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Toyota Tacoma vs. Ford Ranger, Part XII

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Comments

  • issisteelmanissisteelman Member Posts: 124
    My Taco is now one year old now and I've put a lot of hard, off road (woods) miles on her. The only two problems thus far are my broken cup holder and my dashboard has a tendency to squeak on cold winter mornings until the interior warms up. It is annoying but does not seem to be a major problem. Well, as you can see, Tacos aren't perfect. Take care......Steelman.
  • eagle63eagle63 Member Posts: 599
    I don't think a squeaky dash in cold weather is unusual. My Explorer does this too but it usually goes away after the inside warms up.
  • rickc5rickc5 Member Posts: 378
    The '97 Lexus ES300 I traded in on my new Ranger had a squeaky dash when it was cold. Must a common malady in a bunch of different vehicles.

    The ES also had an ashtray that rattled if it was closed. I usually left it open so I could plug in my radar detector.

    Nothin's perfect.
  • tclemonstclemons Member Posts: 31
    Sorry to hear about your bulldogs yesterday. I went to school at Southern ('70) and went to work for the government and wound up here in northern VA. Worked in Atlanta, Faytetteville, N.C., and spent 10 years with the Army (civilian) in Germany. Still have family in Hattiesburg, McComb, and Petal. They keep asking if I am "coming home" to retire. I tell them no, because they talk too slow!
  • saddaddysaddaddy Member Posts: 566
    I figured they would mess up sooner or later. They were a really good team, but not mauture enough to be very consistent - and thats what is important in the NCAA tourney. Glad to hear from a fellow Mississippian. I know one guy really well from McComb/Petal but he's a little younger than you it sounds. haha. L8r man.
  • saddaddysaddaddy Member Posts: 566
    The tacoma/sport trac argument may be a "fair" one, but you know as well as I do that it won't be one that lasts long for the Ford camp. Haha. Im not even sure you can hop a curb in one of those soccer mom specials. And even if the Ranger does get 4 full doors, we all know that things still will be far from "equal." Haha ;) Lottaluv buddy.
  • tbundertbunder Member Posts: 580
    yep, you got that right. the ranger will still state which truck the people want by the hundreds of thousands. a 4-door ranger will be bad for the tacoma. i for one, am one who wants a 4door ranger, and i don't think im the only one. if they build it, people will come. just more to ford, and even less to toyota.
  • midnight_stangmidnight_stang Member Posts: 862
    "If [you] build it, [they] will come..."

    The sport trac is still an Explorer... Which is perfect for any middle class mom with 2.5 kids. But I don't think it's meant for off-road ability, if that's what you are aiming for. However it would make a plush ride, if you didn't need a bid pickup bed.
  • saddaddysaddaddy Member Posts: 566
    what I meant. Oh well, just when you think you're clear as a bell ... haha. ;)

    A similar thing is sorta being hashed out in another thread. You might be right. More would buy the Ford simply cuz of what it is -- cheaper and a Ford. The fact that their reliability is just a shade behind doesn't matter to most. Still others are just plain blind to that fact. By the way, I am speaking totally with respect to the specific trucks Ranger and Taco. Some say that the extra cash is not worth whatever pluses Tacos offer - I disagree, and they might too if they weren't so closed-minded. Thank you for not being so. I just hate how Yota has this reputation of being so weak, thin, puny, and unable to take a whipping. You have stated that perception yourself. It simply is NOT true.

