I have a 2011 ranger sport 4.0 5 spd 3.73 l/s and tonight i was pulling my trailer its a 4x10 and i feel like it was too much for the truck when i had it loaded with a couch chair ottaman and an endtable. Also while backing up i stalled it out 5 times total mainly due to being in tight spots. A little bit about me... i feel like over 2500 rpms is over reving an engine unless your cruising at highway speeds in overdrive, if there is a spec of dirt on/in the truck its embarassing dirty and i have to have everything in a certain place and order. I guess my question is am i just extremely paranoid or just over the top case of ocd.

 

My truck sees 4k daily in city traffic, although I just washed it.

You need to let go of your stuff, its a daily driver it will get scratched, dented, and just abused.

 

I'm the same way, especially about the revving. Sad thing is I drive truck and have owned everything from Mustangs to my Powerstroke, I don't think I've pushed anything over half the tach unless I needed to . . .

As hypocritical as this is going to sound, anything more than 1-2000lbs on the back of a Ranger and you're going to have to get a bit rev happy to keep it in the power/torque range. You're probably lugging it a bit causing it to feel heavier and harder on the truck than it actually is. Again hypocritical, but you're not going to wreck anything by grabbing gears at a higher RPM, I know I had to when pulling with my 3.0 and a friend's GF's 4.0.

/ironic rant

 

Maybe not OCD, but OCP (OC personality)

I used to be that way about the engine rev. I would never put my car or truck above 2k rpms, but I kinda grew out of that.

I think if it runs your life, and changes the way that you do EVERYTHING, then maybe.

Im the "it has to be this certain way" about certain things, but not everything. A good example: I set and reset my alarm clock at least 4 or 5 times before I go to sleep.....weird I know, but its just what I do. Doesnt bother me much, might annoy my wife sometimes.

I dont know, everybody has their things. Just my 2 cents.

 

Ok thanks guys...i mite have to try revving it a lil higher next time and see if that helps with anything. Im not sure if i have ever heard of OCP but it seems to fit me more. It gets so bad sometimes my wife has to hit me or something so i can take a second to stop and think. I dont really know of any other way i was brought up in a home where you could eat off the floor at any given time if you wanted to, and going thru 2-3 vaccums a year was the norm for me because they were used so much.

 

Ill add that babying the engine isn't exactly good either. Carbon likes to build up if you don't ever push the engine past a certain point. I like to run my engine somewhat close to red line for a short period of time 10-30 seconds underload occasionally just to burn off any carbon..

 

Agreed that it is hard on an engine to lug it all the time, also a good way to wear out the bottom end of the motor...SOHC motors like RPM's so 3500-4000 should be a daily event for the longevity of the motor.

ai am very particular about stuff and i have to have stuff a certain way, however, im not afraid to run my 3.0 with 199,000 miles on it up to 5500 rpm every once in a while

 

I dont feel that shifting at 2k is lugging the engine especialy when its completely empty, howwever after tonight i think im going to try and shift at 2,500 and see if that helps.

 

your fuel economy will increase too....being how lean they run anyway you dont really have to worry about it loading up,. but over time it will start to. My buddies 3.0 was an old man truck and got like 12 MPG. i PM3 (like seafoam) plugs, fuel filter, cleaned the throttle body and gave it a good few WOT pulls on the eway and now its a 20 mpg consistent truck

 

I make sure and run mine up to red line once in a while. Plus that 3.slow doesn't make power until like 3K anyways

 

Its rare that i get my truck over 4k. my commute isn't a great amount of highway driving. but there has been times i've pushed it to the red line (merging onto the expressway while pulling a 18 ft lund with the back end loaded) its times like those where i'm glad i have a 4.0

 

Seriously OCD.
I've got 250K miles and my truck sees red line daily.

A red line a day keeps the rebuild away. This trucks is all original judging by the rusted manifold bolts, nasty oil pan gasket.

