Some of you may know or remember from FordRangerForum.com if you have been around for a while. My name is Jesse and I am currently 27 years old living in the Pittsburgh, PA area. 

My first vehicle after high school which I purchased in 2010 was a bone stock Oxford White 2002 Ford Ranger XLT 4X4 with the 4.0.



 I did some mods and kept it around for about 2 years before I traded it on a 2004 Ford F-150...  I've regretted every day since I got rid of that Ranger. Below is a picture of how it sat a little over a year after buying it.





Since then I've been through a 2004 F-150, 2014 Ram 1500, and most recently I have a 2016 F-150 as well as a 2018 Subaru Impreza that is my wife's. After recently having the birth of our first daughter about 4 months ago, we started talking that it might be best cost wise to eliminate one of the two car payments. We decided to do this by trading the F-150 & Impreza in on either a new SUV or full size truck as the family vehicle, and I pick up an old cheap used truck for work. Originally I was looking for an OBS Ford for the fact that the parts are super cheap and easy to work on. After getting bored with not finding exactly what I wanted, I typed in "Ranger" on Facebook Marketplace just for the hell of it and this pops up about 30 miles from me:



Oxford White 2002 Ford Ranger XLT 4X4 with the 4.0....

Needless to say the second I saw it, I knew I wanted it. So after a couple messages with the seller and meeting to look at it in person, I learned:

• 141,000 Miles (Less than 8,000 miles per year)
• The truck runs and drives flawlessly
• Hot Heat & Ice Cold AC
• 4wd works excellent
• There is no rust on the body except for a small spot on front bumper face bar (Rockers have been professionally replaced & painted)
• Current State Inspection until 06/20
• Newer tires
• All new brakes
• All fluids changed

Of course there is some bad however:

• Small tear in the drivers seat
• Small crack in the frame behind the driver rear tire

The frame scared me at first as that is pretty serious. But, after getting under the truck and inspecting the rest of the frame and tapping on different locations, it seams that the only bad spot is this:



I sent this picture and what I found the condition of the rest of the frame to be in to a shop that specializes in frame repair in Pittsburgh, PA. I was quoted at a couple hundred to fix it with the worst case scenario being about $1,000. I am getting a second quote from another shop as well.

After taking a day or so to think about whether or not I wanted this truck, I decided that I would use the repair quote as some ammo to try to negotiate the price a bit. After going back and forth for a little bit, we finally agreed on a purchase price of $2,000 and chose this coming Friday to be the day that we meet to do the title transfer.

I am very excited to be able to basically get my first vehicle back - which was also my most reliable vehicle... that's a discussion for another time lol - and make it version 2.0. I do plan on doing a few things differently and some mods I never got around to with the first one. Those will come with time, the frame has the priority at the moment. Once that is repaired, you will be seeing a lot of me here.

Last edited on Wed Jan 15th, 2020 01:04 pm by Stringer