Introduction looking into purchasing a ranger

[Ranger1992]

Hi guys, it's been a while a few years actually. I've been looking into buying a Ford ranger from my work and thought I would get some options on the truck. Now it's been years since I've owned one of these little trucks. Now let's get to the info on the truck they are wanting to sell.

It's a 1993 Ford Ranger extended cab 4x4
It has about 188,000 miles
Motor is a 4.0 ohv v6 which my first truck had
Automatic transmission which sucks in my opinion, but whatever haha.

Now the issues with the truck. It's a work truck so it had quite a few dings and cosmetic issues. Box on truck is rough. Exhaust pipe rotted until it hits muffler. Frame has surface rust, tires dry rotted bad, has plexiglass for the slider window. Taillights are chipped around the edges.

The truck will stall sometimes when driving. If you get lucky it will start back up. Or with a jump because battery is from 2019... check engine light is either on or off.
They tell me it needs a tune up and fresh gas, which I can believe. It seems to run fine despite stalling from time to time. Looks like it may need valve cover gaskets, oil pan or rear main seal, and rear differential seal. Hard to tell because they don't look like fresh leaks. Maybe old oil spills on the valve covers...

They want $1000 for this truck. Is it worth it? What would you pay? Or would you pass?

Thank you! And God bless!

 

[pjtoledo]

what are your plans for using this truck?
it's 31 years old, near the end of it's expected life, needs lots of work, and tons of money.
need something dependable? no way.
want something that will challenge your mechanical skills? go for it.

EDIT: check for frame rust, that's a tough one to fix.

another EDIT: now that the pics are posted it does look decent.

 

[Ranger1992]

what are your plans for using this truck?
it's 31 years old, near the end of it's expected life, needs lots of work, and tons of money.
need something dependable? no way.
want something that will challenge your mechanical skills? go for it.

EDIT: check for frame rust, that's a tough one to fix.

Was thinking daily driver. Better on gas than what I have now. Thank you for the reply appreciate it!

 

[rusty ol ranger]

Was thinking daily driver. Better on gas than what I have now. Thank you for the reply appreciate it!

1000 isnt bad.

Check the frame good....everything else is gravy.

The stalling doesnt sound serious....but everyone claims "tune up and fresh gas" will fix it. It could...but i doubt it.

I wouldnt be scared of it....espicially for 1000 bucks. Just be prepared to dump money into it....and dont fall into the trap if "it needs more then its worth"...vehicles (generally) are poor investments.

Buy it, fix it, drive the hell out of it.

 

[Blmpkn]

As long as you have something to drive until you get the ranger fixed up.. I say go for it.

The last ranger my buddy had was a 98 that leaked oil, had bad tires, bad brakes, needed frame repair, had barf all through the cab, and had 280k miles on it.

He ended up buying it for 300$, spent a couple weekends tinkering on it.. and then drove it for 5-6 years with nothing more than a yearly fluid-filming and basic maintenance. He finally retired it at 350k miles because the trans gave up.

 

[superj]

post a picture too

i would not be scared of buying it. nothing sounds really terrible on it but i would check the rust out more.

and then see if they will take 500 or 700 instead

 

[Ranger1992]

Here's some pics.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

Here's some pics.

Shit thats not bad at all.

Id jump on it

 

[Ranger850]

I agree with Rusty and superj. See if they'll take $700-maybe 800, so you can get that tune up and some new rubber. Figure out what's stalling it out, and drive it into the dirt.

 

[Ranger1992]

I agree with Rusty and superj. See if they'll take $700-maybe 800, so you can get that tune up and some new rubber. Figure out what's stalling it out, and drive it into the dirt.

I've been wanting to talk them down. I've also been hearing that the higher up said anything under $1000 is scrap price...

 

[Ranger850]

I've been wanting to talk them down. I've also been hearing that the higher up said anything under $1000 is scrap price...

Scrapyard might give them $450 for the whole truck. They could sell it as a "parts truck" for around $5-600, IF the body panels and interior are in good shape. From your description, they're pretty rough. $1,000 is a fair price, but less than $1,000 wouold be a good deal for you.

 

[Ranger1992]

Thanks for all the replies and opinions. It really helps. Here's some pics of underneath it. Not the greatest pics. I'll get better ones later.

 

[superj]

For sure, i think you will be good with that truck. And you can call the local junk and scrap yards to get an estimate on what they would give so if the shop says less than 1k is scraoe price, you can say well, i called and they said 400 bucks tops.

 

[Roert42]

I’d run it.

I’m also a glutton for crappy old trucks. So the floor is really low on the quality I find acceptable.

 

[Ranger850]

Thanks for all the replies and opinions. It really helps. Here's some pics of underneath it. Not the greatest pics. I'll get better ones later.

More dust than rust, not bad at all imo.