Whats the beef with step sides

[eric17mx]

Stepsides on rangers should be banned, and 2wd banned as well, i duno why someone would even want a 2wd truck, let alone think they are wheeling it.

 

[Original_Ranger84]

I actually like the step side now that I own one... I have my fleet side 84 which looks awesome. But now that I got my step side 99' the fleet side just looks so.... bland....

Not to mention the fleetside rust vs the fiberglass step side. And you really don't loose any bed space if you think about it. It looks tiny next to the regular bed but concidering the only room you loose is on either side of the wheel well which I almost never use anyways i can fit everything besides full sheets of plywood in my bed that i could haul in my 84. if i really need to haul anything I'll just take my 250 diesel.

 

[adsm08]

Stepsides on rangers should be banned, and 2wd banned as well, i duno why someone would even want a 2wd truck, let alone think they are wheeling it.

@ eric17mx

It is better to remain silent and appear a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.

Step sides are fine. I've known a lot of people who manage to do just as much with a step side as I do with my fleet side. 2wd trucks also can be just as capable as any 4x4. I know a lot of guys, some of them here, who have built 4x2s that are just as capable as any 4x4. Some of them can even get in places that a 4x4 can't go.

 

[mattpresley]

Stepsides on rangers should be banned, and 2wd banned as well, i duno why someone would even want a 2wd truck, let alone think they are wheeling it.

what a gay little half ass comment. Especially the 2wd. I have no(none zip ziltch zero) reason to buy a 4wd. It doesnt snow where I live and if im on an out of town job in say Flagstaff the roads are all plowed and salted anyway. I dont wheel because I dont wanna break shit. I have gone through some nasty wilderness venturing out for a good fishing spot(map warns to use 4x4) And never had an issue besides a little excess wheel spinning but a blame that on using street tires.

What do you got against the stepside? Mind you if I was givin a choice a would have gotten fleet side but I love my stepside an utilize the shit out of the step doing what trucks are designed to do, not wheel, but work

 

[93rangerXLT4x4]

im not a fan of step sides..and i just dont like the looks of them.. i use my truck as a truck and haul stuff.. quads, bikes, lawnmowers, garbage to the dump etc. i like my regular truck bed plus its a cleaner look, body lines match up and stuff.

and about the 2wd thing... i wouldnt buy one either... i've have an 87 dodge dakota 3.9L v6 reg cab long box 2wd and when you live 20kms out of the nearest town on a road that doesnt get plowed till the afternoon after a snow storm its not fun.. even in town the roads are crap here in the winter. i dont really care about gas mileage either.. i'll gladly pay the extra bucks to daily drive a 4wd over a 2wd.

 

[akalogan]

2wd or 4wd they all have there place and who can really judge what other people need or want with there own vehicles. I prefer a regular bed over the stepside. however a slammed stepside I saw down in texas was just evil looking. It also had a mustang 5.0, but that was used at the dragstrip. I own a 4wd because it is what I like and if I do need the extra traction it is there. Don't knock other people who don't want or need or afford 4wd's. If I was doing nothing but road towing then guess what I would buy? A 2wd of course.

 

[eric17mx]

The only reason people buy a 2wd is because they cant afford a 4wd, anyone who thinks/says a 2wd is just as or more able then a 4wd is just plain retarded, jesus christ why would you even say that, doesnt even make sense, you must live in the city and walmart wheel. Id go for a 4x4 on bald ass tires anyday over a 2wd with mud terrains, jesus im still laughing, let alone anyone who lifts a 2wd hahah WTF?

 

[zukirider21]

first of all, those who actually have half a brain and some decent skill and KNOW THEIR TRUCK can do ridiculous shit with 2wd's. saying they are useless offroad is a downright ****ing stupid ass comment. just stfu dude, seriously. before you make yourself look like a complete ****ing retard.

anyways, i dont really mind stepsides, however personally i still prefer the standard fleetside.

