I’ve had a lot of experience with truck ownership. From compact trucks to 1-ton diesels, I’ve had them all. In high school I had a 1982 Datsun pickup that had a manual transmission, AM radio, and hand crank windows. It was a lot of fun, and I gave many people a ride home from school in it. After the Datsun I owned a few new cars until I finally bought a 1983 Ford Ranger 4×4 around 1991/1992. You may think I bought the truck because I wanted an off-road vehicle, but that’s not the case. I actually bought the Ranger to tow a Yamaha Wave Runner.
Getting rid of the Wave Runner, the Ford Ranger transformed into an off-road truck. Then in the early 2000’s I bought a 1989 Ford F-250 diesel and a car trailer to tow the Ranger to an off-road park once a year. Looking back on it now, it sounds ridiculous, but it’s true. I think the Ranger got loaded up on the car trailer about once a year on average. I had the F-250 for a while but then leased a new F-150 that could tow my Ranger just as well and more comfortably.
I eventually ended up with a Ford F-350 Diesel Lariat FX4 which to this day is probably the nicest vehicle I ever owned. At least I could justify owning it because I was pulling a 28-foot toy hauler camper. I had the F-350 and the camper when I left Ohio in 2016 and came to Texas. The F-350 would seem like a natural fit here in Texas, but only if your puling horse or cattle trailers or hauling welding equipment. Driving this thing around the Dallas – Fort Worth area could prove challenging when it came to parking lots. I would usually find myself parked out at the edge of the lot where there were no vehicles. Once I was simply trying to pick up my pizza order and ended up having to park along the curb and run inside because the truck wouldn’t fit in the available parking space.
I got rid of the F-350 and the camper and had an Expedition for a while before getting another F-150 and buying a new car trailer. The F-150 was a Lariat and basically a luxury pickup, but the only real reason to own it was to tow my Ranger to an off-road park once a year. Aside from that, I rarely hauled anything in it.
In 2019 the Ford Motor Company loaned me a new 2019 Ford Ranger FX4 that I nicknamed the ‘Loan Ranger‘. In the 6-months I had the truck I took it on trips from California to Pennsylvania, visited off-road parks, and completed the Trans America Trail. I really enjoyed having a truck that I could not only travel across the country in but take off-road as well.
In 2021 I hosted an off-road weekend at the Badlands Offroad Park in Attica Indiana and towed my 1996 Ford Ranger 4×4 out there with my F-150. While there, Robert Mangrum showed up in his 2020 Ford Ranger 4×4. Even though I had spent 6-months driving the ‘Loan Ranger’ off-road, it still surprised me that this guy drove his fairly new Ranger from Tennessee to Indiana to an off-road park, wheeled it, and then drove it home.
(Robert Mangrums 2020 Ford Ranger 4×4 next to my Ford F-150)
In 2022 I hosted another gathering at the Badlands Offroad Park and again had loaded up my Ranger and was towing it from Texas to Indiana. I think I must have stopped at least four times on my way there to buy fuel and kept thinking to myself, this is stupid. Why did I waste money for another trailer to use once a year, and why am I spending so much money on fuel? After that trip I decided to get rid of the F-150 and trailer and get a newer Ford Ranger that I can drive to the off-road park and back home.
I traded the F-150 in on a 2021 Ford Ranger XLT FX4. This was not an easy decision because my F-150 Lariat was way nicer than the Ranger XLT. Here’s the funny thing about that F-150 though, the only reason I bought it was because it had leather interior and a really good tow package. I didn’t care about the power sunroof and other stuff. Unfortunately, the only way to get leather seats was to get the Lariat package, and I really like having leather because it’s easier to keep clean. Especially when you travel with a dog.
This time around though I was not going to spend a ton of money on a Lariat just to get leather seats. I opted for the XLT and bought leather seat covers. My only real preference was that I wanted the FX4 package since I would be taking the truck off-road.
What I didn’t expect was that I would haul more stuff in the Ranger’s 5.5-foot bed than I had hauled when I had an F-150. I even used it to tow my 2005 Jaguar XJ8 on a U-Haul car trailer. With 7,500 lbs. towing capacity, it can get the job done. I’ve also used a U-Haul utility trailer a few times to haul a porch swing, Dana 44 TTB Axle and about 60 bags of yard waste to the land fill. I could have fit the axle in the bed but spending $35-$40 on a utility trailer that sat low to the ground versus trying to get it up in my lifted bed just made more sense.
Today I have the Ranger setup to tackle long distance adventures, but it still gets plenty of use hauling materials from Lowes and Home Depot for DIY projects here around the house and shop. Plus, it’s easy to park anywhere if I want to go out on a busy Saturday night and look good doing it. I often tell people that the 2019+ Ford Ranger is the perfect size because it’s big enough to haul the things I need, but small enough to go anywhere I want to go. And it will navigate trails that I wouldn’t drive a full-size truck on.
We all have our reasons for owning a truck. I remember my father saying back in the early 1980’s that ‘every family should have a truck’. My father had an F-150, the Datsun he gave me in high school, and then a few Chevy S-10’s. He realized early on that he didn’t need a full-size truck for the things he was going to haul. Heck, I even hauled my dirtbike in the bed of that Datsun. I ended up with a Ford Ranger to tow a small watercraft, and then a 3/4-ton full-size to tow my Ranger. I finally realized that the most logical choice for me was a mid-size truck that could do everything.
For some owners, a truck is as much about identity and lifestyle as it is utility. I think of that when I see people driving Ford Raptors that never take them off-road. One person may see the value in its off-road ability, and another may see its value as a status symbol. But that’s no different than expensive sports cars being owned for the same reason. Sometimes, we just want to drive what we want to drive because we work hard and want to enjoy the rewards of that work.
After decades of truck ownership, I finally realized that the right-size truck isn’t always the biggest one. It’s the one that best fits the life you actually live.
About The Author
Jim Oaks is the founder of TheRangerStation.com, the longest-running Ford Ranger resource online since 1999. With over 25 years of hands-on experience building and modifying Ford Rangers — including magazine-featured builds like Project Transformer — Jim has become one of the most trusted authorities in the Ford Ranger off-road and enthusiast space.
Since launching TheRangerStation.com, Jim has documented thousands of real-world Ranger builds, technical repairs, drivetrain swaps, suspension modifications, and off-road adventures contributed by owners worldwide. TheRangerStation.com has been referenced in print, video and online by enthusiasts, mechanics, and off-road builders looking for practical, and experience-based information.
