From A Short bed to Long bed?

[86isuzu]

Hey,

I have been reading your posts here about the truck bed changes and how your got it working.

I have a sort of similar thing going on, except its not an extended Cab, just a regular cab, but I bought a 7ft bed. I have a crushed 6ft that i want to take off the 98 ranger, but ended up buying a 7ft bed which thought would fit. someone told me flat out no, didnt really help me much with "if you do this or that" when I read your info. I couldnt really get if my regular cab 98 ranger needed something done to the frame in order to add the 7ft or what? I know this threat is a slight out dated, but im also curious how your project went and if you have a pictur of the truck with the extended bed. thanks!

What the hell, I'll resurrect this thread.

You will need to modify your frame. As I gathered from the OP, you would need the back half of a 98+ long bed frame. And it apparently is a "bolt-on" modification, for lack of a better term.

This kinda makes me want to do a Supercab Longbed as well...

 

[jfaux16]

Does anyone have anymore info of this type of build? I'm looking to do the same thing and make a extended cab 7ft long bed ranger. I have a extended cab 6ft short bed ranger and a singal cab 7ft long bed ranger. Is it just as simple as cutting the rivets out of both back half of the frames and swaping the long bed rear frame to the extended cab front frame?

 

[86isuzu]

Both of mine were 4x4s but I don't think there are any differences to your 4x2 other than brake line and springs.

Run truck until gas tank more/less empty.

Remove both beds; remembering to disconnect wiring and fuel filler (there's a duh moment in there); removing tailgate makes them lighter. I prefer 4 people - one on each corner, but my son and I have done it with just 2 of us, and I have done it myself with help from engine crane. Beds stand nicely front end, using tarp to prevent scratches against driveway during mods.

Remove spare, bumper, trailer hitch (if applicable), disconnect charcoal canister both vapour line and electrical, differential wiring, parking brake cable, brake line* and driveshaft. *On the truck without ABS, I just drained the brake fluid into coke bottle as fluid could use replacement anyways. For the truck with ABS, picked up a brake line plug.

Jack up truck, put front frame on jack stands, remove rivets (I grind an "X" into head, then remove rest of head with cold chisel and BFH. Then using BFH and punch, remove the rest). With frame sections separated, I roll the rear away, carefully threading wires and hoses out.

Repeat for other truck. Cut 6" of the long bed cab frame to extend the SC frame. Now, at this point, you could make a regular cab short bed, but I have never had parts. Trucks I was working with had had a "event" on front of long bed and one on box/rear frame on the SC cab, so I took pieces I needed and hauled rest to Bucks Auto for store credit. Specific pieces I took being wiring and fuel filter.

Driveshaft was dropped off at local shop and they extended it 6". 6" section from LB welded to SC frame with appropriate fish plates as per Ford's frame extension manual. LB rear frame installed on extended SC frame. Bolted together with bolts as per Ford frame repair manual.

Now, I shuffled the gas tank back 6" so it lined up with filler and used a "dummy", aka guts removed, fuel filter to extend the line as that meant the lines for the charcoal canister just "worked". I extended wiring to fuel pump/gauge, rear axle & charcoal canister by 6" and to rear disconnect 12". My 4x4 is lifted 4", so I inserted a 12" extension in brake lines just to be safe, you should be able to get away with 6" extension. I worked with a garage door shop to build the emergency cable (way more work than it was worth, but it looks professional).

Now, the mad scientist part: I replaced the Ranger springs with Chev K-1500 springs. They are ~6-1/4" longer which allows me to leave the front hangers bolted into original holes on the SC frame section - meaning if the welds fail, the truck buckles, but all the pieces stay together while having tire more/less in correct spot in fender wells. The Chevy springs are a lot stiffer, but nothing that can't be solved by strategically pulling a leaf or 2. The Chev 5+1 springs are also only 1/2" greater in curvature, so only raises truck by about 75% of that (the extra 50 lbs on rear axle takes away some)- you have to measure with tape to see delta.

Jack up, remove jack stands and lower onto wheels, bleed brakes. Bolt the box (connect fuel filler and lights), bumper, hitch, etc on, install spare and show off your work.

Hope the above helps.

This guy, Don4331, seems to be the resident expert on the matter.