Has anyone ever said to you...

[scotts90ranger]

The only thing hard about a clutch on the V6 Rangers is weaseling the transmission between the Y pipes and on the torsion bar 4x4's the torsion bar mounts (a 4R70W does NOT like to fit between those stupid mounts...).

I towed around 2500lb of enclosed trailer with a 350X 3 wheeler and a bunch of camping stuff and pallets over a mountain pass several years ago (like 10) with the '90 in it's semi current configuration... got like 12mpg with a 7500lb total weight... it did just fine, I kept it slow, it was the year before I got the F350 so after that played safer and towed the Ranger over for the guys trip...

 

[don4331]

The Adventurer 76R was too much for my Ranger: It was fine at 90km/h, but at 110, it started swaying with progressively greater amplitude. The locals didn't appreciate me driving 20 under speed limit (they were probably doing 20 over). The camper as actually scary strapped on a trailer behind the F-150 in a strong crosswind.

Pulling the 5th wheel was no issue. (Did get lots of look though).

You need a clutch tool to get disc centered in the pressure plate. Then I used a couple studs (bolts with head cut off) in the block to allow me to guide the transmission in.

For those with '11 and older Rangers: Did you note in the Owners/Trailer towing brochure, that the hitch is limited to 350lbs tongue weight/3,500lbs trailer when used weigh carrying? And the 600lbs tongue weight/6,000lbs trailer limit is with weight distribution hitch. The aftermarket hitches are pretty much same.

 

[mtnrgr]

A friend of mine is a huge chevy fan. His house sits on a hill on a dead end road. You have to go up the hill when you leave. He was trying to take his boat out one day that was parked in his front yard. He just spun the tires on his fullsize Chevy and couldn't get it going. I hooked the Ranger up to him with a tow strap and pulled him and his boat out of the yard going up hill. It was fun rescuing him with my little Ranger.

Which ranger did you use for that?

 

[rusty ol ranger]

I put 27 bundles of ashphalt shingles i rusty #1 once.

That was probably the biggest overload i did.


Best pull was at a boat ramp when a guy in an old late 70's "Big 10" chevy pulling a pontoon backed to far down the ramp and sunk the back tires in soft shit. Rusty#1 was the hero that day too.

Cab smelled like burnt rubber and clutch for a week though

 

[mtnrgr]

It's great to hear from those who have used thier ranger as work trucks. My dad bought a 94 f150 new with 5.0, that was used to tow his 5th wheel..gas was to much to fill both tanks, wasn't driven that often, unless I would drive it. He had that truck until 2018. For all his needs my ranger served him well during those 2 years..my ole friend has served me well in the 28 years of ownership.

 

[mtnrgr]

I put 27 bundles of ashphalt shingles i rusty #1 once.

That was probably the biggest overload i did.


Best pull was at a boat ramp when a guy in an old late 70's "Big 10" chevy pulling a pontoon backed to far down the ramp and sunk the back tires in soft shit. Rusty#1 was the hero that day too.

Cab smelled like burnt rubber and clutch for a week though

I have hauled everything in my ranger, bricks, cement blocks, tools, lots of lumber, furniture, tile, engines, transmissions, axles, auto body parts..etc..recently had 12 pallets to haul home for firewood. The tailgate is still used as a work bench.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

I have hauled everything in my ranger, bricks, cement blocks, tools, lots of lumber, furniture, tile, engines, transmissions, axles, auto body parts..etc..recently had 12 pallets to haul home for firewood. The tailgate is still used as a work bench.

The guy at 84 lumber made me sign a waiver. I think those are 70-90 lbs a piece. I was stupidly overloaded.

But it made it 25 mi home. Lol

Rusty #2 gets used too...

 

[ekrampitzjr]

The light trucks to watch if overloaded are the older Japanese pickups. As rugged as even old-time Toyotas were, overloading was just asking for trouble.