    That is really my beef with the whole deal. Wasn't directed at anyone in particular of course. Maybe you Ranger guys don't even necessarily have that attitude. Any way that was way off topic. Does anyone see what I mean, though?
  • wrobelcwrobelc Member Posts: 45
    I'm in the market for a pickup and am looking at the tacoma. The last time I checked out tacomas was around 5 years ago. Back then you were able to buy a tacoma without the SR5 package. These days, all tacomas seem to come with this package. Does anyone know when the SR5 became a defacto standard on tacomas?
  • tbundertbunder Member Posts: 580
    its not standard. its just that toyota builds a whole mess of these at once, and whatever they're building at the moment, is what you're stuck with. if you special order one, it could take up to 3 or 4 months to get here and you will pay through the ying yang for one. check out a ranger, a loaded one of those will be cheaper than a non sr5 tacoma. a non sr5 taco won't even come with seats i dont believe. i know there isn't a steering wheel. too bad toyota doesn't offer more choices. for example, heck, in a ranger you can even get an mp3 player for those that care. or even a 6 disc in-dash cd changer. how about 2 V6's, or even a V6 in a regular cab? not to mention 16" aluminum wheels standard, fog lights, factory alarm, more interior room, more towing power, bigger bed, keyless entry, more payload, more power and torque, dana axles, standard abs, etc....etc....etc....
  • allknowingallknowing Member Posts: 866
    Listen to tbunder. It really doesn't matter that yet another publication (Consumer Reports) rated the Toyota as the "Most Reliable Small Truck from 1994 -2001". Tbunder says that doesn't really matter to anyone. What really matters is all of the cool options and gadgets that you can order on the Ford. Plus the Ford is cheaper and you have to be an idiot to buy anything else. Do as tbunder says and get the Ford.
  • tbundertbunder Member Posts: 580
    when did i ever say to "buy the ford" and that "it doesn't really matter to anyone" about consumers reports? allknowing, i know you are grasping to compare taco to ranger, and that all you have are magazine articles to fall back on. but please stop making up stuff about people. i said to check a ranger out. its hard to beat, as toyota knows since ranger outsells it every friggin year. it all boils down to if he wants to pay extra for stuff on a tacoma that comes standard on ranger, and still get the ranger for thousands less than tacoma, sr5 or not.

    hell yeah buy the ranger. more power, more torque, more payload, more towing, more standard features, more interior room, bigger bed, real axles (dana), easier to get, cheaper to maintain, cooler and better lighting system and front end, no sludge problem potentialities, a proven record of sales because people know it is a good truck. nah, i bet he'd rather have a truck that doesn't even have a clock in it, eh?
  • issisteelmanissisteelman Member Posts: 124
    The more Rangers that I see, the more that I believe that the Ford Ranger is really just an afterthought for Ford Motor Company. It is like they manufacture it just because they need to offer a compact like everyone else. Ford makes great full size trucks, no doubt about it. But Rangers just can't seem to take the abuse of hard work and off road miles. They literally seem to fall apart after four to five years of hard use. I've seen a few around town here that are mid nineties models that are all rusted out and look like they are on their last legs. Yes, if you are a city slicker and not a woodsman, the Ranger will last a long time. But use it in the woods on a daily basis and they seem to fall apart. I think Ford should stick to full size models which seem to be their strength. Take care....Steelman.
  • sc0rpi0sc0rpi0 Member Posts: 897
    Disregard tbunder. He's an ex-owner of a Ranger.

    SR5 is more or less defacto standard on Tacomas. You have to pay around $1K for it, but it comes on 99.9% of all Tacos. It's got things like AC, tach (there are people who drive without those), wipers, CD player....basically all the nice little things that you might make your life easier.
    You could, if you tried hard enough, get a Taco without SR5. If you did that, you'd need to get options that you want piece by piece, and that usually comes out to be more expensive.
    If I can guestimate, SR5 went on trucks sometime around late 97-early 98, 'cause a lot of 96s and 97s (older grills) don't have it, they came as Limited.
  • smgillessmgilles Member Posts: 252
    Go to this website a read

    www.carreview.com

    Looks like some people aren't so happy with their new Ford Rangers. You can get consumer feedback on the tacoma, Ranger, and all small trucks.
  • eagle63eagle63 Member Posts: 599
    "hell yeah buy the ranger. more power, more torque, more payload, more towing, more standard features, more interior room, bigger bed, real axles (dana), easier to get...."

