Storage box on dash of second gen Ranger and first gen Explorer

[RockRanger]

In my quest for more storage spots in the truck I turned to the dash. The 89-94 ranger and 91-94 explorers have a nice flat spot on the dash that is fine to hold pens on the highway but nothing stays there when off road. I decided to build a box to fit in this area.

Little time with cardboard and the computer and I had this drawing.

dash box by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

After cutting it on my plasma table I started to make the necessary bends. I need a finger brake as this was what I came up with to make a few of the bends.

20150929_142010 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

Here is the box in position. To mount it I drilled two holes through the bottom and thru the dash. I dropped the glove box which gave me the room to put a fender washer and nut on the bottom to mount it. I had to grind a bit of the latch to allow it to clear the dash.

20150929_161041 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

I like it.

 

[Mark_88]

Looks functional...kinda dark images so can't really tell how it goes with the dash...

I'm using the 96 dash passenger air bag space for something similar...I always liked the first gen cubby hole even though it had very little retaining ability so I was thinking of a way to either fasten the cover plate with hinges or just build a box similar to yours...

 

[RockRanger]

Got some better pictures. Wish I would have had paint closer to the dash color. I can always repaint it later.

20151001_174844 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

20151001_174911 by Matthew Dresselhaus, on Flickr

 

[adsm08]

Cool.

 

[bobbywalter]

i usually hide my puters up there.