Ranger hit by tornado, Oct.9 OKC

[LearjetMinako]

To start, it has been a very long time since I've posted on the TRS. On Oct.9 2018, a F0-F1 tornado went through the North side of Tinker AFB and through the JCPenny parking lot on SE 29 st. Unfortunely, my Ranger was a total loss by the insurance company. The tornado with flying debris from a nearby pallet stack, smashed both windows on the passenger side, dent the front fender plus many dings on the side, chipped the paint and shoved the Ranger two feet out of its parking space. I'm already well into the restoration process of getting the Ranger looking like new again. I already pulled most all the interior apart expect for the dash. Took off most of the plastics off on the outside and removed the windows. In the end, it will be new paint, new carpet, new headliner, new exterior plastics and new windows (expect windshield).

I do have one question before I go order over a $1000 worth on parts. On the rear window, is there a difference between the 93-97 and 98-11 years? I will be replacing the slider with a fixed glass as the old slider rubber is deteriorated from the years. It is a bolt in design.

Leaf spring bushings:
So I had a thought last night. Since I'm this deep into restoring the Ranger, this would be an excellent time to replace those leaf spring bushings. There for I started the next morning with removing the bed of the Ranger. Also did a little burnout in the driveway since the Ranger lost so much weight.

The chassis and the rest of the metal parts are in very good shape. Just the normal surface rust, nothing cancerous.

 

[adsm08]

The back glass seems to work from all years, as long as it is the same attaching, bolt-in to bolt-in, or lip seal to lip seal.

This spring I replace the back glass in my 87 with one from an 01 and it is the same, except for the newer assembly plant sticker, different latch design, and factory 5% tint.

 

[Ranger850]

why not pull the dash. it's only six bolts. I replaced the heater core ion mine. Everybody was like" Aw man that suck, you gotta pull the dash." it wasn't that hard and I was able to clean out the years worth of dirt roads and dog hair from back there. Pretty simple really

 

[LearjetMinako]

Dash doesn't need to be pulled for the restoration. Besides, I kind of need it to drive the Ranger to the body shop. Also, I've taken the dash apart so many times for wiring projects (Ford EATC retrofit, CB, Sound System).

Thanks for the answer on the back window. I was 90% sure it would work. But different information on years that would fit from guides was confusing me. The quarter and rear glass will be a dark tint. Side windows I will have to get tinted 35% VLT.

 

[LearjetMinako]

It has been a long journey from tear down to rebuild. But finally got the Ranger back on the road better than before. Dents and paint was done by Maaco. Definitely not the best, but affordable. Give them a "B-" as they need to work on preparing a vehicle for repaint and learn how to not overspray onto other parts. The rest of the parts install was done by me. Ranger feels good with new carpet and headliner. Just need to work on the little things now, like which TRS decal needs to go on the rear window. Original TRS is looking pretty weather worn from 12 years in the sun.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Looks good

 

[Jim Oaks]

Looks good. Yes, Maaco doesn't do a lot of prep work. If you want them to paint it, you're almost better off doing all the prep yourself, and just letting them spray it.

 

[LearjetMinako]

Yeah. I pretty much had the Ranger stripped down to just the body for Maaco. But they still managed to overspray in some areas. They painted my spare and exhaust pipe white. Then told me it was probably due to an updraft that caused it, which is really doubtful. After the first spray job, I had them redo the passenger side because they didn't repair all the chips in the paint from the tornado damage. And all those chips showed through the new paint coat.

Either way, I'm glad the Ranger is on the road again. Feels great to drive a spirted 4-banger with a manual versus a 4x4 SUV with a v-6 auto. If the weather warms up tomorrow, I might be able to give the Ranger its first wash after the rebuild.