Finally Found a Camper Shell for my 87 Long Bed Ranger...woohoo...BUT!!!!!!!!!!

[wildbill23c]

I ran across an ad on Craigslist for a camper shell off a 98 Ford Ranger....couldn't tell by the photos in the ad what size bed it was for. Luckily it was about 5 miles from home. Went down and looked at it and yep, its a 7 foot shell. They stored it sitting on the back end, which apparently tweaked the rear hatch/hinge assembly. Now the rivets are pulling out of the hinge/hatch assembly causing it to bind up. Any ideas how to go about fixing something like that? The shell is an Eagle brand, company went out of business in around 2016 from what I could find. I thought maybe it could be taken apart and re-riveted back together maybe? Not a rivet person so I have no idea how the heck that would work without disassembling the frame around the glass, and don't want to do that I'm sure it probably would break in the process. Does the rear hatch assembly need to come apart to install new rivets?

Shell sits on the truck like its meant to be there. Perfect fit. Figured it may be slightly off since mine is a 87 Ranger and it came off a 98 Ranger, so I guess they didn't really change much in bed sizing. Hope I can get that rear hatch hinge assembly fixed because this shell is in really good condition other than the hinge issue.

 

[RobbieD]

That is a nice camper shell. It's hard for me to see what you have going on in the one picture. Does the glass hatch have a traditional hinge, which was riveted originally?

From what I think I see, it shouldn't be that bad to fix it. Can we get some better pics, maybe a little closer and from below? Especially of any original rivets, if there are some still present.

Good score!

 

[wildbill23c]

I will see what I can come up with on pictures. The hinge on the hatch glass is original, and originally was riveted from the factory that way, its pulling away from the rivets and popping them out from being tweaked sitting on the ground on the hatch.

Yes, I was the idiot who tried to tack weld it in a couple spots.

It is a nice shell if I can get that rear hatch issue fixed with the hinge. I did get it bolted down properly, nice thing is its not too heavy so its a 1 person job to remove it if I want to haul something larger than what will fit with the shell on. I didn't put a seal or anything between the shell and truck bed but probably will if I can get the hatch hinge repaired.

The hinge piece on the shell itself seems fine, its just the mating piece on the hatch/window assembly that's the problem. I know the whole assembly will slide out of the hinge half on the shell if you open the hatch enough to clear the sides of the shell and slide it left or right, but how would one go about repairing the hinge assembly on the hatch itself is the problem.

Edit: If I could find another shell like this one I could pull the whole rear assembly off it and put on this one, trouble is finding another Eagle brand shell off a Ranger HAHA!! Its taken me over a year to find this one.

 

[Uncle Gump]

In the first picture... it almost looks like someone was welding on the hinge.

 

[wildbill23c]

In the first picture... it almost looks like someone was welding on the hinge.

Umm in my post of the photos I mentioned I was the moron who tried welding on it to hold it together LOL.

 

[Uncle Gump]

That's want I get for not reading the entire thing... and makes me a moron too. lol

 

[RobbieD]

Don't beat yourself up; a couple of spot welds was worth a try in my book.

I think that the original setup was two extruded channels that "hook" together. Typically, you disconnect the gas struts, and then rotate the hatch up and away from the shell.

I can't tell if the hatch extrusion is the correct original or not. But if you can separate the hatch and shell, then it's just a matter of refastening the extrusions as needed.

A blind rivet, or "pop rivet" works fine for this. If the original rivets got pulled out by force, enlarging the original holes, you usually can go up to the next size rivet.

 

[wildbill23c]

Don't beat yourself up; a couple of spot welds was worth a try in my book.

I think that the original setup was two extruded channels that "hook" together. Typically, you disconnect the gas struts, and then rotate the hatch up and away from the shell.

I can't tell if the hatch extrusion is the correct original or not. But if you can separate the hatch and shell, then it's just a matter of refastening the extrusions as needed.

A blind rivet, or "pop rivet" works fine for this. If the original rivets got pulled out by force, enlarging the original holes, you usually can go up to the next size rivet.

Yes the hinge is kind of a weird looking c-channel type setup, you flip the hatch up about 3/4 of the way and it will slide left or right out of the shell. I guess I'll see if I can get the broken rivets out of it and re-rivet it and see what happens, can't do it any worse I guess than it already is HAHA!!

