All Smashed Up

[nathand22]

Nathan did you have a locker of any sort in the front diff.? I know you said you broke the alloy case, but I have not heard of anyone splitting the front diff with a locker installed.?

I thought the weak link was the 2 pinion centre which breaks teeth off and then these go into the ring and pinion and forces the diff to split when the gear mesh gets jammed up. Any photo's of your diff failures.


_

No mate no locker, but i never really treated it in a way that you would expect it to snap, yeah i took it on some tough tracks, but i also have mechanical sympathy for the car and realise what to be carful of like revving it hard with a wheel in the air and have it slam down.

The first one went when i was just on an embankment testing the new tyres to see if they scrubbed and it snapped the main Pinion shaft just out side the housing in front of the tail shaft.
The one the went the other day snapped the case going diagonally through a rut, no wheels in the air and only flexing it mildly, CRACK sounding like i had just bellied out on some rocks.
I dont have any pics because 2hrs later the dumb arse P plater pulled out in front of me and wrote it off.

 

[nathand22]

What's the space in the back of the ranger like - guess I should sit in the back of the one at work next week?

Its actually very similar to the D40 only the back part is on more of a slope and is more like a normal seat, unlike most other utes where the back is quite upright and square, my wife and daughter (17 and as tall as me) said it was good.
The bottom part also can fold up but the D40 is a 60 - 40 split which i really liked as my son could sit on one side and we could still fold up the other 60%.

 

[bullwinkle]

Hey just thought I'd weigh in here with my two cents. We have 4 ranger utes in our fleet at work, of which three have rubbed the top radiator hose and dropped coolant. One resulted in a new motor being fitted under warranty, another was repaired with little engine damage, and the other simply had the hose replaced and reinforced. This is a known design fault according to the service manager I spoke with personally.

 

[Old.Tony]

It's not a bad choice of car. A small amount of hair dye on you Nathan and we could adjust the badging to "Ranga" and you could feel like it was made for you!

Seriously, good show, you'll have to let me know when you're heading up to Sparra's place so I can come take a squiz at it, unless you bring him up here for lunch!

 

[sparra04]

you'll have to let me know when you're heading up to Sparra's place so I can come take a squiz at it, unless you bring him up here for lunch!

ile put the kettle on
one lump or 2 ?

 

[nathand22]

Hey just thought I'd weigh in here with my two cents. We have 4 ranger utes in our fleet at work, of which three have rubbed the top radiator hose and dropped coolant. One resulted in a new motor being fitted under warranty, another was repaired with little engine damage, and the other simply had the hose replaced and reinforced. This is a known design fault according to the service manager I spoke with personally.

What model are they mate and are they the 3.2lt or 2.2lt??

It's not a bad choice of car. A small amount of hair dye on you Nathan and we could adjust the badging to "Ranga" and you could feel like it was made for you!

Seriously, good show, you'll have to let me know when you're heading up to Sparra's place so I can come take a squiz at it, unless you bring him up here for lunch!

Tony i would just be happy to have hair, mine caught the bus a few years back and i havnt seen it since.

ile put the kettle on
one lump or 2 ?

sounds like a plan, stop at your place then take a run up to Tony's.

Now just have to make my final call on what to do.

 

[navarian]

Ridgie is loving his Ranger.

 

[Pathy550]

Our fleet has changed from landcruises to rangers and there falling to bits. One blew a seal in the turbo and dumped a heap of oil. I was on the market a year ago when they came out and I'm very happy I picked the Nissan v6.

 

[nathand22]

Our fleet has changed from landcruises to rangers and there falling to bits. One blew a seal in the turbo and dumped a heap of oil. I was on the market a year ago when they came out and I'm very happy I picked the Nissan v6.

Are the fleet utes the 2.2 or the 3.2 engine? would be keen to know before i buy one.

 

[Pathy550]

3.2. After 6 months there falling to bits. Not the best comparison because they replaced landcruises that are still going hard after 200000km on dirt roads. Don't let the good looks a ranger suck you in.

 

[bullwinkle]

Ours are PX 3.2 manuals.

 

[happy john]

3.2. After 6 months there falling to bits. Not the best comparison because they replaced landcruises that are still going hard after 200000km on dirt roads. Don't let the good looks a ranger suck you in.

Does the Ranger look good? Nathan can drive mate and has pushed his d40 into places most would back out the Ranger is a good thing but i would spend a tad more and go for the 550 saying that you need to spend more cash to get the 550 up to the same height as the ranger take off the side steps and the plough bar and you have a damm good rig but i spend alot of time on the caravan forum there is alot of failures with that donk and heaps of happy owners flip a coin.......

 

[sparra04]

hmmm
the ranger certainly gets mixed reviews
big decision mate
sometimes its a case of "better the devil you know"

goodluck and good hunting

 

[nathand22]

hmmm
the ranger certainly gets mixed reviews
big decision mate
sometimes its a case of "better the devil you know"

goodluck and good hunting

yeah they do seem to be a mixed bag mate, but i have spoke with a few guys and one of them is a good mate of Brad and Nathan's from the "SOT" and he has had his for 12months now and loving it, he just got back a few months ago from a cape and simmo trip and loves the thing, "Ridgie" from this forum (ex D22 owner) is loving his, i have just been speaking to him on the Ranger forum.

I was faced with the same thing when getting the D40, I had guys like 180degres and Dmax Dave saying the d40 and the yd25 motor were the biggest pieces of shit ever made, the timing chain, UCA, wheel alignment, low chassis, limp mode, clutch issues ect ect the list goes on and on.
Im thinking its the same for all cars, the .01% of unhappy campers making 99% of the noise.

Maybe if more then three people bought the Dmax we would be hearing the same from them

Having said that i am a little tentative about Ford after buying a series 2 AU V8
1 Tonner and it having every thing fail from gear box to engine and everything in between and all around.
The one thing i can say is ford didnt bat an eyelid about repairing anything that did stuff up.

The way im looking at it is, they seem to hold decent re-sale value and if i was to have a heap of trouble i will just trade the sucker in.
With the amount of kms i do a year i wont have it long anyway, the last D40 had 78k on the clock after 12months so if that is anything to go off i will prob only have this one for two yrs or so.

 

[happy john]

Just buy the ranger Nath it will serve you well and come to the muster in a ford you did that last year nobody complained.

 

[nathand22]

Just buy the ranger Nath it will serve you well and come to the muster in a ford you did that last year nobody complained.

Haha now thats just rubbing it in
The only good thing about the Falcooooon at the muster was the circle work we did on the last day
oh and the speed it got me to and from QLD

 

[happy john]

That was a good end to the muster not sure if Lladnar got that on film ?

I thought there was going to be a combined set of footage from luke i did email him but no reply Luke?....

 

[big zetor]

go the ranger there are no really bad reveiws on the net about them compared to the navara's.

 

[ourd40]

We bought a new focus at the end of 2012 and i have to say Ford's service department would have to be the rudest most arrogant bunch of tool's i have ever met to the point of never wanting to buy one again just to not have to deal with them ever again

 

[Old.Tony]

We bought a new focus at the end of 2012 and i have to say Ford's service department would have to be the rudest most arrogant bunch of tool's i have ever met to the point of never wanting to buy one again just to not have to deal with them ever again

Have heard this exact complaint in this forum about a Nissan dealer too. I'm sure Ford would love to hear about it.

Back when I was driving a Commodore, there was a big sign up at the Holden dealership in the workshop which read "A good sale happens just once, but good service brings the customer back again and again" or similar to that.

Some dealerships just don't get it.