-do list in no particular order:
Interior
- Replace torn headliner
- Replace carpet with vinyl (I want to be able to figuratively "hose it down" when it gets dirty and not worry about spills or tracking in sand and mud)
- Replace cloth seats with vinyl from a later model Ranger, sticking with the bench. Current seats are cloth that is heavily stained, and pretty uncomfortable.
- Install cluster with tach in preparation for manual transmission
- Radio with Android Auto for maps, otherwise not overly concerned with a hugely upgraded sound system
- Fix floppy AC vents
- Delete power steering (need to figure out a pulley/idler situation to retain AC compressor)
- Upgraded factory alternator - currently has the smaller 90 or 95 amp unit, intermittent battery light on cluster but seems to charge normally. If it's failing it's a good excuse to upgrade.
- Probably will run heavier gauge battery and ground wires with the alternator, and replace battery post clamps
- Degrease exterior block and monitor for leaks - no drips currently, but the block is pretty well coated in oil/grease. Might just be from PS pump.
- Replace broken vacuum lines to vacuum reservoir for AC blend control
- Basically just replace all wear items. All of the bushings are dry and worn, may as well just do it all in one shot and start from a clean slate. Will do shocks at the same time. Currently working on a list of parts to order to make sure I get everything on the first shot.
- Paint body - will probably stick to the same color to make life easy, not have to bother with door jambs and engine bay
- Bedliner - going to do a DIY roll-on application
- Service worn door hinges - I assume it's normal pins and bushings but haven't looked yet
- Replace side mirrors with an OEM alternative that has better visibility, I kinda hate the current ones for being so small
- Paint wheels and replace center caps because they look trash
- Replace missing roof moulding strips
- Might install new rubber window trims when painting
- Might add factory fog lights and requisite bumper valance
- Add hitch receiver and trailer light wiring
- Replace two missing tie down anchors in bed
- Toolbox for bed when I find a good deal. Would prefer a retractable cover, but can't justify the cost.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to sharing the progress, and will probably be picking y'alls brains along the way!
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