Interior upgrade advice - 2001 4x4 Seats

[Rainjer_Dainger]

Hello TRS Folks,

I am new to the forum, first post. I have a 2001 Ranger 4x4 3.0l V6, that has been extremely reliable for me over the last 10+ years. I bought it with 127K on it and now I have 300k on her. With no major repairs. The engine feels really wimpy to me, but to be honest, it always has. I have decided to rebuild the engine when/if she goes. The ranger is no longer a primary vehicle for me. I want to invest in a few fixes that for the most part, are inconveniences.



The following list is in order of priority.

1. The driver side seat is so destroyed any trip over 15 minutes is painful (I’m over 60 with back issues.)
2. The AC is lame, was never great but now just sucks.
3. The previous owner was a painter, and the interior is covered with paint smears and drips!
4. I would like to make the Explorer center console mod. (I have already cut the drivers side seat frame, but I’m leaning towards just buying a new bucket.
5. I must have a backup camera. My peripheral vision isn’t what it used to be.
6. I would love power windows, locks, and side mirrors. I have trouble reaching across the cab to access the passenger side window, etc.
7. The bedliner is pealing bad. I would like to remove and reapply a new coat.
8. I’m thinking about an overhead console too… it’s a lot, I know. Especially for a 20+ yo, 300k truck. But I do enjoy doing this stuff.

I bought new molded carpet and sound deadener from LMC. I have laid the carpet and cut it to size. The sound deadener arrives tomorrow. I want to run audio interconnects and speaker wire while I have everything out and I hope to have a new head unit FM Stereo/Car Play/Nav/Camera to replace the old OEM unit. No rust – one small dent I can pull myself and shoot myself. I rebuilt a couple vintage Mustangs in my youth, worked on a few friend’s street rods (for us) so I have some idea and means for doing this stuff. My biggest need wrt to this post, is advice on where to buy a replacement drivers side seat, I don’t mind buying new, I just would like to know if there is a new bucket seat out there with minimal welding customization requirements. What head unit you might recommend. How you would address the bedliner delam. What would be the first thing to check wrt AC problem. FWIW I had my mechanic “fix” it a couple years ago. He charged me nearly $500.00 for what I think was a AC service, which didn’t change a thing. I hope one of you can point me to audio head unit the fits without a whole lot of alterations to the dashboard. Apologies in advance if I have violated any forum rules or etiquette.

And thanks in advance for all your help!

 

[Brain75]

1) Seats
I got lucky and found a really nice pair of explorer eddie bauer seats in the junkyard. There is a guide here on seat swaps, but ultimately the answer is a whole lot of ford seats swap all you need to do is find one with the same spacing and use your ranger tracks on whatever donor you use that has the same 4 bolt square spacing.

Ford Ranger Seat Swap - The Ranger Station

Originally By: AllanD (Photo of Escort GT seats inside TRS-2 1996 Ranger) NOTE: A lot of this information has been gathered from our forum members. If you have information to contribute, please use the Contact button at the bottom. … Continued

www.therangerstation.com

2) AC - the tech library has a guide on converting an old R12 to modern R134 - you already have R134, but it goes through all the parts and has good info... not exactly the most appropriate to your situation but might be worth a read to get all the know
4) not familiar with 'explorer center console mod' other than adding the overhead temperature and compass - that one is in the tech library too
5) I think license plate frame will be the easiest - not a lot of places to add a backup camera and still leave the tailgate removable, etc. Another option depending on the size of your ford oval is to swap to the new logo oval with backup camera in it (stock on like 2024, maybe '19+).
6) junkyard and techlibrary are your answer again... find a donor ranger and take all the parts.
7) Biggest thing about bedliner is do your prep just like exterior paint - it is more than just a car wash quick spray (which will result in peeling) - you got to do the whole clean it like the pros do for painting.

