Buckets in an '87 Ranger Supercab

lstevens76 · Apr 25, 2015

Ok, my grandfather has wanted buckets for years and while I was at a local pick-a-part yesterday I saw a set of '97 Ford Explorer Leather Electric Buckets (exactly what he wants) from an Eddie Bauer.

To clarify, this is my grandfather's '87 Ford Ranger Super Cab 4x4 2.9V6 Auto.

What I'm trying to find out is will these seats fit? Has anyone done this before and if so how as the forward/back clearance?

What is needed to make this work?

If it won't work what seats will work?

I keep finding contradictory information which is why I'm asking. Hoping to clear up all the contradictions I keep finding while researching.

Thanks

RonD · Apr 25, 2015

Good read here: http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/Seats.shtml

Click on the links at the bottom as well, '87 getting late '90's explorer seats are mentioned and do work fine

Mark_88 · Apr 26, 2015

As RonD posted, that link is a good start...all you need for most situations. The Electric part of the seats may be a bit of a job to install and you might need to go back and snag the wiring section for the seats as much as you can. My 88 had a wire already installed for the seats that were in mine when I bought it...the wire was for the lumbar support motor in the seats.

If your truck already has an appropriate wire then all you may need to do is swap over a clip and splice it into the wire for the seats.

Rails are a good thing to have...and duplicate if you can. I've had two sets of rails rust out from under me in 15 years of owning a Ranger...and I think part of that is from the fact that the bolts actually stick out the bottom of the floor panels...something to think about.

If the floor already has the holes for the bucket rails then it makes your life much easier...if not...you will need to drill them and ensure there is adequate floor metal to support the seat...more so the metal to prevent the seats from being ripped out of the vehicle in the event of a crash...which might catch the eye of an inspector on one of those roadside inspections...and to give you a bit of peace of mind...

The rails can be had from any number of Ranger or RBVs such as early explorers, rangers, or BIIs...just check the floor pan area under the seats as they changed over the years...83-92 Ranger rails work...as 89-92 Explorers...not sure about other years as different models experienced minor or major changes...my 96 floor pan was slightly different and I couldn't check the rails because the PO sold them...

lstevens76 · Apr 26, 2015

And this is exactly the reason I'm confused:

This says nothing about explorer seats and keeping the center console:

http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/Seats.shtml

But this post it's exactly what he did:

http://www.therangerstation.com/forums/showpost.php?p=976835&postcount=5

Mark_88 · Apr 26, 2015

Well, the first link shows picks of both 99 and 2002 explorer seats and console in the Ranger...I haven't looked at the document lately and probably should have...

And what 85Ranger did was use the seats from an Explorer and the rails from a Ranger...often times the rails from various and assorted vehicles will not fit the Ranger floor pans of every year.

I know from experience that the Tempo seats fit the Ranger rails because I did that swap myself before I even looked for help on here...but that was just because I had them and one day I said "Hmmmm...I wonder..." and viola! voila...avoil!

So...unfortunately you didn't get the answer from the two people who answered...but we do try to steer you towards something and also help to bump the thread up to where someone might see it and say..."Wait...before you do that...try this..."

Which is usually the way it works but sometimes you get what you need in the first answer and walk away saying "Wow...those guys are great..."

Now...in your case...we know the 97 explorer seats will work because there wasn't much change in the floor pans between 83 and 97...but you will need a set of rails from an 87, 88 or up to 92 because they were almost identical...

As I mentioned before...the 93 and up rails may or may not work and you will need to check them against your floor pans...however...most all seats including the ones you want to use will bolt right onto your bucket seat rails from an earlier bucket application...so...you still need to find the bucket rails...

I've read over that article a few times to make sure this time...the bench seat rails are no good to you at all for buckets so toss them...and maybe easier to remove the bench from the rails first because the last time I removed a bench on the rails in a standard cab I just about choked myself a few times due to limited space...but if you have an ext cab with 60/40 split they are fairly easy to remove...as you might already know...

SenorNoob · Apr 28, 2015

Doesn't the 60/40 split just use bucket rails already?

kunar · Apr 28, 2015

SenorNoob said:
Doesn't the 60/40 split just use bucket rails already?

Yup

Mark_88 · Apr 29, 2015

SenorNoob said:
Doesn't the 60/40 split just use bucket rails already?

kunar said:
Yup

Of course! WTF was I thinking....oh, right...my first Ranger had an actual bench seat...so when someone says "bench"...I automatically think of that bench...

Not the bench I warmed in High School on the basketball team...or the one from a 60/40 split...that has a conspicuously close looking passenger bucket seat...

Ugh...I'm going back to needlepoint... :icon_rofl:

85_Ranger4x4 · Apr 30, 2015

lstevens76 said:
And this is exactly the reason I'm confused:

This says nothing about explorer seats and keeping the center console:

http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/Seats.shtml

But this post it's exactly what he did:

http://www.therangerstation.com/forums/showpost.php?p=976835&postcount=5

The floor pan was a different profile than the explorer so I had to shim the console. You're being an extended cab my be different yet. Came out sitting higher and farther ahead than it did in the explorer but still nice due to the different floor and not as long of cab.

Floor pan was already dimpled where the inside holes needed to be so it made drilling holes for the buckets easy. There is a heat shield that is right in the way and annoying.

My brackets are actually off of a split bench originally.

Buckets in an '87 Ranger Supercab

lstevens76

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