What did you do to your Ranger today? (Part Deux!)

[superj]

i like the aluminum caps. i like being able to take it on and off by myself and that light weight saves gas.

and people are usually giving away aluminum caps so the price is normally always right

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Small businesses are often their own worst enemy. The biggest problems I've had with bad attitude, no-shows when waiting for someone to come to my house, failure to respond to e-mails, and failure to return calls have all been small businesses or sole proprietors. With poor service like that, you can't blame the big companies or the big-box stores when you find yourself out of business.

In partial defense of small businesses, if you’re a one man band, it’s really easy to end up overwhelmed and way behind on keeping up with things. It’s not that you don’t care, it’s that there’s just physically and mentally not enough of you to go around. A lot of time the small business if it’s just one person, to make enough money has to do the work of three people and can’t afford to hire a second person unless they can turn over even more work. As a small time contractor, I couldn’t afford to hire another person, but I’m always behind in book work, estimates and phone calls. Have to take care of the person throwing money at me first. It’s a brutal cycle. Dad had an advantage when he was in business because his wife, my mom, handled most of the phone calls and book work and stuff. I don’t have a wife to help me with that. Even if you’re successful enough to hire someone, do you have any idea how difficult finding a decent employee is these days? And whoever came up with the idea of “free” estimates should be drawn and quartered. Why yes, I’d love to waste 3 hours of my time writing up a detailed estimate so you can tell me that Billy Bob down the road with no license or insurance said he would do it for $500 cheaper.

Not saying that you’re not completely wrong with small business being their own worst enemy, just that it’s not always a simple thing and if you haven’t tried to have your own small business, you’re missing out. It’s not a fun thing.

Usually though, I think it’s easy to tell the difference between a small business that’s overwhelmed and one that straight up doesn’t care. Attitude will tell you that.

 

[superj]

my parents always owned their own business when i was growing up, once my stepdad got out of the marines. it is definitely the tough life. he would leave for work when it was dark and get home when it was dark, all year round. it got better once i and my brothers were old enough to drive and work. but those years when it was just dad and mom being phones were very hard and we were always just scraping by, money wise.

 

[Bill]

4k seems about right for a glass cap these days...

Admittedly I havnt shopped for any personally... just what I've seen people say they spent on other forums over the past couple years.

They have caps in stock starting around $1800 to $2500 before options are added, depending on model and what vehicle they are designed for.

 

[Bill]

i like the aluminum caps. i like being able to take it on and off by myself and that light weight saves gas.

and people are usually giving away aluminum caps so the price is normally always right

What is the difference in weight?

One of the problems with aluminum caps is they come in white, black, or red. I have a dark grey truck. That leaves black as the only option that would look good. But, that's not going to be good for camping in the summer heat here.

 

[sgtsandman]

What is the difference in weight?

One of the problems with aluminum caps is they come in white, black, or red. I have a dark grey truck. That leaves black as the only option that would look good. But, that's not going to be good for camping in the summer heat here.

There is a big weight difference between aluminum and fiberglass. Aluminum, due to their construction, are roof rack ready and many times have one built into it already. The down sides are indeed the lack of insulation, they are very noisy in rain and hail, and are usually not as aerodynamic as a fiberglass cap. The lack of color options is also a down side.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

What is the difference in weight?

One of the problems with aluminum caps is they come in white, black, or red. I have a dark grey truck. That leaves black as the only option that would look good. But, that's not going to be good for camping in the summer heat here.

Not sure in actual pounds, but I’ve installed and removed my aluminum cap a number of times by myself. It’s awkward for sure, but not really heavy.

A fiberglass, even a bare one, will pretty much require two people to install and remove on a Ranger. An 8’ bed full size will require at least four people.

Black is a pretty good cap color, it works with a lot of truck colors. I’m glad I didn’t go with a color match because my cap has been on three trucks now, lol.

Aluminum caps are not very good for camping in. In cooler weather your breath can condense and rain on you. And speaking of rain, an aluminum cap is horribly loud in the rain.

 

[Roert42]

do you need a hard top or would a soft topper work?

I bought one for my old f-150 to use when camping or if I had something in the back I didn’t want to get wet. Worked great. Less then 5 minutes to tuck down out of the way when not using it.

 

[Uncle Gump]

$900 + shipping

I would totally consider one if I didn't have my Leer.

 

[Snoranger]

View attachment 91965

$900 + shipping

I would totally consider one if I didn't have my Leer.

I’m seriously considering a soft topper for my ‘23 Ranger. You just can’t beat that price.

