swampbilly
New Member
- Joined
- September 5, 2013
- Messages
- 1
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- Pinckney, MI
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 2006 Explorer 4x4
Hey all,
My first vehicle was a '96 Ranger. Awesome truck. I was a complete fool and beat the **** out of that truck, even running the oil dry and smoking once. She didn't care, she ran like a champ and took all that disgraceful abuse without missing a beat. I came to love that truck so much and had so many great memories with her.
The next Ranger I had was a '71 F-100 Sport Custom Ranger. She was a real beast with a 460cc engine, granny gear, Detroit locker rear end, Holly carb, glass packs and a rear end lift. She was one tough truck, I actually drove her up to the Hopi reservation in AZ and drove her right down the main drag where it is the last place in the world where you can witness pueblo people actually still living in pueblos. It was surreal...they all loved my Ranger!
Next Ranger was a '96 Stepside with a tonneau cover. 2wd manual tranny. I took that little truck EVERYWHERE in AZ. I couldn't believe the stuff I made it through in that truck. Nothing short of amazing. By now I had learned enough about trucks and Rangers that I knew to take good care of her. I put a set of nice all-terrains on her and rode her all over the craziest jeep trails I could find. I had some really hairy moments, but never once got stranded in that truck. Once while bowhunting in the Prescott Nat'l Forest I got rained in and had to roll the dice and take a running start through some raging waters that I thought were gonna destroy us. She blasted through that and then got me another 13 miles or so down a soggy, red clay/mud road back to I-17. That was Christmas Day and making it home was the best present that old Ranger could have given me.
Now I have this '06 Explorer 4x4 and we've already had some adventures together. I kicked off our relationship with a pretty rugged bull elk hunt in Unit 4A in AZ up in the Coconino/Apache-Sitgreaves Nat'l forests. I took that truck through some really hairy spots and broke a running board off the passenger side going down a real busted up 2 track near Willow Creek Canyon. I almost died hunting in that canyon on that trip, but that's a story for another time. Suffice it to say that making it back to my Explorer was a gift from God and I was so happy to see her.
Since then I have moved back to MI and had a beautiful little daughter. My Explorer is a very loved family member and she's been so good to us all. She gets me to work 6 days a week at the machine shop I work in and never fails to get us to play as well! When I asked my daughter what we should name our truck (at about 2 yrs old) she replied "Mother"....it stuck and that's the trucks official name now. When she's dirty my daughter rides my ass about taking her to the car wash and one of her favorite things to do is to get cheeseburgers from Wendys and eat them together while we're going through the carwash in town.
My daughter had her first experience at a classic A&W in this truck and her first taste of root beer (which she practically sprayed out her nose)!
I found this forum while looking for information about doing a tune-up, which I found out tonight I am about 5,000 miles overdue for.
I have been using Valvoline Max-Life since about 75,000 miles and Fram High Mileage oil filters. I put a set of Cooper Discoverer AT3's on her this spring and I really like them. I'm wanting to get a K&N air filter and a seat cover for the first rear bench seat since my daughter and her friends (and especially her mother) make a huge mess everytime they're in my truck.
Some other things I want to add include a kid-killer grill bar, KC lights, a lift kit, new rear end and upgraded shocks and struts. Oh, and a gun rack for my M1 Garand and a Yaesu ham radio. I like the stock sound system, but I need something that rocks a lot harder. My first Ranger had Kenwood boxes that I could pull out from behind the bench seat and set on the roof or in the bed. That was awesome.
I'll be sleeping in my Explorer this October during bow season so that should be pretty cool. I'll work until 11:30pm, hit the shower at home, drive to the land I'm hunting then jump in back on a memory foam mattress topper for 4 or 5 hours of sleep then get out after the whitetails. Should be an awesome season!
I can't think of anything else right now, but it's nice to be here and know that there are so many other aficianados out there with the same good taste as I have!
Sidenote- I unfortunately had to buy a new tranny last year at 95,000 miles. That sucked, but my Pastor's son is a mechanic at the dealership and was cool and hooked me up with a great discount!
