I pulled my 98 ranger engine because it made a terrible knocking noise. After I pulled the pan off none of the bearings feel loose, and I don’t know what else would cause a knock. I don’t want to replace too much but I can’t find the source of the noise. What do you guys recommend?

 

Did you use a mechanic's stethoscope to get some idea of the noise's source?

 

many of these engines have talkative wrist pins, and most of em did it since they were new. When I bought mine I was alarmed by the amount of noise it made, particularly at certain temperatures or after an oil change. 100k miles later and I just ignore it. There's a service bulletin out there somewhere on the internet that talks about this. Not sayin this is your problem but certain don't want to mix it up for rod knock. Kinda sounds like a diesel a little. Here's a video I shot of mine doing it back when I thought it was valve train noise.

I eventually figured out if I used a motorcraft oil filter and royal purple 5W-30 it wouldn't do it nearly as bad.