The $150 Ford Ranger's first outing

There will always be a special place in my hart for my Dodge but since I am a confirmed Scrap hunter - Dumpster diving -Aficionado .
The years with my Dodge have one cold hard fact , Gas MPG . That truck can chew up fuel but I adapted & each trip in my Dodge had purpose . What I never did was just go looking for scrap for the heck of it . Still - she can carry weight or bulkier type items that a mini van can't.
So as long as my old Dodge runs she is my scrap truck
Anyway introducing my 1999 Ford ranger for $150 it's got one hundred five thousand miles on it plenty rust but runs sweet . The 4X4 works & the 4.0 V-6 delivers good MPG .
I had a choice of registering the truck as class one $62 or two $87 . I went with class one
I figures a gross weight of 5100 pounds is sufficient for the old Ford. The Ranger weighs 3200 lbs empty . Id be surprised if it can carry 1900 # , time will tell
Last night I cashed in $30 of .5 cents bottles & cans, then I hit the streets ,
This is the Fords first casual finds .
The wood box is filled with some Copper , Copper wire , Copper bearing . Store racks from another area . The card board box is filled with Pegboard Hooks & will pass as short .
I'll remove this load and reload my Dodge till the dodge gets the classic over filled look

Gather it up with the ranger and bring it in with the big truck, a page right outta my playbook, at least for steel.
My ranger (04, 135k, daily driver) was just down for a couple days, alternator finally failed but a real easy fix on this truck, 3.0 v6 is bulletproof the frame is going to rot before the engine fails.
Watch your weight seen plenty of these trucks with the rear ends blown out from being overloaded regularly.
gas to the yard and back in the ranger $10
Diesel to the yard and back in the 350 $35

Originally Posted by greytruck

The payload for a 1999 ranger is 1,260 lbs, just sayin. But its a scrap truck.

I agree on the 1250 #
I opted for class 1 to save a few bucks but the last owner went class 2 (sticker on window)
class 2 is gross weight from 5000 to 7000 pounds
I believe legal Gross weight is ---> truck unladen + load = gross
Who on earth is gonna try and put 3700 # in that little truck ??
I wont even try 1700 pounds
Are trailers part of gross weight ?

I've had various Ford auto's some with 3.0 some with 4.0
never had issues with the 3.0 & found it had decent power, my old aerostar did zero to 60 in 9.6 seconds
(I love aerostar's had 3 of them )
I found the 3.0's had an uncanny personality of creping up to 90 MPH !!
The 4.0's have more low end with less effort but not necessarily faster then the 3.0

the 3.0 delivers good MPG no matter how you drive
the 4.0 requires you to go easy and stay in torque RPM band to deliver good MPG

I like the no effort , off the line power of the 4.0
but love the screaming rev me attitude of the 3.0

Reminds me of the 88 Ranger I picked up before Christmas - 2.3L v6 but the thing needs a new clutch cylinder(clutch goes right to the floor). Anyhow, will be paying attention to this thread.

I feel like my feathers grew back with the MPG & now I can fly once more.
put $10 fuel then took a trip last night for groceries & Bottles and can money ,
also found a old forced air boiler and other metal stuff
got home and still have plenty of fuel for today .
I used to like a mini van for scrapping , so I completely underestimated
the usefulness of a mini pickup . I wish I had one 10 years ago .

Ill never forget the time I put 1800 lbs of heavy steel in my ranger or the yard and a 1/2 of loam.... I pretty sure the front tires were just barley touching both times.
She'll do it....but its a lot of abuse.

Originally Posted by Caveman

I would love to find this good mileage power band talked about for my 4.0 Ranger. I drive like a grandma and get pretty poor mileage IMO. About the same as a new full size truck with a V8, maybe worse.

When my Ranger was much newer I surely overloaded it with at least 1500 pounds of stone, twice. Had the bed heaped some, and the stone stacked. The leaf springs paid the price and needed to be replaced shortly later.

Hope you have continued good luck with the Ranger!

This Ranger has 19 year old technology , so yes new pickups are better . The power band for me is relative to this particular truck & appreciation of it on it's own merits . I've driven many cars & trucks, some with real power . But the 4.0 Ranger does have a nice effortless way of going about town.
It is by no means a 5.0 Ford 150 .
My 1999 Dodge 318 pickup that I need for it's purpose, is a killer in fuel cost so that has become my base line . The Ranger 4.0 is better then my 318 as a daily driver

One of my best scrap trucks from my past was an Econoline van . I was using it during the days of the Floods . I was dismantling and loading boilers back then
this particular Van was originally used by DHL deliver service so I think is was kinda after market beefed up .
I could put 4000 pounds of boilers in it & it was still jacked up . The motor was the good old 4.0 V-6
The truck was kinda slow empty and was the same kinda slow with 4000 pounds, the 4.0 is a good motor