87 Ranger Rebuild

[junkfixr]

My original 4x4 tangled with a deer, hit an embankment, got airborne, flipped and slid to a halt in the road on it's passenger side. A buddy came by, hooked a chain to it and flipped it back on it's wheels and I drove it home 2 miles. What's left of it is in the background covered by an aluminum boat and a tarp.

The tan 4x2 long bed was a parts truck, and after lots of debate, we decided it was easiest to just do a cab swap.

Here's the 4x2 cab bolted to the 4x4 chassis. Looking do-able after all.

Picked up a bed & doors with good glass from the boneyard.

Tailgate came from the same boneyard. I was there again recently and they had crushed everything older than 2000. The black tailgate inspired the current paint job. It's cheap, and easy to duplicate.

Added some new chrome and fog lights...

With a lot of TLC, tireless hours and countless rattle cans of black primer we're rather proud of our father/son project.

From the ashes of disaster grew the roses of success . . .

 

[upnsmoke]

Nice job. That came out really clean looking. Did you use the interior from the donor truck? You run into any hang ups with the wiring?

 

[junkfixr]

interior

Yup, the tan truck was an XL so we used the trim package, covered the headliner with a flag, and I made the door panels from a sheet of luan and color matched the paint from Ace Hardware.

I used the wiring harness & computer from the original 4x4 because the plug on the transfer case(dash light) & a speed sensor on the tail shaft were'nt provided for in the tan 4x2. Just a few small glitches, but no real problems.

I'll get some pics of the interior eventually. Wasn't sure if I should post here, or on the pimp your p.o.s. thread. I really wanna build a lifted truck, but the goal was to keep everything as close to original as possible. Gen 1's are getting very scarce in my neck of the woods.

 

[upnsmoke]

1st gens really are getting rare these days. A lot of them are going to the junkyard. It's cool to see one get saved.

 

[Grey_04]

1st gens really are getting rare these days. A lot of them are going to the junkyard. It's cool to see one get saved.

x2 nice looking job on saving this one..

 

[jhammel85]

1st gens really are getting rare these days. A lot of them are going to the junkyard. It's cool to see one get saved.

Very true. Even hard to find at a junkyard..

Also, that's a great looking truck!