New to me 2001 Ranger, Too much RUST? I need advice!

DudeAbides · #1 07-24-2011, 06:35 AM

Hi guys, here's the story, I'll try to keep it short. I had a Blue 2001 Ranger XLT I sold a few years back and always regretted it. I've had my eyes open for another one ever since and saw a black one on ebay that was close to what I was looking for so I made and offer and they accepted. It's 100,000 miles, from a reputable seller and it was $1500 under book what I bid FYI. Now its kind of apparent why they accepted my offer.

When I went to pick it up, I looked it over, besides the chunk of body panel missing from next to the tailgate(Pic Below) it was as described. I looked under the passenger side and rear and it looked ok. I figured it was already paid for so it was useless to do a thorough inspection now because I plan on having a mechanic look it over on Monday. I've bought 4 vehicles on ebay and never been burned, maybe I was overdue.

After I got it home I notice on the drivers side and towards the front of the undercarriage there is a lot of rust. It is also a rough ride and I know the Tbars haven't been cranked. I assume the rough ride is from the the rusty suspension components.

Please look at my photobucket album (First Link Below), I need to make a decision fast and your help is appreciated.

My questions are, did I buy a lemon?
Should I attempt to get my money back or resell this as fast as possible?
The rust will eventually translate from the frame to the exterior body correct?
Or should I just hold onto it and drive it till the wheels fall of, literally?

http://s1185.photobucket.com/albums/z359/dudeabides01/

ColinS · #2 07-24-2011, 06:42 AM

thats not even that bad!!! mine is 1000x worse. what you should do is get some por-15 or zero rust (my favorite) get under there wire bush what rust off you can and get that chassis saver paint on there to stop the rust.

i would absolutley LOVE to see my truck that clean!

DHEM · #3 07-24-2011, 06:43 AM

I dont think its too bad

Superlifted06FX4 · #4 07-24-2011, 06:54 AM

My 06 looks like that.

ColinS · #5 07-24-2011, 06:56 AM

later i'll go snap pics under my truck to show you all what real ryst is lol

BTJONESY · #6 07-24-2011, 06:58 AM

Thats not bad at all. Up here in canada new vehicles look like that in a few years if not undercoated.

Skylark65 · #7 07-24-2011, 07:01 AM

that all looks liks surface rust. like everyone else said, go after it with a wire wheel and paint it, eather with rust inhibitor paint, chassis paint or even some good 'ol black rustolium would do if money's tight.

schultzkenneth · #8 07-24-2011, 07:01 AM

Man, that isn't rusty at all. Around here a 3 year old vehicle looks like that. Run it till the wheels fall off, by the looks of it, it may be a while.

one1 · #9 07-24-2011, 07:45 AM

Not seeing an issue here.

wvcat · #10 07-24-2011, 07:49 AM

I would just get under there and wire brush it and spray it with rustoleum. I use a $14 harbor frieght paint gun and quarts of rustoleum. If time is tight do sections at a time.

DudeAbides · #11 07-24-2011, 10:31 AM

Thanks for the good news guys. I might have overreacted but when the body panel was loose around the gas cap and I saw all that rust my first thought was it was excessive. I'll be putting in some work with a my wire wheel/brush looks like.

I'm still going to have it inspected tomorrow It seems like it is lacking power, my other Ranger was a 4.0 but surely it shouldn't be down shifting in cruise on the interstate going up 3% grade. it seems to be struggling. I'll be making another post about ideas to fix this on a budget, so far K&N filter and thundervolt 8.2 plugs are on that list with the throttle mod. Looking forward to ideas for that.

I've got a list of upgrades a mile long so I will be posting my progress if I think it will help somebody. I sound deadened the interior in an old Tacoma I had, the difference was insane. Thinking I will do that again, should make a good walk through for some people when installing a system.

Thanks again for the feedback gents.

Skylark65 · #12 07-24-2011, 01:05 PM

the 3.0 is fairly notorious for being much less powerfull than the 4.0. the running joke seems to be that the 3.0 gets the milage of a V6 with the power of a 4cyl. me, im just fine with my 3.0 though

oh, i installed the taylor thundervolt 8.2 wires on my truck with autolite plugs and they seem to work great, deliver a bit better MPG's... just don't use E3 plugs.

DudeAbides · #13 07-24-2011, 01:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skylark65

the 3.0 is fairly notorious for being much less powerfull than the 4.0. the running joke seems to be that the 3.0 gets the milage of a V6 with the power of a 4cyl. me, im just fine with my 3.0 though

oh, i installed the taylor thundervolt 8.2 wires on my truck with autolite plugs and they seem to work great, deliver a bit better MPG's... just don't use E3 plugs.

Nice, looks like your setup is similar to mine, so I will be referring to you for all difficulties

Have you ever towed anything with that 3.0 like a boat? How did it do?

Skylark65 · #14 07-24-2011, 01:11 PM

never towed a boat but i did bring home a 600+ pound big block buick engine in the bed. i could definitly tell it was back there, but the truck did fine pulling some big hills and such. as long as it's not a huge boat i would say it'll pull it.

Ranger40 · #15 10-22-2011, 03:36 PM

You did not buy a lemon. Do not buy another truck! I can see why you're a bit concerned over the rust because I'm currently going through the same issue with my 2001 Ranger. I only bought it with 51,000 miles on it. At first thought, any rust would be surprising due to low mileage. But the vehicle, like yours, is 10 years old and a lot of rain/snow/mud can get to it over that period. I'm planning on taking a wire brush to it and coating it with POR 15 afterwards. POR 15 is something many Ranger enthusiasts seem to be happy with on this forum, so I'll take they're word for it. And that's only surface rust, so it's not as bad as what mine has: http://www.fordrangerforum.com/membe...bums-rust.html Good Luck!