My faithful '94 F150, with the 5spd and 6 cylinder lost it's tranny and had to be put down. A sad, sad day. Owned him for years and my sons learned to drive a stick with him. Great truck.

I'm in the market for a 90 to 2000 4cylinder 5 speed Ranger. Money's tight, but I'm a good driveway mechanic. I don't want to do a rebuild or anything major, just know what I'm up against. I need to know what to look out for in the high mileage trucks my budget can afford. I'm looking at trucks with150K and above. Not scared of mileage as long as it's been maintained reasonably well.

When did timing belts get replaced with timing chains? What other goblins should I be watching for ?

Thanks everyone. I'm looking forward to my first small truck. I won't own anything but a Ford truck. m

 

My 97 has a belt, so that would be something definitely to check. I'd say over the Lima 4 cyl's are pretty simple and low maintenance. Besides basic maintenance, maybe check the rear leaf shackles for rust (mine rusted out at about 150k) and that kind of stuff.

 

The Mazda built manual trans in the Ranger is probably its weakest link. Unless you really love to drive a stick, I'd get an automatic. If it fits your price range, I'd also try to get a 98 or newer truck as they made some major improvements that year.
Other than that, just do a test drive and check for obvious stuff.