8) I did the overhead console on a 34 year old, pretty painless and quite cheap for me (cheap junkyard near me)

 

[Rainjer_Dainger]

Thank you!
1) A quick look in OfferUp shows a junkyard listing for a very nice pair of front seats for a 2006 Ford Explorer for $450.00. Seems a bit pricey to me. But hey, I'm old, everything seems expensive to me. If they were grey or dark grey I would be very interested. They're two tone light grey and tan/beige. I'm going to ask if they have either console from the same vehicle. My interior is dark grey. I could live with that, especially if the other pieces are available.
8) My concern with the bedliner is contamination. I live remote on septic, a river and pond. I try hard to watch what goes down the drain or on the ground. I thought about going to manual car wash place with my power washer and shootin as much as possible down their drain.
2) The tip on the TRS tech library was nice! That'll help for a few things.
4) I saw a YT video where a ranger owner cuts off the 60/40 metal on the drivers seat, refoams and puts covers over that. That's what I was referring to.
5) I like that idea, the Ford logo camera. It would have to be wireless, for me anyway. This truck does all our gardening dirt deliveries. Tailgate removal is a must. License plate would work too.

Thanks again. I might start posting pics of the process!

 

[Brain75]

a junkyard where they pull it will be 2x - 10x as much as a u-pull-it place, I can't comment on WA, or your local area.... I can tell you I paid $25/ea for mine (no airbag) for a total of $50+/- taxes/fees/etc... $450 I would consider a total rape. (and that was in Nov, not 15 years ago). I've already figured out that my yard is cheap even by west of the miss standards (east of the miss they pay about 2x).... small town living...

My yard wants $50 / ea for seats with airbags.... which you would probably want to replace the ones you got - I have a 2nd gen, so no bags, no wiring, no sensors - no need to pay for something I don't need.

 

[Rainjer_Dainger]

I found a 2wd 2011 2.3L 4V Ranger with a very nice interior, for $4k that's in need of a transmission. How crazy of an idea would swapping my engine, tranny and transfer case, etc. into that Ranger, be? I don't have a lift, which would be kinda mandatory for that level of work. I know it would be much easier to swap the interior, maybe that's the way to go... Just a thought?

 

[Uncle Gump]

I'd rather talk about that big king salmon you have there. You folks have it pretty good over there... but my great lakes pier heads call to me a couple times a year. Nothing like the feel of a fresh salmon try to bust your tackle and pull you into the drink.

I did the 60/40 to bucket seat mod... not perfect but my seat was in good shape and works fine. I did a smittybilt securoty console... more utilitarian then refined... but totally functional for my needs.

And yeah...

Welcome to TRS

 

[Rainjer_Dainger]

Thanks for the welcome Uncle Gump! I won't turn this into a salmon fishing thread, but yeah I love the zzziiiinnngggg of angry king, or silver or dog or steely or, you get the idea. FWIW the king was upper 30's and the Coho was mid teens.

 

[01WHTRNGR]

My seats, center console, and overhead console are all out of an Explorer Sport Trac. I followed the guides on here. For my seats, the wiring diagrams didn’t match my color wires, so I just connected them to my battery and tested the controls to figure it out. The center console, I never bolted it down to the floor and it’s been fine for over a year. There’s also a writeup somewhere in here that teaches how to use the explorer rear view mirror to wire in auto headlights which I also did.

 

[JoshT]

Explorer console is definitely doable. There should be a few trhreads and write-ups on it around if you figure out the right search terms. I've got one waiting to go into my 99 as well.

Seats... I definitely understand wanting improvements there. Sounds like your DS seat is slap worn out from use over the years.

Do you like the stock seat other than the wear? Sounds like you are handy enough to disassemble and reassemble one. If you like the style of the stock seat, find another PS seat, swap the foams (and covers if needed) over to your DS seat frame.

If you want something completely different, your imigination and fabrication skills are the limit. Most other extended cab Ranger seats, at least mid 90s-2011, will bolt right in. Explorer (and ST) seats up through abourt 2001 can bolt right in. Almost anything else can be installed if you can adapt them to your existing tracks and/or mounts.