 

[pjtoledo]

yesterday I drove Junior, my 2005 RCSB about 550 miles round trip to pick up a ZF5-47 + transfer case.
on the return trip Junior handled rush hour in Cincinnati & Dayton quite admirably.

yes, I know the bell housing is cracked.
that's why it was so cheap.
I only need the tail adapter & output to convert a 2wd ZF to 4wd for the 78 Bronco.

 

[pjtoledo]

Not sure in actual pounds, but I’ve installed and removed my aluminum cap a number of times by myself. It’s awkward for sure, but not really heavy.

A fiberglass, even a bare one, will pretty much require two people to install and remove on a Ranger. An 8’ bed full size will require at least four people.

Black is a pretty good cap color, it works with a lot of truck colors. I’m glad I didn’t go with a color match because my cap has been on three trucks now, lol.

Aluminum caps are not very good for camping in. In cooler weather your breath can condense and rain on you. And speaking of rain, an aluminum cap is horribly loud in the rain.

I rigged up a wood frame to the engine hoist to remove the topper.
with that or some other creativity a single person can remove them.
it is indeed much easier with 2 though.

 

[racsan]

Ive only ever bought one cap new, the one for my ‘88 supercab when I bought it in ‘91. If I remember right it was $600 new back then, fiberglass, paint-to-match was $50. A new aluminum cap back then was $300. My ‘93 luckily came with a cap. When I bought the ‘94 I found a free aluminum cap on craigslist, 2 weeks later on the way to a junkyard I found a fiberglass cap in someones front yard with a free sign on it. Was grey but I painted it white to go with my retro theme. I do remove/install it myself, I back up to the ranger trailer, lift up in the middle and walk with it from one bed to the other. When the glass cap is on the ranger the aluminum is usually on the ranger trailer. Its heavy, I dont even want to know how much. Its not off often but sometimes its necessary. Now that I have a better open trailer I might not need to ever remove it again. I do have a nice set of polished stainless bed bars that look good when its capless. Might consider putting them on the cap, though it would make it heavier.

 

[scotts90ranger]

I'm bound and determined to get the F350 transmission and related parts less gross before I pull said transmission to rebuild... so at this point I have grabbed a gallon of simple green, gallon of super clean, bottle of Goo Gone oven cleaner, two zep squirter bottles and some Awesome clean that my mechanic buddy suggested (conveniently super cheap too...). The thing has been leaking diesel out the valley for a couple years now so it's kinda gross...

Also got some brass bristle brushes and a plastic scraper for cleaning the wheels for the Ranger... so we'll see how far I get with any of that this weekend...

 

[Rick W]

In about 97, I bought a used fiberglass cap for my 96 F250 long bed. They were 11 or $1200 new, and I got it for 500 bucks. Then I took it to a buddy who painted it color match to my red truck for $150. And without properly maintaining the finish, it looked great up until a couple years ago when the clearcoat started to fade and peel a little bit.

I cruised YouTube and found this: I wet sanded the whole thing, good spots and bad spots, and then wiped it all down with alcohol to get any oil/grease off. There were a few little chips and scratches that I touched up with Rustoleum (sunrise red?), very close color match. I wet sand that too. Then I used gloss verathane in the rattle cans to put two coats on it. I was astounded at how good it came out, certainly in keeping with the rest of the finish on the truck which is very good cause I use it like a hammer, only when I need it. Good for another 25 years.

I picked up two aluminum cabs for $100 each when I was doing my search for all things to redo my trucks. The first one had the vent windows on the side, but they didn’t open. And I immediately found the second one which did have the windows that open up an out on the sides which I prefer. I did the Missing Linc with the light bar, and I don’t need either of the caps but I haven’t gotten around to getting rid of them yet! Another big downside to the aluminum caps Is the dent very easily. If an acorn falls on them, you get to dimple. If you bump the side with a ladder or such, could be bad, and it’s very hard to get it straight again.

I have a carport the whole length of my two wide by two deep garage. I rigged up four pulleys above each corner of the cap. When I want to take the cap off, I get in and use my legs and my back to pop the foam seal loose. I pick it up a couple inches to put a piece of 2 x 4 under all four corners. I made some crappy little brackets that looked like a “J,” that I could hook under each corner, and then pull the cap off from one point where the ropes all come together. You only have to pick it up about four or 5 inches to be able to drive out from underneath it. Installing it is just a reverse. I haven’t done it in quite a while, but I did it a half dozen times in the first 10 years I had the truck.