Last night on my way out the door for work my dad uttered the phrase "just wait till you see what I got". So after stewing all night at work about what it might be I come home to find a 1995 Mazda B4000 in the driveway. Guess its his new DD/gas mileage getter. Its pretty clean and all that. 77000 miles and its an automatic. The real point of this is to find out what the common issues are with these trucks. More or less what do I need to know to keep on of these on the road??

P.S. I will get some pics up later

 

Shouldnt be too much different than your 1998 Ranger.

Does it have the 4.0L in it?

 

yes its a 4.0

Someone mentioned they are known for eating computers?? is there any truth to this?

 

I haven't heard of them eating computers, at least my 98 4.0 hasn't.

 

Never heard of that before... that's really low miles for a '95!

 

Yeah we got it from an estate sale. Carnival guy had it and all it did was sit. It seems gutless compared to my 98 with the 3.0, both trucks are 4x4 auto ext cabs yet mine will eat it from a dead stop and feels like its better on the hills. Thinking its got some highway gears in it

 

Drove the truck to work and back (30 miles round trip). I do not like this truck at all. It feels so loose on the steering, It is sluggish, also it just looks cheap. The gauges just seem crappy compared to my rangers gauges. To the point if my 1998 ranger stock gauges would swap over I may do it. Maybe I am just bitter that my dad got a better RBV than I did but I just do not like this truck

 

Come on Zach really? lol

 

The reason it feels loose is due to the TTB. You may need to get it aligned. Also they use a steering gear box and that could be warn out. I had that issue with my 95. I'm not sure if the ranger had the same issues or not, but the first gen explorers had issues over heating/blowing head gaskets.

 

lol I didnt wanna call him out on the B4000 thing but I wondered about that also

You think the box would be loose at 77k on it? thats what bothers me the most is how low of miles yet it drives like it has 177k on it. If I hadnt known this truck its whole life id probably wonder about the true mileage but we got it from a family friend whose father passed away and it was his truck. Either way I will give it the old crawl over once I get it in the garage. Still I am less than impressed with the truck.

On a side note were the mazda trucks any cheaper than the ford trucks back in the day?

 

Well if it did a lot of sitting its possible it might just be the alignment. On the note of beard, someone has to keep him sharp lol.

 

As you know, the B4000 will behave exactly like any '95-'97 4.0 Ranger with the same equipment. They won't "eat computers" or do anything differently than a similar Ranger would. They were made on the same production line using slightly different sheet metal. I even get my B4000 serviced at the local Ford dealer (much closer than the Mazda store).

What you are noticing most when comparing it to your '98 is the changeover to the current generation interior, gauges, etc.

The pushrod 4.0 is no speed demon, but you should check the rear end gearing before condemning it. My '95 B4000 2wd has a lovely 3.08 rear gear. Pretty sleepy around town, but good on the highway.

 

No. In fact, possibly a little more expensive. In '95 at least, the Mazda carried a better factory warranty (5/60) than the Ranger (3/36). In the case of my truck, it has 4-wheel ABS, which wasn't available on a 2wd Ranger of that year.

 

The gears are the same truck to truck. same size tires and same rpm at 65mph. So its got 3.73s in it. I figured it was a ranger in dress up once I looked it over and got under it. I am gonna have to track down a set of D35 warn hubs for it along with a manual T case cause well electric dont fly at my house

 

Took me a bit but here it is









the only spot of rust on the whole truck

 

Doesn't look too bad... my '97 had rust in the same spot!

 

Im guessing it was a rock chip that got out of hand. Either way I am gonna do a quick fix on it so it doesnt undermine the windshield seal and create a leak

 

Good call.... lol I didn't and it lead to a leaky and cracked windshield!