Ford | Trucks and Trailers

The Ford Ranger I

July 24th, 2007 by Shenron

The Ford Ranger is Ford’s first and current line of compact pickup trucks developed after the end of the Ford Ranchero, and is considered to be one of the better compacts on the market. It began in 1983, four years after the half-a-truck half-a-car Ranchero went out with the dinosaurs, and afterwards the Ford Courier (Mazda B-Series, which is the Ford Ranchero in many other countries) was used for just a short while. There are actually two kinds of Ford Rangers sold, but the one we will be looking at is the North American Ford Ranger, the other is called the Mazda B-Series which goes by Ford Ranger in 130 other countries. The truck comes in the common front engine rear wheel or all wheel drive standard models with all of the common additions you could expect from a car. The first era began in 1983 with its introduction, which focused on efficiency and quality, leading it to have many different transmissions to chose from, with several five speed manuals, a four speed manual, and also two automatics: and three and four speed.

The Ranger was capable of hauling many light loads and small payloads at this time with the engines being the 72 horse 2.0L, and an 86 horse 2.3L - which seems somewhat underpowered today. There was also the 2.2 Diesel which gave it 59 horses - compare that with the Ford model A truck of the 1920’s and 30’s to see that it had 40 horses back then. There was, fortunately, a V6 2.8 that gave the truck 115 horses. After this Ford added one more engine, the same type as the other 2.8L Cologne V6, except just a tiny itsy bit bigger, making it a 2.9 L capable of 140 horses. This engine gave the truck the power it needed to be a much better competitor in the compact truck market and helped it gain some early success in the truck industry.

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Ford Ranchero

July 24th, 2007 by Shenron

Well in 1957 Ford decided to make a hybrid between a normal car and a pickup truck, to follow the emerging trend at the time. So the Ford Ranchero was born, and had quite a few variations in its production run from 1957 until 1979 -when it went the way of the dinosaurs. The Ranchero was the first compact car truck of its kind after the Second World War, and was soon imitated by GM because it was a success in the beginning. The first Ranchero’s were based on the Ford Fairlane, the two door ranch wagon. They made available different packages, ranging for a Spartan package that had just everything a truck would need, to a loaded package with all the accessories you could ask for, and all of them came with every engine available to the Fairlane. By far probably the best engine for it was the 5.8L Thunderbird Special, which gave it a good balance of power and performance. In 1960 Ford overhauled the Ranchero making it much smaller and based it on the Ford Falcon, which gave it new transmission options and engines it could choose from. It could come in either the three or four speed manual, or the three speed automatic, and had four engine options from the two Thriftmaster Sixes to the two Windsor V8’s.

In 1967 Ford took the Ranchero and slapped it back onto the Ford Fairlane, and gave it a 3.3 Straight-6 up to a 6.4L Big Block V8 at 315 horses; however this year was the only year it remained. After the Fairlane was replaced by the Torino the Ranchero became larger than even in 1968, and it saw the choices between the V6’s and V8’s with the largest being that 428 Cobra Jet. In 1972 the entire line was radically changed, replacing the sleek savvy look with some kind of giant boxy heavy design, and included a large 6.6 small-block engine that would make it very powerful. The final production line began in 1977; with the ending of the Torino in 1976 Ford gave the Ranchero a new platform to base it on, so they chose the Ford Thunderbird, and the Ford LDT II. Engines were of all spectrums ranging back up to the 6.6 V8 again, and thus the truck in a car was very powerful with a decent hauling capacity.

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Ford Model T Pickup / Model TT

July 24th, 2007 by Shenron

The Ford Model T pickup was derived from the Ford model T line of cars, and was the first truck introduced by ford to be rated at one ton - an impressive vehicle for the late 1900’s and indeed it lasted until the Ford model A came into production in 1927. The Model T pickup, along with all other Model T vehicles, had a front mounted 2.9 L engine which was a four cylinder, which gave it a roaring 20 horses in 1908. It had a two speed transmission and rear wheel drive, along with advancements made since the Model S, which came before the Model T. The Model T engine underwent many improvements throughout its lifetime of over thirty years, having been manufactured until 1941 (due to demand by customers for replacements).

