The Disable EVERYTHING thread...

[ChrisFX4]

Hi all, I am not a Ranger owner (yet). I have had F150's for a long time, with my newest being a 2012 with the coyote 5.0. Love that truck but getting up there in miles (162,000 already). That being said, I would love to own new, and love the capability of the hauling and towing that the smaller Ranger offers. I am however, mentally a 90 yr old child....I'm actually 34, but have the old school driving habits of someone who came up driving the cars from the 60's and 70's. The child part is based on still wanting to drift through empty snowy road and spin unrestricted donuts. I did search, and found a thread specifically talking about turning off traction control. HOWEVER, my 2012 has this same button, press once to turn off traction, and then hold it down for 10 seconds to turn off a second stability/traction aid. In doing so, the gauge cluster confirms two systems are disabled, yet I can still actually feel a mild version of it still kicking in. SO first question:
1. Does the button actually turn the entire system off so you can spin the tires through a full donut, anyone have first hand experience in doing so yet?

2. I have absolutely NO interest or desire for ANY of the techy stuff that these newer vehicles seem to be including lately. That includes the lane keeping, forward sensing emergency braking, blind spot warnings, dings, chimes, dongs, alerts etc etc. I would love to just get a "sport" type package (FX4) for the 3:73s and locking rear diff because the truck will see mild trail use, and snow. Can any of the driver assist features be tuned or edited out completely, or at the very least - be toggled off by a button or switch? This includes the engine shutting down at stop lights. I'm not looking for a debate or why these features exist, and i wouldn't question anyone for using them, just my personal preference to maintain my driving skills as i have over many years and miles, and continue doing it all myself.

Thanks for any info, the local dealers can never seem to answer the questions i have about this stuff, so i figured first hand from real owners would be more definite.

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[t4thfavor]

1. It disables it to the point where it will intervene only if it thinks you could possibly end up with the wheels in the air and the roof on the ground.

2. Yes, you can disable or neuter 99.9% of the other stuff in point number 2.

All models have 3.73:1 axle ratios and you can get a non-fx4 with the locker. However I would (and did) get the FX4 because of the trail control and terrain management which you don't really need, but it makes the torquey little motor behave just like you would want it to behave in each of the various terrain types available.

The FX4 is ~1200$ roughly where the locking diff alone is ~500$.

 

[ChrisFX4]

1. It disables it to the point where it will intervene only if it thinks you could possibly end up with the wheels in the air and the roof on the ground.

2. Yes, you can disable or neuter 99.9% of the other stuff in point number 2.

All models have 3.73:1 axle ratios and you can get a non-fx4 with the locker. However I would (and did) get the FX4 because of the trail control and terrain management which you don't really need, but it makes the torquey little motor behave just like you would want it to behave in each of the various terrain types available.

The FX4 is ~1200$ roughly where the locking diff alone is ~500$.

This is great to hear. Can you elaborate on #2? Is it a built in button or are we talking about having to pop fuses or cut wires?? I'd rather not butcher a brand new truck. (Oh one more thing, sync and all this "operate my truck from my cell phone" stuff, can all that be iignored and just use my phone as a phone, and my truck radio as a truck radio? Haha

Terrain management? I wheel old XJ's, 4wd hi and lo, and then just using driver skill, does terrain management change the transfer case to different modes? I'm hoping I can have a newer truck with as minimal driver assist controls as possible. No hill start or descent control or self driving or self correcting nonsense. I'm the driver here. Haha. In 30 more years I'll be similar to Will Smith's character in that movie iRobot
Hahaha.

 

[t4thfavor]

It's all in the menus on the dash, no cutting required.

Terrain management changes the throttle behavior and how the traction control behaves. Trust me, it's better at braking individual wheels to make sure you have traction than you are

So for example in "Ice/grass mode" the throttle becomes much less sensitive, and boost is much less harsh. The traction control tries hard to keep the wheels from slipping (because it knows your on ice or slippery grass).

It's something you need to see before you can understand the usefulness.

 

[Rinn69]

I did search, and found a thread specifically talking about turning off traction control.

Thank You for actually using the search button

 

[HenryMac]

Hi all, I am not a Ranger owner (yet). I have had F150's for a long time, with my newest being a 2012 with the coyote 5.0. Love that truck but getting up there in miles (162,000 already). That being said, I would love to own new, and love the capability of the hauling and towing that the smaller Ranger offers. I am however, mentally a 90 yr old child....I'm actually 34, but have the old school driving habits of someone who came up driving the cars from the 60's and 70's. The child part is based on still wanting to drift through empty snowy road and spin unrestricted donuts. I did search, and found a thread specifically talking about turning off traction control. HOWEVER, my 2012 has this same button, press once to turn off traction, and then hold it down for 10 seconds to turn off a second stability/traction aid. In doing so, the gauge cluster confirms two systems are disabled, yet I can still actually feel a mild version of it still kicking in. SO first question:
1. Does the button actually turn the entire system off so you can spin the tires through a full donut, anyone have first hand experience in doing so yet?