I think it didn't help that someone installed the wrong gas struts on it which looks like it hyper extended the hinge then they stored it on that side of the shell which pushed up on the hinge even further causing the rivets to pop out.

 

[wildbill23c]

That's want I get for not reading the entire thing... and makes me a moron too. lol

HAHA, no I'm still the moron for trying to weld aluminum. I guess if I wasn't a cheap ass and got aluminum welding wire it may not have been such an issue, but the damage was done before I even started so the only thing I did was make it harder to fix properly.

 

[RobbieD]

Give it a shot, and take your time. It looks well fixable to me, and that is a nice camper shell. I'd love to find one like that for my '84 long bed.

 

[wildbill23c]

Give it a shot, and take your time. It looks well fixable to me, and that is a nice camper shell. I'd love to find one like that for my '84 long bed.

I'll see what I can do, right now I have about 2 cords of firewood left to stack, an appraisal on the house coming up hopefully this week to get it refinanced, a lean to that has to be torn off a shed, lots of cleanup from that project to follow...so many things to get done, not enough time...may have to take a vacation from work to help catch up. Need to get the hatch fixed on that shell though as I think it'll just tear off completely if I drive the truck around too much.

 

[Rick W]

Looks great.

On hinge, maybe KISS principle? Aluminum corrodes just like steel, it just takes longer. If it was sitting in damp on that back door? Have you tried just soaking it with penetrating oil and gently working it up and down?

 

[wildbill23c]

Looks great.

On hinge, maybe KISS principle? Aluminum corrodes just like steel, it just takes longer. If it was sitting in damp on that back door? Have you tried just soaking it with penetrating oil and gently working it up and down?

The hinge operates fine now, the rivets have popped out and I'm suspecting from being stored on the back end of the shell it tweaked the hinge so when I tried to open it combined with a bad strut on that side it started ripping the rivets out. So, the hinge piece on the glass hatch itself needs re-riveted to correct the binding that was caused from being improperly stored, and the strut that was bad which over extended the hinge I assume after it was bound up initially. The thing opens and closes fine now after taking it apart and putting it back together but not I just need to drill new holes and install rivets to keep the hinge on the hatch...its pulling apart from the hatch frame.

I think someone installed the wrong size struts on it for one, and then with it being stored on that hatch and tweaking the hinge the strut just forced the hinge and tore it from the rivets. Its only on the one side, the other side is fine and the strut on that side isn't any good at all otherwise I think it would have damaged the other half of the hinge as well.

 

[Rick W]

When I painted my Leer cap on the F250, I took all the trim off. The sides went on like the came off.

I had to drill rivets out in the back window. Instead of putting rivets back, I drilled the holes a tiny bit bigger, and I used 1:4-20 stainless pan head bolts with ny-lock stainless nuts. Ten times stronger.

That was in 98, and I’m creeping up an a repaint “already,” but window works like a champ.

 

[don4331]

The hinge operates fine now, the rivets have popped out and I'm suspecting from being stored on the back end of the shell it tweaked the hinge so when I tried to open it combined with a bad strut on that side it started ripping the rivets out. So, the hinge piece on the glass hatch itself needs re-riveted to correct the binding that was caused from being improperly stored, and the strut that was bad which over extended the hinge I assume after it was bound up initially. The thing opens and closes fine now after taking it apart and putting it back together but not I just need to drill new holes and install rivets to keep the hinge on the hatch...its pulling apart from the hatch frame.

I think someone installed the wrong size struts on it for one, and then with it being stored on that hatch and tweaking the hinge the strut just forced the hinge and tore it from the rivets. Its only on the one side, the other side is fine and the strut on that side isn't any good at all otherwise I think it would have damaged the other half of the hinge as well.

Your rear window looks just like the one I had on one of my Rangers. The issue in my case was someone lifted the topper by the rear window. You have the same creases in the frame that we had.

Topper really need 4 individuals to remove/install; weight isn't the problem. It's lift points/balance and height that you need to lift it/desire not to get fingers pinched/inability to see what the other individual is doing when installing.

I just lived with it as I was going to break the rear window if I did anything to it.

Solution - find a short box topper with a good window (they are way more common). Drill rivets, out out both, put the good window in yours, the bad back in the short box topper and sell the damaged short box top at a loss commensurate with what you value the window.​