Ive now put nearly 10,000 miles on the 2001 Ranger I bought some
months ago.

After putting the Lifetime aluminum work shell on it..ladder on top
and about 400 lbs of tools and Stuff....Im averaging 19mpg.
A guy gave me a set of coil spring helpers, go between the frame and
the axel, which brought the body back up to where its supposed to be.
Still cant figure out why the factory leafs went flat. With a
slight..slight tendency to bounce over speed bumps..runs and travels
well.
110,000 miles.

89 Ford 1ton extended service van .....

Found a full set of Adrian Steel shelving units...4 units...from a
company that bought brand new E250 vans and use their own custom
shelving units. Got all 4 for $200, installed ok. Am in the process of
stocking them this weekend.

Interesting thing....the odometer read 09979 when I got it. It was
assumed that it was 109979 miles......

Had a bad...bad wander to the steering...so took it to a front end
shop, found the bolts holding the steering box were less than hand
tight..steering box was floating, and there was significant toe out.
They corrected it, alighned and its fine. The shop mentioned that
everything was very tight and there was no play..less than a truck
with 100k on it.

Which caused me to ask the ex owner how many miles did he think it had
on it....he scratched his head...pondered....said that it only got
used a couple times..probably not many miles....

When I took it to be smogged..the smog shop looked at the
numbers...looked at the year....then back at the odo...and asked me if
Id stuck a new engine in it? When I aske why..he said there was no
way that a 351 Windsor with 109k miles on it would be so far below all
the Minimum numbers for smog....it had to be a new engine/cat.

With no wear on the pedals..low low smog numbers and no wear on the
front end....Im (and everyone who has worked on it) starting to think
that its got less then 10,000 miles on the vehicle.

Even after replacing the radiator, hoses, 2 (dual ) batteries, an
alternator ( a result of bad batteries and a lead left shorted to
ground) and a good used stereo ( I did mention it got broken into 5
days before they gave me the paperwork...right?)...and tires all the
way around...Im into it for $2123.38, including DMV
paperwork/registration-transfer and 3 months insurance.
Set up, ready to go to work this coming week.

Looks good, runs sweet. Gonna be a pig in the wallet now that gas is
over $3 gal here in California though...sigh.

Now I got to make a new spare tire carrier. I hate the flimsy one
mounted on the rear door that is opened the most. Gonna have to mount
it on the drivers side rear, but high enough to clear the license
plate.

Final total for my scrounging...
2001 Ford Ranger with service shell (put a Reeves hitch on it 2 weeks
ago)
'89 Ford 1 ton extended van, set up as service vehicle apparently low
miles...with trailer brake setup and class 3 hitch.

$4677.79, totaling all receipts/tags/fees, insurance, etc.

I think though that Im going to replace the custom captains seats in
the van. They are fabric and it was parked facing the south west for 8
yrs..the fabric is turning into dust. Several uphostery shops quoted
me from $250-400 to recover them. I found a set of factory Ford
captains seats at a wrecking yard, in good condition, in a 87 Ford van
conversion to pop top camper. We haggled and I can get them for $70
for the pair. Good shape, some slight wear on drivers side, passenger
side is mint..and they have proper box bases, not those single post
mounts, and still swivel, recline etc. Those spindlly posts always
bothered me, thinking about sitting in one during a crash..... Only
problem..they are tan..the van is upholstered in blue.....shrug

Hummm....does this mean Ive got a fleet?

Gunner


"[L]iberals are afraid to state what they truly believe in, for to do so
would result in even less votes than they currently receive. Their
methodology is to lie about their real agenda in the hopes of regaining
power, at which point they will do whatever they damn well please. The
problem is they have concealed and obfuscated for so long that, as a group,
they themselves are no longer sure of their goals. They are a collection of
wild-eyed splinter groups, all holding a grab-bag of dreams and wishes. Some
want a Socialist, secular-humanist state, others the repeal of the Second
Amendment. Some want same sex/different species marriage, others want voting
rights for trees, fish, coal and bugs. Some want cradle to grave care and
complete subservience to the government nanny state, others want a culture
that walks in lockstep and speaks only with intonations of political
correctness. I view the American liberals in much the same way I view the
competing factions of Islamic
fundamentalists. The latter hate each other to the core, and only join
forces to attack the US or Israel. The former hate themselves to the core,
and only join forces to attack George Bush and conservatives." --Ron Marr