Stepside 1st gen

[Rangerx2]

Very cool find there Shran! Come to think of it I remember seeing a few S-10 stepside's back in the 80's & 90's. I also remember seeing one, maybe two 1st-gen Dakota's with a stepside bed done up in the Lil' Red Express theme. At first I thought that was something someone built but now I'm wondering if it was a conversion build by Choo Choo or someobody. Maybe PetroleumJunkie412 could shed some more light on the Lil' Red Dakota's?

 

[jovibuilt]

Uncle Gump- I have not made any yet.

PetroleumJunkie412 -I don't know

Jim Oaks- I don't have any pictures but have three different molds. Ranger,S10and Toyota. Also have the mold to make the inside box out of fiberglass. All the beds I have have metal inside box's. I have been looking for a shop that can make the bed floor without success. I only have the molds for the shadow beds. I hope to make some molds for the choo choo beds after i retire in 3 years. The molds I have weigh probably 200 lbs each. I also have the mold to make the tailgate out of fiberglass. The beds I have have a metal and fiberglass tail gate. When I picked up the molds from 88stepside. It took a lwb super duty and a 20' trailer to load everything I got. Even got the vhs installation tape and brochure's with pics from the original company. Pic of the last bed I bought.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Cool. But I don't think the flareside suits a supercab. I like them on a regular cab.

 

[AlvinsRanger90]

I held off posting this for a variety of reasons - first and foremost, I was trying to buy it (and I did buy it yesterday) and did not want to generate a bunch of interest and simply out of respect for the owner.

So here it is. What I can tell you is that it is NOT a genuine Ford product - the bed is 100% aftermarket conversion parts but is very well done. It was apparently made by a company called Recreational Designs, Inc out of White Pigeon, MI. It is all fiberglass, including the tailgate. I think RDI probably added the visor, graphics and handles as well.

I first saw this truck about 10 years ago and thought it was super cool. I spotted it again about three months ago sitting by a garage with four flat tires and weeds growing up around it. I left a note on the door of the house stating that I was interested in buying it and the owner called me in July to say that it is in fact for sale. Several weeks and some negotiation later, it came home with me. This was apparently the PO's father's truck. It was purchased new locally at McKie Ford and was daily driven up till 2011 when a new vehicle was purchased and this was parked and left to sit there.

Unfortunately it is not in very good shape - the doors and front fenders are quite rusty, it needs tires, a windshield, battery, exhaust work, rear axle seals and probably new gas tank & pumps.... but it actually fired up and I drove it off my trailer and into my shop!

Specs are pretty basic - 2.9 V6 engine, 5 speed trans, push button 4x4. It is an XLT but is missing cruise, AC, PW/PL/tilt and that's just fine with me.

Enjoy - it may not be the incredibly rare Shadow prototype but I'm guessing it's the next best thing and we may never see another.

That bitch is swweet!

 

[AlvinsRanger90]

Nice find! A rare little truck indeed, especially being a 4x4 model. Shame about the 2.9 though..

Whats wrong with 2.9? I

 

[snoranger]

Whats wrong with 2.9? I

You must be new here...
There’s an ongoing battle over which is less shitty, the 2.9l or the 3.0l. In the end, no one wins.

 

[PetroleumJunkie412]

You must be new here...
There’s an ongoing battle over which is less shitty, the 2.9l or the 3.0l. In the end, no one wins.

You know.

One of these days.

I'm going to wind up with the DOHC 2.9.

And I'm going to do SO MANY doughnuts in your lawn.

So many.



So, so many.

 

[snoranger]

You know.

One of these days.

I'm going to wind up with the DOHC 2.9.

And I'm going to do SO MANY doughnuts in your lawn.

So many.



So, so many.

The 2.9 vs 3.0 argument has been going on for sometime now... tell me who has won?
No one... that’s who.

 

[PetroleumJunkie412]

Let @RonD decide I guess. He knows God, since he's Canadian God.





One if these days Ron, ima draw you a graven image, eh.

 

[Shran]

I'm not gonna trash talk the 2.9 at the moment. The one in this truck runs and when (note: I said when, not if) it eats a head, I will put a set of heads on it and continue on with life. The cooling system is in great shape now and at the rate we drive it, it should last quite a long while.

Just put new tires on it and had it aligned yesterday. Camber was several degrees positive on both sides and they said caster was a bit off too so we put upper bushings in both sides. That kinda surprised me, I don't understand why it was like that. Nothing was bent or damaged...usually as springs wear and sag it goes the opposite direction.

 

[PetroleumJunkie412]

I'm not gonna trash talk the 2.9 at the moment. The one in this truck runs and when (note: I said when, not if) it eats a head, I will put a set of heads on it and continue on with life. The cooling system is in great shape now and at the rate we drive it, it should last quite a long while.

Just put new tires on it and had it aligned yesterday. Camber was several degrees positive on both sides and they said caster was a bit off too so we put upper bushings in both sides. That kinda surprised me, I don't understand why it was like that. Nothing was bent or damaged...usually as springs wear and sag it goes the opposite direction.

Benz/BMW cabin heater water pump spliced into a heater hose solves all 2.9 overheating issues. Gives you a second cooling system using your cab heater as a radiator. Just wire it so that when you kick the blower on, it comes on.

Also really nice for cold days as you don't have to have the engine running to stay warm. Just let it heat back up every now and then. Yes, that's why Benz and BMW have the in their cars. ?

 

[Shran]

That's cool, do you have a part number for that?

IMO the 2.9 head design is weak (and the 4.0 heads for that matter) but that's really irrelevant if your cooling system is empty or full of goo. Preventative maintenance goes a long ways.

 

[PetroleumJunkie412]

That's cool, do you have a part number for that?

IMO the 2.9 head design is weak (and the 4.0 heads for that matter) but that's really irrelevant if your cooling system is empty or full of goo. Preventative maintenance goes a long ways.

Nope. Just always cruise the German section of the JY to enjoy some refined heaps of crap. Disassembled an alfa graduate over the summer in the yard for the hell of it. Do that to the cool stuff every time I've seen it. It's how I've learned to do the crap I do to perfectly innocent Rangers.

I poked around a mid 2000s BMW.5 series, started Googleing part numbers of crap that looked strange, and found that all the coolant hoses were for this huge heater system plumbed all through the cabin and body to combat the goddamned massive V8. Great engineering.

Benz one is designed for passenger comfort. With luxury comes cool stuff like independent zone control solenoids. The mb one was out of a C230 kompressor (considering trading the Honda for one to commemorate how frigging many of those I've stripped clean). Comes with a really cool coollant splitter with individual electric solenoids for each "out". Still spitballing cool crap I can try with that one.


...get it?

I'll snap a pic or two from the parts bunker tomorrow.













Oh yeah, I have a parts bunker now.

 

[PetroleumJunkie412]

As promised, from the bunker:

Mercedes pump and valve:

BMW pump, valve, hoses, overflow bottle, and some related sensor that I can't remember what it does, but I do remember it was worth grabbing because it's somehow related:

 

[Jim Oaks]

@88stepside @jovibuilt Where did the molds come from? Who was the manufacturer? Delta III Corp in Sturgis Michigan made beds like these and sold them to van and truck conversion companies. Dan Breejen (now at Allegan Tubular Products) told me that he had drew the blueprints for all the steel parts on the bed beds similar to these for Delta III Corp. He had also sent me this pdf.

@Shran did you get any pics of the truck out of the grass and cleaned up before you removed the bed?