 

[eric17mx]

Lmao

 

[ForOffRoadDriving]

2wd is for the commuter or the person who doesnt use 4x4 enough to validate the cost of repairing parts that dont get used. i have a 2wd and its an off road 2wd, its locked, its got 30" mts, and it does just fine. now i dont take it on hard core trails or mud bog with it, but when i need to take my dirtbike to the track that is located in the middle of a farmers property and its a 2 track all the way there it is all i need. snow isnt a problem for me either, 300lbs in the back, the locker and true snow tires and i can go through any snow that falls in michigan. (last year i ran snow chains on my 1990 2wd and was passing plow trucks that were stuck on my way to the beer store). for someone who does 80% or more of their driving on paved or dirt roads it just doesnt make sense to have the extra running gear to maintain and drag around with me.

 

[R***A**N**G**E***R]

One thing that hasn't been mentioned that I have heard before was that a step side 4x4 was not as capable as a fleet side 4x4, I never understood that logic!!!!

 

[john112deere]

I've owned a stepside Ranger for about 5 years...

When I've got the cap on it, I have to hook up the trailer to haul home a single sheet of plywood.

I reckon it's exactly as capable as a styleside as far as where it'll go...but it's decidedly less capable as far as what it'll haul.

 

[lenle]

I have a fleetside, my dad has a stepside. I liked the stepside because I'm short and it's handy as hell when I need to get into and out of the back of the truck. My dad likes fleetside because he can put his 4 wheeler in the back of the truck and just about anything else he can think of.

So... a stepside is like a bike with training wheels... You sacrifice some of what makes the truck a truck for ease of convenience.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

One thing that hasn't been mentioned that I have heard before was that a step side 4x4 was not as capable as a fleet side 4x4, I never understood that logic!!!!

Stepsides are heavier than fleetsides, so you get better weight balance on a pickup with a otherwise light rear end.

I also like the fact that they don't rust. They crack if they get hit, but just like with a steel bed you will be getting a new bedside. For a strict offroader... who cares, many don't even have a factory box on them anyway.

Toppers look stupid on them, otherwise I don't mind them at all.

2wd is never as capable offroad as 4x4 except for high speed racing, anything you do to the 2wd will benefit the 4x4 as well. But they also have their purpose, a lot of people get along just fine without 4x4.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Stepsides on rangers should be banned, and 2wd banned as well, i duno why someone would even want a 2wd truck, let alone think they are wheeling it.

The only reason people buy a 2wd is because they cant afford a 4wd, anyone who thinks/says a 2wd is just as or more able then a 4wd is just plain retarded, jesus christ why would you even say that, doesnt even make sense, you must live in the city and walmart wheel. Id go for a 4x4 on bald ass tires anyday over a 2wd with mud terrains, jesus im still laughing, let alone anyone who lifts a 2wd hahah WTF?

(Yes, that is over 2,000 lbs of limestone in the bed...)

Yep, 2wds are useless. Please take your stupidity and GTFO.

I bought my 2wd Ranger brand new. I kinda would have liked to have got a 4x4, and it would have stretched my budget really tight at the time, but I wanted the fuel economy of a 2wd and the cheaper parts. Out of all the years I've had that truck, I can count on one hand (and have fingers left over) the times that I wish it would have been a 4x4. Good tires and driver skill made up for a lot. Off at college I lived in a place that often got 6-14" of snow at a time. I bought a set of chains and discovered that with chains and some driver skill, there wasn't any place that truck wouldn't go. I even tried to get it stuck one day by driving through a parking area that hadn't been plowed at all - the snow came to the top of my hood - and it plowed through there with the chains on the back and an open rear diff like nothing.

I could go on, but you apparently have an ID 10 T error anyway.

[/rant]


As far as the whole stepside vs fleetside... I do like the looks of stepsides, but not so much on extended cab trucks, I think it looks kinda goofy that way. If I ever get around to building my street rod that I'd like to, it would probably be a regular cab Ranger with a stepside bed.

But I do like the extra space a fleetside has for work. Both my Ranger and my F-150 have been loaded to the limits of bed space (and my Ranger I've taken beyond the limits of bed space a number of times), so that few extra inches you get around the wheel-wells with a fleetside has come in handy.

Oh, and fiberglass panels, contrary to popular belief, are not lighter than thin sheet metal. I have an aluminum Ranger hood and I got a fiberglass hood that I was going to replace it with.... the fiberglass is easily 3x as heavy as the aluminum.