Well, the universe provided the truck I was looking for. I traded my motorcycle for an ex-fleet Ranger (VIN-based info) that had been
put out to pasture by the small-business owner. He had four (?) newer ones and this one was the oldest, handling "backup truck" duties.
It's a 2.3L 5spd standard cab truck, which is exactly the setup I wanted. On the way home (180 miles up the highway) it averaged 26.1 MPG on the highway running between 65-70mph. Awesome! It's got a kerbillion miles on it, so some work needs to be done. See the bottom of this page for details.
Things I love about this truck
Some of these things are inherent in trucks-in-general.
fleet = plain and unassuming. No chance I'm going to get carjacked.
white. Best color for sunny Texas!
has the detentes in the bed for 2x6 or whatever. Cargo platform, but really a camping bed platform...
no carpet. Why do people want carpet in trucks?
AC feels powerful because there is so little cabin space.
AM and FM. :-) I feel like I won the lottery. I was certain fleet trucks would only have AM. I have a rockboxed iPod mini with an iTrip FM xmitter which pumps tunes into my radio. Bangin', if not particularly hi-fi..
reverse timeline
20110825 - upgraded solar charger to Genasun 5A MPPT and battery to 115A group 27 deep cycle from walmart.
20110817 - got another camping mat and cut it to fit full width of altered sleeping deck. Used scrap to make a section the width of the tailgate for drive-in movie sitting comfort.
20110816 - installed solar gear on shell. Altered sleeping deck to full width and cut in two for flat storage in bed.
20110815 - got puncture fixed on left rear tire; heavy duty staples.
20110803 -
Started to put together some gear for the solar setup: 10A PWM charge controller, battery box, terminals. I have a half-dead battery here I will use to test the electrics until I get the panel[s].
ordered some extra lock cams for the shell hatchback; one got lost.
20110730 - Replaced battery. {Update: still fine after about a week}
20110613 - got nail pulled out of right front tire; plugged nicely.
20110608 - ordered shell clamps from eBay
20110601
truck has been bucking around 2k rpm and getting worse. Replaced coil pack ($70 from Autozone); fixed!
AC has been slow to come on, and not that cold when it does. I suspect low refrigerant. Bought a gauge and 12oz of r134a. Much better now that we are up from 10psi to 45psi. The whole experience went very much like this report.
20110524 - put the truck in the shop to have the brakes looked at. Rear drum needed cleaning. Fuel and oil filters changed. A ball end joint (?) needed replacement.
20110523 - fiberglass on rear door of the topper is cracking; reinforced it with some drilled steel repair plates from Lowes. The equivalent of a baling wire fix, but I did live on a farm once...
20110506 - doing more highway driving lately (work commute about 75% highway): 26.21 mpg. I suspect the topper hurts around town and helps a bit on the highway.
20110423 -
Ha! Caught the danged HCV dripping. Bought a replacement from Autozone ($18). Installed and it doesn't appear to be leaking. I spilled enough coolant (a pint?) that it'll take a while to burn that off the hot parts.
filled up the tank: 23.3MPG mixed. I think it was 24-something before I put the topper on.
cleaned and applied armor-all the dash and door panels. They looked thirsty. Got a set of window shades from walmart.
set air pressure in tires. I think I have a nail in front right. Dropped the spare and aired it to 60psi.
20110413 - two foam camping mats from wally world, ~$5.75ea.
20110406 - installed new locking latches ($26.99, shipped off eBay). Total topper cost so far = $65.64.
20110404 - received state title in the mail
20110403 - got the K155 keys but they didn't work; I suspect my locks are messed up from the topper sitting in the dirt/mud so long. Bought replacement locks off eBay.
20110401 -
replacement cam for left locking hatch. Rear securely closes on both sides now. Just waiting on those keys...
cut 3/4" plywood to fit platform area. Temporarily "covered" with an old motorcycle cover.
bought some screen material but haven't figured that out yet.
20110331e-
mounted Auto Ventshade in-channel visors (192083). Fit great, took about 4mins total to install both pieces. Windows have to stay rolled up for 24hrs.
