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Toyota TACOMA vs Ford RANGER - VII
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I do not know what was wrong with those jeeps, perhaps driver? The one really spun the tires backing up, at perhaps a 30-40 degree angle. We just sat and waited with the lead Ranger helping out. We had no choice, us back down 1/2 mile or them up a couple of hundred feet. Plus, standard rule is you back up, not down.
Now Hayden is a different story...Hope the pics come out well. First time I was a bit nervious due to the serious dropoffs and the condition of the road. Plus when you are coming up on loose shale, see a rock the size of your engine in the road, hard to judge if you can clear it and the only way to clear was to go around on the dropoff side of the shelf road. I would not want to go down the west side of Hayden in wet weather. The loose shale makes about a 90deg right turn after a mile or so downhill run at steep angles, nothing to stop you except the bottom of the valley. . .Not the place to lose brakes, stall engine or meet a vehicle coming up, but the views, oh my God. . ..
No My truck was down a bit to the rear. Also coloranger, what he is called, has a 6 inch suspension lift from James Duff, has put the drivelines of an Explorer under his truck and 4.56 gears. If you look at the picture of the hill with him climbing, you will note the angle of his assent, maybe 45deg + right in that spot.
That is one nice set up 87 Ranger, with 180,000 original miles on a 2.9 engine. He might leak some fluids and he is slow moving when in 4X4 low but head to head against a new TRD, put your money on that old Ranger or loose big. His crawl ratio with the 4:56 gearing is in excess of 50:1 compared to the Tacoma 40:1 and my 36:1.
BTW The black 89 Ranger in the picture has a clutch cancel switch. The guy who owns it is a ford mech, and he cut and shorted the pink wires, installed a $2.50 switch and he has a clutch cancel switch.
Thought it was and exclusive feature of the Toyota eh? Fordtech will be asked to help me put one in my Ranger. He is real busy right now helping a guy with an 88 Bronco convert to a 4.0L engine.
You see, that is the beauty of these Rangers. They are in inexpensive entry into the 4X4 market, here in Denver you can get a 2000 4X4 Ranger ready for off-road for about 2K down and $175 a month
Plus they are fun to tweek and modify, and even that is fairly inexpensive. I can give my ranger a 3inch body lift for about $100 and a 3inch frame lift for about $6.
Again, that 87 Ranger has seen a lot of miles but unless your bet is racing from a stop light or the 1/4 mile, do not bet against that Ranger.
was required most of the way, shifting to 2nd or
3rd depending on the contour."
Bwahahhaaha! I wouldn't have taken my truck out of 2 wheel drive if I was on that trail you were on. A nice dry,flat trail is what that is.
" The Rangers outperformed the Jeeps"
LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sure Csounser...sure....
"BTW The black 89 Ranger in the picture has a
clutch cancel switch. The guy who owns it is a
ford mech, and he cut and shorted the pink wires,
installed a $2.50 switch and he has a clutch cancel
switch.
Thought it was and exclusive feature of the Toyota
eh? "
LOL. IT IS. What your friend did was rig his AFTERMARKET.
" Fordtech will be asked to help me put one in
my Ranger. He is real busy right now helping a guy
with an 88 Bronco convert to a 4.0L engine."
Funny, I remember you bashing the Clutch start cancel switch. Now you want one? Very interesting Cspounser.
White knuckle stuff. A solid 3+ rating. The pass tops out at 13,020ft. Plan on 4hrs driving round trip. You won't be sorry! That is, unless you fall off the mountain! The Mazda did fine. Drove it 800 miles to Arizona the next day. No problems. Got 21 MPG on the way home. Great trip, thanks again...
27K for a Taco? No way . . . I paid just over 23K for mine.
Trust me hindsite, my main goal in life is not to impress your.
But speaking of pictures, I do recall seeing some of your truck, down by a quiet brook. Nice truck.
I hit the babbling brook down by St Mary's lake, prior to the first swichback to the first 20-25 degree climb over rocks and loose shale the size of basketballs. Also, the side view of my Ranger, as I stated, had just come out of 2 holes about the size of my truck, over 3 hills at least 3+ feet of a very quick rise, gouged the top of one with the front reciever, hit the skid plates twice.
You will pardon me if I did not waste film trying to recreate your pic by a babbling brook, ok?
My point, which you lost, is that a clutch cancel switch is about $5 in parts, maybe 1 hours labor to install. Good off-road shocks are about $225, and a locker is $500, 31 inch Goodyears maybe $350 for a total of about $1100 in value.
I believe you spent about 2 grand for that on your Tacoma?
Will have to try Hermit. 4 hours? Dang, that is only maybe 8 miles up and 8 miles down. 13,020 feet? Wow, did not know it went that high. That is a over a 5,000 ft rise from the Wet MTn valley floor. Is there a sign up there? Did you make it to the lakes?
