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lneidlinger
Well-Known Member
It finally happened. My old Ranger turned in. But in not in any way that I was expecting.
I learned the hard way not to let your girlfriend drive your truck. What people always joke about actually happened. I knew that truck inside and out, knew exactly what it did in any situation and how to compensate for it. She did not. She loved driving that truck so I thought it would be fun to let her drive it to her job. I saw no reason not to, I took it out on the highway all the time and it did fine, alignment was perfect and there was no shakes or rattles. Forecast was also good, no rain and moderate cloud cover.
...Then of course, as soon as she gets out on the highway it starts pouring rain. She's going about 65-70 mph on a new, freshly paved, greasy wet piece of highway. Goes to change lanes, rear tires with no weight hydroplane while the front tires move over and it points the truck straight into the median. The front tires dig in hard, the truck barrel rolls, clearing the cab from the ground, and lands on all four wheels still running and in gear.
Luckily she walked away from it, but the truck was not drivable. 3 of the tires were blown and the steering was pretty out of whack. Honestly though the rest of the truck was ok, as I said the engine still started and ran and the transmission still would go through all gears. The cab was nearly perfect on the outside, not even the windshield cracked, but it was a bit out of square on the passenger side and thus the door wouldn't close. I bought the truck for $600, kept oil and coolant in it, and squeezed 2 1/2 years and beat the crap out of it for 10000 miles with no breakdowns and it never once failed to start. Hell, it even helped me to get my current girlfriend who asked me to help her move because I had a truck. But, the cost to fix the steering and new wheels/tires was just too much for that truck. That truck was like the giving tree, faithfully giving me what I asked from it for 2 1/2 years with no question, selflessly sacrificing it's health for that of my girlfriend, and now hopefully helping other Rangers stay alive by donating it's organs in a parts pulling yard.
As sappy as it sounds, Rangers will always hold a special place in my heart now. As much character, reliability, toughness, and inevitably, self sacrifice that my old Ranger had, I wouldn't expect anything less from another one.
Now unfortunately the Ranger name seems to carry a premium AND due to these unforseen circumstances, limited funds, and the need for something quick, I was not able to acquire another Ranger. You guys probably won't like this, but I was able to find a smokin' deal on a 1996 Toyota T100 AHH! Not in the face! It's a super well maintained truck, straight body and frame with very little rust, manual tranny, 4wd, 3400 V6, with lots of options, all for $2300. Oh, and it has just 280,000 miles on it. But all work done on it was at a Toyota dealership and I have every receipt for any bit of work done all the way back to the original sale sheet and window sticker. Overall, I like this truck, but it's just missing that same feeling of...dare I say...friendship?
I learned the hard way not to let your girlfriend drive your truck. What people always joke about actually happened. I knew that truck inside and out, knew exactly what it did in any situation and how to compensate for it. She did not. She loved driving that truck so I thought it would be fun to let her drive it to her job. I saw no reason not to, I took it out on the highway all the time and it did fine, alignment was perfect and there was no shakes or rattles. Forecast was also good, no rain and moderate cloud cover.
...Then of course, as soon as she gets out on the highway it starts pouring rain. She's going about 65-70 mph on a new, freshly paved, greasy wet piece of highway. Goes to change lanes, rear tires with no weight hydroplane while the front tires move over and it points the truck straight into the median. The front tires dig in hard, the truck barrel rolls, clearing the cab from the ground, and lands on all four wheels still running and in gear.
Luckily she walked away from it, but the truck was not drivable. 3 of the tires were blown and the steering was pretty out of whack. Honestly though the rest of the truck was ok, as I said the engine still started and ran and the transmission still would go through all gears. The cab was nearly perfect on the outside, not even the windshield cracked, but it was a bit out of square on the passenger side and thus the door wouldn't close. I bought the truck for $600, kept oil and coolant in it, and squeezed 2 1/2 years and beat the crap out of it for 10000 miles with no breakdowns and it never once failed to start. Hell, it even helped me to get my current girlfriend who asked me to help her move because I had a truck. But, the cost to fix the steering and new wheels/tires was just too much for that truck. That truck was like the giving tree, faithfully giving me what I asked from it for 2 1/2 years with no question, selflessly sacrificing it's health for that of my girlfriend, and now hopefully helping other Rangers stay alive by donating it's organs in a parts pulling yard.
As sappy as it sounds, Rangers will always hold a special place in my heart now. As much character, reliability, toughness, and inevitably, self sacrifice that my old Ranger had, I wouldn't expect anything less from another one.
Now unfortunately the Ranger name seems to carry a premium AND due to these unforseen circumstances, limited funds, and the need for something quick, I was not able to acquire another Ranger. You guys probably won't like this, but I was able to find a smokin' deal on a 1996 Toyota T100 AHH! Not in the face! It's a super well maintained truck, straight body and frame with very little rust, manual tranny, 4wd, 3400 V6, with lots of options, all for $2300. Oh, and it has just 280,000 miles on it. But all work done on it was at a Toyota dealership and I have every receipt for any bit of work done all the way back to the original sale sheet and window sticker. Overall, I like this truck, but it's just missing that same feeling of...dare I say...friendship?
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it truly is sad to see such a sweet ranger going for parts at your local j yard though. My thoughts are with your ranger for ever. RIP lneidlinger's Ranger.