In 1910 valve covers were added to the engine, followed by the 1917 addition of higher heads with a larger water jacket. In 1919 finally an engine starter was added, replacing the old way of starting the engine with a hand crank. Throughout the twenties several other small engine changes were made, such as in 1920 the rods and pistons used lighter materials, the cylinder casting changed to add a single valve cover, the addition of an extra boss to the rear, and the carburetor throttle rod was routed in a different way over the engine itself. The only major car design changes were the horn and small parts made out of brass being replaced and doors added with some small streamlines in design. The Model TT Truck was added to the line in 1918 with a one ton rating and it was capable of having one more additional gear for hill climbing. Overall for the era and time this truck occupied it was quite the wonder, able to help out in all situations and really lead the way to future designs and also shape what we have today.

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Ford Model A

July 24th, 2007 by Shenron

This is about the later Ford Model A, being manufactured from 1927 to 1931. The design came in many variations, and it was indeed one of Ford’s first truck lines as well to have been a success after the Model T variation, and the very first truck Ford introduced in 1900. The Model A Open Cab Pickup and AA Chassis were ground breaking vehicles at the time with much improved capacity and towing ability. The vehicle was an early predecessor to the trucks we see today, as with all cars. Overall this ancient little wonder as a pickup truck was quite powerful for the time, with an L-head 4 cylinder that would be rated today as a 3.3L, and it was able to use a three speed transmission with a reverse too. The vehicle had four wheel brakes, and was able to stop relatively well. The vehicle was well taken by the public; however Chevrolet had taken much of the market, beginning the still ever-present Chevy vs. Ford war.

Because of the way the fuel tank was situated in the old Model A’s engine, and the fact that it used a carburetor that was actually lower than the tank the vehicle overcame the problem at the time of fuel pumping - it did not require one at all. Doubled in power from the long-running 20 horse Model T, the model A pickup and in fact all model A’s that were un-modded had 40 horses available, which was sufficient for that time period in common cars and trucks. Many of the Model A trucks and cars are still alive today, with some being hotrodded and others being restored. The Model A pickup truck came in three different bed designs, with a flatbed, a sided bed, and also a canvas topped bed in the back to protect cargo from rain. There were also some special orders for trucks that were full metal back but few have withstood the test of time.

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Ford F-Series Part IX – Specs in 2004 to Today

July 12th, 2007 by Shenron

Today the Ford F-Series comes win the normal front engine mounted design with either rear two wheel drive or four wheel drive, and three transmissions, being the four speed automatic, the five speed automatic and the six speed manual, it has a height of between seventy and eighty inches depending on the wheels used and comes in three lengths, 211 inches, 226 inches, and 229 inches. The vehicle has an all new platform called the P2 platform and has been in production since 2004. The P2 platform is going to replace the super duty trucks in the future with the P3 platform, and is also succeeded by the T1 platform (no not T-1, like the Terminator). The Ford F Series F-150 is capable, with the proper combination of engines and additions, of hauling an impressive and unmatched in-its-class 11,000 pounds of payload, and capable of carrying up to 3,000 pounds in the bed, additionally it has a dual tow hook design which uses a closed loop and can pull 30,000 pounds with just a single hook.

Several engines were added to the lineup since the older ones were all scrapped. The Essex V6 4.2 liter engine was added to the line upon first production and produced 202 horses, and is followed by the new Triton series, with the 4.6 and 5.4 V8 engines, capable of 231 and 300 horses between them respectively. The 6.8 V10 Triton is available in all truck designs above the F-150 (consisting of the Super Duty line) and produces 362 horses. From 2005 to 2007 the 6.0L Power Stroke turbo Diesel was available, it was a V8 that produced 325 horses. In 2008 a new Power Stroke will be added to line up and will be rated at 6.4L and be capable of 350 horses. There is also a smaller diesel engine in the works which will be made for the Ford F-150, meaning that the F-150 will be the only half-ton pickup truck capable of using a diesel engine and Ford Motor Company has said that the engine will be derived from the 3.6 that is used the Land Rovers. Currently there are no future plans to revise the Ford F-Series in the near future.

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