Still want to swap pictures if your interested. I have the one back of your truck up at Greenhorn mtn and am sure I have some over the 2 passes. That film went in today to Seattle Film. Email me if your interested.
Will take a look at it, however, that is the kind of stuff that should be shared here. Interesting stuff, not the same old articles over and over and...well you get the point.
No wonder Meredith got upset, I did not want to hear about the NM fires and not to blame so and so...Heck one of my sons college friends got driven out of her home down there by the fire. Just dont set the dang fire in a 70 mph wind. . .
You really want to take a vehicle with that kind of performance on the trail where it could get hit on the side by a falling 500lb boulder? My god may that is unsafe. I want a Ranger with a higher crash test rating, boxed frame, 8 cross members (all things a Tacoma does NOT have) to safely give such a boulder a glancing blow.
;^)
You really want to take a vehicle with that kind of performance on the trail where it could get hit on the side by a falling 500lb boulder? My god may that is unsafe. I want a Ranger with a higher crash test rating, boxed frame, 8 cross members (all things a Tacoma does NOT have) to safely give such a boulder a glancing blow.
By the way, the same post I gave earlier also gave the Ranger a pretty good review.
"My god man. . ."
Be careful of the long URL posts, they whack out this board on entry.
But seriously, you established that when hit from the side, at an unknown speed, Tacoma may roll up to 3 times and cuts and bone breaks may result.
I established that when hit from the side by a train going maybe 70mph, the Ranger frame will flip 20 feet and you walk away without a scratch. Can a Ranger or MAzda roll 3 times in 20 feet? Don't think so. . .
hindsite:
Well, without a picture gallery of every few feet of the trail, you do not know what leads up to the plateau top. Also, when venturing into an unknown area, where 4X4 is often needed, it is a GOOD idea to be in 4 wheel until you establish it is not needed. That way if a blind drop of, say 30 degrees appears over a hill, you can use the engine to break you. I OFTEN decend out of a play area in 4X4 low to use that engine breaking power and save my brake pads/shoes.
Another point, to climb up a hill, at altitude, on rough unstable base in 2 wheel drive tears up the roadbed due to the wheel slippage. To do the same climb in 4X4 low, or even high for that matter is MUCH more friendly to the environment. Plus, when your going climbing slower in 4 wheel low, maybe say 5mph, there is more time to ponder the beauty of a natural glacier, an eagle flying, a herd of deer or elk rather than just rushing by.
Plus the engine roar sounds real kewl! Exudes power!
From Edmunds:
Warrenty:
Basic: 3 yr. / 36,000 mi.
Drivetrain: 5 yr. / 60,000 mi.
So it is CLEARER and CORRECT to say that Tacoma has a 3 year 36,000 warrenty, just like the Ranger, but has extended the warrenty to 5/50,000 on the drivetrain.
That is different than a full 5/50,000 warrenty.
Give the performance of a Tacoma engine, that warrenty means nothing.
come to Quality, Realiability and depandability.
Ford can no gives those things to customers. So,
Think your self."
WTF????
My point was that the basic warrenty on the Toyota is the same as the Ranger. The extended time on the engine is good, however, given the reliability of most, not all, Toyota engines, you will be beyond 60K miles before having problems.
I have been to those sites you refer to but, with the exception of wipers and door chimes, cannot share any experiences with the troubles listed. Quite frankly, I am about to get the opinion that a large number of those complaints are fake or just nitpickers.
Why you ask? The Consumer Reports ratings and the people I meet that own Rangers do not have the problems described. I work with owners of a 99 and a 2 96's. I wheeled with that 87 and 89 with well over 100K miles, the 87 has over 180K, and, with the exception of some fluid leaks, those 2.9 v6's are running fine.
So I ask you, if I do not have the problems I read about on the internet, if the people I work with do not have the problems, if the people I wheel with do not have the problems, do I
1. Believe what I read on the internet chatrooms
or
2. Believe what I SEE with the people I know, work with and the vehicles I see in reality?
You see, in my neighborhood alone are a 2 99 Rangers, a 97 Mazda, an 88 Ranger, which brings to about a dozen Rangers I personally know of, and none have the problems you see people "...talking..." about on these boards.
What would you tend to believe? What you see or what you read from total strangers that are just bytes in a computer database?
If it is my wife, she is worse than a train by a longshot.
xen1a.
Had the pleasure of meeting him and wheeled a bit with his golden 99 Mazda B300 this last weekend.
I just turn a cautious eye to some of the stuff posted on the net, particularly regarding the Ranger. Does not add up with independent groups like Consumer Reports and my personal experiences.
With a change from my 235's to the 31's the difference is a bit over 6%. So at 50 mph I am really going 53mph. When figuring my milage I always multiply by 1.0613 for an accurate reading.
