I had the first gen Ranger while I was in the Navy out in California. I bought a 1 year old '83 Ford Ranger with the 2.8 L motor, standard trans with Overdrive, 4x4 and the manual locking hubs. It was a standard cab. I had it for over 12 years and never had any issues. I drove it from Coronado, Ca. to Tampa several times and stopped in Moab, Az. several times to have a great time with many of my friends. The only thing was...it was a/c delete. No factory a/c. In California it was fine, but when ever I was here in Florida the summer was really hot.
I got stationed at US SOCOM in Tampa and had to move all my gear and three motorcycles back to Tampa. I had my trailer and about 400 lbs of my gear and clothes and other belongings. It made it home without any issues.
It was running a 3 inch lift and 33 inch tires and 4.10 gears. No issues in the mountains pulling that trailer and the extra weight of my gear. I had do a brake about a year after I bought it. The 2.8 L motor was a really good motor. Easy to maintain and work on when I gave it a few god tune ups!!!