I joined quite awhile ago and have since moved to Utah, and now moving back to Texas.
On top of that I got a new PC and forgot my user name so, instead of going through the whole hassle of
trying to find it or remember it I just signed up again. I own a 2006 Ford Ranger with the 2.3L which I recently found out
that the book (Chilton) says is unrebuildable, gee that makes me feel warm all over. Anyway, here we are again!

 

 

Hmm, Didn't know that.
But, I certainly agree on the Chilton's, not even good enough to wipe yourself with.
I remember the ole Motor Manuals, now there was a book, had a whole collection of'em till I moved about 15 years ago and sold'em off.

 

Chilton's used to be great, but when Disney (Yea, that Disney) split up the Chilton's interests and Haynes bought out the publishing side, they took a real crap. My dad had an old Chilton's catalog for 1987-1991 F-Series trucks from 1992, and it was twice the size of the 1987-1996 F-Series Chilton's manual made in 1998. Funny how that works. Now, the Chilton's and Haynes manuals are basically the same manual.

 

Oh yeah, The old Motor manuals were at least 2-1/2" thick and weighed 2-3 pounds I bet. You all probably don't remember those, they were a big blue book that were hard covered like a quality dictionary of novel.

 

I actually used to have two early 80's era Motor Manuals that my dad gave me. They were older than I am. lol. I never used them since I had the factory repair manual for my 1980 F150, so I sold them to a guy who collected vintage automotive literature.