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Headlight Connector Wiring 1st Gen VS 2nd Gen


eightynine4x4

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Messages
673
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Location
New York
Vehicle Year
1989
Make / Model
Ford Ranger
Engine Type
2.9 V6
Transmission
Automatic
2WD / 4WD
4WD
Total Lift
2.5" Suspension
Tire Size
31 x 10.5 x 15
It’s not that easy, but I figured out how to make the headlights and grill work. Grill is easy, just drill some new holes to taste.
Headlight, i drilled bolt holes for the outer side position for each light. Used good solid bolts, I think like 5/16 thick. That is enough to be a sorta sturdy placeholder. Finding the exactly perfect spot in wall to drill was difficult though, since there’s weird bent metal shaping back in there making it difficult to get a nut/bolt head back in there. Super tight, had to be perfect and was stressful haha.

The lamps need some other weight bearing on other side of course or they’d sag. I just used to steel zip ties to hold up other side, hooked upper inner light hole to random hole nearby on frame, and that works. Have driven over 1000 miles like this with no issues and no rattling. Should be ok, but will look to reinforce more.

You can barely see the bolt in first pic if you zoom in. That’s a testament to how buried it is to work with down in there!

I still have to get my hands on a valance to hold the front blinkers. For now have them strapped in. Then I have to mount the bumper in some custom way which I haven’t figured out yet.

The hood is plug and play once you have the grill and lights and fenders in. Just bolt the new one on.

The 1st Gen fenders basically go on without issue once you’ve removed all the 2nd Gen stuff.

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Dustin_89BII

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Jun 5, 2022
Messages
46
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Location
Oregon
Vehicle Year
1989
Make / Model
Bronco II
Engine Type
2.9 V6
Transmission
Manual
2WD / 4WD
4WD
Awesome work! I appreciate the update. I found a valence, grille, and peripheral components at a pick-n-pull yard yesterday. I could go pull the rad support from an 88 BII. Still trying to figure out if doing a whole support swap will be easier overall vs augmenting the original support for gen 1 components… 🤔 I’m probably going to do the 7” round headlight conversion as well, so that part will be diy either way!

how’s the bumper situation? Did you find a solution for fitment?

cheers!
 

eightynine4x4

Active Member
Joined
Oct 15, 2020
Messages
673
Reaction score
178
Points
43
Location
New York
Vehicle Year
1989
Make / Model
Ford Ranger
Engine Type
2.9 V6
Transmission
Automatic
2WD / 4WD
4WD
Total Lift
2.5" Suspension
Tire Size
31 x 10.5 x 15
Awesome work! I appreciate the update. I found a valence, grille, and peripheral components at a pick-n-pull yard yesterday. I could go pull the rad support from an 88 BII. Still trying to figure out if doing a whole support swap will be easier overall vs augmenting the original support for gen 1 components… 🤔 I’m probably going to do the 7” round headlight conversion as well, so that part will be diy either way!

how’s the bumper situation? Did you find a solution for fitment?

cheers!
I did not figure out a bumper mounting solution yet, but my scenario is more complicated since the previous owners installed lift brackets for the bumper since they had a 3" body lift. When installing those lift brackets, they had to destroy one of the bolt holes for each side. So if I remove these weird brackets, what i'm left with is one hole for each side instead of two holes for each side. Totally different ballgame. So I have to come up with something very custom.
 

SenorNoob

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Oct 24, 2012
Messages
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Location
Middle Tennessee
Vehicle Year
1988
Make / Model
Ford
Engine Type
4.0 V6
Engine Size
4.0
Transmission
Manual
2WD / 4WD
4WD
Total Lift
1.5" Front + 4" Rear
Tire Size
245-70-R16

eightynine4x4

Active Member
Joined
Oct 15, 2020
Messages
673
Reaction score
178
Points
43
Location
New York
Vehicle Year
1989
Make / Model
Ford Ranger
Engine Type
2.9 V6
Transmission
Automatic
2WD / 4WD
4WD
Total Lift
2.5" Suspension
Tire Size
31 x 10.5 x 15
Nope :/
Thinking I'll try pulling some parts off the 2nd gen bumper inside of it and see if i can rig up a way to fasten it to the 1st gen bumper. Would also need to repair the half-cut lower hole of each frame rail front, since the previous owners cut those to hook up these lift brackets. So if i can some how get the internals of bumpers swapped, even if I have to drill new holes in 1st gen bumper to mount 2nd gen bracket inside it, I can see a clear pathway to this being mounted fine enough without welding.
 

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