jimbo74's 98 2wd supercab 3.0 auto

[jimbo74]

some of you know me from www.explorerforum.com

well, i have joined here as not much ranger stuff happens there

my parents no longer want the rolled explorer with a grey tarp on top of it parked in front of their house, it is still in their name and they want it gone eventhough they gave it to me. they are willing give me their 98 2wd ranger

1998 2wd supercab with a 3.0l v6, automatic, 3.73 open diff, ford 7.5 with rear drums. has front abs. 141k-ish miles, and running strong

here are some pictures of the truck hauling away my old 2wd toyota

according to the door sticker, the stock sized tires are 225/70/14SL on 14x6 wheels (26.4")

currently have installed P235/75/15 on 15x7 wheels (28.9")

@ 65 MPH on the speedometer, I am actually doing 71.2 MPH according to www.4lo.com

new rims and tires

don't know what tranny i have, it appears to only be a 4 speed like my explorer, the gear selector has 1,2,D and there is a button to turn OD on/off on the stalk

also, i did the math today, and with the bigger tires i end up having an effective rear end ratio of 3.41... not too bad, and it still is peppy, i can still chirp the tires from a standstill on dry pavement, chirp, not spin, but chirp nonetheless

is my tranny a 4r44e?

also, what brakes are best? it is time to do the front end again, and i hate having warped rotors like it has now.... it currently has brembo blanks i got from tirerack, and they were sweet for a long time, but vibrate like crazy now. i drive hard, lots of hard braking mostly in city but also qutie a bit on the freeway, stop and go traffic and also higher speed cruising while commuting....

are powerslot the best? or? what about pads?

 

[Gabe8810]

Welcome to the site man. Nice lookin truck looks clean

 

[jimbo74]

not quite familiar with this site yet... where can i find info on the brakes? brands? any recommended vendors? what tranny i have? what is RBV?

to add, my truck is an xlt and supercab (that extra half suicide door) its got a 60/40 split bench and a double din sized radio, with single cd

there are a few issues with it, kinda hard to see in the pics... maybe i will fix em, but probably wont... there is a small dent in the left bed corner, i got rear ended and the bumper pushed into it a little bit. my mom somehow scraped a pole @ the gas station, so there are yellow stripes and some slight denting on the supercab left door and in front of the bedside

also how do i remove the corner light? bulb is burned out and it bugs me....

also have 2 bulbs burned out on the instrument cluster... do i need to pull the whole dash?

the blend door is broken, i have max a/c (very cold) or hottest heat... none of the settings in between that change any temperature

and the center armrest is broken, the plastic latch seperated from the armrest

 

[Muddycowboy]

RBV= ranger based vehicle

 

[colinrmitchell]

If it's a 1998 3.0L, it has the 4R44E in it.

 

[jimbo74]

If it's a 1998 3.0L, it has the 4R44E in it.

are you sure on this? is there a place where i can look this info up and confirm?

i had a 96 xplorer and no one was able to confirm if i had a 4r44e or a 4r55e

also what about performance brakes?

 

[jimbo74]

anyone see a reason that i cant use my new magencor spark plug wires from my explorer 4.0l on my ranger with the 3.0? these plugs are nice and heavy, and thick. magnecor kv85 and have really only about 500 miles on them.