What's your TRS story??

[Jim Oaks]

Sometimes I'll meet people and they'll have a story about how they found TRS, or I'll hear someone tell a story about a TRS gathering from years ago.

I was just wondering if anyone had a TRS story to share.

I've definitely had my fair share of stories over the past 25 years.

 

[Curious Hound]

Once upon a time, there was this guy named Eric. He bought his brother-in-law’s neglected 1993 Ranger Splash that had been sitting idle in the back yard for 10 years or so. Every time Eric searched online for information about his Ranger and how to fix it, the majority of the Google results were from a website called www.TheRangerStation.com. The people there were very knowledgeable and helpful, even friendly. So Eric began taking a more active role in the website discussions, even becoming a forum moderator. Eventually, Eric went to a gathering of these people at Southington ORV Park in Ohio and met them face to face. It did NOT scare Eric. Eric became a Ranger addict. The rest is history. Eric needs help. The story is happy and sad all at the same time.

The End.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

In the times before, when I would be considered a "noob" I went to back my truck out of its spot but it only wanted to go forward, even in park. So we pushed it into the garage and dropped the transmission pan. It was black, sparkly and smelled of burnt popcorn. So I did the right thing and joined an internet forum to pose the obvious burning question "is there a quick fix for this..."

There was, a parts truck that had been wrecked. Parents made me ask a girl to prom before dad would help me swap transmissions though.



That would be 3 transmissions ago... or 22 years. Just a taste of what was to come.

The replacement A4LD outlived the 2.8 and was still good when I turned it in for the core at the JY for my M5ODR2 years later.

 

[Blmpkn]

The first time I heard about TRS was pretty close to 2 decades ago when my buddy aquired his first ranger and started having trouble with it.

My initial reaction to the name of the site was an incredibly cynical laugh to be honest... then I told him rangers were dumb.. and ford's are dumb.. and he's dumb.. and his truck looks stupid.. and he should of bought a Subaru.

Fast forward to now.. and I LOVE the dad-joke vibes the name of the site gives off.. I've owned more rangers than my buddy.. more ford's than my buddy.. still remind him his dumb though.. love the styling of the ranger.. and happy as a MF to have wisen'd up and dumped Subaru.

If TRS wasn't named what it was... it wouldn't of been stuck in my head for over a decade.. and I probably would of joined one of the extremely generic 'other sites' when I fell in love with these little machines.

Same reaction to the bronco corral...

Jim might be a marketing genius?

At the very least.. that level of wit would definitely allow him to have a pretty sweet gig writing jingles/slogans for companies and or their products lol.

 

[RobbieD]

Tragically, some of us can't remember that far back . . .

 

[97RangerXLT]

2007, was going back to college after my job went to Mexico and had signed up for a Dodge Intrepid forum to sort some issues with my wife's Intrepid, the site was pretty informative and had great people. at that time I had the Ranger for about 2 years and no real issues with it but since I had such a good experience with the Intrepid forums, I decided to look for one for the Ranger. And the top of the google results... www.TheRangerStation.com. signed up, looked around, promptly forgot about it due to going back to school, got into a routine and working with my classes, went back to TRS to find that the original site I signed up for about 2 months prior was redone and had to sign up again. Seen alot of good people come and go, and quite abit more good people that are still on here. I really liked the Tech library and what it offered plus a forum that had a great off topic section, which allowed the members to interact a bit more socially.

In 2013 I answered the call for forum moderator and through a small number of applicants and momentary lapse of sanity on Jim's part, was chosen. 2018 i met Jim, 85, Fastpakr, and Bobby Walter in Detroit for the unveiling of the new style Ranger. all great guys in person as well as online 2019 I was there for the TRS 20th Anniversary and saw Eric beat the rocker panel and bedside in on his nice, nearly pristine and almost completely stock 94 Ranger Splash that had been neglected by his brother in law for 10 years... well they do say that neglect and then abuse are closely related...

So fastforward to 2024... the Dodge Intrepid platform (LH) is no more, having been replaced by the Dodge Charger (LX), the LH forums I was in is no longer in existence, the wife that brought me into that world is no longer my wife, and the Ranger which I had before the wife is still relevant, the Ranger Station has kept up with the Ranger platform and I believe Ford has been a beneficiary of this site and all of its contributing members.

And now on to the 25th Anniversary in just a hair ove 2 weeks away...

AJ

 

[bobbywalter]

25 years. damn.

