Normally I would say yes that’s too good to be true but…. It’s from a neighbor who I’ve bought a lot of stuff from in the past, a 96 ranger, my car hauler trailer, a Kawasaki 4wheeler, and I’m sure some other stuff I’m forgetting. He’s been a family friend forever and he recently retired so all he does is buy and sell junk as a hobby. He picked this truck up for $500 with a bad motor. He got a low mile motor out of an explorer with a one year warranty for $500 and will swap it in for $350. The interior is pretty wrecked in the truck, it’s a two owner and the first guy owned it until 2021 when some kid bought it and ragged it until the motor went. But for what I plan to do with it which is leave it sitting in my yard for 25 days out of each month and then occasionally drive trails with it or pick up parts and lumber, it will work fine. I have a super hardon for these little 93-97 rangers and a RCSB 4.0 5speed 4x4 is kinda the holy grail.
I already bought some Kenda 32” MTs for it and a set of crown Vic steelies so it will not have the wide stance of the current wheels. I hate wide, I prefer tall and skinnies tucked inside the fenders for the most part. The truck is currently straight popped so I got a set of 2019 mustang GT mufflers for free and welded them in line. I’m throwing a basic seal kit at the motor while it’s out (swap won’t be for another week or two). Gonna clean the oil pan out and inspect what I can. Also going to free the header bolts because I’m pretty sure I’m gonna throw a set of $249 long tubes at it, they help me delete the EGR and at $250 it’s cheap as fuh. My buddy has the same headers and no it doesn’t make the 4.0 feel ballsy like an LS but it frees up some valuable engine bay space (the manifolds are hella chunky) and his 4.0 actually sounds pretty damn good.
Future plans are a 2000+ FX4 level 2 Rear end, that particular model has a trutrac style lsd and 4.56 gears. Gear match the front and throw a locker in it as well. A buddy is sending me some manual locking hubs he has in his parts stash, the current ones are always locked. Possibly do a manual shift T case in the future as well. These trucks are such beasts on trails due to their size I can’t wait to take it out.