I bought my 1994 B4000 SE Cab Plus 4x4 in December of '02 to replace an '85 Toyota 4x4 that had been totaled in an accident. The truck was purchased at a little "pot lot" in Seattle, Washington. It had about 150k on it when I bought it. Apparently, a number of these trucks had problems with the heads cracking... some kind of casting defect. The original owner of the truck had traded it in, with cracked heads, to the local Mazda dealership for a brand new one! My truck was sold by the Mazda dealership to the dealer I bought it from, and BRAND NEW HEADS were installed. They feature a newer casting, which solved the cracking problem. Price was fantastic at the time... only about $4k. That would be a reasonable price to pay for this truck in 2008, never mind 2002!
Since I purchased it, I have put on an additional 30k. Literally the only things I have done to it are replace the cam sensor, fan clutch, and water pump. That's ALL! The clutch slave cylinder has leaked since I got it... and it is a pain to change. It is mounted INSIDE the bellhousing, so it can't be replaced without removing the trans. But the nice thing is that it seems to gravity-bleed itself when it runs out of fluid, so all you have to do is refill the reservoir, pump the clutch a few times, and you are back in business.
I have done everything with this truck. Hauled all kinds of stuff, towed everything from big, heavy Mercedes-Benzes to little Volkswagens, gone off-road, and it has done it all without protest. My truck has the "Sport Seats", which feature power lumbar and bolsters... very comfortable. Parts, particularly mechanical ones, are a breeze since they are shared with the Ford Explorer. Any wrecking yard will have 5-6 Explorers with 4.0s in them. I always liked the styling of the 1994-1997 B-series more than that of it's Ford Ranger brother... much more muscular looking. This is a FANTASTIC truck... buy a nice, well-maintained one and you will be pleased.