 

[sgtsandman]

Mine is a bit less intersting. I joined another Ranger forum when I had gotten the 1998. It was a used and abused truck owned by somebody that "never had to do anything but change the oil". I put up with the youthful mentality of the membership, most were actually pretty young, for a while and then started looking for another forum when I found this one. I had bought the 2011 around that time as well and wanted to learn more about the new truck since there was a lot of differences from the old one. Apparently, I lurked for a while before I became a registered member. By that time I had fully walked away from the other forum.

Then, about 2020, Jim lost his sanity again and asked for moderators and accepted my offer to volunteer. I'm sure he's been regretting that decision ever since.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

So, I got my first Ranger (the blue 2000 in my sig) in, well, fall of 2000. I was annoyed from the start that for whatever strange reason Ford saw fit to put a tach in the automatic equipped trucks but not the manual transmission trucks where it would actually be useful. Forget exactly when, but somewhere around fall of 01/spring of 02 I bought an aftermarket tach from Summit Racing. The instructions were pretty vague, just telling you to tap into the tach signal wire and gave no details. A bunch of searching online to find out where this mysterious wire could be found among the hundreds on the truck led me here. With help from members here, I got the tach hooked up and working. And I never really left.

Back then TRS did a spring and fall Roundup, usually at Wellsville, and an unofficial “Snowball” run. I went to as many events as I could, including the trip to Spark’s place in Kentucky. Bought my 88 Bronco II off a former member, my 89 Choptop came from a former member (Sherrodwannabeb2, aka Farva), and my 86 parts Bronco II came from a former member. At some point (probably in a moment of confusion or something) Jim got tired of me asking to be a mod and here we are.

 

[Jim Oaks]

25 years. damn.

Then there was this one time @bobbywalter and I had our Rangers in Kentucky. We were coming back from getting dinner and got to a section with a passing lane. Two V8 powered Ford Rangers (This was in the TRS-1 era) trying to decide who will lead as a cop sits in the dark on the side of the road.

Oh, the memories.

Or....

The time Bobby and I got stopped in our V8 Rangers by two deputies in Kentucky that wanted to inspect our trucks. They looked like they were ready to have a field day with us. We had been offroading and I was running a Super Swamper / Bogger combo. I was still a Trooper at the time. The deputy looked at my ID, stepped back, looked at my truck, gave me a 'you have to be shitting me' look, and then told the other deputy we were free to go.

So many stories.

Hey @ericbphoto, is there any Orange Crush in the scavenger hunt this year??

 

[Robertmangrum.rm]

Well my story is kinda the same as everyone else. I had lived out of the Haynes manual for years. Well in 2005 I bought my first ever brand new vehicle. Let me add I was the last person I know who actually got on the internet. Well in about 2014 the Sport Trac had about 250k and my dad had mentioned I should do a timing belt change. I was like yeah probably should have already to be honest. Well after calling to order a timing chain the guy said I had 5. I was like "what?" So I ran home and start Google searching. Just about every article I pulled on it led me here. Well in 2015 wife told me I needed a lower mileage truck. So I bought a 15 Nissan Frontier. Well then Ford brought back the Ranger in 2019 and I had an itch that needed scratching. When I paid the Nissan off 2 days later I was on the search. Once I found my Ranger I remembered how this site helped me through the issues and wanted to know more about the 19+ models. Well that leads me to a get together at the Badlands where I actually get to put the faces to names and got to meet some of the best folks I've come across in a while. I look forward to getting to meet more of you and see your vision of your truck.

 

[Curious Hound]

Hey @ericbphoto, is there any Orange Crush in the scavenger hunt this year??

Time will tell.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

I cant remember how i ended up here. i think it was when i was trying to figure out why rusty#1 wouldnt start. Turned out being the TFI. Kinda got sucked in with all the cool folks around here and decided to stay....probably to the dismay of many

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I cant remember how i ended up here. i think it was when i was trying to figure out why rusty#1 wouldnt start. Turned out being the TFI. Kinda got sucked in with all the cool folks around here and decided to stay....probably to the dismay of many

No dismay. The dismay was when you disappeared for a bit. Glad you came to your senses and came back here though.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Back when I was in high school coming back from my summer job of trimming Christmas trees (in July with a gas brushcutter, it wasn't much fun) I was driving up a long steep hill. It is destinct enough it is actually an informally named landmark named after someone who used to live there. 2/3 the way up the truck died and wouldn't restart. Not knowing what to do I go out and check fluids... no oil on the dipstick. I don't remember how much I added but I put everything I had in the toolbox in the engine and barely got it on the dipstick. Fired right up and continued on. It was SUPER poochy for awhile, guessing the rings had to kind of try to reseat in.

I graduated in '03 so it was before that. Ran that engine until 2012 when it just started spraying oil out the dipstick for some reason.