Thread: Calling all early Rangie owners!

Hi Mick,

Having gone through this exact experience just over a year ago, and given the fact that you already know the generic stuff, it's prolly best to point out the potentially expensive, regular things that break on a rangie of this age (I've had almost all of em...)

First off, Powersteering boxes. Almost all 80's rangies have had or still do leak powersteering fluid. Look for one that has had a replacement put in, or an overhaul (not just a seal kit).

A-Frame balljoints. Very clunky and it a give away that it'll need replacement (a few hundred for an exchange, and that's iff you do it yourself) keep in mind that some clunking is pretty much guaranteed on all older rangies, but you want to get one with a minimal amount of it. Suspension bushes can also cause this noise, but are not too expensive to replace.

Overheating. Radiator replacement or re-rodding, and waterpump replacement should have happened by this stage too.

Usual transfer case, gearbox, diff tests. 80's rangie are getting long in the tooth and most will have seen some off roading and a lot of klms...

Thickness of brake discs is another issue. they do tend to get a bit thin at this age.

Another big one is in the electrical department. Make sure everything works. Little things that don't work (like reverse lights, highbeam dip switches etc) frustrate the hell out of me...

Rust could be becoming an issue too. Top and bottom tailgate, sills, firewall, and floor pan are serial offenders.

I reckon your best bet is buying one off a fastidious owner who's had it a while, has done all the work on it, and knows it's history. Even then get it checked out by a specialist in Rangies.

Having said all that, there are heaps of good examples (and even more crap ones) out there. Just be patient. They come up for sale quite often, so you can really pick and choose.

I love mine, and wouldn't drive anything else.

Good luck with it. Don't forget to tell him to join up and post pics here when he gets one!

Cheers,

Bryan

with an outback challenge type monster wont he pretty much be replacing the whole drive line and suspension set up?

most of them change engine, box, diffs, wheels etc.
pretty much the only thing they keep is the body and chasis and even then that gets modified too.

find out how radical he wants to go, then find a rangie with the bits that are gonna be scrapped all worn and use that as a bargaining point to get the price down to suit. a v8 engine is already a good bargaining point.


just an idea.....either way it turns out, good luck.

Originally posted by Kretcheman

A-Frame balljoints. Very clunky and it a give away that it'll need replacement (a few hundred for an exchange, and that's iff you do it yourself) keep in mind that some clunking is pretty much guaranteed on all older rangies, but you want to get one with a minimal amount of it. Suspension bushes can also cause this noise, but are not too expensive to replace.
Bryan

Agree on everything but the above.
A new ball jont cost me $95.
Had to press out the old and press in the new at work, but I can't see it costing $100s.

Thanks guys,

As far as the outback challenge monster goes that remains to be seen. He has alot of enthusiasm but slow cash flow. It could take some time to get to anywhere near something like AMV have produced to compete in.

He wants to get the thing on the road and just add onto it as he goes, making improvments as cash permits, a running project I spose.

The main concern was getting a sound vehicle to start with and going from there. We're gonna go have a look at a couple this week sometime.

I'll print off the above replies and see what we can find.

Thanks again

Mick

Mick i'd like to know how things go my self as i am thinking of the same thing, i'm glad i saw this before posting basicly the same questions. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif[/img]

Baz.

I know this is one of those impossible questions but can anyone say what price range one could expect to pay for a "good" Rangie of this age ? (Four door please)

Originally posted by VladTepes
I know this is one of those impossible questions but can anyone say what price range one could expect to pay for a "good" Rangie of this age ? (Four door please)

3000-6000 for Pre 86 is about the money.