I hear a lot about these Ford nightmares, but I think the new(er) Fords are nice vehicles for the money. Look at the Current Tacoma... it's like Upper 20's near 30G's!! and starts around 20. You could buy 2 rangers for that and I KNOW today's yotas aren't like our pre 95's. I like toyota, but if I was looking at small(er) pickup the Tacoma would NOT be on my list. It's not worth the price. Only thing that seems on the money From yota is the Current corolla. My mom just bought one fo 15G's and it's a sweet deal. All I'm saying is, either kep your older yota, but if you want a newer truck look other places than toyota. you can get a new Ranger right now for 11-13 G's. Xcab, Auto etc. Weigh your options & make your decision. Good luck. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" />

Uh... I think you need to recheck your numbers... You cannot buy two Rangers for the price of a Taco... A base FX4 L-2 supercab lists @ 27K. With trailer hitch, bedliner, automatic tranny, the price is just under $29K.

Toyota's base price for a 2wd reg cab is $2K UNDER the Ford. Unfortunately Toy's web site is screwed right now, so I can't price out a 4x4 access cab with the same options as the ford to show that they are almost identical.

And keep in mind, the Ranger hasn't been redesigned in 10 years...

Don't get me wrong...I like Ford cars and trucks. It is just easier for me to get one worked on(by myself or someone at work) then a Toyota would be. I love the fact that the Toys have such a great reputation for being a strong truck, I just get to thinking about all the work I have to do to it. I don't mind working on my own vehicles, I just get worried about the Toy because I have no knowlegde towards it. But I guess if I ever have a problem with it, I can turn here and work for answers.

I could put the truck in 4WD and reverse and then plug a test light into one of the connectors and see if it lights up, right?!

The more I think about it, the more I want to keep it. A big plus is that my wife doesn't mind me keeping it.

We've got a factory service manual sticky'd in this section. Granted, it's for a '93, but still has 22RE info there. Also between the tech/maintenance articles here and
www.yotatech.com and www.off-road.com/toyota, you can get familiar with that little mill PDQ.

See what light up, the 4wd light, or the backup light?

don't worry...the 22RE is a really simple engine. in fact, everything on your truck is pretty simple and rationally engineered. i think you will find it pretty easy to understand.



yep, there are a lot of great people on this board who know a lot and are always willing to help.



yep, just make sure you have the ignition turned on. (i think he means if the test bulb lights up, kewlynx).



yeah, see...now that's something nobody on any forum could help you with...so, you've already go the hard part done. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Not true at ALL! I'm a VERY recent buyer of a 95 Ext cab (non-Taco), but I've been a Ford junkie for many years...
The Ranger was COMPLETELY redesigned for 98 (97- had the TTB front, while the 98+ are SLA) There are other changes made after that, but they are admittedly not major by comparison.

So far, while I love the "new" pickup, I absolutely DESPISE the look of the Tacoma. The front doesn't look too bad, but the whole shape of the box on them just looks totally wrong to me. The company I work for sold me the 95 when they replaced it with a new Tacoma, and given the option, I wouldn't even trade them straight across for it.

I'd keep your current rig and then buy either a 95- Yota or a pre-98 Ranger to mess around with...

Yep, my first Toyota was also a '76 Corolla. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" /> Being a teenager, I beat the snot out of that car and took it places
that I would never consider today. It was great in the snow with studded snows and weight in the trunk. I got it up to 165k when cancer took its life in the rust belt. Still ran like a top and replaced it with my first '82 Hilux. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Ah, memories indeed. As far as Ford, stay away unless ya can afFORD the repair bills from all of your stealership buddies wrenching on it! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" /> Besides, youre gonna need to keep the '89 as a backup for when the Fords in the shop! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/zombie.gif" alt="" />

No, it wasnt. The Ranger has had the same frame more or less since 1983. Yes, it got the Explorer's SLA front suspension setup and boxed frame to the A pillar in 1998, but the rest of the frame was unchanged.

It has recieved body and interior redesigns, but never a complete redesign.

Ford needs to get on the ball with the Ranger. 1999 was supposed to see a complete redesign, but it was delayed until 2005. Then 2005 came and no redesign yet. And one doesn't even appear to be planned.

Back on topic. FWIW, a few things have went out on my Mustang, but I've taken care of it and performed routine mainenance on it. IMO, Ford cars aren't built as good as the trucks are. I've always said Detroit mfgs need to make their car / truck engineers swap roles every 5 years or so. (My car has the same engine as some trucks 4.6 V8).

1 Coil pack replaced (Coil on plug ignition)
1 Idle air control valve
1 Power door lock actuator

And that's it. Any and all companies make bad cars here and there. This is a Toyota forum, so what do you expect to hear? <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/drunk.gif" alt="" />

I will say that my 93 4x4 with 150k still drives like a new car. The tranny grinds sometimes when driving offroad, but I might just be trying to shift it too fast. I can't complain though. It gets good mileage for what it is, and is reliable as the sun rising in the morning. :shrug:

I meant the test light.

FWIW~ Not an opinion, just a fact about my company.
I work for a really really large service company. I think they currently have about 5000 service\field vehicles that we (used) to lease from the fleet company ARI. Here's the deal, with that many vehicles, high failure rates stick out like a diamond in a goat's arse.
10 years ago we all drove dodge products. Then we went to Ford for a few years (I had a Ranger) and they didn't fare well at all. ARI then went to GM products and stayed there with the Astro\Safari for about 5 years and I think we'd still be using them if GM hadn't just quit making them.
Just today, I ordered a new vehicle for myself - About the only think on the list were Dodges. So, I ordered a Dakota (crap, company isn't spring for a V8, had to get the V6). So, now we've come full circle.
Anyway, the point being the Ford Rangers were breaking on us alot. We had maybe 20 of them in our office and I bet at least one we alway's in the shop at any one time. The interior seemed cheap too (now, I'm in my opinion zone). Not a Ranger in our group had all the A\C buttons... it seemed that Ford greased them with grease that would freeze and when you tried to turn it - snap!.
I don't know diddly about new Toy's (out of all the work vehicles (small trucks\vans) I've had at work, the GM's were by far the best. That 4.3L (with proper gearing) hauls and RARELY fails. Not to say that there aren't a few problems but not that many, comparitively. (sp). So, my most recent personal new vehicle was a GM product, a ZR2. It sure looks like the Toy's are a superior product but I just have this thing about *trying* to keep my money as local as I can. Even when it costs me $, I'll still do it.