    -do you know what the payload capacity is for a ranger (supercab, 4x4)? I tried checking ford's website for the ranger but it's confusing. For Payload and Towing, they only list "GCRW" and "weight." apparently they want you to calculate it yourself? Also, aside from being 1/2 inch shallower, the tacoma's bed is longer and wider than the ranger's.
  • midnight_stangmidnight_stang Member Posts: 862
    eagle--->You are looking at the 6' bed. There is an available 7' Bed(or 83.8 inches vs Tacoma's best @ 74.5 inches). Tacoma's get a bit wider, except between the wheel wells where both are about 40.4 or 40.9 inches.

    issi--->And we never have seen an early to mid nineties Tacoma or Toyota Pickup get rusty have we? 5 years ago my Ranger was parked 5 feet from the Gulf of Mexico for a week. It played in the sand, and the salt water waves and then sat without a wash until I got home. After leaving about 5 pounds of sand in the driveway, I know it had plenty of chance to start rusting. However, to this day, my undercarraige is unmarred by rust. It's dirty, but it isn't rusting at all. 1993 model too.

    And the Ranger makes up for roughly 10% of all trucks and SUV sales(vans too). The Ranger also sells more that all Lincolns, and just less than all the Mercury's. I guess those companies are just after thoughts too? If the Ranger is an afterthought, the lesser selling Mustang is just a fling... (A 39 year fling at that)
  • eagle63eagle63 Member Posts: 599
    Is the 7' bed available on extended cabs too or just reg. cabs? I guess I was just trying to compare apples to apples: 4x4, ext. cab, V6. (and keep Tbunder honest)
  • midnight_stangmidnight_stang Member Posts: 862
    Looks like only available on the regular cab, 3.0l 4x2. Two different models (probably an XL and XLT). This is from www.forddirect.com. In the past, however this site does not cover all the special ordering possibilities.
  • allknowingallknowing Member Posts: 866
    Like I said, your main concerns are the cool options and price.
    By the way, what potential sludge problem? I saw one article on a woman supposedly having a problem with a Toyota but it wasn't a Tacoma. If I use that logic, you have a potential of everything failing on a Ranger.
  • saddaddysaddaddy Member Posts: 566
    the tacoma has as much "potentiality" of sludge problems as the Ranger has of an axle explosion. This I say, just because more rangers have seen such a problem than tacos.

    As far as bed size, great point eagle. I hope that shuts em up on that issue for awhile.

    More towing capacity - I'd like to shake the hand of the Taco or Ranger owner that towed even 4500 pounds much less the maximum of either one. All comparos show that the Taco acclerates better when loaded anyways.

    Tacomas "inferior" axles are used on a 1/2 ton pickup that, although smaller, still works as hard as the competition without having ANY failed axles. Congrats to the Taco on that one.

    Whoever gets an mp3 player from the factory in a vehicle should be forced to drive Dodges for the rest of their lives. How dumb is that?

    Wrobelc, the point is this: treat buying a truck like you would treat looking for the perfect woman. The Ranger is the one who has all the expensive clothes, purses, and shoes. But when you look closely, what you thought said Gucci, really only says Gussi. She will always be going to the doctor and passing on her diseases to you in various ways (use imagination). When its time to get rid of her, you won't be able to without taking a huge shot in the bank.
    The Tacoma is like the good old girl you'd love to take home to mom. Although not as flashy and maybe a little harder to woo your way, she will NEVER NEVER let you down. The benfits of having the love and affection of something so perfect may only be apparent after the first couple of payments, but you will wonder why you ever thought of doing things any differently. Just like you always have heard, "don't judge a book by its cover," and don't buy a truck just cuz its cheaper and has more bells and whistles. That is, unless you want to end up with chlamydia and a broke down truck. Most of all, get out there and make you own decision. Don't base it totally on what you read here and don't listen to me! LOL
  • tbundertbunder Member Posts: 580
    after reading all these posts, its easy for you or anyone else to see the toyota guys DEFENDING their truck to the ranger. they all know it can't put up when asked to. they all ditch the ranger, while us ranger guys just compare apples to apples. the toyota guys can't compare when it comes to specifications, so they just slam the ranger. but it all boils down to this. ranger has more power, available in more configurations, more options, best seller, etc. whatever way you want it, ford offers it. and you aren't stuck with a 4 cylinder every time you open the hood.

    issteelman, i laughed all the way through your pointless post. such bull.
  • plutoniousplutonious Member Posts: 799
    trucks for sale, be it in "wheel-deals" publications, newspapers or car lots, there seems to be an abundance of newer, low mileage Rangers for sale. I don't see many older, high mileage Rangers at all. Case in point: tbunder. He had a newer Ranger which he already unloaded. Seems like people just don't keep these trucks for the long haul.

