Is it cost-effective to rebuild this truck?

[RadioFreeDurango]

Five years ago we bought a 1999 Ranger XLT M/T V6 4.0 with 246,000 miles on it. It now has 252k and I spent the past week in it driving across Wyoming, including two days on either end to get there and back - a little over 2000 miles. I also turned 65 and spent a lot of time pondering the future. It is my plan to do a fair amount of off-road/overland driving and I need some honest feedback on whether this truck is the right one. I recently replaced the dash switch and transfer case motor, but still can't be certain that it's always dropping into 4WD. I have to find just the right RPM to shift up into 3rd or it grinds. I've been looking for a new drivers seat for two years and still can't find one. It needs a new rear main seal. What will a winch and skid plates set me back? The body is in pretty good shape, and I love the truck. In those 2000 miles this past week I rarely went over 65 and that suits me fine. Ballpark estimates for all of this work are most welcome, as are pro and con points. Should I keep it or find a new one? Many thanks in advance.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

It’s honestly a tough call and it really depends on a lot of things. I’ve fixed things that probably should have been sent to scrap, and I’ve done it mostly working outdoors in a gravel driveway. Captain Cavepig, using the ground, a tailgate, or a 55 gallon drum for a workbench. Finally got an 8’x8’ shop with a real bench and a bench vice actually bolted to it this year and will hopefully be extending it another 4’ before winter hits. Hopefully within the next couple years I can get my temporary garage up.

My green 2000 Ranger, with the help of a buddy and on a small concrete pad area outside of his garage in the alley behind his house in town, we removed the entire rear half of the frame (Rangers from 98-11 used a two-piece frame that is joined at the front leaf spring hanger) and swapped it for a junkyard section. I think it was about two years ago, I cut a damaged section of the front frame section out of that same truck and welded in a reinforced replacement section. I’m currently in process of dropping the front axle to get at a crack in the frame above the front axle and below the motor on the inside there. Entire drivetrain swap, lowered, etc. It will never be worth what I’ve spent on it. But that’s not why I do it, I do it for me.

Same reason I’ve modified all of my toys. Spent a lot patching them up. Everything is built to suit a particular purpose with me. Green Ranger as a fun street toy, Choptop for a road legal off-road toy. F-150 as a heavy work rig. Dump truck as a work rig. My 88 for sort of a Sunday driver. 92 I hadn’t settled on a solid plan when it got smashed for me, it might come back as an off-road only rig and my blue 00 was what made me fall in love with these trucks. It’s going to get a spinny thing added to the motor when it gets put back together…

All in how much you love it and what you are willing to do about it…

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Oh, and to directly address a few points…

My F-150 has been particular about how you shift it for the past probably 10 years. I’ve adapted and I live with it. Not everyone is willing to do that, in which case your options are a junkyard one in questionable condition, a rebuilt one, or rebuild it yourself. I’m going one of the rebuild options when I rebuild the F-150 because that is a junkyard transmission in it and it’s problems have existed since day one of me getting it.

It is possible to find an older Ranger with a manual t-case in a junkyard and swap it in to get rid of the questionable electronics. You need to find one with an M5OD and get the shifter and shift boots and all, plus the floor plate under the carpet/vinyl flooring on top of the transmission hump. That will have the hole cut in it for the shifter.

Is it really the rear main seal or are the valve covers leaking down the back of the block and making it appear like a rear main seal leak? Unfortunately not easy to determine other than maybe pull the starter and send an inspection camera in. I believed my green 00 Ranger had a rear main leak, and so did two mechanics. When the transmission puked, I used that rear main seal leak as a justification for doing a V-8 swap (hey, it needs it all anyway, right?). Well, then I needed a 4.0 and well I’ll just throw a new rear main on it and be ready to rock. I had pulled the engine and trans together so I separated them ready to do a rear main seal only to find the seal was good. Everything around the seal was clean and bone dry, but both valve cover gaskets were leaking down the back of the block.

 

[RadioFreeDurango]

Valve cover seals are such an easy fix! I'll definitely look into that ASAP. Appreciate the heads up on that.

 

[Terrys87]

As long just as you are doing the work yourself and how well you like the truck. I have not worked on a 99 but if you are comfortable with it, I say yes it would be worth it. You find another truck and even if you could buy it for $1, I would tell you to be prepared to spend at least another $1000 just to get the basic maintenance up to where it needs to be if not more. You have already put a couple of miles on it, so it is not hiding any unforeseen surprises that you do not already know about.

 

[bobbywalter]

that is the second best truck. first being a ttb chassis with a 4.0 and 5 speed manual.

you can actually work on it....even backwards with it or forwards in parts with minimal sorcery. but it has fuel and wiring quirks compared to the obd1 and early obd2 .

its a keeper.

 

[RadioFreeDurango]

Tell me about these fuel and wiring quirks, please. I'm fine doing most work myself, but I'm rural and work alone, so doing trannies and such might go to a local shop.