I have a 2wd 94 ford ranger with the 2.3 engine ,5-spd with 3.45 rears. This thing produces about as much power as your average electric can opener.I found a rear end with 3.73 gearing. I need to make more power for hauling firewood and pulling my boat. All idea's are welcome.  

That would be a lot of work for negligible gain.  I am not sure you would even notice the difference between those ratios. That would be the difference between your driveshaft turning 3 1/2 times to the axle's single rotation or turning 3 3/4 times for every rotation of the axle. You could probably achieve a comparable effect by going to a lower profile tire/wheel combo. Maybe it would make a bigger difference than I think, but I am pretty sure you need to step up a notch engine-wise.  If you purchased a Gear Vendors unit you could split enough gears to have a killer low range and still have highway manners but those are pretty expensive.  How many miles does your engine have?  If is getting close to the end of it's service life you could always swap it for small block V8.  The kits are out there.  

I found out this truck came with several ratio's. I was looking for a set of 4.09's but they all have real high miles. This one has 113,000 on it.I call it nicely broke in. It neither uses or leaks oil.Was thinking of maybe a 3.0 V6. I would like to still keep the good mpg.  

hmmm... that is the same engine family as an 87-88 thunderbird turbo coupe... those made over 200 hp.... turbocharged and intercooled...  the turbo 2.3 had heavy duty stuff in it also... slightly differnt block...  as the turbo motor had a drain back hole...


if you really wanted to upgrade for more power... and still have the fuel mileage..  

What add on's can I install in order to improve the performence of a 2.3 engine? This is a daily driver and I'm not looking to run a 1/4 mile or do burnouts.I just want to be able to run with more power. I was wondering if the K&N kits do what they say they do. Is there anything I can do with the coil packs or computer. I am on a buget and always enjoied reading Car Craft because it seemed to be geared toward back yard mechanics such as myself. I would like to hear any and all Ideas.  

I ordered a set of 4.09 rears. I'm just going to rebuild the whole thing.  

The 3.45 gears are usually just used in V-6 automatic applications...at least that is my belief. Most 4 popper manuals have 4.10 gears.

My son's girlfriends truck had a pinion bearing go out. I have 3 parts trucks, so we swapped the rear out of a V-6 truck (3.45 gears) into the 4 banger truck...it made this truck almost useless as a truck. 5th gear is a waste of time. We will swap back to the 4.10 gear after I rebuild this rear.

You'll like that 4.09 gear, and don't forget to swap the speedo gear when you're done.