My Current Situation...

[roguefab30]

I'm curious, and it would be easier to ask then to read every post in this forum..... What are some of the problems encountered in the 1998 and newer Rangers that are specific to those models? As the tech library expands, I'm trying to figure out what direction we need to go now that the 1998 and up Rangers are becoming more common and being modified more. Whether it be hubs, axles, transmissions, engines, electronics, etc.....please post any problems you see popping up with these trucks that we may need to address in some tech pages. It would seem to me that there would be more and more electrical related issues.

 

[frieed]

Rear end thunk on acceleration from a stop. It's the axle slip joint, not the diff. and not the U-joints. As you stop the rear brakes cause a little bit of axle wrap, the slip joint extends to compensate then sticks there. When you accelerate, the axle tries to wrap the other direction and the sticky slip joint resists. Suddenly it lets go at once and the rear axle thunks as snaps to the angle it wanted to be. Trivial fix, drop the drive shaft, clean the slip joint (at which time you will see that Ford knew about the issue since it's coated in Teflon), apply grease (I used a high pressure grease with Moly for CV joints), then re assemble. Took me 15 min. and I don't even know which end of the wrench to hold.

 

[Unimog]

Manual transmissions had a clutch pedal mechanism that wore out pretty quickly and was a hassle to replace.

 

[Kiel]

When you get into the mid 100k's auto tranis issues. 4.0 timing chain noise and tensioners/guide issues. Wheel bearing
hubs

 

[Gravy]

I upgraded the auto in my 98 Ranger with all the 5.0 V8 explorer parts when I had it rebuilt. Shift kit and beefed up frictions and steels too.

Now it's awesome.

I can't seem to keep stuff from falling through the bottom of the bed though....