How set Ford Ranger No. 1 Cylinder to TDC?

In general,

you must first find the # 1 cylinder then pull the spark plug and stick a wire into the plug hole to see if it is low or up high in the cylynder. then rotate the engine using a wrench or tool to rotate it clockwise until the piston pushes the wire up to the maximum and starts down. then you must find a timing mark area( for that engine) to see if the timing is close to the top dead center mark , or 180 degrees off. if it is 189 degrees of then the engine is on the exhaust stroke and must be turned more until the piston goes down and then comes back up on a compression stroke.(you could also place your finger over the spark plug hole to feel the pressure increase as the piston comes up ). the timing mark then should be close to top dead center on the timing mark. then rotate the engine with a tool until the pointer is 10 degrees past top dead center. always do this with the engine off and blocked wheels, but tranny in neutral. There are many shortcuts to do this, but this is a sure way. john

Thanks for your reply! I'll give it a shot this weekend. I can't see any marks for the timing from overhead. Think I might have to remove the aircleaner to get a better view.

================== You might try disabling the engine, pulling the plug, then sticking your finger in it and have someone bump the engine over slowly till you feel the pressure/pop of the piston coming up trying to push your finger out, at that point stop, the TDC mark will be comming up. Manually crank the motor over in the same direction till your mark is on TDC....faster and easier and safer to the motor than using the wire.

====================== Oops, my bad. Missed it.