Sometime down the road, I would like an 1980 (the yr I was born). I know the 1980 to 1986 is the same body style. But I wonder how can I tell an 1980 from an '81...

I remember the early '80s trucks still had the F O R D letter emblems on the hood and no oval logo on the grill.

Also, what year was the Ranger (the smaller pickup) introduced? I've noted Ford still had the courier back in 1980. Too small and ugly for me.

Tyl

The first ranger was 83. The first generation ran from 83 to 88. The second gen was from 89-92 The third gen was from 93-97. The forth was 98-00 and the fifth was 01-06.

The later ones might not be correct. That is what I was told at one point. I lost track at 93. LOL

Only bad part about the 80-82 trucks is they had the swiss cheese frames...

i thought the ranger came about in 81 but i don't know why i thought that. i do know that 83 was the last year for the f100... i think 80 was the last year for the hood letters like that but i cld be wrong there too... *shrug* they weren't on the 83 so that only leaves two years in question on that.

If you find the small truck called a ranger in 81, grab it!

The ranger name goes way back. My uncle had a F-100 ranger in the early 70s. No clue when it started. It was a top of the line fancy package thing back then on the full size trucks.

It is quite confusing to hear Ranger as the top of the line full-size truck in the 70s and it be a model name to the smaller trucks. I'm not interested in any Rangers tho, but was interested to know them.

So if Rangers came out in '83, the Courier must have been dropped in '82?

Eric, what in the world were you experimenting in your avatar? Looks liike you're kinda crouched foward to pee, but have a firework coming from there?

Tyl

I can't honsetly say when the courier name was dropped. Looking at when ther ranger started, I would assume 82, but I cannot prove that.

I had an 84 ranger parts truck. An 85 ranger (lifted 4X4) toy. I bought an 89 ranger (4X4) new and drove it for 16 years. My brother has it now up in MO. I now own an 01 explorer (same drivetrain as the newer rangers). Can you tell I like them? LOL

Well the 80 F100 did come with a Swiss cheese frame they were not intended for heavy loads more of a truck to be a DD I believe. The F100 has a smaller bolt pattern than the F150 I think it's a 4.75 car pattern compared to the 5.5 F150. And you can get them with all the different packages up to a Explorer. there are a few rare F100 some came with a V6 instead a I6 they came with both engines along with different V8's. If you Don't like the Swiss Cheese frame you can use a F150 frame underneath.

Why do you say swiss cheese? Smaller guauge steel chassis? Or lots of holes? What's the difference between F100 and F150, stronger chassis design?

Tyl

tylstruck said:

Why do you say swiss cheese? Smaller guauge steel chassis? Or lots of holes? What's the difference between F100 and F150, stronger chassis design?

Tyl

Click to expand...

Yes lots of holes it is actually very strong. But the F150 has a stronger frame and the bodies are interchangeable. Ford sold more F150's than the F100.A F100 is lighter and makes a great daily driver.

old tired rebel said:

........The F100 has a smaller bolt pattern than the F150 I think it's a 4.75 car pattern compared to the 5.5 F150.............

Click to expand...

Are you positive about that? If ford changed to a smaller pattern on the F-100 for a few years...it would be interesting to know.

My 56 has the same bolt pattern as the F-150 up until they went metric in the 80s sometime. (5 on 5.5) I had a mid-late 70s F-100 wheel on it with the same pattern until I found a correct one for my hub caps (changed in 65 to outside bumps for the caps).

Brian_B said:

Are you positive about that? If ford changed to a smaller pattern on the F-100 for a few years...it would be interesting to know.

My 56 has the same bolt pattern as the F-150 up until they went metric in the 80s sometime. (5 on 5.5) I had a mid-late 70s F-100 wheel on it with the same pattern until I found a correct one for my hub caps (changed in 65 to outside bumps for the caps).

Click to expand...

They went to metric in 83 for some dumb reason...

Brian_B said:

Are you positive about that? If ford changed to a smaller pattern on the F-100 for a few years...it would be interesting to know.

My 56 has the same bolt pattern as the F-150 up until they went metric in the 80s sometime. (5 on 5.5) I had a mid-late 70s F-100 wheel on it with the same pattern until I found a correct one for my hub caps (changed in 65 to outside bumps for the caps).

Click to expand...

Yes I had one last year and the bolt pattern was smaller or what is called a car bolt pattern,it might have been only for a year or 2 but that is what mine had along with a 9 inch rear.

Hmm...interesting. I knew they went metric (was not sure when), but I was not aware of the bolt pattern change too. That is weird.

Going metric does not surprise me too much. My 89 ranger was all metric as far as fasteners (not sure about wheel pattern). Mom had an 89 grand marquis. Half the brackets on the engine were SAE and half Metric. That was a royal pain to work on. Two sets of tools and heaven forbid you try to put the wrong bolt back in the wrong hole.

Brian_B said:

Hmm...interesting. I knew they went metric (was not sure when), but I was not aware of the bolt pattern change too. That is weird.

Going metric does not surprise me too much. My 89 ranger was all metric as far as fasteners (not sure about wheel pattern). Mom had an 89 grand marquis. Half the brackets on the engine were SAE and half Metric. That was a royal pain to work on. Two sets of tools and heaven forbid you try to put the wrong bolt back in the wrong hole.

Click to expand...

My 85 F150 is mostly standard except for the upper intake which has some metric bolts. I think the metric wheel pattern started in 97 cause 96 wheels will fit my truck with no problems but the 97 won't without going to a adapter.

Seems there was a lot of mixing an matching during the 80's for some unknown reason.I was told that no 85 F150 came from the factory with FI but mine has it and it shows up in the vin on my truck.

Lots of strange things. My 89 ranger was assembled in canada and had a lot of canadian stamped parts. My moms grand marquis was the same way...assembled in Canada with a lot of canadian parts.

I am betting that is why in those cases.

Not sure on the others.

My truck was built in Canada too.

Are you guys contemplating or complaining of your Canadian built vehicles?

I didn't think different country produced vehicles were allowed to be sold in cross border dealerships. US and Canada have similiar but slight differences in the assembly of our vehicles, mainly the colder climat.

Tyl

tylstruck said:

Are you guys contemplating or complaining of your Canadian built vehicles?

I didn't think different country produced vehicles were allowed to be sold in cross border dealerships. US and Canada have similiar but slight differences in the assembly of our vehicles, mainly the colder climat.

Tyl

Click to expand...

But they do sell across the border,even my Caprice wagon was built in Canada and I owned a 94 Dodge truck that was built in Mexico.
Not complaining at all just surprised at some of the differences.

Nope. Not complaing about where they are built.

I was annoyed with moms car though. Every other bolt used a different wrench. That was a dumb thing on the part of ford.

My truck was all metric. That I am fine with. Just pick on and stay with it!