Who here has/had a 4 cylinder ranger?

If you could please give me some info as to what kind of fuel economy you got, and a lemme know what kind of ranger you had.

Was it 2wd, 4wd, auto, manual, a/c, single, extended, short, long, year, engine (the Pinto, duratec, etc...).

How do/did you feel about its pulling power? I realize its a 4 banger, but I still would like to know its limits.

I have been looking around a while, and want a smaller pickup as a DD. Its coming close between the Nissan Hardbody or the Ranger.

ive never owned one. but i know ALOT of people that do..

they say they are gettin somewhere around 21/26 mpgs city and highway respectively.

they through a lil bit in the bed once and a while.. does alright.

keep in mind these are several different rangers, and 2 or 3 different 4 cyls due to design changes and sizes.

and i also know a few people with a Nissan hardbody..

near same gas mileage,
but for some reason, those dam things haul harder than some bigger trucks.
cant kill em..
if you can find a better deal on a hardbody than a ranger go with it. even though i'd rather see a Ranger bought.

Chris is correct on the mileage. I have owned several 2.3 lima rangers. A darn near bullet proof engine simple to work on. The 2wd get around a bit faster than the 4wd. I have hauled a ton of coal and logs, no noticeable power loss when loaded.
The newer 2.3's with the 8 plug design heads have more power and get better mpg than the first gen Rangers do.

I'm really mostly looking for a 4x4x4 if I can.

But how about snow handling?


(and yes, Ive been leaning towards a Hardbody for some time now, but am giving the ranger more than a fair chance.)

The 4wd I have go like a tank. I have went where full sized trucks only hope to go. I have Detroit lockers in mine.

my first ranger was a '88 2wd supercab with the 2.3 (pinto) 4 cyl, 3.73 gearing and the manual trans, would get 28 highway, 20 around town. while a fuel sipper, it didnt have alot of tourque, pulling a 16' starcraft alumminum boat (1,600 pounds) was about all it could manage, i tried moving a single-axle camper with it once, never hit the highway, just moved it inside the campground, it was a 15' dont know the wieght, but the engine spiked real bad until i got above 1,500 rpm. on the open road empty it was fine on level ground but when faced with a long upgrade, it was nessasary to downshift to 4rth to maintain speed. it had no cruise control from the factory, i put on a aftermarket unit, when it started slowing down, i knew i had to downshift. most of the time it did what i needed to do just fine. snow wasnt a problem, i put snow tires on all 4 corners for winter (gotta stop and turn with the front axle) and i had about 400 pounds in the bed. my current truck has the 4.0, much more powerfull, havent needed to downshift on long upgrades, handles trailers and snow much better (4wd) the downside is indeed fuel milage, 15 in the winter at best, summer it gets 17 in town, best ever highway was 19.5, it has been worth it though for those times ive needed more motor, the '88 was rated at around 90 hp, the next year they made it a dual-plug head and claimed about 100 hp. i did put bigger fuel injectors in mine and overhauled it at around 150,000 miles, was bored .030 over and gutted the catalytic converter, got rid of the egr setup as well, didnt feel like i had more power, did use a little more fuel after that. my 4.0 has a gutted converter and next year i may be putting headers on it. even though the 2.3 has a timing belt, the engine design is such that if you were to break a belt, you wont have engine damage, one of the few "non-interference" engines made. changing the belt isnt bad to do, i put one on shortly after i had got it (98,000 miles) and then again when i had it overhauled at 150,000. the reason i had it overhauled was that i had loaned it out to someone who took it to canada, and it came back with a burnt valve and a clogged converter. that was really the only problem i ever had with it.

One last question:

What year did Ford Stop making 4x4 4 cylinder Rangers?

And thanks to you guys for the Info!

96 was the last year you could get a 2.3 4wd in a ranger.97 up only 6 cylinder could 4wd. option.

Have one. Love it. Got around 270,000 on it now, and it still runs and drives. Not sexy, exciting, or otherwise desirable to the most people, but the original owner and I both still think the world of that truck- between us, we've taken it a lot of places and moved a lot of stuff with it, and it always got us back home.

Extended cab '97 2wd, Lima 2.3 with the dual plug head, 5-speed stick and 4.10 gears. Used to get around 27-28 highway, and 24-25 mixed; it's pretty tired now, and I don't take it on long trips, so now it's down more like 22 overall.

With the 4.10s, it used to haul a small trailer OK, or a fair load in the bed without too much trouble. Not fast, but not too bad.

The 2wds aren't good in the snow, but they're not THAT bad, either, if you've got some weight and decent tires. It was my only vehicle for four years of college in Maine, and I got it stuck twice in that time- both in July. If I lived in Illinois, I wouldn't want a 4x4...you don't have hills and snow enough to justify the added costs (both purchase and maintenance) to me.

actually, the part of Illinois I live in has many small Mountains (well, mountains for us here).
And I also live in the Northwestern corner Of Illinois, so snow gets pretty decent out here (every winter there's usually 1.5-2 feet of standing snow, and between melts there's the mud and the next 2 feet of snow that comes after), and with the empty cornfields, snow is always blowing and piling up...

And the first month of spring is almost completely wet. With the melting snow and the Mississippi literally next to me, the gravel roads and dirt driveways (both abundant) are swamps.

Kinda sucks that they stopped the 4x4x4 that long ago (I was thinking more around 2000 it stopped...)

What years were the 8 pluggers made? And were all 2.3's made during that time 8 plugs?

Also, I've always wanted a pickup as a DD.... Now nobody can ask me for a ride!

Person: Can you gimme a ride?

Me: Sorry, I got my dog.

Person: Can't he ride in back?

Me: YOU convince him to!

(he'll go if I make him, but will snarl at ANYBODY else)