Hello all, Names Dusty. So I was actually getting into 4 wheeling a few years back, vs that shit I did in my jeep when I was a teen rolling around anywhere but pavement in an 88 XJ and spinnin around in mud (ha some still think that's wheelin). I traded a 97 Z71 that was a really nice truck (Chevy was still using the 350 small block then and I had done a few performance upgrades (I wheeled it well, I feel I've always known how to drive and where to place the tires, when to get on it, when to gear down and crawl, ect....)) for a 95 bronco with the 351. I became a member of fullsizebronco.com, started doing my research, building, meeting folks, and going on a few trips. Well in high school I bought me a little red Ranger to put around in, to and from work, to school, ect.... Well i joined the U.S. Marine corps and left the truck back home with my old man. He is big into camping and fishin so he'd load up his "in bed camper" into his 03 silverado, tow up the boat and leave em in the woods all summer long and use the Ranger to just drive to and from. It's a 97 4 cylinder, 2 dr, short bed, 2 wheel drive, manual transmission, manual windows, and manual doors locks. I swear it's the smallest PU ever (except the Chevy LUV and that weird little Mazda out there haha). Anyway it's taught me alot about trucks, it's power to weight ratio is good, it gets up and goes, I have to be good on my shifting to keep up with asshole traffic in SoCal, and I guess I never really haul heavy loads to need a full size (I did load it it down with a bed full of dirt recently and she still cruised nicely. Susp was taxed and you could tell on bumps but other then that did good). It's seems to do what I need for now (I work with personal protection K9's and I load them in the bed all the time and load the bed full of misc junk all the time) and still has a truck feel for a little guy. I'm actually kinda hard on her and drive her pretty good. Treat it like a truck when I load it ect... (I've always taken care of my shit so I don't dent her up but I aint affraid to treat a pickup like an ef-in pickup. And if an accident happens and she gets a battle would then that shit'll buff out haha. I took her 2 wheel drive ass to the top of Cleveland National Forrest recently too but I definitely want more power again. Anyway back on track here my wife did some shady shit, quit on us, called mommy and daddy and moved back to North Carolina leaving me with a bunch of life to sort out. The bronco isn't being used right now, we were sharing a car and so when she bounced I went home to Colorado to pick up my high school Ranger (rarely used 97 with 75,000 on her) so I could have a vehicle. So...... 1) I'd really like to stick with a ranger and pick me up an 07ish here in a few years and build me a nice mid size rig for truck use, light trailers, decent trails, and getting in and out of some remote locations hunting and camping. I'm open to things like a nice skid plate up front, lots of wheel travel, and cut fenders while remaining tough enough for real shit, I'm open to the good of all aspects of wheeling but pre-runners just really aren't my cup of tea (plus the wanna be ridin up hill on flat ground, flat billed, full sleeve wearing, puttin white pre runner fenders on any pickup, SoCal bro's really give the real guys a bad name haha). 2) for now I'd like some advice on how to squeeze some more power out of my 4 banger for the next few years (and please give me real advice haha its been a while since I've wrenched I don't wanna do the basic exhaust and intake cus I might as well just ride stock vs waste money on 15 HP until I get my next Ranger. 3) I'm gonna sell the bronco for some extra loot, everyone says keep It it's a nice rig, but 1) it's to serious, a man can't have to many hobbies and I sure ain't loaded so working mastiff/bully hybrids and recreating is really where my passion lies so rock crawling and serious shit is just to far in between for a serious rig, 2) I'd like to go mid-size cus trails get tight 3) I don't wanna rig that needs trailered to the trail on a flatbed behind an F-250 and that gets big rig gas mileage. (yes I know I don't mean to offend I know a ranger can be a serious rig depending on how build she is). I also have a set (4) supersswamper iroks 36x13.50x15LT's radial never mounted 100% tred. So let me know if you want any more information on the bronco or the superswampers! And 4) I just finished a little over 8 years in the corps and I decided to stay in SoCal and most my boys either got stationed somewhere else or also got out and moved back home to the Midwest or wherever they grew up. So I'd really like to meet some local Ranger guys. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk
