Richard, interesting you say those things about the Ranger/BroncoII. Did you have the auto in your trucks.
I've had 4 Rangers: a 1990 regular cab XLT 4x2, a 1989 super cab STX 4x2, a 1997 supercab STX 4x4 and a 1999 subercab XLT 4x4. The '89 and '90 both had the 2.9 and 5 speed but one with 3.54 gears, the other with 3.73s. I never though either was low on power....even after I lifted the '90 five inches and went from 22570R14s to 30x9.50s.
I did however start losing coolant in the '90 after it turned 100K and I never did find out why. Had the heads pulled/magnafluxed and got a clean bill of health. In hind sight, I probably should have just put on the World Products heads as I still think the issue was in the heads and the shop just didn't find it. Those 2.9 heads are notorious for cracking.....
The '97 and the '99 both had the 4.0, speed and 3.73 gears. They were pretty good runners too, but in stock form I think my '90 could have taken them.
I outran many people with that little 2.9 in my '90 before I lifted it and changed the tires. Then I just started running things over......
Had a 5.0 on hand and ready to rebuild when I traded the '90. :wink:
But none of them could keep up with the 4.0 Cherokee I bought.