Well I Went And Did It... my first 4x4

[KeepTryin]

OK prepare to howl with laughter. After a long time of looking, I got PO'd and wrote a check for a banged up Ranger. Good points: less than 100k, less than 5k dollars. Bad points: this thing has a history, got in two accidents, the last time it was some drunk chick (OK I'm assuming things here) hit a median and took out the front airdam and put a slight ding in the crossmember, as well as the bottom of the radiator frame and the metal under the AC condenser. Had a friend look at it. He figured it was OK from what he could see and grab, and it goes down the road fine at speed and the electric 4x4 stuff and everything else for that matter seems to work just fine.Motor sounds good, tranny fluid looks good, so on and so forth. I want to come up with some solution to make a guard because tranny cooler lines and the AC condenser and such are kind of hanging out there without the plastic junk to guard it a little bit. Ideas? On the bright side, when I go hunting I won't be cringing about driving it bad places. It'll be more like 'hold my beer and watch this' as opposed to 'oh dear I don't want to scratch it' so that's good. There does appear to be a little more camber on the left front tire than the right. Also, the slightest growl from the right front on hard left turns.

In the words of Colonel Nicholson in Bridge On The River Kwai "What have I done?"
KT

[Empty Quiver]

I would go ahead and get the front end aligned. If you plan to keep it a good while or put on lots of miles, do consider a camber kit. It is kinda pricey but will allow the shop to adjust all the angles and you'll get the most out of your tire investment.

The growly noise would concern me the most. Check those CV joints ( U Joints ) on the front end. They aren't gonna heal and just as well get it over with. Might well be wheel bearings, as the CV's should be quiet in 2WD, or you might have a hub that isn't releasing.

If you get too upset with the $ do the math on a new truck. You'll again be happy with the used model!

[spruce]

As a former Ranger owner I can tell you the upper control arms will have to be replaced about every 60 to 70 thousand miles - that's what causes the front wheels to "tip in" at the top when you look at it from the front (camber).
It's a little pricey because the control arms come as an assembled unit and you can't buy just the joints on the ends.  Still a lot cheaper than buying new tires as it will wear the heck out of the inside edges!

The noise could be from one of the hub assemblies.  I believe the auto locking/unlocking hubs are vacuum operated and they're known to occasionally go bad.

Don't mean to scare you, but my auto trans also had to be rebuilt.  I think that was more my fault than the truck's though - I was moving at the time and was hauling a heavily loaded trailer for a lot of miles.

Hope it works out good for you.

[KeepTryin]

My friend figured the front growl (which is quite faint) was a wheel bearing and it wasn't super bad yet. We'll see. When I crawl under the vehicle with it parked in 2wd and twist the front driveshaft, I believe both front shafts turn. This would indicate the hubs are releasing, yes? I'll verify this tomorrow, had a hectic day around here. (got a 3 month old to contend with along with other things) Didn't get to mess around with my new-to-me toy today as much as I wanted to, wah.

What's the deal with the upper control arms on these things? Do they like... just bend inwards over time or what? That's kinda scary. Sounds like something you'd get on a 60's Lotus not a US built pickup, yikes.

Thanks
KT

[spruce]

The upper control arms are nothing to get worried about - like any other front suspension component they are not dangerous as long as you replace them when they get worn.

They're just a steel rod with a couple of bends in it with a ball joint at each end.  The problem isn't with the rods themselves, it's the ball joints that get worn over time (just like all ball joints do).  The fly in the soup is that they're designed to be replaced as a unit - you can't just replace the ball joints seperately.  Makes them a little more costly to replace, but not a real big expense.

Just watch for wear on the inside edges of the front tires and for the top of the tires to be tipped in towards the center of the vehicle when looking at it from the front.  If you see either one it's time to get it checked.

I had pretty good luck with mine except for the tranny and I'm sure that was at least mostly my fault for towing way too heavy loads with it.