 

I was about to say...does no one run their truck to top revs..glad Im not alone. Yea the 3L reaches 4,8K daily

 

There is no way on earth i could ever bring myself to run a engine that high im too afraid of somethong breaking

 

my 3.slow sees 5k every couple of days your not gonna break it reving up every once in a while

 

You need to step outside the box a little bit. sounds like you need to do your engine a favor. I rarely take my engine to redline, mash the gas once, and let the bugger eat. the truck will survive, and so will you.

 

i thought of something this morning when i was shoveling the snow and the mail was being delivered. In Michigan, some of the mail trucks are on an explorer chassis. 4.0 SOHC 5r55. The low RPM running was tearing the motors up in them. It got to the point that when they would come in to the dealer for oil changes, we had to run 15w40 in them to keep them together, along with plugs about every 10k.

Im not saying to beat on your truck like alot of people here do, but theres a reason your truck has a rev limiter, to prevent you from doing damage by over revving. I understand if you dont feel comfortable spinning it up to 6k, but 3500-4000 is perfectly acceptable, along with atleast one WOT run every few weeks

 

cop cars are the same way. after time they loose low end from just idling all the time. i step on it once in a while. more so when getting on the expressway.

we were told to do this in the shuttles at work too. since most times they don't get over 50 km/h and idle at the parking lot alot.

 

Rp-

What you gotta do is before you get in the truck is slam the door on your fingers. THEN you'll kick that SOB in the butt.

 

4.0 is a sohc theres no pushrod to bend and no lowend tq to be focused on using, your abusing the cr@p out of that poor motor shifting before 2500 with a trailer, its not a 455 olds. plus your losing the tq multiplying that an auto gives.

i keep my vehicles cleaner then everyone else i know, and they all know it so i dont see whats wrong with keepin it clean. just because it has a bed doesnt mean you should never wash it and let the paint rust away like some toothless cousin lover especially since its still less then a year old.

 

HAAAhaha!! I find myself doing this when I either hurt myself while messing with the truck, or if something goes wrong and I have to fix something. The next time I fire it up, I find myself leaving rubber behind me. lol.

 

you can't be afraid to utilize your engines power band. shifting at 2500 when you're in the truck alone slowly plugging along a city road is fine. but merging onto a highway or towing something you have to use more of the engines ability. My truck and my wife's car both get a solid highway merge once a week just to "stretch" out their legs as i like to say.

 

Drive it like you stole it.

The worst thing you can do to that engine is start it cold.

 

Not sure what you got....Sallyitis? I like all of my stuff clean and well kept/new appearing. Although I'm a mechanic so I run everything hard, if it breaks I fix it. I've never blown up an engine yet. My truck used to get 5500k shifts (occasionally all the way to rev limiter just to show people it would go off the tach) from stoplights to get away from traffic. I really enjoy making the next stop light when no one else does. My 7.3l loves RPMs'!!!

 

I owned my own auto repair shop for a number of years and had an Ice Cream company under contract for truck maintenance. All they did was idle around town 12 hours a day worst running engines I ever worked on they would get so loaded up with carbon that every 15,000 miles I would have to replace the plugs from carbon fouling. Most of the time a tune consisted of plugs, run a quart of water through the engine and take them out on the freeway and blow them out.
I don't know about you but it's pretty hilarious to see two ice cream trunks racing down the freeway with a big cloud of exhaust blowing out the back of them.
It doesn't hurt the motor to run it at higher rpm I was taught that the best rpm to run your motor at is were the hp and torque curves meet, this is were the engine is most efficient.
I run my little turbo miata up to 8700 rpm (limited by the valve springs) all the time constantly cruise it above 5000 rpm and the original motor went 281,000 miles when I decided to rebuild it you could still see cross hatching in the cylinder walls and the bearing and crank had absolutely no wear at all.
Change your oil regularly and run it like its a loaner. The worst thing you can do to a motor is baby it.