My daughter's truck.

Figured I'd post this up. She's very happy to have it, and eager to learn how to work on it.
I bought it a little over a week ago. Paid $3700 including ttl for it. It's a 2000 Ford Ranger XLT. Has a 3.0ltr V6, and a 5spd manual trans. AC blows ice cold, engine runs decent, but it didn't have much power (even for a baby V6) when I bought it. It's got a few dents and scratches, but not bad for a first vehicle. I found out on the ranger forums that the throttle cable stretches badly on these trucks, and how to easily fix it with a tie wrap or two. Has much better power now, lol.

Here it is on the lot the day I bought it:

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This is me and my daughter the day I brought it home. I could hear her screaming and yelling before the school buss even stopped. lol

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Awesome Bub... :thumbsup:

Since the suspension was pretty much shot on it, I bought new shocks, and sway bar end links today. Taught my daughter how to check the fluids, and where everything is. Had her change out the air filter, sway bar links, and shocks, (with my help of course)

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Next up is to finally change the oil and spark plugs. Maybe tomorrow when I get home from work. Then going to teach her how to change the tires, and eventually change the brakes. ( I have to buy rotors, and pads first, and remember how to change drum pads, lol)

nice work kev :tup:

awesome :tup:

I was surprised. She asked me why I hadn't started showing her this stuff before on the other vehicles. lol.
I figure if I show her how to do her own maintenance, she'll take care of it better, as well as appreciate how much is involved in owning a vehicle (not just putting gas in and driving) Still have to show her how to change the tires too.

nice first vehicle Kev :thumbsup:

your daughter already knows more mechanically than I do :lol:


My first car was a 300 dollar '72 dodge coronet that had a terrible steering problem...I ended up totaling it against a cement bridge embutment...My Dad told me later that he always felt guilty for 'letting me drive it'. It had nothing to do with him.....

And now Hal has a $300 grand prix.. :lol:

but he paid for it :tup:

at least in 12 monthly installments :-k

Well, once she gets a job, she's to pay me back 1/2, as well as the insurance. Half of the cost for parts comes out of her allowance/savings, so that's why it's going to take a while to get it fixed up. By no means am I buying it, fixing it all up and saying "here you go.."
I'm having her do the work, with my help.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by KevinD

Well, once she gets a job, she's to pay me back 1/2, as well as the insurance. Half of the cost for parts comes out of her allowance/savings, so that's why it's going to take a while to get it fixed up. By no means am I buying it, fixing it all up and saying "here you go.."
I'm having her do the work, with my help.

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great plan :tup:

Pretty cool deal Kev, ya done good..

Great first truck Kevin. :tup:

Awww...what a nice dad you are, Kev. I hope to do the same for my daughter one day. I'm not as mechanically minded as you, but I can change oil, filters, etc ie the basics.

HAL - get a good friend to show you how...it really isn't that hard to do what Kev has described thus far. Just remember it's not a race and take your time in disassembling anything.

It also gives you a bit of an insight as to how the machine works so when a bogus mechanic says your thread bearing over the fingerwhipple is grinding against your fenger flange, and killing your Catastropic Converter, you can call BS on them!

BTW Kev -- www.Ford-Trucks.com forum is always a good resource -- helped me keep my Aerostar going that's for sure.

I wouldn't call myself mechanically inclined, per se, I have taken a lot of stuff apart over the years, and even been somewhat successful in putting it back together, lol.
I was one of those kids who no matter what toy I had, I took it apart to see how it worked. lol
Noilly is right: whatever vehicle you have, there is a forum for it, somewhere, with folks who will be glad to help you out. One of the first ones I was on was http://www.automotiveforums.com/

If you can't find your car anywhere else, it's probably there. I haven't been active on it in a long time, but even then it was a bit slow.
In lieu of forums, the best thing I can say for those who are starting out is get the repair manual for your vehicle. You can buy basic ones from auto parts stores, though I find them to be a bit basic. If I'm at the point I need a manual, generally, I need the real shop manual, as in from the manufacturer, the ones the dealer service dept uses. If you are a cheap bastard like I am, you can generally find them online with a bit of digging...just sayin...

One thing I find interesting about this truck, is, after I changed the sway bar end links, and the shocks, it seems to sit higher. I unfortunately didn't measure ride height beforehand, so not sure, but, it sits level front to rear now. Typically, trucks have a bit of rake front to rear. I wonder if the previous owner installed aftermarket springs or spindles in the truck. I know the upper and lower ball joints have been replaced (Moog FTW) I've also noticed that after the work, turning the steering wheel when parked takes a bit more effort for some reason. Dunno why yet. Not bad, but a bit more. Most probably wouldn't notice it.
That all said, I'm extremely pleased with the ride and handling of the truck now. If the shocks hold up well, I'll probably put the same brand (Monroe sensa-trac) on my truck when it's due for new ones.


Today, we changed the oil, filter and plugs. Daughter didn't even mind when the oil ran down her arm. lol I tried to tell her to keep her hand above the plug, and now she knows why, lol

Took it for a drive afterwards, and it seems that the part throttle miss is gone, so all is well. Still have to figure out another throttle problem. Sometimes when you push in the clutch to shift gears, the engine races up what sounds like 1,000-1,500 rpms. (No tach on truck, so going by sound) Seems to be somewhat common problem with these trucks, but haven't seen any firm resolutions on the forums. If I disconnect the batt to reset the ECM, the problem goes away for 200 miles or so. Gonna have to think about that one some.

Dunno why, but tonight, every time I click to post, I get the "this forum requires you to wait 20secs between posts" and I'm getting double posts too.