That pesky door latch cable on 92 rangers!!

[jlkuehl]

I've been searching high and low for someone to say "this is how you can cheaply fix the door latch cable on 1992 Rangers", but have so far only heard some great advice on how to do away with it. I couldn't locate a 1989-91 Ranger to pull the door latch and related parts from, couldn't afford the outrageous price of the cable at the stealership, and it doesn't seem that anyone makes an aftermarket replacement for this one year only part. So, I did the next best thing. I stopped by a local auto parts store and picked up a cable for the 92 to 97 Ford F150. It's a mile shorter, and the handle end of the cable outer jacket is different, but with a little careful modification, it can be made to work. I took a file and slowly and carefully made the notch that fits into the inside door handle wide enough to slip tightly into the Ranger's handle.
After the usual cussing, got the door latch and everything apart as has been described, removed the broken cable and substituted the new one. Due to the shorter cable, I had to slip it through the hole in the door and put the inner handle on it before re-installing the latch and linkages. The cable has enough slack in it to reach without being stretched, and operates the latch beautifully. Best part of all, I have $20 and about 20 minutes total in doing the entire repair. I hope this helps some of you others out there with the oddball 92's!

 

[Ozwynn]

welcome..... that was a good idea you had

did you take pics?

 

[jlkuehl]

Unfortunately, no, I didn't think of it until after I had it all back together. Maybe next time I'll think to grab the camera, and snap a few pics so everyone can see. I'm always tinkering around, so you never know what I'll come up with!