Hello everyone, just bought a 2001 Ranger 4x4 4.0L for my son for his first vehicle. I got a good deal but needs some work, I have about 8 months before he gets his license so I have plenty of time to fix everything. Will be posting with some brake questions first, pretty much going to just replace it all since it's going to be my son driving it.

And I'm guessing there will be plenty more issues down the road.

 

brakes are very simple also look up chris fix on youtube he has a truck and explains in detail how to work on ford rangers

 

It sounds like you have a vehicle that will work for some father/son bonding while increasing his mechanical knowledge.

 

Welcome to the forum

Just a heads up
Ford came out with the 4.0l SOHC engine in 1997 it was used in Explorers
Ford Rangers got these in 2001, so yours is first year in Rangers.

The 1997 to 2003/4 4.0l SOHC engines did have timing chain issues, there are 4 chains on 4x4 4.0l SOHC.
The 2 long chains, passenger side rear and drivers side front, had tensioners that would loosen up and allowed chains to hit hard against Guides, guides would break and you would start to hear rattling from engine on startup and mid-RPM range.
So if you hear rattling damage is done, engine has to be pulled out to replace rear chain and parts.
If engine is quiet then you may want to change those 2 tensioners to the newer models, unless you have records that show they have already been changed.

The 1990-2000 Rangers used the 4.0l OHV engines, no relation to 4.0l SOHC, so if you are looking up parts make sure you use 4.0l SOHC, not just 4.0l or you will get conflicting results

2001 was also first full year for "Live Axle" on Ranger 4x4s, front axle hubs are always locked even in 2WD, which is a good thing since Fords "automatic" hubs were always a problem, but it also means there are no manual hubs available from 2001 and up Rangers


If you have an automatic trans it will be 5R55E model, good trans but does need fluid and filter changed, also second trans cooler is a good option to have, best $60 you will ever spend on vehicle maintenance

 

when i bought me ranger the guy had a radiator leak and put that crap leak stop to hide it from me in the coolant so it clogged everything up and i had to replace one of the hoses connecting to the engine so i would also change all fluids and filters and clean the carbon in the engine. one thing a lot of people never change is the fuel filter and it is great and cheap maintenance when i changed mine on my 04 i found small rocks and tons of other debris. change transmissions fluid, coolant, oil, brakes, differential fluid just to make sure everything is up to date and running good its also a good way to learn about the truck an extra step you can do is when changing the oil you can contact a company and sent a sample of the oil to them for them to test in labs and tell all kinds of info about the engine