New Ranger Owner couple questions

[cdnturboz]

Hey Im new to the site, my dad recently picked up an 1998 Ford Ranger Supercab 4x4. It has a few issues and I'm wondering if someone could help.

-The airbag light is on, simple fix?
-One of the front bearings is bad (it needs to be fixed for safety/inspection)
is it a hub style bearing?
-It needs all upper and lower ball joints, are they easy to do?

thanks
steve

 

[triumphrider-1]

Can't help you with the air bag, but the front bearing is a unit bearing. Fairly straight forward to replace, but you will need a special tool to take the vacuum hub off to replace it (jig saw blades and electrical tape work too).

Upper and lower ball joints aren't bad. If you do not have a ball joint remover/installer I would recommend renting one from an autoparts store, worth it in my opinion.

 

[cdnturboz]

Thanks!

 

[86ford]

Can't help you with the air bag, but the front bearing is a unit bearing. Fairly straight forward to replace, but you will need a special tool to take the vacuum hub off to replace it (jig saw blades and electrical tape work too).

Upper and lower ball joints aren't bad. If you do not have a ball joint remover/installer I would recommend renting one from an autoparts store, worth it in my opinion.

he got it all right.

86

 

[darkspork]

The airbag light should throw a trouble code which should give you more information on what the problem. There is at least one forum which explains how to read the trouble code and what the different codes mean. http://www.therangerstation.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8447 The link in this post was the most useful in my opinion. My 2003 threw a code, but I found that it was because I was pinching the wires (accidentally) under my passenger seat after having moved the seat around. Hope that helps.