...It really shouldn't be this difficult..
..I have been having trouble finding battery cables for the 95 2.3L Ranger for the past few years...Ford wanted $250 for just one of the cables and a vendor here had it listed for $150, and Ford wanted like $100 for the other one..
...For some reason Ford made these wires special only on this yr/model and it kind of had me scared to open up the stock wiring and since no one even had pictures of these cables, it contributed to me waiting until I could find them somewhere or really needed them...
...Needless to say, submerging the Ranger at least a few times a year hasn't made these cables any better..
...90Ranajo needed a jump for his project last weekend and when we popped my hood we found a nice green corrosion mainly on the positive cable end but also some on the negative cable...Considering this is attached to an Optima, it points to bad cables..(and I hate using the replacement end shown on the neg cable here except for emergencies..
..I headed off to my local NAPA as they had told me when I get them off they could custom make some for me...To my surprised they had closed down due to the economy but, they had moved into their local hub warehouse..They now will not make custom cables...
...They did finally show a listing for both sides and quickly loaded me up with 3 of 4 cables now needed to swap out these cables...The ones shown with X's are no good and the other one is the correct
negative cable..P/N 718229..about $55
...I quickly got to work and ripped out both cables..Here is a good pic of the new negative cable shown in the center..The 2 other cables are the wrong cables that were suppose to resolve the positive cable replacement...
...I took the cables back to NAPA and my final long search started again...We referenced 96 and 94 Rangers with no luck...I then went to AZ, Pepboy's, and a couple speed, pro, and raceshops...The consensus was for me to build a custom cable or search a jy but I decided to get creative...
...:scratch:...I had seen a positive cable just like this and it was relatively cheap...Hmmm...
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=250186&highlight=battery
...That's right, this cable is just like the first gen Explorer cable but it is uber rare for some reason to find the replacement for the Ranger..
...This picture shows the stock 95 Ranger 2.3L positive cable next to the stock 91-94 Explorer Positive cable Item#: CBL717993 about $46...It is an exact swap except the Explorer cable is about 11" longer...
...For the enthusiast, these can be easily shortened and modified for a custom fit using Tsunami connectors but this worked for as close to a factory replacement as I could find for really cheap...
...I hope this may help others going thru this same search...
