New Ranger in the family

[jcd302]

Put down a deposit on a '96 for my son. It will be his first truck. Sold his SHO last week and we ran across this on Craigslist around the corner from my work. Needs cosmetic work and a cleaning inside, but mechanically seems to run out good.
When he gets back home Monday, he will do the negotiating to see if he can get a better deal. They are asking $1300.

 

[Mark_88]

Looks good...only thing I would suggest is a VERY THOROUGH inspection of the frame and cab floorboards...what you see there may be multiplied behind the dash.

I bought a 96 for the engine (a 2.5 out of a 98) and it was available because the spring mounts and driver side floor were rusted...very rusted...and I've seen a few on Kijiji for sale for the same reason...appears to be a slight QC issue with this year for some reason.

And you might want to smell the passenger side carpets for anti-freeze leaks...not that it's hard to actually remove the dash on these...but the heater box also has to come out from what I've seen...

If all that is good...maybe plan to do some good undercoating to preserve it...

 

[jcd302]

Had a few of these so I know where they have issues. I crawled under it and it looks pretty good for a 96 with 210k on the clock.
Needs a new seat & windshield. Tailgate is pretty rusty too. Junkyard seat and a steam cleaning inside. Good to go.