2. I have absolutely NO interest or desire for ANY of the techy stuff that these newer vehicles seem to be including lately. That includes the lane keeping, forward sensing emergency braking, blind spot warnings, dings, chimes, dongs, alerts etc etc. I would love to just get a "sport" type package (FX4) for the 3:73s and locking rear diff because the truck will see mild trail use, and snow. Can any of the driver assist features be tuned or edited out completely, or at the very least - be toggled off by a button or switch? This includes the engine shutting down at stop lights. I'm not looking for a debate or why these features exist, and i wouldn't question anyone for using them, just my personal preference to maintain my driving skills as i have over many years and miles, and continue doing it all myself.

Thanks for any info, the local dealers can never seem to answer the questions i have about this stuff, so i figured first hand from real owners would be more definite.

We didn't want all the technology either. So we bought an XL, but with the FX-4 package.

You get regular old school cruise control and that's about it, no technology that attempts to drive for you. But you get the upgraded gauge cluster with the off road screen. It has the small center display where the radio is, which we also like. We've never turned on the wi-fi.

Go to the shop.ford.com site and configure one, paying close attention to what features are std on an XL, and what is added when you pick the FX4 package.

Hope that helps.

 

[DukeCanBuildit]

Hi all, I am not a Ranger owner (yet). I have had F150's for a long time, with my newest being a 2012 with the coyote 5.0. Love that truck but getting up there in miles (162,000 already). That being said, I would love to own new, and love the capability of the hauling and towing that the smaller Ranger offers. I am however, mentally a 90 yr old child....I'm actually 34, but have ...

I was of a similar mindset as John (@HenryMac ) above. I‘ve owned three other older Ranger XLTs so I wanted to stick with that trim line but I was buying a work truck and didn’t want or need a lot of extras. I was looking for a truck on a dealer lot so it was a challenge - didn’t want a big nav screen (too distracting), or heated seats, steering wheel, mirrors,etc. Folding mirrors? Rangers aren’t that wide. I had ots of reasons for keeping it simple and don’t like paying for things I don’t need. I’m keeping this one for a while so I’m not concerned about resale value. Besides, I bought it for me, not the next owner.

This a bit of an old thread but if others out there are wondering if they can keep their Ranger simple, yes, you can. It’s just going to be tough to find one on a dealer lot and you might have to wait and order yours the way you want it.

I got lucky and found an XLT with only one added option - the tow package. Small radio screen, heated nothing, no nav system, manual seat adjust, single USB in the front console cubby that I don’t even use, and I love it. Dealers like to have “fully loaded“ Rangers on their lots, so be patient and hunt one down. If all else fails, order just what you need.

 

[P. A. Schilke]

I was of a similar mindset as John (@HenryMac ) above. I‘ve owned three other older Ranger XLTs so I wanted to stick with that trim line but I was buying a work truck and didn’t want or need a lot of extras. I was looking for a truck on a dealer lot so it was a challenge - didn’t want a big nav screen (too distracting), or heated seats, steering wheel, mirrors,etc. Folding mirrors? Rangers aren’t that wide. I had ots of reasons for keeping it simple and don’t like paying for things I don’t need. I’m keeping this one for a while so I’m not concerned about resale value. Besides, I bought it for me, not the next owner.

This a bit of an old thread but if others out there are wondering if they can keep their Ranger simple, yes, you can. It’s just going to be tough to find one on a dealer lot and you might have to wait and order yours the way you want it.

I got lucky and found an XLT with only one added option - the tow package. Small radio screen, heated nothing, no nav system, manual seat adjust, single USB in the front console cubby that I don’t even use, and I love it. Dealers like to have “fully loaded“ Rangers on their lots, so be patient and hunt one down. If all else fails, order just what you need.

Hi Duke,

A back story....My vehicle coordinator was ordering built From Rangers for the 2002 Model year prototypes. He ordered total base Rangers....no options etc. The Twin Cities plant called him as they had never built a base Ranger and had no clue what to delete or include.... Eg...Does it have no not have a Radio? When Bill C. came into my office we laughed for several minutes before we realized we had no idea either....bit of research we had the answer and informed the Plant.... Talk about a rubber mat special!

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired

 

[t4thfavor]

So I have a "unique" issue with my ECS/TCS system... All seems to be working fine, except the button now does nothing at all. The rest of the buttons in that area do their thing, just the TC button has no effect on anything...

Anyone have any ideas?

 

[Trigganometry]

Hi Duke,

A back story....My vehicle coordinator was ordering built From Rangers for the 2002 Model year prototypes. He ordered total base Rangers....no options etc. The Twin Cities plant called him as they had never built a base Ranger and had no clue what to delete or include.... Eg...Does it have no not have a Radio? When Bill C. came into my office we laughed for several minutes before we realized we had no idea either....bit of research we had the answer and informed the Plant.... Talk about a rubber mat special!

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired

Reminds me of my old Ranger. 97 XL standard cab. Walked into a dealer and said I wanted one ‘without the frills’ Sales guy scratched his head and then smiled. Think I got just what your looking for. Dealership ordered 10 fleet trucks for an account and they decided to only take 8 of them. It’s got a 7’ bed he says! Ok let’s see. He was right, only frill was an AM/FM radio. Everything else was manual on it. Then I ask ok, how much? I’m on the A plan. Comes back with factory invoice and I wrote a check for $13,643.93. Drove that truck until December this year and I had 287K when I traded it in. They gave me 1,300 for it. I know, I was shocked too. So if you look around or like you said order it that way they are available, just rare! ?

 

[Rp930]

The path out of the dark ages can be intimidating. I bought it because of the technology.

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