Back in the 1990s I was on the Washington (DC) beltway and passed an early–1980s Mazda with an aftermarket work box replacing the pickup bed. The truck had been overloaded in the past so that the frame had begun to buckle between the cab and the work box. You could see the frame damage as you passed the truck. The front of the cab pointed toward the sky a bit, and the rear of the box was tilted up a bit too. I wonder whether it had passed Virginia safety inspection in that condition.

That was the same vintage Mazda as the last Ford Couriers sold here, so it had been Japanese–made. I hope that one was retired soon after I saw it.

My suspicion is that the US pickups, including our Rangers, have a certain allowance for overloading and the older foreign stuff had little or no allowance. I haven't heard of Chevy S-10s or Dodge Dakotas failing from overloading either. However, if the pickups have rusty frames and rear spring shackles, all bets are off.

 

[superj]

I over loaded my 98 sonoma almost daily. The back bumper scrapped the asphalt alot on that little truck

 

[pjtoledo]

only once

 

[wildbill23c]

I've had a couple people in the past try to tell me my 84 Ranger was 4WD, I've had a couple people swear that my 87 Ranger is 4WD as well. How do people come to that assumption with Rangers. I've had 2 of them, and I've had numerous people try to tell me they were 4WD...thanks I know my truck and its definitely not nor ever has been 4WD LOL.

Last year when I was working on a couple of projects, my Explorer was in the shop so I used my 87 Ranger with my 8 foot Chevy pickup bed trailer to haul a load of gravel and a load of fill dirt 4 miles home. The truck did it, had plenty of power, but stopping power was where it was lacking, and it didn't help that the guy running the loader at the gravel pit loaded the trailer a bit back end heavy...so traction was a bit of a problem. I just took the backroad the 4 miles home without any issues at all...if the trailer were loaded like you are supposed to load them with 10-15 percent tongue weight I probably could have easily pulled that 4,000lbs of gravel all over the place with ease...the downfall with this is my truck is a manual so its actually limited to only 2k towing, I assume due to the small size clutch disc? The larger F-Series trucks back then weren't downrated for auto/manual they were rated the same, so my guess is the small size of the clutch disc is why Ford lowered the towing capacity to only 2k as I think the automatic was rated around 5k? Both share the same brake sizes so I wouldn't think that would matter. I guess maybe too many people blowing clutches up by overloading.

 

[1990RangerinSK]

One day, Grandpa asked me to clear the snow out of his yard, and haul it away with the '85. I don't know how much weight I had on it, but I had it (with the topper on) as full as I could get it.

I also moved more than once with that truck, also full to the top of the topper. Again, I have no idea how much weight I had on it.

 

[97RangerXLT]

Twice. Once in 2006 or 2007 i put 3/4 pallet of paver stones (6" diameter with a bite out of one side, looked like a crescent moon) drove home from Menards (14 miles) with the front end pointed skyward. Steering got *reaally* light at 45 mph.

2nd time was 6 years ago i had the rear mudflaps 2 inches from the ground with flooring. Ended up shuffling a few hundred pounds of that load to another car.

Pretty much every year or so i put 5 to 10 24' boards to replace rotted ones on the deck. Not much of a load weight wise, but they do stick out quite a bit. And i have to drive through pretty much all of Fishers (about 100k souls live here) so there is the hoping and praying that the idiot behind you doesnt impale his car on your deck boards.

AJ

 

[oldgeek]

I've never over-loaded. Just load over.....the tailgate....while it's up.....

I'll pile up the bed with leaves.... drive off to work....at 65mph. Go to unload the leaves....where did they go?

Wife says I'm a very naughty boy....

 

[Eddo Rogue]

I hope when the time comes to do my clutch, I'll be energetic enough to do it myself. I've actually never done a clutch job even though I've done a ton of everything else including an engine rebuild, body work, suspension change, and a dozen brake jobs.

The hardest part is getting the transmission out...then back in. Ranger trans is easier, only about 100lbs.