I guess I've had an account here for awhile but I just became a Ranger owner. I've lurked and learned a lot from you guys.

My Subaru took a crap on me so I jumped on craigslist to buy something quick so I wouldn't miss work. I will only buy manual RWD/4WD so the pickings were slim. I found a ranger very close and bought it cash that day for $800. 1994, 3.0, 2WD, reg cab, 187k, Purple. Here in Minnesota purple is a good color. I'm a big Vikings fan. I've wanted a Ranger for a long time but I was into the 4WD 4.0 a-arm ones.

I love driving this truck! It's so huckable and having no fear of crashing or breaking something is nice. (as in it wont break the bank if i do)

I've decided to keep it and spruce it up a bit. I bought it running a spare with the 4th matching wheel in the bed.

So far I've:

Since I only had 3 matching tires and the Minnesota winter is coming up I thought I should address that. I found some dope tires on craigslist after about a week of searching. Raised white letter Goodyear Wingfoot HP 225s with about 80% tread for $140. He referred me to guy that mounted and balanced them disposed of my old tires and set me up with a lug nut for the missing one for $45.

I sold the topper for $100. I no longer have to stick my head out the window to safely change lanes on the freeway. The previous owner painted all the side windows on the topper black. The trucks looks way better too. I don't have any pics without the topper atm.

Headlights were near opaque, I bought a headlight restoration kit for $10 and it had great results.

I bought a new shift **** and steering wheel, about $100. I feel pretty badass behind the wheel now.

This weekend I plan to:

The rear sits a good 5-6 inches higher than the front so I plan the flip the rear shackles and install some limit straps.

It needs shocks badly so I'm leaning towards some KYB monotubes. About $200 locally so I can install this weekend.

Remove the big plastic air dam under the bumper. I know it's functional as I commute on the freeway but I think it's ugly.

Hammer out the kink in the rear bumper.

In the future I plan to:

Bondo and spraypaint the **** out of it and have pretty kickass ride for under $1500.

Sell this truck and buy an early 4.0 reg cab 2WD with less miles and rust and really go to town. I have a 67' Chevy C10 project too so this one may be a ways out.

OG


Newish Tires


Lights Before


Lights After


Grant Wheel + Shifter