93-97 Mud Flap Removal - Removal of rear brackets

[RangerRich96]

My '96 has the flat oem mud flaps that I am removing. The fronts are all 'bent' out of shape and one of the rears has a chunk missing from the bottom (looks like it it got caught against the rear tire at some point in time) My concern is the brackets at the rear that are attached to the underside of the and outer wheel well. Do these serve any structural purpose for the bed?

 

[Mark_88]

I never actually had a 96 with rear mudflaps but earlier models had a bar that went from the fender to just under the bed and were fastened to the rail. My 92 had flaps on there and they were pretty rusty but still intact.

Edit: That should have read 'bed" in the above sentence...the bar actually attaches to the bed and not the frame...makes it easier to remove the bed...

The bar itself keeps the panel from moving at higher speeds because I had one break and could actually see the panel moving when it wasn't attached properly.

They are easy to replace but you may need to modify them if the rail or attachment points are rusted. the ones up under the bed get surprisingly rusty from all the road spray they are in line with and it's actually a good idea when your repair or replace them to put on something to protect them.

I used rubber guard (rocker guard) asphalt coating on my box and it held up pretty good. If you drive on dirt or gravel roads you may need to redo them every year.

 

[RangerRich96]

Thanks, I removed all of them for now. I had a feeling that Ford installed the rears that way to those brackets for a reason because in front of the rear wheels, there are similar style brackets running from the wheel wheel to the underside bed rail.

I am thinking I can re-install the brackets w the flaps removed and maybe cut them down to about 2" just enough so they cover the exposed bracket sticking out from under the bed. W/O the flaps on the brackets, there's a small portion of the bracket visible hanging down.