I recently picked up a set of 80s/90s aftermarket FloFit seats from a Fox Mustang that I'm going to try to adapt to my '99 for the time being. Ok, I am going to adapt, just not sure if I'm going to be buying brackets or adatpring to the stock brackets. Later, those will be going into a first gen and I intend to try fitting a set of later model Mustang buckets.

 

[Rainjer_Dainger]

That's the setup I'm looking for!

My seats, center console, and overhead console are all out of an Explorer Sport Trac. I followed the guides on here. For my seats, the wiring diagrams didn’t match my color wires, so I just connected them to my battery and tested the controls to figure it out. The center console, I never bolted it down to the floor and it’s been fine for over a year. There’s also a writeup somewhere in here that teaches how to use the explorer rear view mirror to wire in auto headlights which I also did.

 

[JoshT]

Just another thought. You said you are underwhelmed by the 3.0L and you can afford for this to be a project now. Well, 2001 model year ranger is ripe candidate for an Explorer 5.0L swap.

If you can search up a decent 2001 model year AWD Explorer Donor, it would give you a 49 (maybe 50, not sure about CA) state legal drivetrain swap. It would also give you the seats, center console, and overhead console that are on your upgrade list. It could also provide a few other nice pieces like the rear axle (might need to do the front also to match gears). Main drawback aside from extra work would be making the truck AWD until/unless you swapped in a regular transfer case from something like an F-150.

Even if you didn't want to engine swap buying a cheap donor might be the way to get the pieces you want, then sell/part/scrap the rest to recoup some of the cost.

 

[01WHTRNGR]

That's the setup I'm looking for!

I grabbed everything out of junkyards. For the seats, I’d recommend bringing a battery in if you can to move the seats forward and backward to make it easier to remove them. It’s possible if you don’t, just annoying to do.

 

[Brain75]

fwiw, not to talk you into spending unnecessary money on things you don't need, but I found homelink (garage door opener) visors in the yard (from an explorer) and lighted mirror visors (again explorer) and added those while I was at it - the wiring harness for the overhead center console should* include lighted visors... just one more upgrade to spend money on.
Find yourself a u-pull-it

edit: "should almost always", I think I did see one that did not have lighted vanity but 99% of the ones I saw had lighted vanity with the overhead console... I saw almost no homelink though - hence I bought 3 visors to make 2...

 

[Rainjer_Dainger]

I don't mind the stock ranger seats, but I would much rather have a center floor cosole. I've never like the 60/40 seats. My back is in pretty rough shape, would be nice to have some lumbar support. I've started the conversion process for a center floor console. I hadn't thought about pulling the foam from a passenger seat. I would still need to either repair the old cover or find a replacement. I can handle just about anything, but I don't sew. Lots of a good ideas - thanks!

Seats... I definitely understand wanting improvements there. Sounds like your DS seat is slap worn out from use over the years.

Do you like the stock seat other than the wear? Sounds like you are handy enough to disassemble and reassemble one. If you like the style of the stock seat, find another PS seat, swap the foams (and covers if needed) over to your DS seat frame.

If you want something completely different, your imigination and fabrication skills are the limit. Most other extended cab Ranger seats, at least mid 90s-2011, will bolt right in. Explorer (and ST) seats up through abourt 2001 can bolt right in. Almost anything else can be installed if you can adapt them to your existing tracks and/or mounts.

 

[JoshT]

I hadn't thought about pulling the foam from a passenger seat. I would still need to either repair the old cover or find a replacement.

Back foams will be the same, covers should be too if you can find in the right color. PS side stuff is usually in a lot beter shape than DS.

For the base the foams should swap straight over. From past discussion, I was under the impression that the driver side seat pan was the same as a passenger side seat pan, just with an extra pieces added on for the center seat and arm rest. Remove the extra pieces, and pop on the PS foam. Covers are about the same too from my impressions, swap the PS cover over to the DS and pop a hole in the side for the back adjuster. Thinking about it there might be a decorative piece that hangs down on the door side of the seat to hide the tracks. That might be missing if you put a PS cover on a DS.

I could be way off base there. I'm going from old memory of past discussions.