Looking to buy first ranger off road rig

[Hagan]

If you can only afford a 1st gen then buy one. My advice...afford what you can and upgrade what breaks.

 

[kolb02]

This 85 for sale by me has an auto in it. Is that a deal breaker? I would like an auto but I have heard they suck in the 1st gens.

 

[BLOODBANE]

If it interests you, go look at it. i would really go over that truck though. Go for a good test drive and run through all the gears in the AT. It will probably have loads of miles on it, and I would be a bit leery of the transmission. If It shifts firm and all the gears seem to work correctly, and everything else seems O.K., I would throw a figure of 900-1000 at them (cash usually talks really loud).

If you do get it, first order of business would be doing a transmission filter and fluid change (along with the other fluids on the truck). A lot of people cuss the FORD AT's, but I have the dreaded A4ld in my Explorer and its going on 230,000 miles and still shifts firm, and no slipping. You just have to take care of them (heat will destroy them).

Like I said, go over it with a fine tooth comb. As far as the axles go, if your not running a high hp engine and no hardcore wheeling, they should hold up. I ran the 7.5 in my Ranger with the V-8 for a while and it held up to that (yes, even a few wheeling trips).

 

[kolb02]

Yeah, I don't want a hard core wheeler. Just something to go out in the mountains and have some fun. Biggest tire would be a 31. And I don't have time to turn it into a huge project as I already have a drag car that is a full time job by itself.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

If you're going to run a 31", remember that gearing will have a huge bearing on your experience. 4.10 gears would be ideal. 3.73 OK. Anything less will be painful.

Sent from my XT1032 using Tapatalk

 

[kolb02]

What did an 85 v6 auto come with for gears?

 

[trail B2]

They had a few different gears but a lot of 3.73 and some 4.10.If I was after a ranger I would get a 90's 4.0 5 speed 4x4 to me they just feel good going down the road the 2.8 auto's kinda struggle to me.

 

[kolb02]

Ok, I found a 94 4.0 5 speed manual ranger. It has the electric switch for 4 wheel drive. Is that a deal breaker for you guys? Is the manual shift that much better?

 

[Andy D]

The electric shift TC is failure prone Not the TC, the mickey mouse shifter. The twin stick TC is rare and expensive. The Rat came to me missing the shift motor. I have a small vise grip clamped to the selector shaft and safety wired in 4 high . I mostly run around with the hubs unlocked.

 

[kolb02]

Well, never mind I found this 94 on CL and Made an agreement on price. It was a 3 hr drive away. I started driving to go pick it up and the guy called me about 45min into our drive and told me he sold it. Pretty pissed!

 

[Mightyfordranger]

http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/dana_28_35.shtml

Check this out about d28s and d35s

 

[Mightyfordranger]

http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/TCaseshiftmotor.shtml

This one's about the t case shift motor hope fully.this helps I find that just plain info that isn't coming from one person's opinion or another helps people to decide things on there own better

 

[4x4junkie]

Ok, I found a 94 4.0 5 speed manual ranger. It has the electric switch for 4 wheel drive. Is that a deal breaker for you guys? Is the manual shift that much better?

(answering just in case you find another one...)
It definitely is better, but not so much I'd consider it a deal breaker (I bought my BII with an electric case... replaced the little bushing in the motor I mentioned earlier, then ran it for about 2½ years w/o issue before I went to a dual-case crawler setup). As I already said in my earlier post, they're relatively easy to fix. Sure, once in awhile one will come along that gets deemed "unfixable" after a few failed attempts, but more often than not a quick disassembling of the shift motor will reveal what's causing the issue (and as someone else mentioned, "exercising" the unit occasionally can't hurt either). The controller modules themselves are quite reliable, it's almost always in the motor assembly when issues occur).

The electric shift TC is failure prone Not the TC, the mickey mouse shifter. The twin stick TC is rare and expensive. The Rat came to me missing the shift motor. I have a small vise grip clamped to the selector shaft and safety wired in 4 high . I mostly run around with the hubs unlocked.

No such thing as a twin-stick on a RBV t-case (nor is it possible). Manual cases have just one lever (2H-4H-N-4L).

 

[trail B2]

To me that would be a great little truck.Just like junkie says manuals transfer case is better but to hard to find.I talked to a guy who sold a manual 1354 the same morning he put it on craigs list for $350 electrics are about a hundred all day long.At least the ranger guy called you and didn't let you drive the whole way and not be home worth something.If you have a link to a video or build thread for the fox body I'd like to see it if not it's all good.

 

[kolb02]

Well now im back to this 85 v6 auto. Are the autos really bad in these years and I should get a manual?