my newest beater

[kunar]

i got a call from my dad yesterday, a coworker of his had wrecked his ranger and didnt want to deal with getting it home/fixed. he told me i could have it for $100.

after a little bit of time with a sawzall, tow strap and bfh, i got the bumper pulled out, inner fender cut away from the tire and hood open to tie back a rubbing radiator hose. i drove it 20 minutes home without a single issue. now i have to decide, keep it or parts/scrap? lift, lower, v8, 2.3t, or drive it till it dies? decisions, decisions.

btw, its an 89, 2.3, 5sp, 2wd. the frame and suspension seem fine but i did notice the steering wheel was a little crooked driving it home, maybe something got bent. the cab is a little tweaked, the drivers side door doesnt close all the way, its been pushed backwards and rubs a little on the door frame. this weekend ill be ripping the front end apart and seeing how bad it really is.

 

[MrE_Powers]

its up to you after you go over the damage..... but parts alone you will make more then back the 100$

 

[cody93]

im jealous, very jealous, cant even find a ranger pickup bed for that much over here..

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Where I'm at the insurance company would have written that truck off. Which means in order to insure it again it will have to go through a salvage inspection. I had given to me a running '86 ranger 2wd with a perfect body. It ended up costing me a little over C$2000.00 to get it on the road, and that's just parts and inspection, my labor I didn't count or keep track of but if I had to pay someone it would double the cost. The inspection is very thorough!
Something to think about.
Good luck,

Richard

 

[kimcrwbr1]

I paid $200 for mine with similar damage I got all the body parts from the bone yard and a HVLP spray gun for the paint. It dont look like the frame took a direct hit but the front suspension may need a sledge hammer. Mainly my steering gear box mount got bent a bit but that was just a link adjustment to straiten the steering wheel out I took it to a frame shop and the castor/camber was just fine the toe needed to be tweaked. If you dont know how to check the ball joints you can take it to any shop for a free safety check they have to tell you what it needs. I have a friend that owns ballard frame and axle I put the parts in and I let him do the alignment as a courtesy. The body work is a piece of cake if your creative with a c-clamp a winch and a hammer. Hopefully you can find a donor the same color.

 

[Ak907Girl]

I paid $495 + $70 battery for mine. So far I've not even spent more than $1500 on parts.

But that thing needs plenty of lovin!!

Make it a BAMF!!

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Where I'm at the insurance company would have written that truck off. Which means in order to insure it again it will have to go through a salvage inspection. I had given to me a running '86 ranger 2wd with a perfect body. It ended up costing me a little over C$2000.00 to get it on the road, and that's just parts and inspection, my labor I didn't count or keep track of but if I had to pay someone it would double the cost. The inspection is very thorough!
Something to think about.
Good luck,

Richard

Mine was totaled from hail, needed no inspection and had no changes done to the title. Since it was only 12 dings on the hood (this was 10 years ago too) I didn't fix it and have it reinspected for comp it still just has liability until I get around to redoing the bodywork and repainting it.

My brother bumped into a school bus with is bug in high school, same deal (only the bug got hurt a lot more)

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

^^^ I wish it was that easy here. Only thing I don't have to worry about is tailpipe emissions. I don't know what it's like where the OP is at, I was just letting him know that it would be wise to do some research before making a decision.
Cheers,

Richard

 

[straycat]

You are correct..that thing is beat.....lol

 

[jhammel85]

im jealous, very jealous, cant even find a ranger pickup bed for that much over here..

My thoughts exactly!

If you can keep it, I'd just keep it.

 

[country0001]

Its amazing the little things that you or anyone of us 2nd gen people want or need off that truck. I'm sure a bunch of folks on here will help you pick it clean, then you could drag it across the scales.

 

[kunar]

im not worried about inspections and all that crap, we just dont have stuff like that in our area. if i find any frame damage, i will end up parting it out and scrapping it but i think for now im just gonna pull the front end straight (as straight as i can anyways) and drive it. it'll be fun to play with in the snow, it will get decent mileage, and it will keep the wear and tear off of my other cars. ill take more pics this weekend after i get some work done.

if anybody in my area has some 2nd gen body panels they would like to donate, i'd love to take them off your hands! i have a pretty good selection of 1st gen and 2.9 parts to trade. also looking for a set of tires for this thing.

 

[cody93]

dang, why is everyone thinking of scrapping the shells, thats the stuff i need, ever since i took a detour off a ditch into the woods.... i wish i could find a 1/2 gen ranger shell cab/frame/bed and build it up from scratch with f-150 suspension slant6 with 5spd, gen1 front clip and dash..

 

[kunar]

spent some quality time with the beater today, got quite a bit accomplished. take a look for yourself.

this is how it looked the day i drove it home. i pulled the bumper out with a strap, cut some of the inner fender away from the tire and also had to cut the hood open to get to a radiator hose that was rubbing on the alternator pulley.

the drivers side door wouldnt open or close. the fender was jammed in behind the front edge of the door keeping it from opening, the b-pillar had moved enough that the latch and striker were out of alignment and wouldnt latch without a lot of force

i pulled the fender to get to the mangled mess underneath, also decided to see what i could do with the fender its self once it was off the truck.

http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hpho...54789_100000288638933_1351245_422979739_n.jpg

after some time with a couple straps, a bfh, a couple blocks of wood and a lot of persuasion, the core support had moved back to (almost) where its supposed to be.

fender back on, almost as good as new (haha, yeah right) well at least the door opens and closes right!

the goal is to make this truck a road worthy beater for as cheap as possible. im not worried about it looking good or being quick, i have 3 other vehicles for that. todays total investment was zero dollars. i still have to figure out how to keep the hood shut for cheap/free, and i need to figure something out for lights since mine were destroyed. even stock replacements wont bolt into that mangled sheet metal anymore. i figure ill drive the crap out of this thing and one day once it dies ill put a v8 in it, along with a straight front end.

im thinking about pulling the other front lights and mounting a set of snow plow headlights or something similar. probably try to find some cheap steel grate to cover the whole front where the hood should be. as for the hood, im thinking either hood pins or some type of external latch similar to jeeps/hummers/semis

 

[pjtoledo]

i got a call from my dad yesterday, a coworker of his had wrecked his ranger and didnt want to deal with getting it home/fixed. he told me i could have it for $100.

after a little bit of time with a sawzall, tow strap and bfh, i got the bumper pulled out, inner fender cut away from the tire and hood open to tie back a rubbing radiator hose. i drove it 20 minutes home without a single issue. now i have to decide, keep it or parts/scrap? lift, lower, v8, 2.3t, or drive it till it dies? decisions, decisions.

btw, its an 89, 2.3, 5sp, 2wd. the frame and suspension seem fine but i did notice the steering wheel was a little crooked driving it home, maybe something got bent. the cab is a little tweaked, the drivers side door doesnt close all the way, its been pushed backwards and rubs a little on the door frame. this weekend ill be ripping the front end apart and seeing how bad it really is.

Airport Hwy, near Friday's ???