Hey guys, I'm new to the forum and look forward to participating in it more once I decide which Ranger to get. I had a 1996 Ranger with the 2.3 liter automatic in high school but the transmission blew up when I was 19 and as a broke 19 year old, a transmission replacement wasn't in the budget.


Anyway, years later. I'm in the market and I've narrowed it down to 2.

I've got this one https://charlottesville.craigslist.o...037490892.html

This one is about an hour, maybe an hour and a half away. It has the 4.0 and it's a manual transmission. The guy doesn't have any paperwork on the new motor that he claims was installed. He says the motor only has 40,000 but has no paperwork at all. He mentioned that he's a mechanic and if he did have the paper work, he would have had the odometer legally changed, even though I don't think you can legally change an odometer on a vehicle unless it's a salvage vehicle? Over the course of 2 years he said he's replaced 2 bearings, front tie rod ends, brakes all around, replaced the automatic hubs with manual ones, there's about 40% tread left on the tires and it's been aligned and rotated last year. Clutch was supposedly
replaced before he got it. When I asked him if the differential had ever been serviced, he had no idea what I was talking about.

Then there's this one.
https://richmond.craigslist.org/cto/5078503019.html

This one actually belongs to my old bosses nephew who's some high school kid. It's got the 3.0 and it's a 5 speed manual transmission. He's probably had it less than a year. He seems to go through trucks like crazy. It's his daily driver though. He has paper work for a new motor with 100,000 miles and it has a brand new rear end which he also has paper work for. Clutch was supposedly replaced before he got it. Body has 220,000 miles.

I'm not sure which way to go. I want the 4.0 with the 5 speed but I don't want to drive far away only to come back empty handed because things weren't up to snuff with what they said. The other has the 3.0 which isn't a deal breaker but you know, 3.sl0W. Both Rangers have been up for a month and the prices have been going down on them.

Any opinions and advice is appreciated.