You could take the shroud off, but I think that it can't come completely out without taking the fan off. That is the way it is on my 96 4.0. But you could unbolt it and slide it over the fan towards the engine to give you more room. When I had to turn the motor over when I was taking the trans out, I didn't feel like taking the shroud off so I just cut 3-4 inches out of it to get socket and ratchet on it from the bottom.
Back in my Subaru days, I read of people breaking the bolt loose in manual cars by jamming the flywheel with a large screwdriver, putting a breaker bar and socket on the bolt, finding a large long pipe to fit on the breaker bar, setting it on fender with protection to not scratch it, and then bumping the starter. I have no idea if this would work with a ranger though.
Back in my Subaru days, I read of people breaking the bolt loose in manual cars by jamming the flywheel with a large screwdriver, putting a breaker bar and socket on the bolt, finding a large long pipe to fit on the breaker bar, setting it on fender with protection to not scratch it, and then bumping the starter. I have no idea if this would work with a ranger though.
