Just for the sake of conversation, I found myself thinking today about why the Ranger never seemed to be as popular for customizing as Chevy's S10. I must see about 20 Rangers a day, but they are all stock (with the exception of the occasional lifted one). I have yet to see an S10 that hasn't been modded in some way.

Opinions?

 

Good Question. My opinion is that the S-10 is made for the street and the Ranger is for the trails. S-10's also have a simpler body. That's all I can give.

 

Good point. The 4x4 Rangers must out number the 4x2's at least 5 to 1. The S10 was only available as a two wheel drive if I'm not mistaken.

 

You would be mistaken.... The S10/S15 platform was available in both 2wd and 4wd.

 

The aftermarket for the ranger is weak to say the least.The Tbar front end is a pain to mod beyond a few inches up or down.Most rangers are fleet truck as that is where ford sells the most of them.I had a 2001 Edge and loved it.The truck had little to no flex in the front end and I bumped my head just about every time I got in to it.But it was a reg cab 4x4 with 4:10 gears and a 4.0 so it ran like a champ very fast and not too bad in mild trail rides.I think if the aftermarket was to open up for the rangers it would make a big diff.

 

I was gonna comment on the opposite around here. All I see are modded rangers.

Adrianspeeder

 

T-bar front end? Do you mean Twin I-beam? If so, Ranger's lost the twin I-beam in '98.

 

I am kinda late getting into this thread but. It is very simple...
The Ranger was perfect when it rolled out of Ford.
Ok maybe not but the main problem I always had with Rangers was the same with all Fords, The parts are not interchangeable. You can't R/R parts on Fords like on Chevys. For the most part if you have a S-10 and you mod it you can go buy a newer one and move most of your stuff onto it. This may not be the real reason. Maybe they were perfect from Ford?

 

Torsion bar

 

Funny you mention that because I spoke with an old college roomate who called me about two weeks ago to let me know that he upgraded from a 1998 Ranger to a 2005 Lariat SuperCrew (a job really DOES make a difference! :-)

We were talking about how we really feel sorry for that new SCrew because he worked his Ranger to death - ran 200K miles on it in just under 7 years and probably 60-70% of the time he was dragging logs, stumps, carrying log pieces, and hauling trailers full of stuff that weighed more than he was meant to tow.

But, he's not the only friend I have with a Ranger nor the only person I know that KNOWS someone that has a Ranger. I'm coming more to find out that Ranger users REALLY USE their trucks - more than F-150 owners it sometimes seems. Ranger users seem to REALLY NEED an F150 with all the stuff they do, yet they are VERY partial to their Rangers. He was going to buy another Ranger in fact until he found out that his wife was pregnant and needed all the extra room. Even though he had the money for something bigger, his previous Ranger never gave him ANY issues, so as he told me why would he NEED to look for anything different?

I can always remember whenever I asked my roomate about modding his truck, he kind of laughed and said that he had no desire to mod his truck because he saw it as his workhorse more than his playtoy. And, in fact, I find more people buffing the chrome on their F150 than owners of Rangers doing the same.

Many more times I will see a "pretty lookin" full sized truck (be it Ford, Dodge, or Chevy) and the one doing the work will be the Ranger who passes them all doing 80 with a bashed in left rear fender and hauling a trailer twice as long as the truck with two riding mowers w/ other stuff, and a bunch of crap in the bed. Meanwhile they all pass modded S10's with 20" rims sitting in the Sonic parking lot with their 18" subs blaring looking as if they never hauled anything more than groceries in their entire lives.

Ranger owners are HARDCORE - so - I don't think most of them have TIME to mod their trucks!!!!

 

I think that Ranger owners are a rather loyal group and that they either do not have the money to customize their vehicles, or they are looking to eventually get their hands onto an F150 later on. They may also want their Rangers to be more stock than other owners of other vehicles. Also the Ranger may not be as suitable for customizing as other vehicles. I also think that if these people want to customize their vehicles, they will go to a car such as the Scion or the Honda Civic. These may also be cheaper to modify than the pickup would be.

 

My previous truck was a Ranger and I absolutely loved it. I got an F-150 because I wanted the ability to carry more people but still drive a real truck (as opposed to the Sport Trac). I need some sort of a truck bed, big or small, but it's important to me that the truck be based on a truck and not an soccer mom SUV or car. The Ranger was so great that I felt I had no choice but to buy another Ford. My Ranger did all kinds of work for me. I love my F-150, but I do not think I will ever love it as much as my Ranger. It might have something to do with the Ranger being one of my first vehicles. It was a hand-me-down from my dad. He drove it for 3 years and I drove it for 8. Aside from an engine problem when it was brand new that Ford fixed, it never had any trouble. If Ford releases a SCrew Ranger, I am going to have a difficult time not trading in my F-150 for one, especially if they put a small diesel in it (yeah, right, I will keep dreaming ).

As far as I am concerned, the Ranger is already perfect for what is. It really needs no mods. It is not like the F-150 where people need to add CAIs, exhaust, and tuner chips to make it a Hemi killer. It is a small truck that can do some serious work. Think about how many Rangers you see doing hard work and then how many S10s doing the same. I do not want to turn this into a Chevy bashing thread, but I see meter readers driving S10s. Construction workers, engineers, and the like drive Rangers.

 

I bought a Ranger new back in 96. Put over 150,000 miles on it and all I done was put a clutch, ft wheel bearings and A light bulb. The clutch was my fault...not meant for lots of drag racing, tire smokin, and donuts. Never smoked or used a drop of oil. I done a few mods to mine...3/4 drop, 17's, exhaust...truck turned heads. Aftermarket parts were hard to come by. It was either for a 4.0 Liter or and S10. I used to get so aggrivated cause I couldn't get stuff for my truck because it was a 3.0L. I fixed that though...After I plowed sideways into some pines...didn't have to have those mods. Was about to drop a 302 in it O Well

 

 

Hey i have a modded Ranger, well its now my little brothers. I now have an F-150 to start modding. I actaully have seen a few modded rangers where i live.