Good morning everyone! My name is Matt, and I am an Industrial Process Engineer in the Naval Defense industry. I recently picked up a Torch Red 2009 FX4 4-door automatic from a local dealer. The truck now has just under 50,000 miles on it, and came from Canada. Though my strong preference is to drive vehicles with manual transmissions, part of the reason I needed a truck was to tow my project/track car (turbocharged 2006 Focus) to and from events. Since the tow capability on 5-speed-equipped trucks just can't cut the mustard for a car/trailer, I was forced into an automatic. I have also confirmed that the truck has a Torsen in it, which is a welcome upgrade from the laudable Trac-Lock.

Since I am basically a child and can't seem to leave well enough alone, here are the tentative plans for the truck. Please feel free to offer feedback!


-Remove bed, strip frame, and re-coat with Rust Bullet and a nice smattering of sating black topcoat. Reinstall bed.
-Remove factory bedliner, add a spray-in liner, reinstall factory liner.
- 285/75-16 General Grabber AT2
-16x8 et0 Method NV wheels, grey in finish.
-DiabloSport (or SCT XCal 4 if I can divorce it from my Focus...) tuner. I'd really like advice on who the preferred tuners are.
- Supreme Suspensions t-bar keys and shackles. I've looked into an add-a-leaf, but I'd prefer to retain as much ride quality as possible.
- Extended Ranchos (I'm also considering Bilsteins, but the factory Ranchos offer an extremely satisfactory ride. They're also less than $200 for the set right now...)
- Build my own 2.5" T304 stainless exhaust from the y-pipe back.
- Build my own GTAW-welded 6061 aluminum inlet pipe with heat shield (I am aware of the MAF diameter requirements)
- Replace factory step bars with Rocky Road standard-length sliders (bolted on)
- ORI Baja Challenger light bar with 2x Hella 500 Black Magic lights. MIL-spec wiring.
- Build my own custom mounts for bike racks in the bed.
-Some sort of horn that has some guts to it. It is a little embarrassing that my truck has the same horn as my Focus.




As you can see, the list is pretty basic, and I think it'll make a nice all-around truck that is still well-suited for daily use. Keep in mind when critiquing my plans, this truck is going to be a 100% pampered mall crawler that will see occasional, extremely light off-road use. I've learned my lesson about beating on and ruining daily drivers!




If I get a chance tonight, I'll upload some pictures of the truck, and my other cars if anyone is interested in those as well. I'm extremely excited to finally have a Ranger in the fleet, I've wanted one since I was a little kid.

 

As promised, here are the pictures.

The week I brought it home, seen here with the Focus and my '79 Volvo 242.


The girlfriend is a fan...


First load of firewood with me.


Our first roadtrip, 3 days after the purchase, was to Ocean City, MD. The Focus next to the Ranger is also turbocharged, and belongs to my friend, Rachel. She's ahd the car for about 9 years.


Second roadtrip, a week later, was up to New Hampshire with my '01 Yamaha Warrior in the bed. The other Ranger (an '04 work truck) belongs to my friend Kevin, who also owns the '03 Raptor 660. The Scrambler belongs to our friend Chris. Both trucks hauled/towed very well, returning about 19mpg each on the trip.




More firewood. I'm surprised at just how much I've been working the little truck. I'm impressed.


I always bring a bucket to the car wash. Griot's Garage, Croftgate, and Meguiar's are all that touch this rig.