    On the other hand, the Toyota trucks for sale always seem to be older, high mileage trucks whose original owner is asking quite a bit. And guess what? Their truck is usually sold pretty quick.

    I think it would be interesting if somebody found some data on the average length to time somebody keeps their Toyota in comparison to a Ranger.
  • sc0rpi0sc0rpi0 Member Posts: 897
    Yeah, Ford also forces everything down your throat. "Sir, I'm really sorry, but you have to get this option. And this option. And this option. But a good thing is.....it's standard with the truck!" Yeah, right, it's standard, but it's far from free.

    Tbunder, you forgot to mention that Ranger has more recalls than Tacoma too. If you are gonna go for "Ranger has more ..... than Tacoma", go all out.

    Hmm...I want a Ford Ranger in FX4 configuration with a V6 and manual transmission, 4x4. When can I have it? Heh.
  • sc0rpi0sc0rpi0 Member Posts: 897
    I'll be the devil's advocate here, 'cause I can understand: when family grows (as tbunder said, with a new kid on a way), at some point in time they will not be able to fit into the family car.
    Although, of course, I gotta wonder why it wasn't planned ahead a little. But I'm not gonna knock on people's lifestyles, there's a lot of folks who don't plan their kids, they just have them as they go along.
  • plutoniousplutonious Member Posts: 799
    Hey, at least you can get an FX4 (Ford's premier off-roader) with an MP3 player instead of a locker.

    Awesome, huh?
  • eagle63eagle63 Member Posts: 599
    did you find that payload number yet?
  • midnight_stangmidnight_stang Member Posts: 862
    Scorpio--->I wonder what Ford was thinking... The pain of having standard Air Conditining. (Mommy make them stop). Or a tachometer and full instrument dash(Please stop the torture). A Clock (When will it end) or standard AntiLock Braking Systems (I'd rather be able to lock up my tires during panic stops and slide into whatever I'm heading towards anyways).

    Also wait until you get a girlfriend (not personal knocking here I swear) and she tells you she's late on her period. It'll change your whole perspective on life. So tbunder needed a safer vehicle for a future child. Is that any reason to question his thinking(Pluto)?
  • sc0rpi0sc0rpi0 Member Posts: 897
    Wouldn't it be easier if Ford offered a stripped down version of a Ranger without a 6CD changer or mp3 player and other extra things that don't really belong in a truck? It's fine for a Honda Civic to have an mp3 player, but a truck? Maybe I'm wrong here, but how many people who buy trucks for real work know what an mp3 file/player is, or how to make a disk for an mp3 player? ABS? ABS does not work very well on non-paved roads....if you are using your truck for real work (that us Taco owners wouldn't know anything about, it seems), you'd be better off without ABS.
    The price of a truck would go down (maybe even below the 10K mark), people would have more flexibility with aftermarket accessories.
  • saddaddysaddaddy Member Posts: 566
    out trucks. Its more like being the second person to offer this guy our side of the story as to why our trucks are better. Plain and simple. Let us be the first to answer someone asking for advice and see who will be "defending" then. Pretty lame.
  • rickc5rickc5 Member Posts: 378
    According to the Ford dealer ads in the local Denver papers, stripped 4x2 Rangers are being advertised at $8000-9000, far below the $10K mark.

