idriveafordranger94
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2008
- Messages
- 271
- Age
- 36
- City
- Suffield, Ohio
- Vehicle Year
- 2009
- Engine
- 4.0 V6
- Transmission
- Manual
- Tire Size
- LT265/75/R16
And so the story begins-my first "fixer-upper" 
I found this truck on Craigslist sometime in January located in Toledo (about 3 hrs away) and my grandpa and I decided to take a look. We arrived and the truck was about a quarter mile down the driveway with about 2 feet of snow everywhere around it. We were surprised how clean it was; no rust visible!!
The guy explained the truck's story to us. It had been family owned since it was new in 1994 and had been very well taken care of but had lots of damage due to a teenage driver! He told us that the engine sounds like it had thrown a rod. I started it up and it sounded like he was right. I shut it off and looked under the hood. My grandpa nudged me and pointed down to the serpentine belt, which was missing a 1" chunk of belt. Ha! The guy walked away and let us look at the truck for a while. We were pretty sure that was the "rod knocking" noise that we heard. We bought the truck and somehow got it out of the 2 feet of snow lol. As soon as we saw the first auto parts place appear, we turned in. Purchased a new serp. belt and threw it on. Man did it run good!
Long story short - a rust free, $600 Ranger that runs and drives! YES!!!
There were some cosmetic isses however- the ugly, rusted rims, the giant gash and dent in the passenger's side door, the quarter inch thick bondo job on the rear bedside, the chunk of fiberglass missing from the header panel....yeah, the list goes on and on...
I kept the truck at my uncle's house for the winter and most of the summer until late August. Here is the truck as it was before I started.

I found this truck on Craigslist sometime in January located in Toledo (about 3 hrs away) and my grandpa and I decided to take a look. We arrived and the truck was about a quarter mile down the driveway with about 2 feet of snow everywhere around it. We were surprised how clean it was; no rust visible!!

The guy explained the truck's story to us. It had been family owned since it was new in 1994 and had been very well taken care of but had lots of damage due to a teenage driver! He told us that the engine sounds like it had thrown a rod. I started it up and it sounded like he was right. I shut it off and looked under the hood. My grandpa nudged me and pointed down to the serpentine belt, which was missing a 1" chunk of belt. Ha! The guy walked away and let us look at the truck for a while. We were pretty sure that was the "rod knocking" noise that we heard. We bought the truck and somehow got it out of the 2 feet of snow lol. As soon as we saw the first auto parts place appear, we turned in. Purchased a new serp. belt and threw it on. Man did it run good!

Long story short - a rust free, $600 Ranger that runs and drives! YES!!!
There were some cosmetic isses however- the ugly, rusted rims, the giant gash and dent in the passenger's side door, the quarter inch thick bondo job on the rear bedside, the chunk of fiberglass missing from the header panel....yeah, the list goes on and on...
I kept the truck at my uncle's house for the winter and most of the summer until late August. Here is the truck as it was before I started.


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