Two front shocks - $40 total.
Ford made these real easy to change. Changed both front shocks in under an hour. Would take longer without a torque wrench and extentions though.
Used stock tires and rims - $100.
Nothing wrong with the way Ford designed it. I bought it with aftermarket rims with spacers and didn't like the look and they stuck out too far on the sides.
I love this truck. Recently bought it for $3250 with 67k. It was formerly written off by an insurance company, but the guy I bought it off of fixed it, only needed body panels such as the hood, headlight, and fender. Looks great too, it the dark green. Not too much of a fan of the big chrome bumpers and grille though.
2.5L doesn't have too much power, but it's good enough for any light loads and gets the job done. Doesn't rev anywhere as smooth as my old 89 1.5L civic, but hey, it's a truck. The 5spd transmission shifts great, but the shift from 2 - 3 is a bit vague, can't find it for a second or two sometimes, but I've only driven the truck for about 400 miles so far. Gets great gas mileage, last tank averaged 23 mpg!
The truck handles great, I've driven f- series trucks, Ridgelines, and Tacomas. The Honda probally has better steering feel, but that's a 35k uni-body truck. Handles way better than the older F-series and a bit better than late model Tacomas. Takes corners at the same speed as the families Geo Prism with pretty predictable understeer.
Seats are pretty comfortable too. Interior is well though out, not luxurious, but any stretch, but designed well. The only thing I don't like so far is the lack of a tilt steering wheel and the way the radio reflects off the back window when backing up at night. Steering wheel isn't Ford's fault either, whoever ordered it new didn't buy the option, just a minor gripe I have. Also, the mirrors only adjust side to side, not up and down. Headlights are good at night, nothing spectacular, high beams are good as well. Radio works great, so does the CD player. Great sound from stock speakers.
Ford did a great job designing the bed, looks great and they molded the bed liner with inserts to put 2x4s in so that you can haul wide sheets of plywood that normally wouldn't fit because of the fender wells in the rear.
Overall, I love the truck, and the only thing I would change was to get 4 wheel drive. But I'll save that for the next one.
I am the original reviewer of this truck.
The truck is still doing well, I have seen gas mileage as high as 27 mpg during highway trips.
Some problems have come up however, the wipers only work on LOW or HIGH, if you put them on the intermittent setting they stop in the middle of the windshield. I haven't figured out the problem yet.
Secondly, the back brakes tend to lock for a second or two under low speed braking in wet weather with the ABS. I got both of the rear drums resurfaced and that seemed to solve the problem for a day or two, then it started happening again. I ended up just removing the ABS fuse and that solved the problem, now I just have to be cautious while braking in the wet.
Overall, the Ford Ranger is still a great truck, handles well and I average about 22-24 mpg while driving in mostly country/suburb areas.
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