    You have a valid point re: work trucks, but again, here in Colorado, work trucks are usually full-size 4x4s, not compact trucks.
  • tbundertbunder Member Posts: 580
    eagle pretty much summed up what i needed to post. thx guy. ill find the payload #'s later on tonight. probly late. until then.

    pluto- someday, you too could have a family. key word-COULD. until then, enjoy your ext. cab trucks. one little tidbit why more rangers are for sale- MORE BUILT. a lot cheaper to trade up to newer model with ford than with toyota. it all works in conjunction.

    to whom imc, ranger had one recall in '01. dont know how many if any taco had, nor do i care. i like the extra crap available for less with ranger than stripped down taco. for those of you ditching the mp3 player availability, what century you living in?
  • saddaddysaddaddy Member Posts: 566
    a mp3 player the other day. The point is this, way more technology goes into those things than Ford knows about. Even if they contract out for those players, can you imagine what all would be left to be desired in an mp3 player that is offered by Ford. Or any maunfacturer for that matter. Get my drift? The ID3 and 4 tags that identify tracks on players and the electronics that go along with 'em are very intricate things to deal with. What a nightmare!
  • tbundertbunder Member Posts: 580
    ford guys. offering an mp3 player that doesn't even play. sad, you're sounding like scorpio now, ignorant.
  • saddaddysaddaddy Member Posts: 566
    I would never buy an mp3 player from even Mercedes.

    I have no doubt that they will play, but there are SOOO many different configurations that mp3 players come in and only the top of the line ones NOW are worth their $350 pricetags. Do you even know what they are and how they work? Who is really more ignorant here? What was wrong with what I said? Give me a break, if we bragged about such a thing on the taco, you'd be all over it. We would rather spend option money on a locker that actually has a place being on an "off road" packaged truck, instead of being a poser with an LSD and an mp3 player.

    I am sorry if you feel this is unfair or what not. But the statements about the mp3 player are true. I have some experience with them and a player that is a $128 upgrade is obviously lousy. I have no doubt that it will play and maybe for a long time, but you will get soo tired of 15 second pauses in between tracks, no track labeling, and innumerable other faults that you will be ready to trade it for a casette player in a month, honestly. Even players that cost $300 are still underdeveloped and a pain to work with, more money gets a little better quality.
  • modvptnlmodvptnl Member Posts: 1,352
    I'm willing to learn!!! I have a Sony MP3, #MC-P10, that I use when I run.(It's the size of a cigar) It's 1 1/2 years old, has been dropped, sweat on and generally abused. It was $300 back then and holds 120 minutes(?)the only negative is it eats batteries. The music I've entered plays one after another and each track is displayed on an LCD. If the Ford system is anything like this, I'd dig on it.

    What exactly is your view on why they wouldn't work in a truck.
  • saddaddysaddaddy Member Posts: 566
    The mp3 player you have is almost surely alot differently from what is in vehicles nowadays. If the ones in the trucks do in fact use a hard drive like yours I would be scared to death of computer compatibility. However I am sure they read mp3s off of CDs. I believe this b/c the option is for a mp3/cd player. You write mp3s to discs, about 150-200 songs per disc, and then you simply insert it like a CD. Although they are making big strides in this type of player, they are very finnicky, especially one that is $128. Forgive me if the price is not indicative of good quality, but I gotta believe differently.

    Sony, Pioneer and others are beginning to make similar players that are fairly easy to use. Each player uses different types of tags, which are the ways the player reads the title, artist, etc. and displays them on the screen. It is hard to find compatible software that will write the correct tags onto the CD. Without the right tags, artist name and so on will not be there.

    Lots of players, especially the bottom line ones, also are cheap in the way that you can separate songs into files. Flexibility in ways that you can organize songs when you burn to discs is very important so that you can search and find a particular song without scrolling thru 180 songs. Alot of times you may want to organize into several subfolders. Very important yet, sometimes a hard to find feature.

    Also important are certain repeat functions, ways that it moves to different folders without being told to, and various other searching ablities. But in short, this player is much different from the one you are used to. If I am wrong and took for granted that the player in these trucks is not up to par, I apologize. However, nothing tells me that these things are even as easy as the run-of-the-mill aftermarket mp3 decks. Nothing against Ford, but to make a GOOD mp3 player, it takes a bonafied electronics company.
  • modvptnlmodvptnl Member Posts: 1,352
    I didn't know what it was . I thought it was like my little portable one where you some how down loaded what you wanted stored/played.

    I may be behind the times but how does the mp3 part in the trucks differ from just burning discs at home and playing 'em in your CD player???

