will a 1999 4.0 ford ranger engine replace a 1997 4.0 without a lot of trouble

 

Welcome to the forum

Depends on your definition of trouble I guess, lol
You will need to change a few things
1997 upper and lower intake, with injectors, needs to go onto the 1999 block/heads, there was a fuel system change in 1998, 30psi with return for 1997 and earlier, 50psi no return 1998 and up
This also allows all the sensor/injector wires, fuel lines and EGR to be plug and play

You will need to use the 1997 Cam synchro tower and sensor(3 wire), in the 1999 block, it was a 2 wire

Ford change the crank's rear connection from 6 bolt to 8 bolt in 1997, so that should be OK, unless your 1997 had a 1996 engine in it
Worst case is you would need a new flywheel(manual trans) or Flexplate(automatic), not a big deal but just a heads up

1998-2000 4.0l heads had smaller exhaust ports for faster warm up of the Cats, but I think the exhaust manifolds were the same

 

thanks great info 97 is x code so may be 96 not sure code on 99 planning to swap everything from 97 to 99 block if it will work. 97 has burnt valves may just rebuild heads . have access to 99 both trucks are rangers thanks a lot for info very helpful

 

VIN X code was for the 4.0l OHV engine used in Rangers from 1990 to 2000, so both engines will be VIN X
VIN Code E was for the 4.0l SOHC engine, used from 2001 to 2012

Explorers got the 4.0l SOHC as an option in 1997, so they could have either 4.0l X or E 1997-2000