I would guess on yours, 5% would be close. So multiply by 1.05 for your true total mileage. There is a calculation window off the site at
Ranger Station where you can find the correct spedo gear to correct the reading.
http://www.homestead.com/therangerstation/Speedogear.html
or to calculate the indicated speed with the correct speed if you do not change the gear:
http://www.homestead.com/therangerstation/Speedometer_Change_From_Tires.html
I just wonder why Consumer Reports, which takes input from users of products, has not reported any major problems with Rangers and in fact rates them very close to the Tacoma.
Regardless of what any of you Tacoma drivers say its not the best truck if it was they'd sell more.The S-10 outsells it along with the Dakota too.
My goal, so to speak, is to discount some of the c$$p you see on this site that is basically a slam on the Ranger. Also, to identify my likes or dislikes, and to show that Rangers can do basically anyting, at a bit of a less expensive price. If I happen to see something positive or negative about either vehicle, I will post the comment/URL and let the reader decide.
Notice no one took on my comment about the TRD I saw last weekend that may have either engaged or had its locker engage while driving 50 or so MPH? I could have taken a pic, however, that would have been in very poor taste, the guy was just sitting there watching a wrecker yank his TRD out of the gully on the side of Highway 96. But it happended.
Manufacturer: TOYOTA MOTOR CO., LTD.
Year: 1996
Make: TOYOTA TRUCK
Model: TACOMA
Potential Number of Units Affected: 90000
Manufactured From: To:
Year of Recall: '96
Type of Report: Vehicle
Summary:
UNDER CERTAIN DRIVING CONDITIONS, THE FRONT SUSPENSION SUPPORT CAN CRACK LEADING TO FAILURE OF THE SUPPORT.
THIS CONDITION CAN RESULT IN LOSS OF VEHICLE CONTROL.
DEALERS WILL REPAIR THE SUSPENSION SUPPORT.
Have I owned a Toyota, yes a few:
1993 Toyota Celica, developed a ticking that got progressively worse due to a soft steel cam shaft, but sold at 89,000 miles in 1978, was burning oil and had rust through in front of the doors.
1971 Toyota Landcruiser, developed rust by the rear doors and a hole in the piston at 111,000 miles, but was a very good, if very harsh riding vehicle.
1976 Toyota Corolla, good at 136,000 miles but every seal was leaking like a sive and the seats were falling apart, sold in 1986 and bought a Caravan which ran an equal number of miles but the interior of the Caravan was in almost perfect shape, and the engine still had the factory compression.
1978 Toyota Corona Station wagon, good car but the seats fell apart. Sold in 90 for a 90 LeBaron.
2 1987 Toyota Celica's for my kids. Still running with both having over 170,000 miles. Replaced the Cat Converter on one, it cost $618 as it was a special only on that vehicle converter.
But by far my worst Toyota was my 1981 Pickup diesel. Injectors failed at 500 miles, 1000 miles and 1500 miles. Injector pump replaced with third set of injectors. Finally they installed what they called high altitude injectors which fixed the problem. Vehicle began running rough at 25,000 miles, found pieces of all four glow plugs broken and in the combustion chamber at 36,000 miles, 1,000 miles out of warrenty, Toyota would not fix under warrenty even though I had 5 times taken it in for the complaint. Clutch and transmission started south at 45,000 miles.
On some vehicles, just like Ford, Toyota has been less than steller.
Nuff said, my experiences with Toyota and an almost distain for the customer attitude soured me on them for any new car purchase. These are facts allknowing, facts.
"My point, which you lost, is that a clutch cancel
switch is about $5 in parts, maybe 1 hours labor to
install. Good off-road shocks are about $225, and
a locker is $500, 31 inch Goodyears maybe $350 for
a total of about $1100 in value.
I believe you spent about 2 grand for that on your
Tacoma?"
No, My TRD package was about 1500$. What I got was:
1. Great tires
2. clutch start cancel switch
3. locking reear diff
4. GREAT suspension
5. great shocks
Also, these are all covered in the warranty, and backed 100% by Toyota.
I just find it hilarious Cspounser that you knocked the clutch-start-cancel switch over and over, yet now you want one.
Why even bring this up again Cspousner? Are you TRYING to make the Ranger look bad yet again?
Sigh.....looks like I will have to post again.
1999 Ranger recalls - 3
1999 Tacoma recalls - 0
2000 Ranger recalls - 1
2000 Tacoma recalls - 0
Total recalls from 1989-2000(Ranger)-
32
Total recalls from 1989-2000(Tacoma)-
6
------
lol!!!! Thanks again Cspousner for proving that the Tacoma is a better built vehicle, AND SAFER!
BTW That picture of the brook was at one of my relative's farm in upstate NY. It was not an off- road adventure . . . like your photo is supposedly to show. Did I say it was an offroad adventure?