    What pisses me off is my wife can burn discs on her "back pack" and it'll play on both my Ford's and Lexus CD players but my CD/DVD player in the house won't recognize the burned CD's....grrrrrr.
  • tbundertbunder Member Posts: 580
    i could really care less about the mp3 player. i was just pointing out another advantage ranger has over toyota and another offering that only a tacoma owner could dream about. and if these things are so obsolete and not necessary, why does toyota even offer a cd change option? who needs them, right?

    have you even listened to an fx4 mp3 player? i rest my case.

    i still haven't seen a real off-road truck that didn't come stock with dana axles on it. rangers have them front and rear. toyota's have japanese specials. what kind of axles do jeeps come with? i rest my case. you heard of the new rubicon wrangler that's due out this summer? fully locking front and rear dana axles. hmmm.....
  • sc0rpi0sc0rpi0 Member Posts: 897
    If I want an mp3 player, I'll go out and find one that I like. It's that easy, thats what aftermarket is there for, always with better quality and lower prices.
    As for the "real offroad truck": sure, Jeep Rubicon will kick [non-permissible content removed] offroad. You'll probably have to tow it to the playground because of horrible onroad ride, though. Current generation of 4x4 trucks is something of a mix of offroad and onroad: they are potent offroad but have a fairly good onroad ride. It's true for Ranger, it's true for Tacoma.
  • midnight_stangmidnight_stang Member Posts: 862
    Scorpio, the only standard radio in the Ranger is the "AM/FM Stereo w/ Clock". There is an available CD/Cassette, single CD, 6 Disc in Dash CD, and MP3/CD Player. You make it sound like pulling teeth to have 6 CD's in the player at once, but on long trips you might find it handy. You can still treat it like a single CD player if you want. If you don't want anything and want to go aftermarket, just order your vehicle without it. It's that simple.

    And how can ABS be bad for non-paved roads? Even if you can support that statement, isn't America covered with paved roads too? I wonder where we should be concerned, in traffic, on the highway, on the way back from a movie, or out in the middle of nowhere on a dirt road.

    Saddaddy--->Good point about the MP3 player, but it seems none of us here know the specifics of such a player to really make a claim for or against it. I've got some MP3 discs at home, maybe I'll try swinging by a dealership and seeing how they work out...
  • eagle63eagle63 Member Posts: 599
    "I may be behind the times but how does the mp3 part in the trucks differ from just burning discs at home and playing 'em in your CD player???"

    -this is exactly what I've been wondering for a while now. Obviously you need some type of physical media to get the MP3's to your truck's MP3 player, and presumably it's a disc, so then what's the point??
  • midnight_stangmidnight_stang Member Posts: 862
    Mod's little MP3 player stores MP3 files digitially in it's onboard memory. It's like a little computer with a little hard drive. The amount of music he can store depends on the sampling rate or frequency of the MP3 files themselves. I once fit the entire The Best of The Doors 2 disc CD's into one 80 megabyte file. That's about 2 hours of music. CD's can typically store about 650 megabytes. So using the same quality MP3 files I could then fit about 16 hours of music onto one CD. However that CD can only play in a MP3 player, because the music is in File format, not pure digital audio.

    When you burn a CD for listening in a regular CD player, you are typically converting that MP3 player back to CD Audio, and losing that MP3 compression that allows lots of music to be stored in little space. A burned CD regular of regular audio typically stores a little more than 1 hour of music.

    So by offering a CD player that can read and decode the MP3 compression protocol, you can store a lot of music on one CD. It just takes special hardware to play it.
  • sc0rpi0sc0rpi0 Member Posts: 897
    You fit more music on each disk (typical burnt CD disk can fit 700Mb of data. In mp3 format, an average-quality music file (128bps) consumes about 1Mb/minute, so you can burn 700 minutes of music for each CD. On a regular burnt CD disk for your CD player, you can only fit about 70 minutes of music, due to the fact that CD disks store music as .wav files, straight out uncompressed data, and mp3 format is essentially a compression alg. for .wav files, that allows you to sacrifice music quality for disk space.
    What mp3 players do is read mp3 files off the CD disk, and then uncompress them in hardware, and send the resulting data to the sound system. Regular CD players skip the uncompress step, because they read data directly from the disk and send it to the sound system.
  • eagle63eagle63 Member Posts: 599
    thanks for in the info!

