I've been lookin through Craigslist and local classifieds lately at all the Rangers looking for a replacement.Most of the ads listed are Standard Transmission trucks.Only a small percentage are Automatic.Those that are Automatic are usually 04-present Rangers,which aren't really my favorites.Most of the Standards tend to be 83-03.Is it just my area,or have there usually always been more Standard Rangers built?I never really look at the fleet trucks since they're usually standards,I only look at the XLT's,Edge,and Sports.Is Automatic a rare option for the pre 03 Rangers?It seems most of the standards are 93-97,but that's because most of the listings are for 93-97's.My old '00 was an Automatic,and it was the Sport Model(which back in the day was basically an XL with body colored bumpers and grille),which surprised me since it was such a base truck.Basically,I wanna know if there were more Standard Rangers ordered throughout the years than Autos,because I can't seem to find any Automatics.....

I'm by far an expert but when I was looking for mine back in 05, all I could find was aod's. BUT thinking back to my 80's version, everyone had a standard. I'm sure that doesn't help. Did you try ebay?

Ebay is the same way.Alot of the listings of 93-03's are Standards.Autos just seem to be a rare option.

Rangers were way behind "all vehicles" as far as what year more were built with autos than standards, but it was, IIRC, around 1994-'95 that autos started outnumbering the sticks...and that's been true ever since.

*My guess is that it's a matter of perspective as much as anything- I'd buy a purple Toyota before I bought an automatic Ranger (or anything else), and when I look I run into loads of trucks that are just what I'd like except for not having the manual trans...

I guess my region is kinda slow for Autos.Most trucks I see up to 2000 have manuals,and most of the newer trucks have Automatics.I'm not good with Manuals at all,so my next Ranger will have either the 4R44E,4R55E,5R44E,or the 5R55E depending on engine.

The earlier Rangers had the A4LD tranny that has to rank up near the top of the worst trannys ever made.
they died early deaths and most rebuilds hardly made it out of the garage before they failed again.
They require a hard rebuild and then they are still a problematic.
Mount one behind a 2.3 Lima and you made a truck Sassy Carls dog could out run.

Throw in a 302/C4 combo then the problem is solved.

smokey said:

The earlier Rangers had the A4LD tranny that has to rank up near the top of the worst trannys ever made.
they died early deaths and most rebuilds hardly made it out of the garage before they failed again.
They require a hard rebuild and then they are still a problematic.
Mount one behind a 2.3 Lima and you made a truck Sassy Carls dog could out run.

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Perhaps that's why I see alot of 1st gen Rangers in the junkyard.....Good to know.I never really cared for the first gens anyway.

Fordtruckman80 said:

Perhaps that's why I see alot of 1st gen Rangers in the junkyard.....Good to know.I never really cared for the first gens anyway.

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Never cared for the 1st gen those are my favorite they look like a truck is supposed to look like.
I also like the 97 rangers they look nice lifted and blacked out.

smokey said:

Never cared for the 1st gen those are my favorite they look like a truck is supposed to look like.
I also like the 97 rangers they look nice lifted and blacked out.

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I never liked them cause they look too much like the F-Series,where the 93-Current doesn't look anything like the F150,and definitely not like the 3/4 ton and up trucks.They shoulda just named the 1st gen Rangers F100's,because it was basically a scaled down F150.But that's just my opinion.