year on a ranger bed

[flaymon1]

Is there a way to find out what year a Ranger bed is.

 

[LittleBigFoot]

Some cars have the VIN number etched in everywhere. IIRC you can tell the year by part of the VIN

 

[wahlstrom1]

Good luck, the ranger has used the same bed stamping since 83'.....What generation bed are ya looking at? 1st had slightly (1/4") smaller wheel well openings than second, and from there on paint color may be your best bet as far as tracking down a year range.

-andrew

 

[rickcdewitt]

thats interesting about the first and second gen beds i thought they were identical.

 

[wahlstrom1]

Ya, I thought they were too until I went to buy patch panels to fix a friends bed on his 90'. Guy asks for what body style and I said said square...lol. Turns out they didn't quite fit, they were a little short. Took them back and went to the old catalogue, not the computer and found they actually had different part numbers. Same shape and everything, just a 1/4" smaller front to back for the 83-88's.

-andrew

 

[mfp4073]

I have a stepside and would consider changing it over to a normal bed if I found one cheap and in the right color. Does this mean ANY bed will bolt up and be correct from say 95-up?

 

[wahlstrom1]

Any short bed will swap with any step bed from 93-08' and match up, hell any short bed from 83-08 can swap but it looks funny. I've seen a 96 with an 85 bed, it's just plain ugly.....

-andrew

 

[ZMan]

like was said, most newer cars will have a sticker with the vin number on all of the body parts, look inside of the bedsides.

 

[c_note]

although some beds are identical, the taillights might change with different years(colors of the tail lights anyway).

 

[flaymon1]

a buddy got a 2001 ranger that had a bed from another Ranger, well then he got hit in the bed side a couple of weeks ago and thebodyshop he took it to order, installed and painted a bed side that look way off it gets very narrow at the bottom and you can see the back of the cab also the tail light fits like crap?

 

[wahlstrom1]

Probably not an OE bedside, like many aftermarket parts, the quality just isn't there. I still had to 'fix' the patch panel to get it to fit right...The tail lights will be different, but they all mount the same way, so you can swap your current tails into whatever bed you get.

-andrew

 

[poof_596]

Got it fixed

The DA'S at the body shop just mis-hung the bed side. The tail light problem was due to a lack in craftmanship in their work. Flaymon got the tail light fixed in about 10 mins. Fits like a glove

 

[stegomon]

The DA'S at the body shop just mis-hung the bed side. The tail light problem was due to a lack in craftmanship in their work. Flaymon got the tail light fixed in about 10 mins. Fits like a glove

is that an OJ glove???

 

[chvlfrk]

Bomk>>>

83-88

89-92

93-03

04-current

I believe that is the breakdown.......................

As noted above, there are some differences in the taillights, some are 2 bulb & others are 3 bulb, along with some have amber turn signals, and others are all red.