    so what you're saying is, if I get an MP3 player for my rig the only thing I have to do differently is burn the MP3's directly to the CD, instead of using a program to convert the MP3's to uncompressed audio format and then burn them. right?
  • sc0rpi0sc0rpi0 Member Posts: 897
    Thats the idea. You will essentially create a data disk instead of a music disk (and you can take that disk to a different computer and copy all mp3 files onto another harddrive).
    You also might want to be careful with your existing mp3s. For example:
    my portable Rio mp3 player (the one you load songs directly into memory) will not play malformed mp3s (I have a large collection of music I got off napster in my college years, and some of them have junk in the beginning/end of the file). I have to sit down and run the mp3s through a utility to cleanup the files and then load them into the Rio. I don't know how sensitive car mp3 players are to that problem, but it's definitely something to look out for, otherwise it might bite you later. But, if you burn your own mp3s off your own CDs, you ought not have any problems.
  • saddaddysaddaddy Member Posts: 566
    You missed my point but got it at the same time. Who needs em, right? Why brag about em? Im off of that one forever.

    As for the Dana axles, how can you prove that they are any better than Yota axles. They have a nice name, but Toyota has NEVER had a problem with their axle strength. Tons of guys over at TTORA swap out the IFS for SFA and leave the 8.0" locked axle in the rear. They bash the living crap out of those smaller axles, but I have NEVER heard of one failing. There is one Ranger guy that comes on the board alot, the only Ranger rockcrawler I've ever seen. His ranger came with solid axles front and back, yet he still changed out BOTH of em. Or wouldn't you think that was necessary with the unstoppable Danas that comes stock? Obviously, he knew something you don't. Anyway, go out West anytime and tell me whether you see more Rangers with Danas or Tacos with [non-permissible content removed] axles out their crawling.
  • tbundertbunder Member Posts: 580
    please dont tell me you're now saying that toyota corporate axles are BETTER than dana axles? pleassssee dude. the number of tacomas may outnumber the rangers with danas as far as rock crawlers are concerned, but all other vehicles with dana's will make the toyota's minuscule. also dude, there never has been a ranger built by ford for the public with solid front and rear axles. they've always been independent up front my main man. some like the articulation of solids up front, but the older twin traction beam axles of rangers up to '97 have like the most wheel travel of any truck built, and are extremely easy and cheap to modify if you want more. ask anyone who knows, those older rangers are hard to beat off-road. they articulate very good.

    how can i prove the dana is better? cuz dodge, jeep, ford, gm, land rover, etc. put them on. they all know they're the best so they don't even bother to build their own axles for the specific application. some fords and probably others have their own rears, but the majority of front axles on any real 4x4 have the dana name on them.
  • saddaddysaddaddy Member Posts: 566
    I never said that Toy axles were better. That would be suicide, LOL. I just said that they are very strong, and have never had any strength problems. You know that as well as I do. Do you not see my point about how strong the axle/diff must be when it is only 8" and can pull a truck over obstacles with only one tire making contact. That takes a bit of strength, don't you think. I am not lying when I say that I have NEVER heard of one failing. I know enough about offroading to know that Danas are no slouches, though. All the Yota guys that swap out SFAs use em.

    Are you sure about the Rangers having never had solid front axles? I am sure that I see em all the time, not lifted, and when you look at em from the front you can see the diff sticking down below everything else. I am positive I have seen Explorers like this. Maybe the I-beam setups have something that sticks down and looks like a diff? The Ranger guy I was referring to also replaced his rear axle, for what it's worth.

    I will agree with you that the I-beam setup was a good one. I was gawking over it on that Trucks! show when they made the Ranger prerunner with the 6" lift. Obviously made for lots of wheel travel. It is very easy to modify, BUT when you did so you ended up with tons of wheel camber - not good, and very ugly. Lifting also limited wheel travel tremendously without replacing the beams and control arms. However, stock they were very strong. Have a good one!
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