Anyone ever put a bronco II tailgate on a ranger?

[RangerReviver1990]

I know how dumb it sounds, but hear me out. I wanted to get a camper shell for my Ranger and I saw a Bronco pass by my work and it had a spare tire rack on the tailgate and it got me wondering, could you just buy a Bronco II tailgate and just stick it on the bed of a Ranger? Or it easier said than done?

 

[gaz]

I didn't want to pay for the swing out tire carrier bumper so I used a BII tire carrier on my Ranger to make more room to haul stuff. Not my best work but it has been installed since 1994 or 1995.

Works great, later it inspired me to use the 23gl BII fuel tank behind the axle.

 

[superj]

Oh man, i would have never thought of doing that. Thats awesome. The b2 in the junkyard here has the spare rack, still

 

[gaz]

@superj
My installation could have easily been improved in 2 areas:
1) the upper bracket mount uses 3 fasteners. If I had a welder at my disposal, I would have attached a gussetted support for the 3rd fastener, which is not visible as it is under the quarter panel skin.
2) I would also have welded a perch for the latch bracket on the tailgate, to better spread out the force of the hanging wheel.

NOTE:
It has always had at least a 33×12.5 but that bias-ply Baja Belted is a 33×13.5...this setup is not bothered, in the least, by the weight of the wheel.

 

[RangerReviver1990]

I didn't want to pay for the swing out tire carrier bumper so I used a BII tire carrier on my Ranger to make more room to haul stuff. Not my best work but it has been installed since 1994 or 1995.

Works great, later it inspired me to use the 23gl BII fuel tank behind the axle.

That’s actually looks pretty sick. And a fuel tank behind the axle? How’d you accomplish that?

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

My Choptop Bronco II has the swing out tire carrier bracket attached to a Ranger tailgate. Took a little finagling to make it work. The BII has a reinforcement in the quarter panel to hold the bracket that the Ranger doesn’t have, but even that wasn’t enough for a 35” tire, my body has started to crack and break around the tire carrier. I’m going to ditch the stock carrier when I build a new rear bumper and go with a bumper mounted carrier.

 

[gaz]

@RangerReviver1990
BII 23GL TANK
With a long bed Ranger there I are 2 distinct options:
1) mount it as far reward as possible, making use of the rear frame crossmember with a BII forward of the tank cross member support.
2) mount it as close to the rear axle as possible, using a junkyard BII forward of tank support and slide the Ranger rear frame crossmember forward.
3) BII tank front bracket/straps/hardware/skid plate with the Ranger's rear frame cross member; the Bronco's front support bracket required a little trimming and persuasions to fit the Ranger frame but not the big hammer. NOTE, using both front and rear BII tank brackets may be simpler but I didn't have both...they will both need to be trimmed/persuaded a little.
4) for the filler, after installing the tank, I just let the filler hose determine where to locate the filler hose access door. My plan was to use a BroncoII filler door but there is a metric ton of structural support in that area of a BII. Plan #2 was to use a second square Ranger filler door but I ended up with a round Explorer door.

Since Rangers have rear tanks as options the slots for the straps and bolt holes for the skid plate are already in the rear crossmember. You could also source a Ranger rear tank, front tank brackets but they are not very common...I've only ever seen one dual tank Ranger.

The way the BII forward tank support bracket fits, it kisses right up on the driver's side shock and mount. As it turned out, the holes were in the Ranger frame right were I needed them to hang the BII front tank support. I removed the Ranger rear frame crossmember, relocating it to the rear of the fuel tank; though this isn't 100% complete, because this Ranger has a body lift, my plan is to move the bumper brackets to the top of the frame (covering the body lift gap) then install my 2" receiver to the bottom of the frame. As it turns out, if I remember correctly I only need to drill 1 hole per/side (top forward) for the bumper, the old bumper holes (lower) line up with my receiver bolt holes.

I have a write up on the board for the BII fuel tank to s long bed Ranger. My biggest concern was moving the weight as far forward as possible, to have the least and possibly most positive impact on handling (if that is possible).

@superj
If you source a tire carrier from a BII, get all the hardware bosses from inside the quarter panel (I'm pretty sure everything was accessible thought the brake light access) make the corners for your cuts round and add the interior support for the upper bracket if possible.

The tailgate will support the bulk of the mass, nearly 100%, while the wheel is on the latch. I have always swung it out as gentle/easy as possible to promulgate the least load on the body thought the 2 hinge brackets.