Here's the deal, I'm new to the 4wd scene. I am personally more of a hotrod guy, but my son bought a 99 reg cab 3.0 flex fuel xl 4x4, so now I'm getting into this, and have a few questions.

1. Does the truck have t-bars? It seems like I read somewhere that some models do and some don't. His plan is to buy a leveling kit so he can get 32's on it. The kit has torsion keys. Of course the guy at the local shop says it's completely safe, and won't cause any undue wear, if I get an alignment after the install. Since the off-roading will be somewhat limited, and he'll only put about 5-6k a year in miles on it, is this really a safe option?

2. I also read where a lot of people seem to have problems with running E85. The guy he bought the truck from says he's done it without a problem, but I want to check with the experts here.

3. Is a powerdome the raised hood?

4. We live in the Kansas City area, is there any place to shop for all of this stuff besides Chuxs Trucks?

This site has some VERY cool rides, and there seems to a lot of info, its almost overwhelming. I spent the part of yesterday, and probably will today, checking out some of the mods posted here.

Thanks for the help, and I hope that's not too much to ask for a first post.

 

Welcome!

The truck does have torsion bars and the torsion keys will cause unnecessary wear and are pretty useless. To level the truck you can crank them with the factory keys, you don't need leveling keys to do that. But you will sacrifice some wear and some ride quality to do that. If you don't max them it you won't really know a difference.

I'm not really familiar with the flex fuels and E85 so I'll let someone else chime in on that

The powerdome is the raised hood, I don't remember what year they started.

Theres a ton of online sites, what exactly are you looking for?

 

He's looking for wheels and tires, lights, bull bars, etc. Not really the engine mods, more of the simple bolt on make it look cool stuff.

And how do I set this so that I don't get am email everytime someone replys to a post. His mother would not be pleased to here some of things that he wants to do with the truck.

 

Haha, if you go in the User Control Panel you can turn thread subscription notification emails off

For stuff like that check out:

Summit Racing ? High Performance Car and Truck Parts l Edelbrock, ACCEL, Moroso, K&N, MSD, Holley & More!
Tonneau Covers, Lift Kits, Winches, Leveling Kits, Tires, Wheels & Tonneau Cover Parts by 4 Wheel Parts-RH2
Home - Discount Tire Direct
www.autoanything.com

I've ordered from all of those and the prices are some of the best and very easy to deal with.

 

And don't forget the infamous Tonneau Covers, Lift Kits, Winches, Leveling Kits, Tires, Wheels & Tonneau Cover Parts by 4 Wheel Parts-RH2
I've ordered tons from them.
They always have specials!

 

haha whoops, you already put that trent. you beat me.

 

Thanks for the info, especially about the user cp, his mom would freak if she thought I was encouraging him to modify the truck (she's already rolled over once in little blazer, and it wasn't pretty).

I'm doing some pre-scouting on lift vs leveling, wheels, lights, etc., and alot of the sites I find don't have much stuff for Rangers. it's mostly the full size trucks. And the one local place doesn't price anything on their web site.

 

I'll add to #2:

I wouldn’t run E85 if you don’t have to. The ‘E’ stands for ethanol (or alcohol) and 85 stands for the percentage of ethanol to gasoline. In this case, there is a concentration of 85% ethanol to 15% gasoline.

The main advantages are that it is less expensive, burns cleaner, and is a renewable resource (usually made from corn, barley, or wheat). The main disadvantages are that it is hygroscopic (absorbs water), excellent solvent (dissolves plastic, rubber, fiberglass, etc.), not as dense as gasoline (takes up same amount of space but offers less energy as compared to gasoline), and could cause over farming of crops used to produce it and also food shortages. Of course there are many others, but I just listed some of the main advantages and disadvantages.

Don’t ask me how I know this.