What does this Chevy guy think about Ranger

[Truckedup]

I have a long line bought used Chevy trucks for the last 35 years.And also many used Jeep Cherokees. I have never owned a Ford truck before I bought this 09 Ranger Sport 4x4 4.0 5 speed three months ago...Our other vehicles are a 99 Cherokee 4x4 5 speed and an 03 Silverdao short bed 2wd 5 speed 4.8 V8...

The Ranger is easy to drive,feels familiar... The engine is lively at part throttle and gets up to speed easily. The shifter has a decent action and the gears are spaced ok for a truck..The steering has an engaging feel and truck handles fine . Seems solid over the bumps and doesn't feel like the frame flexes....
What I don't like..It doesn't have cruise, adjustable steering column and the spiffy compass and temperature in the rear view mirror ... But that's because I bought a used truck without those things.
The engine gets trashy at higher RPM's and no sound of power from under the hood.. But it does step and go when the pedal is to the floor ..
The fuel mileage was disappointing at first....17.5 MPG in easy rural driving..I sold the stock 255/70's on rims, got steel rims with new set of Uniroyal Laredo 235/75-16's and the mileage went to 18.5 mpg... It's warmed up a bit and the truck gets 19 .....So it is what it is, not too bad...
Overall I like it...Well it's actually my wife's truck and she likes it also

 

[RangerFabWorks]

with a proper tune up. on the highway with careful driving, the 4.0 with a 5 speed will pull down 22-23 mpg easily. my explorer got 21 around town.

motorcraft o2 sensors
motorcraft plugs
quality wires
a good clean throttle body and a clean air filter
wix or motorcraft fuel filter
a new pcv valve
and if you want to get crazy, have a turbo style muffler welded in. this will keep it quiet, but shed a little weight and free up some airflow over the stock unit.

also look into the "ziptie mod" for the gas pedal. youll be amazed what a difference it will make.

 

[Truckedup]

We took a trip recently ..Driving steady at 70 mph most of the time the truck got 21 mpg...It has 95,000 miles on it now and likely has the original O2 sensors...I'll do them during the summer...

 

[91stranger]

shit, almost 20 mpg in a 4x4 4.0? I wouldn't complain about it. that's better than my 2wd 3.0. my old 91 4.0 4x4 only got 10-11 mpg. so it could be worse.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

If you change tires without recalibrating your speedometer it will throw off your fuel mileage calculations.

 

[Truckedup]

shit, almost 20 mpg in a 4x4 4.0? I wouldn't complain about it. that's better than my 2wd 3.0. my old 91 4.0 4x4 only got 10-11 mpg. so it could be worse.

From what I hear 18-21 is about the same or better than Nissan and Toyota V-6 5 speed.4x4's...

If you change tires without recalibrating your speedometer it will throw off your fuel mileage calculations.

GPS on my phone says 60 MPH on the speedo is 58 mph...I believe a 235/75-16 and a 255/70-16 are the same height...

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Ah, when I went from 235/70-16's to 255/70-16's it did mess up my speedo.

Missed the 75, that is kind of an odd size for a 16" tire.

 

[Truckedup]

Ah, when I went from 235/70-16's to 255/70-16's it did mess up my speedo.

Missed the 75, that is kind of an odd size for a 16" tire.

Original tire size for many base model full size 1/2 ton trucks

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Original tire size for many base model full size 1/2 ton trucks

My F-150 had 235/70-16's.