holyford86
Some guy with a problem
Supporting Member
Article Contributor
RBV's on Boost
GMRS Radio License
- Joined
- Aug 6, 2007
- Messages
- 2,224
- Reaction score
- 638
- Points
- 113
- Age
- 37
- Location
- Plattsburgh, NY
- Vehicle Year
- many
- Make / Model
- Ford
- Engine Size
- 4.0
- Transmission
- Manual
- 2WD / 4WD
- 4WD
- Total Lift
- 7
- Tire Size
- 33x12.50R15
Recently I picked up a first gen long bed with a service body I've never seen on a Ranger before. The body is made by Reading and is all aluminum. It even came with the keys for all of the locks on the body.
After measuring the interior space I determined that it will fit a standard full size mattress with some room to spare. It has a door in each side and barn doors in the rear.
The plan is to use the side doors for access to the bed and the rear barn doors will be access to a bunch of shelves and such which will function as a kitchenette of sorts. There will be an awning on at least one side, the roof will have solar panels attached and one of the lower compartments will be enlarged to fit a decent sized portable power station to run some interior and exterior lighting and some charging ports for devices, nothing too extreme. There will be a rack built in front of the box for water and fuel cans too, no running water at this time, although I may do a portable unit later.
First step is taking the box off the truck frame, most of the truck will be going down the road as it's been sitting for a very long time and has some rot on the frame that I don't really want to mess with.
Its going to be converted into a trailer at this point as I don't want to put it on my truck and change how well it wheels. I have a trailer made from another long bed Ranger that hasn't seen much use since I built it and is perpetually full of a small pile of scrap. the service body bolts to the Ranger frame using all of the factory bed bolt locations so getting it to bolt on should be super easy.
Next on the agenda is getting the bed off the trailer and getting it gone. (Anyone want a usable but not pretty 7 foot bed for cheap?) I'll be grabbing a couple cross members from the service body donor truck because they don't exist on the trailer and moving the axle back a few inches as there is no tongue weight as it sits. I think I'll move it back the width of the spring shackle mounts which will allow me to get a touch more weight in the front and give me clearance to run the exact same 33 inch tires that the truck has on it too. More pics to follow when I get some more time to work on it, hopefully later this week if the weather cooperates.
After measuring the interior space I determined that it will fit a standard full size mattress with some room to spare. It has a door in each side and barn doors in the rear.
The plan is to use the side doors for access to the bed and the rear barn doors will be access to a bunch of shelves and such which will function as a kitchenette of sorts. There will be an awning on at least one side, the roof will have solar panels attached and one of the lower compartments will be enlarged to fit a decent sized portable power station to run some interior and exterior lighting and some charging ports for devices, nothing too extreme. There will be a rack built in front of the box for water and fuel cans too, no running water at this time, although I may do a portable unit later.
First step is taking the box off the truck frame, most of the truck will be going down the road as it's been sitting for a very long time and has some rot on the frame that I don't really want to mess with.
Its going to be converted into a trailer at this point as I don't want to put it on my truck and change how well it wheels. I have a trailer made from another long bed Ranger that hasn't seen much use since I built it and is perpetually full of a small pile of scrap. the service body bolts to the Ranger frame using all of the factory bed bolt locations so getting it to bolt on should be super easy.
Next on the agenda is getting the bed off the trailer and getting it gone. (Anyone want a usable but not pretty 7 foot bed for cheap?) I'll be grabbing a couple cross members from the service body donor truck because they don't exist on the trailer and moving the axle back a few inches as there is no tongue weight as it sits. I think I'll move it back the width of the spring shackle mounts which will allow me to get a touch more weight in the front and give me clearance to run the exact same 33 inch tires that the truck has on it too. More pics to follow when I get some more time to work on it, hopefully later this week if the weather cooperates.