Is this truck worth fixing and what would it take?

[colinsk8s]

Hello,

The name's Colin, I'm new to the forum. I joined because a friend of mine crashed his 1987 Ranger into a post and he's offering to sell it to me for cheap. He took it to an autobody shop that says the frame is straight, but due to all the replacement parts and labour needed, they quoted him many thousands of dollars. My friend is not very mechanically inclined, nor is he attached to the truck, hence his offer to sell it to me.

I went to take a look at the truck today. I've posted pics of the damage. To my eyes it needs the following: PS inner and outer fender, bumper, signal light trim piece thing, headlight and headlight mount. I know the core support is bent quite a bit, but I'm hoping I can pull that out and save myself from tearing apart the entire left side of the truck too. The grill is broken where it wraps around the headlight, but in my eyes that is merely asthetic and I wouldn't worry about it for now.

I should clarify, the reason I am interested in this truck is because I am starting a small scale farming opperation and a Ranger would come in handy for hauling feedbags, moving fence posts, etc. I am not looking for anything pretty but simply something cheap and reliable. I wouldn't paint the replacement panels to match.

I have located a guy with a parts truck with a rust free front clip. He's offerring to pull the parts I've listed above for me for a very reasonable price ($200). I figure if I can have about $500 or so invested when it's all said and done, that would be great. I'm thinking about taking apart all the broken pieces first, to see how bad / how much work it really is, before buying the new parts, just in case it is too far gone.

My main questions for you are: is this truck worth fixing? How much time would it take to replace all the needed parts? For anyone who has done front end clip conversions/or accident repair, is their anything I should need to know or any hidden parts that I should aquire?

Thanks for your feedback in advance!
Colin.

 

[kunar]

looks fixable to me, couple hundred in junkyard parts tops. as long as its only body damage, hammer it out and call it good. i fixed a ranger in similar condition. i spent quite a bit of time working on the body panels i had rather than buying replacements. i think i had a grand total of $45 in replacement parts (headlight, grille and overflow bottle)

the last pic doesnt show the "good" grille i had put back in it.

edit: are you sure there's no suspension damage? hard to tell for sure in the pics.

 

[colinsk8s]

edit: are you sure there's no suspension damage? hard to tell for sure in the pics.

I don't think there is. I'd have to drive it to be sure, but the body shop it was taken to didn't mention any suspension repairs needed, and all the suspension and steering mounts look good.

edit: Did you have to pull your core support to straighten it, or were you able to fix it without removing it?

 

[kunar]

I don't think there is. I'd have to drive it to be sure, but the body shop it was taken to didn't mention any suspension repairs needed, and all the suspension and steering mounts look good.

if thats really the case, i would be all over it. if your using it as a work truck it doesnt really matter what it looks like. pics above show you what you can do with a little time. if you bought junkyard body panels, you could do even better.

 

[scotts90ranger]

Looks like it needs a tie rod end and maybe adjustment sleeve, but suspension looks ok...

 

[robertc1024]

+1 on that.

 

[brokemechanic3000]

I would say get it but the body shop might not be right. I've sent cars back to body shops because our alignment machine showed that they didn't do a good job. And why not just buy the other truck as a whole take what you want/need the sell the rest back to the junkyard. most likely you will need more stuff than you think.

 

[kunar]

edit: Did you have to pull your core support to straighten it, or were you able to fix it without removing it?

i straightened mine and got it pretty close. it took a LOT of pulling, but it worked.