Hey all. I am a semi-pro MX racer from florida. My current ride is a 99 4x4 4runner, but she is going bye bye. In attempt to get out of dept from some wicked hospital bills, I have come across what seems like a good deal.

My friend owns a car lot, and has an 03 base model 4cyl, manual ranger, with 59,xxx miles sitting out there for $5500. He has offered to buy my 4runner for $5500, (which I owe $2300 on), and sell me the ranger for the remaining $3200. Sounds like a good deal right?

Well, here is where I start to sound whiney. I spend a LOT of time in my truck, traveling to MX races all over the SE US. My three major concerns are:

1. Is there any way to make the seats a little more comfortable? It has the whatever material seats, that you slide around in, and it doesn't seem to make for good road trips.

2. Will the 4cyl be ok to cruise at 75-80 mph on the highway? With 2 MX bikes in the back? (~230lbs each)

3. How can I make this baby look cool? I am a big fan of black steel wheels and aggressive tires, but I fear they may look out of place on the truck.
Can anyone show me some pics of a truck like it that looks cool?


Thanks for all the replies in advanced people. I will try to post a pic of my current ride, if my limited post count does not impeed.

 

That's a nice 4-runner you got there man. Good stuck. 01-03 Rangers look the same, so here's a cool lookin ranger with aggressive tires.


But being as the truck your looking at has the 4cyl, I'm not sure that going that extreme would be tolerable with the smaller motor (granted you could get gears but mileage would suck).

 

Here is my truck with black steel rims and aggressive tires

 

Well, with all of the highway time that it is going to see, I want to do a very mild lift. Maybe 1-2 inches in the rear, and level it up in front. Here is a pic of my old ranger before the black rims. I don't want the new one to be any higher than this.

 

Old pic of my truck when it was stockish with 15x8 black soft 8 steelies:

2002 XL 2.3L





Now:

 

welcome to R-F, Jake!

 

Man u'll love the ranger no dout...U could always swap the seats with Explore Seats...that a idea for u.

Heres my truck

 

here is another with black steelies

 

welcome to RF

 

Yes,a pic ***** thread....
Cheap camera...

 

Welcome to the site. You'll be fine cruising at highway speeds with 500'lbs in the rear. You can upgrade to Explorer seats or better ranger seats with cloth.

 

Its a done deal. Shes mine. It feels good to actually own it, its a first for me.
I have some buddies in the junk yard business, and they are keeping an eye out for some new seats and rims. I should have the windows tinted by next week. what do you think?

 

nice..

 

Reminds me of my truck when I first got her!

Congrats!

 

Nice! Yeah 80mph with a 500lb load will be nothing for the ranger. Get about 20-25mpg with that load and the 4-banger too.

Now to do some photo whoring of my own:
Not black steelies or off road tires, but here's mine!

 

Yeah you'll like your ranger. I wanted to get a bigger truck last summer but finance wise couldn't afford it just yet so I bought my ranger instead. I just got a bike a month ago and haul my bike in the bed of the truck with ease. Rangers are good trucks.

 

that is an awesome looking ranger