Fellow lover of Rangers: New to this "social media" and "posting" so please forgive my mistakes. I special ordered a 2002 FX4 from Ford and what a dream truck it has been for 17 years. 4.0L V6 with manual transmission and manual transfer case. Turned out this was a very limited production truck. Wish Ford would have continued building them all like this.

 

Welcome to the forum

The 2002 FX4 was the first in a long while that had manual transfer case, and first with the Torsen limited slip rear axle
In 2003 to 2007 Rangers had same package but sold as "FX4 Level II", but manual transfer case was dropped in 2005 I think

Good read here on the FX4 and FX4 Level II: https://www.therangerstation.com/sto...-by-the-years/


You do have one great Ranger :)

 

You do have a great Ranger. I also bought mine new in December 2001 and now have 242K miles on it and it has done well for me. I did have to take it back to the dealer for the Torsen recall but everything has held up well with replacement of the normal maintenance items. I did replace the top ball joints but it still has the original lower ball joints.

I noticed your FX4 is sagging a little in the rear with the weight of the loaded trailer on it. I installed air bags in the rear to help the rear springs when towing and I usually pump them up to keep it level which helps stability on highways.

You don't see a lot of 02 FX4 and later Level II Rangers but they are not that rare either. I really like the manual transfer case and don't know why they dropped them. I am pretty sure the manual transfer case was only available in the 02 and 03 models.

 

From my resources, there were only 1096 2002 FX4's with manual transmission and manual transfer cases manufactued, Only the 2002 Ford FX4, and 2003 Ford Ranger FX4 Level II had the optional manual transfer case.

Thanks for the advice for the sagging rear end. I was a custom home builder on a golf course and my FX4 never pulled a trailer except this one time. I put my job/office trailer on the project in 1999 but the kids (brats) recently decided my trailer needed some graffiti. So I pulled it this one time 5 miles to and from the repair shop where one side was re-powder coated.

When I got the truck new, I had an overload spring leaf added to the rear and had the springs re-arched. So I netted 2" of lift without any changes in shackles, blocks, etc. Also had custom ARE fiberglass shell manufactured in matching color.

My truck also had entire rear differential re-placed in the recall. Other than that, no tranny, differentials, or engine problems. Rear brakes would hang up first couple of winters when it got extremely cold and the parking brake had been set overnight. Other than that, great ruck.

 

I knew the number of 02 FX4s with manual transmission/transfer case was low but did not know the number. The 1096 number sounds like a good number. When I was looking for mine, there were only about 4 in the SoCal area and I had to go to San Diego to get the color I wanted. Actually, I wanted White but they were not available in White. I think the 02 FX4 was only available in four colors, Red, Black, Silver Metallic and Blue Metallic. I did not want metallic because I wanted something easy to touch up. I go off-road a lot and get chips and scratches. I also did not want Black because it takes to much care. The only thing left was Red. Blue is my favorite color and I like metallic on cars but not on my truck.

I can get an easy lift in the rear with more air pressure in the rear air bags. I use this feature off-road frequently.