Got a small crank/battery/usb/solar radio+flashlight for the camper for emergency purposes and for the drive-in.
20010329 -
first light rain on the topper. Not heavy enough to see where the leaks will be. Dried it off and lined the window areas with a thin bead of clear RTV.
loosened the clamps and reset the topper to be further forward and straighter.
20010328 -
Read that key numbers are stamped on topper locks; ordered two keys from Monroe Truck Accessories for $5.95 shipped.
checked out broken left latch. The cam/finger was broken off. Bought a replacement off eBay for $7.70 shipped.
total topper expenditure thus far: $38.65.
20010327 - bought a beat up Glasstite Raven high rise long slider topper for $25, and the guy helped me lift it on. Put a couple of 57" 2x6 in the indentations of the bed (58" would probably have been closer to perfect) and threw some spare plywood in there. I think it will work fine.
20110326 -
removed truckbox.
reversed orientation of tailgate hoseclamp (tightened from underneath)
20110324 - weather has been bizarre. Got to test the heat and AC on back-to-back days!
20110322 -
tailgate hose clamp mod. Tried to find the EZclamp but none at Home Depot. I lined the inside of the clamp with a strip of electrical tape to prevent metal/metal contact.
took the truck to the drive-in. Sat with the wife on blankets in the bed and watched Rango.
started cruising craigslist looking for a topper. Don't want to spend over $200.
20110319 -
inspected. The drive cycle thing brought the sensors online and everything passed.
only had 1 key (PATS chip). Had A1 Locksmith in Carrollton make two more: $60ea instead of $100+ at the Ford stealership. Took about 10mins per key to program.
20110318
took it to the shop to have the P0141 (02 sensor) looked at. On the way P0136 showed up as Pending. Both are B1S2 02 sensor-related. Update: rear O2 sensor bad; replaced.
Rear drums and shoes replaced.
took it to get it inspected after the repairs above; forgot you have to do the "drive cycle" thing. Several sensors were "not ready". Will drive around tonight with wife and try again tomorrow.
"door ajar". This is how you know it is really a Ranger. Sprayed with WD40 but no relief yet. 2nd application of wd40 to the door latch appears to have done the trick. Thank doG for forums.
had windshield replaced.
20110317 -
made the trade.
Sprayed door latch with WD40 to see if I could fix "door ajar". No luck yet.
installed locking gas cap.
planned upgrades
You can tell it doesn't take much to make me happy.
tint to keep cab temps down.
challenges and issues
start working on likely failure points, as discussed in this post.
the A/C runs all the time unless you are in FLOOR ONLY or PANEL (dash) ONLY (or OFF) settings. MAX and OFF positions shut off flow of hot water via the heater control valve, therefore does not allow blending with hot air; it's just full, recirculated cold.
Ranger forums
I am fratermus on these forums.
Ford Ranger forum. Daily email updates don't contain post text, which is a bit annoying.
Ranger forums. Lots of practical advice from posters.
You can search all these forums at once using a custom search in your FireFox or Chrome browser. Basically you define the custom search in the browser with the url string, the text replacement string (bolded below), and the keyword you choose.
So if you wanted to search all the forums for door ajar you'd type rf door ajar in the URL line. I used rf here as an abbreviation for "ranger forums" but you could use ranger, ran, r, whatever. When the browser processes this search it will replace the %s with whatever you type after the keyword. door ajar in my example above.
Building the URL is the hard part so I've done it for you. Here it is with the replacement string already embedded (all on one line, if it wraps):
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=site%3Aranger-forums.com+OR+site%3Atherangerstation.com+OR+site%3Afordrangerforum.com+%s&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq= how to use this: firefox/mozilla | chrome
the mousepad
Well, the universe provided the truck I was looking for. I traded my motorcycle for an ex-fleet Ranger (VIN-based info) that had been
put out to pasture by the small-business owner. He had four (?) newer ones and this one was the oldest, handling "backup truck" duties.
