View Full Version : My third Ranger.


Lightfield
May 13 2003, 01:45pm
First, I want to thank Zoom for pointing me to the "GEM box", THANKS!
My '78 F-100 300ci ^ was giving me the fits with the automatic choke & replaced it with a manual & bla·de·blabla & ordered my FIRST Ranger in '82.
Got it that summer, an early '83.
2.3 Pinto Pony motor.
I kept it 'til '90 when I ordered a F-150 4X4.
That was really too big (and guzzled gas) for just commuting, carrying a load or two of horse**** and maybe a rotortiller once a year and a couple/few dead deer so ordered a '95 Ranger Extended cab XLT 4X4 in '95.
Ordered special on the '95, 327 rear for gas mileage. Great gas mileage (23-26 highway) BUT the damned rear end started making SERIOUS GROWLING noises at about 23K.
Whilt touring the south.
Back to Ford....in Fayetteville, Tennessee.
Rented a car & toured the Jack Daniels & George Dickle's distilleries for two days.
Fixed.
Supposedly.
Back home.
About 30K more noises.
Back.
More noises.
Back.
Bought the extended warrenty.
Finally I decided, I just don't TRUST this truck, I want a truck I can hop into and drive to Washington state if I so decide, not something I have to worry about "making it" or not.
Traded it in (didn't even want to sell it!) on an ordered '99 Extended cab XLT flareside 4X4 that I have now with 44K and other than the wiper switch recall & Firestone recall this GEM box thing is my first bitch.
It has a 373 rear, my mileage is about 18½-21½ highway.

I'm 56 years old, worked as a kid in HS for my first car (a '57 Ford 6), spent 4 years in the Marine Corps and retired after working for the phone company over thirty LONG years.
Even if you love what you're doing, thirty years of dealing with the public, fellow workers and mismanagement WILL sour you on it, take my word.
My son is 17 and a junior. Hopefully next year at this time he'll have a college picked out and I can sell and move out of this over populated (MOST DENSELY POPULATED, I might add) state that seems like another country (when will English be declared an "offical language"?) and a dirty, ****ty one at that and HOPEFULLY move south into a rural setting where it doesn't cost me about $90 a week in property tax and then get wacked with "sewer usage" every quarter besides.
NJ sucks!
And I didn't even mention our ANTI-gun laws, roads clogged to a standstill, crime, cost of living, water shortages and ghettoes.
Too many people and more are swarming in daily.
http://www.smilies-world.de/Smilies/Smilies_klein_1/rant.gif
Look out you rebels!
Your worst nightmare, a damned yankee with a U-Haul trailer!
;)
But my neck is red.
That's my story

GhOsT6_9
May 13 2003, 09:35pm
Uh....yeah...... Welcome to RPS

Now that I know your complete life story.....I dunno whatelse to say.;) Glad Zoom pointed you over here, hope you like the forum.

Lightfield
May 13 2003, 10:07pm
Originally posted by GhOsT6_9
Uh....yeah...... Welcome to RPS

Now that I know your complete life story.....I dunno whatelse to say.;) Glad Zoom pointed you over here, hope you like the forum.

Naaa!
No way my life story!
Working Palisades Amusement Park, Marine Corps, gun runs over Laos, rolling a Mustang Mach I, crashing motorcycles, first wife leaving to "find herself", working in "the projects",
naaaa!
You haven't got "the life story ;)
and I'm not gonna tell ALL of it.
:)

Zoom
May 13 2003, 10:51pm
Glad that worked for you Lightfield. I know what you mean about the 30+ year thing, I just completed 31 years with my company and wish I had spent at least the last 15 somewhere else. But it's safe and secure, and I get paid every other week. :)

Lightfield
May 14 2003, 09:13pm
Zoom, I just noticed, that's one of my "places" I'm considering retiring to once "junior" leaves the nest, West by gawd! Virginia!
I've eyeballed from Marlinton down down US-219 almost to Bluefield and really, really love the state.
You get alot more bang for your buck with acreage it seems. Want to try to stay withing say 40 minutes of civilzation (Lowes, Home Deport, super market, K-Mart, Target & doctor/dentist) and figuring Lewiston area.
My big thing is bowhunting, shooting, fishing, just putzing with my garden and yard and the Mrs. isn't a people person either so hopefully I'll convince her on the big move.

6pack
May 15 2003, 11:40am
Hi. :)
You left out your favorite brew! ;) :beer:
Mine's Beck's Dark.

Lightfield
May 15 2003, 08:25pm
on if you're just drinking beer, have beer with different foods or even the weather.
My very favorite summer beer would be Grolsch Summer Blonde.
Just sitting watching Jeff Gordon beat Tony Steward on a Sunday afternoon, it has to be Genesee.
A really good steak, maybe Beck's Dark or Grolsch Amber or even Guiness Extra Stout.
There are SO MANY GREAT beers that not one could be considered a "favorite".
Heineken, Grolsch, Beck's, Carlsberg, the ORIGINAL Lowenbrau, and many more I wouldn't attempt to try to spell are all fantastic.
BTW, I was into brewing my own for over six years until it stopped being fun and became a chore.
Even have hops, yeast, 2 cans of Brewmart and 1 of John Bull malt "kit cans" sitting on the self.
http://www.stormfront.org/forum/images/smilies/beerchug.gif

GhOsT6_9
May 15 2003, 09:42pm
Damn, guess I know who to talk to next time i'm gonna have a keg party and need some advice on what beer to get.

I prefer good ol' Canadian beer myself, nothin like a cold Labatt Blue. :drunk:

Zoom
May 17 2003, 11:52pm
Originally posted by Lightfield
Zoom, I just noticed, that's one of my "places" I'm considering retiring to once "junior" leaves the nest, West by gawd! Virginia!
I've eyeballed from Marlinton down down US-219 almost to Bluefield and really, really love the state.
You get alot more bang for your buck with acreage it seems. Want to try to stay withing say 40 minutes of civilzation (Lowes, Home Deport, super market, K-Mart, Target & doctor/dentist) and figuring Lewiston area.
My big thing is bowhunting, shooting, fishing, just putzing with my garden and yard and the Mrs. isn't a people person either so hopefully I'll convince her on the big move.

Hey, I missed this. :)

My Mom & Dad live a little over an hour from Marlinton, in Webster county. If you like the outdoors, you can't beat it. Summersville on 19 is a pretty good area, it's got some civilized folks, good fishing on the lake, plenty of land for hunting, etc. You just have to watch and not got one of the little towns that's mostly inhabited by the "government subsidized" people.