My first vehicle was a '96 Ranger. Awesome truck. I was a complete fool and beat the **** out of that truck, even running the oil dry and smoking once. She didn't care, she ran like a champ and took all that disgraceful abuse without missing a beat. I came to love that truck so much and had so many great memories with her.
The next Ranger I had was a '71 F-100 Sport Custom Ranger. She was a real beast with a 460cc engine, granny gear, Detroit locker rear end, Holly carb, glass packs and a rear end lift. She was one tough truck, I actually drove her up to the Hopi reservation in AZ and drove her right down the main drag where it is the last place in the world where you can witness pueblo people actually still living in pueblos. It was surreal...they all loved my Ranger!
Next Ranger was a '96 Stepside with a tonneau cover. 2wd manual tranny. I took that little truck EVERYWHERE in AZ. I couldn't believe the stuff I made it through in that truck. Nothing short of amazing. By now I had learned enough about trucks and Rangers that I knew to take good care of her. I put a set of nice all-terrains on her and rode her all over the craziest jeep trails I could find. I had some really hairy moments, but never once got stranded in that truck. Once while bowhunting in the Prescott Nat'l Forest I got rained in and had to roll the dice and take a running start through some raging waters that I thought were gonna destroy us. She blasted through that and then got me another 13 miles or so down a soggy, red clay/mud road back to I-17. That was Christmas Day and making it home was the best present that old Ranger could have given me.
Now I have this '06 Explorer 4x4 and we've already had some adventures together. I kicked off our relationship with a pretty rugged bull elk hunt in Unit 4A in AZ up in the Coconino/Apache-Sitgreaves Nat'l forests. I took that truck through some really hairy spots and broke a running board off the passenger side going down a real busted up 2 track near Willow Creek Canyon. I almost died hunting in that canyon on that trip, but that's a story for another time. Suffice it to say that making it back to my Explorer was a gift from God and I was so happy to see her.
Since then I have moved back to MI and had a beautiful little daughter. My Explorer is a very loved family member and she's been so good to us all. She gets me to work 6 days a week at the machine shop I work in and never fails to get us to play as well! When I asked my daughter what we should name our truck (at about 2 yrs old) she replied "Mother"....it stuck and that's the trucks official name now. When she's dirty my daughter rides my ass about taking her to the car wash and one of her favorite things to do is to get cheeseburgers from Wendys and eat them together while we're going through the carwash in town.
My daughter had her first experience at a classic A&W in this truck and her first taste of root beer (which she practically sprayed out her nose)!
I found this forum while looking for information about doing a tune-up, which I found out tonight I am about 5,000 miles overdue for.
I have been using Valvoline Max-Life since about 75,000 miles and Fram High Mileage oil filters. I put a set of Cooper Discoverer AT3's on her this spring and I really like them. I'm wanting to get a K&N air filter and a seat cover for the first rear bench seat since my daughter and her friends (and especially her mother) make a huge mess everytime they're in my truck.
Some other things I want to add include a kid-killer grill bar, KC lights, a lift kit, new rear end and upgraded shocks and struts. Oh, and a gun rack for my M1 Garand and a Yaesu ham radio. I like the stock sound system, but I need something that rocks a lot harder. My first Ranger had Kenwood boxes that I could pull out from behind the bench seat and set on the roof or in the bed. That was awesome.
I'll be sleeping in my Explorer this October during bow season so that should be pretty cool. I'll work until 11:30pm, hit the shower at home, drive to the land I'm hunting then jump in back on a memory foam mattress topper for 4 or 5 hours of sleep then get out after the whitetails. Should be an awesome season!
I can't think of anything else right now, but it's nice to be here and know that there are so many other aficianados out there with the same good taste as I have!
Sidenote- I unfortunately had to buy a new tranny last year at 95,000 miles. That sucked, but my Pastor's son is a mechanic at the dealership and was cool and hooked me up with a great discount!
