hey all,

I'm just learning about ford rangers, but iv'e heard that the
2.9L engine is one to shy away from; "its a junk motor; absolutely
no good whatsoever". My question is what exactly is it that
makes them such poor engines?

The heads crack if you overheat them, not very refined, thirsty.

__________________
1987 2.3/TK5, 125K.

By not refined, what do you mean? And with the head cracking issues, is that due to faulty gaskets or just crappy heads that came out of the factory?

Not as smooth as the 3.0 and 4.0, noisy. Crappy heads from the factory, although the 1989-92's were improved slightly, thus a little less prone to cracking than 1986-88's. Although, if you don't beat on them, they can last quite a while. Also, seeing as how they were dropped after 1990, Bronco II's never received the improved heads.

__________________
1987 2.3/TK5, 125K.

ah ok; well I guess with that being said, which would be the better engine to get? the 3.0 or the 4.0? I'm just looking into getting another ranger again soon. I had a 2.3l 4cyl but had to let it go. Now im in the market again and seeing what my possibilities are for a 4x4 ranger platform. Mostly looking for reliability/toughness

Definitely get the 4.0 if you can. 3.0's are adequate with a manual 5 speed, but horrible with automatic, lol. What years are you looking for? 1997 & older will have twin traction beam, 1998 & newer will have torsion bars.

__________________
1987 2.3/TK5, 125K.

4.0 is the completely revised "2.9" and are pretty much bulletproof. My grandfather delivers for dominoes and has almost 600,000 miles on his 3rd gen ranger 4.0.

__________________

what is the difference between the twin traction beam system and the torsion bar system? I was looking at anything in the 90's but nothing 2000 and up because where I live the prices for those seem to go through the roof. I'm hoping to find something that is good with power, easy to work with, plenty of oem/aftermarket part support, and will be able to get me back home safely after a weekend afternoon of off-roading

i gotta say, from being a actually 2.9l owner, dont see the guys talking about them owning them.

they arent that bad. its a reliable engine. its hard to kill, and you can drive it hard as hard can be. my truck has over 340,000 km on it, and i do a 100km cummute every day not including other random driving. thats not flat driving either, thats me driving up mountain roads the whole time.
the head cracking thing.. yeah if you have the old ones maaaybe, but even then. not as common as spoken about. ive taken apart 4 of these engines and never found any.
its not a bad engine, but its also not a power house.. but none of the ranger engines are (except for the 4.0 SOHC) the old 4.0 and even the 2.3 suck just as bad. the 4.0 obviously a bit better then the 2.9l so yeah get the 4.0 if you can, but if youre stuck getting a 2.9 get it.
ive heard of 2.9l going up to 400-600,000 miles on the orginal build, not rebuilds.

as for the noise.. its not that noisey. its actually really quiet, which is why you hear ticking, most the ticking people here is the injectors firing not the lifters or valves!

id buy another 2,9l in a heart beat if thats what the truck i wanted had in it with no regrets.
id only ever do the 4.0l swap if the engine ever dies.

----------

the TTB is a great axle, agian very misunderstood. but its as strong as a Dana 44 soil axle, minus the stub arm on the short axle which can be swaped over and build a dana 44/35 ttb hybrid and be stronger then the dana 44. obviously the fact that their are more moving parts means more things to break. but if done right its gonna last, and if youre not mashing it doing stupid rock crawling or getting stuck in a mud pit youll be fine. my stock dana 35 ttb has been off road numerious times.

not fimilar with the new IFS but id assme its farm weeker then the TTB. CV joints arent as strong as U joints. plus they sound like a pain in the ass to lift properly without making the front end wear itself out every 100km. but i really dunno tbh.

I was kind of hoping I could find something with good axles that could handle mud and snow; lots of it. Living here in the Pacific Northwest, once the weather hits it hits pretty hard. I just wanna get something tougher than ape's nuts lol

i live in the PNW as well, the TTB handles great in the snow. ive gone snow wheeling with it. its a great axle. its pretty much a solid axle more then a IFS. its kinda a hybrid of the two.

Crowgrow's 2.9l 4x4 some pictures of the 2.9l and the ttb in there

Is the TTB off a manual locking hub system or automated?

its both.. some auto some manual but if you get auto hubs its easy to swap to manual. just the hubs and a bearing lock nut.

I wouldn't need to install a second shifter for the transfer case?

nope.
some rangers are manual transfer cases with the shifter on the floor. some are electric with bottons..
doesnt matter which one you have. the hubs dont have anything to do with the transfer case. if you have autos, then yes it will turn on when you go in 4x4. but if you have manuals then you gotta rotate the hubs and lock em to get 4x4. so you can still shift with the transfer case and drive in 2l or 2h. with autos you dont get 2l since hubs lock auto. if thats make sense.