Rear doors

[Boghog1]

I have searched (that is how I found this site) I am looking to get rid of my grand Cherokee and get myself a truck I am leaning towards a ranger with 4.0 and 5speed I need something that can haul a 4x8 sheet of plywood, make dump runs, haul a deer or two in the bed and maybe if I am lucky in the future put a quad in the back. I would like 4x4 since I plan on doing some class 6 roads while hunting and winters in New England can get pretty brutal. I don't need to haul people but in the back of an extended cab but rear doors would be nice so my question is when did for start was it 97? any insights you can provide on anything else I should consider please give a shout.

 

[adsm08]

it was more like 04 or 05. I'd guess that an 05 would be your best bet for all those options.

 

[HankG]

Four doors was available for 98+ supercabs.

 

[r1ch999999]

Do a little research on something like www.edmunds.com. My 03 had rear doors, I'm pretty sure it was around as early as 00.

-edit-

It seems I was posting at the same time as someone else.

Also, it'll haul plywood in a styleside, I had issues with that in my stepside.

 

[snomaker321]

yep, 98 was the first year with the 4 door. Im actually looking for a similar truck right now. AS for the 4.0, in 2001 they switched from the ohv engine to a sohc engine and added like 47hp and 13 ft lbs of torque, but the early ones had timing chain issues. Depending on what your looking to spend, look for a 03+

 

[Slim]

Yup, 4 door started in '98, BUT just because it's an extended cab does NOT mean it's automatically a 4 door. The 4 door was an option that had to be ordered, so you can still see a number of '98+ extended cab Rangers out there that are still only a 2 door.

And just to be sure, the door handles for the rear doors are along the leading edge of the door, it's "sandwiched" between the front and rear doors.

 

[koda6966]

As some others said, 98 plus was four door. My uncles 98 is a four door.

If you plan on hauling a quad, step-sides are nice so you can climb up over to the front easier instead of climbing over the quad if you need to get something, but the Ranger's bed size might hurt the ability to fit the quad in there. Same with the plywood. It just barely fits in my regular box, and sticks out a couple feet. A friend of mine has a step-side silverado and his quad (Bombardier Baja DS650) just fits in the bed. I know a guy with a Ranger that hauls his quad around and he has to drive it over the wheel wells in order to get it in the bed.

I'd love to tell you to get a Ranger, but you might want to look into getting a small step-side F150.

 

[Beef52751]

I have to drive over the wheel wells in my Ranger to load a Quad, watch out for the back window comin down i had to replace the one in my old 91 Lesson learned

 

[Boghog1]

so 98 up is what I need to look for and 2003 had the better engine.

as far as the quad, it is more of a dream and hauling plywood will not be a daily task so style side should be able to handle it.

I was looking into F150s but the with the spark plug spitting problems of the new ones I think I'll stay away and trying to find a decent quality older one is tough. I suppose I could always look to GM for a full size

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

There is nothing wrong with using a Ranger for the listed tasks. I did all of that an more with my '00. Except I didn't have the 4-door option (started in 98 and IIRC somewhere around 05 became pretty much standard).

Nothing wrong with older F-150s either, just get one with a 300 straight six and you're golden. Even die-hard chevy guys will admit to the 300 being a great motor!

The newer SOHC 4.0L motors I have been told by a couple mechanics are considered throw-away motors. Once the timing chain (one or both - they have front and rear chains) go bad, you pretty much have to toss the engine because of the tight tolerences they run, most mechanics cannot get it back in proper timing.

If you're willing to drive a 5-speed manual all the time, a 3.0L properly set up will do just fine. By that I'm advocating 3.73 or 4.10 gears, which is typically factory gearing but sometimes you find things like 3.45 or 3.08 gears in 'em.

I wouldn't want a stepside Ranger if I planned on hauling plywood an quads an stuff. Unless I was going to use a trailer for most of the hauling. There was a number of times where my fleetside bed was just a lil small. Upgrading to a shortbox F-150 doesn't really help you, it's still a short bed. That's why I did away with the cross box in my F-150, with that in an 8' bed, I was down to a shortbed size... I got the F-150 because I needed an 8' bed.

 

[exbass94]

The newer SOHC 4.0L motors I have been told by a couple mechanics are considered throw-away motors. Once the timing chain (one or both - they have front and rear chains) go bad, you pretty much have to toss the engine because of the tight tolerences they run, most mechanics cannot get it back in proper timing..

I call on that. If the motor can be timed right at the factory, there's no reason it can't be timed right again. There have been thousands of people who had the tensioners replaced and their engines go another 100k+ no problem. And that's IF you even need to replace them. I'm confident I can get over 250k out of my original tensioners. The updated parts don't fail like the old ones did. I think these mechanics just don't know how/want to bother to time them. It is a complicated procedure that requires special tools.

 

[Mac]

The four doors are still an option. You're going to have a hard time finding all those on your "wish" list. Just looked on AutoTrader and found three in the whole country with all those options with under 60K miles Was one out near Mass for $14k approx. Good luck, would be a nice truck.
Dave

 

[r1ch999999]

$14K? I bought my 03 brand new, 4x4, extended cab 4-door, 5spd, 4.0, ac, cd player, manual windows/doorlocks for $15,123 with 43 miles on it. Have prices really jumped up that much in 7 years?

 

[koda6966]

My brother got his 01 last year with power windows, locks, edge package, 4x4, 3.0/auto, leer fiberglass cap, fog lights, and rear doors for 5k. I believe it had about 70,000 miles on it.

14k is bull. And auto trader sucks. I just found four trucks, with four doors, in my area.

http://binghamton.craigslist.org/cto/1588685651.html

There's one of em.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I call on that. If the motor can be timed right at the factory, there's no reason it can't be timed right again. There have been thousands of people who had the tensioners replaced and their engines go another 100k+ no problem. And that's IF you even need to replace them. I'm confident I can get over 250k out of my original tensioners. The updated parts don't fail like the old ones did. I think these mechanics just don't know how/want to bother to time them. It is a complicated procedure that requires special tools.

I wasn't trying to say that it cannot be done at all. But you supported my statement yourself when you said that it does require special tools to get right and that it is a complicated procedure. I would suspect that a lot of mechanics do not really want to spend the money to buy the tools and go through the complicated procedure.

I also know that a mechanic's hotline is telling mechanics that it is a very complicated procedure requiring special tools and if they do not have the training they should just advocate replacing the motor instead of trying to fix it.