Fix or Sell with pics

[Dufussman]

06 Ranger 4.0 110,000 miles. Lots of new parts including the timing chain, guide, tensioners repair with engine removal. So the engine has a fresh bill of health and it runs great. I redid the bed area crossmember and spare tire rust. Noticed the under cab crossmember recently with more body rust and bed rust. So I think I'm about done with her but what would you all do?

Sell as is and what would you list it for and expect to get?

Bed/tank off, put a new crossmember in, then sell?

" " " fix, keep, and wait for the frame to crack?

 

[franklin2]

We all make mistakes. Shouldn't have spent all that time and money on the drivetrain when the frame is shot. If you sell it now, you will take a big hit when you show the frame problems. You could try to patch the frame and keep driving it to get the money you spent back out of it.

Figure how much money you have in it now, and divide that by a car payment you would have to make. That is how many years you need to keep driving it to get your money out of it. I know certain states are touchy about rust though.

 

[Dufussman]

Good advice thanks! It was a free truck from an inlaw and I did the frame repair myself. Have put 40k on it over about 7 years.

My buddy's a mechanic so I lucked out having the tensioner cassette thing cost me $1000. I'd probably do the below for the repair:

 

[superj]

Holy cow!!! The rust yall get up north is so crazy to me. That yruck would go to the crusher here

 

[Blmpkn]

The bit of frame that's sandwiched between the spring hangers and the gas tank crossmember is likely to be pretty shitty.

My passenger side was alright.. but the driver's side was NOT.

Had to whack out quite a bit..

Took me most of the day today to fill the hole in... And I'm still not done. Still need to weld up the bottom edge, weld the inside, grind the welds flat, cut a giant fishplate and weld that on, and then add strips of steel to the insides of the top & bottom frame flanges the same length as the fishplate.. then hope to God I can get the spring hanger holes drilled correctly... And build it a nice strong crossmember.

It's certainly not an ideal spot to have to whack out & replace due to the amount of stress it sees.. but.. the only heavy duty and/or off-road action this truck will be subjected to the rest of its life is at the drag-strip so.... Not a concern in my case.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Either accept it for the cheap beater that it is, send it down the river or make a trailer out of it.

 

[franklin2]

I had a 1980 F150 years ago that I should have sent down the road. But I looked and looked, everything I found was bad also or they wanted too much money for it.

So I decided to repair it. I went to the junkyard, they were just getting ready to crush a later model 2wd truck, the frame was the same. It did not have a bed on it. They came out and cut the frame behind the cab and sold me the complete back half for $50. I had to bring the leaf springs back, the rear was already gone.

I drilled and drilled all the rivets, and swapped all the cross members over with bolts. I had some thin places at the rear on the main frame members. I took the better frame and cut the section I needed out, and then cut the top of the "C" off and made it a "L". This "L" piece from the better frame slipped right inside and doubled up the original frame after I painted it. By the time I bolted in the new leaf spring mounts and cross members through the original frame and the repair piece, I did not even have to weld it. When I was done, you could not even tell it was in there unless you looked very closely at it.

 

[Dufussman]

Thanks so far for all of the stories etc. None of my questions have really been answered. Clearly there's a lot of rust on this old truck and it owes me nothing. If you were me (kinda handy can weld but time poor) what would you do?

 

[SenorNoob]

I'd probably call it an organ donor.

 

[Blmpkn]

Just get a new truck.

 

[bobbywalter]

cab is good enough i would just fix it. hard to find a cab that nice where i live.

they started janking with the metallurgy in 92....and got it perfected by 96 to evaporate in michigan after 7 winters.

i really come to hate ford top floor executive suite. a necessary business move for them... if trucks lived forever they would be out of business or trucks would be 200 k.

because if you buy a truck every 4 years...its still 200k.

a solid frame is 5-900 bux.

and a easy job to me for these trucks....thing is down south you can get almost a whole truck out of the yard and just swap whatever you need off of that. "organ donor"

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I have a mostly rural 5 mile commute.

I would run it into the ground.

 

[sgtsandman]

The answer depends on how useful the truck is to you and how much you value it.

As far gone as the frame is, it would be better to frame swap it. The later model Rangers come with a split frame. So, you could swap the rear half and patch up the sheet metal.

If it isn't worth that much to you to put that kind of effort into it, sell it as a parts doner.

With the condition that it is in, you won't get a lot for it. Probably $500. Ask for $900 and expect to be haggled down.

It really depends on how much time and money you are willing to put into it.

 

[franklin2]

Thanks so far for all of the stories etc. None of my questions have really been answered. Clearly there's a lot of rust on this old truck and it owes me nothing. If you were me (kinda handy can weld but time poor) what would you do?

We answered your question; Some of us would fix it, some of us would junk it. If we all said to junk it, would you?

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I’ve fixed things I probably shouldn’t have. I’ve also given up on things that probably could have been saved. At some point it becomes a personal decision based on your abilities and situation. Sentimentality plays in too. My F-150 is shot. Cab, frame, bed… transmission has bad synchros… T-case is binding up… I bought a frame and cab to fix it with. Engine will get overhauled, trans rebuilt, t-case replaced with an NP205, custom bed… truck deserves a new life after the work it’s done for me and I love the beast.