Wanted: '88-'97 Dual Shifter Boot Bezel

[97Sandbox]

Wanted for my upcoming M5R2+4406M swap.

I'd be happy to use the earlier bezel with the slight offset:

Or the later bezel with the more extreme offset:

Bonus points if the rubber sound isolator/inner boot and/or trans tunnel cover are included.

 

[410Fortune]

They are out there!
The rangers also had ones with a small cubby and cupholders

1989 - 1997 Ford Ranger MAZDA B2500/3500 Cup Holder Manual Shift | eBay

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Have you tried eBay?
Also I see many ranger shifter boot parts available new! I had no idea I always get them at the junk yards

 

[97Sandbox]

Yeah I have spares of the single shifter early style, single cupholder, and dual cupholder but can't find the dual shifter on eBay. May just have to keep watching the salvage yards and wait till the last minute before cutting my floor.

 

[toypaseo]

How not much of a PITA are they to remove??? I tried on one… and gave up…

 

[97Sandbox]

I don't think they're bad. Pull the shift knobs up and off, pull back the boots to get access to the screws holding the bezel to the trans tunnel cover, undo the screws, and lift everything off.

Only trouble I've ran into is the speed nuts holding the trans tunnel cover in will break if they're really rusty (all the salvage cars I used to see in Wisconsin) and then they just spin. Easiest way to get past that is drill the heads off the bolts unless someone already removed the trans and you can hold the broken speed nuts from underneath.

 

[410Fortune]

You are right! Can’t find the dual bezel one on eBay
However you can buy the f150 t case shifter bezel I’m using brand new still! The whole thing. That was good to see

A good quick way to remove the shift
Knobs is with crescent wrench and hammer

 

[97Sandbox]

However you can buy the f150 t case shifter bezel I’m using brand new still! The whole thing. That was good to see

Yeah I have a couple of these around that I'll use if I can't find the Ranger/Explorer one. I know the Fseries boot/bezel fits fine, I just think having the tcase lever on top of the trans tunnel would be more practical than having it on the side.

 

[410Fortune]

That will be interesting because of where the linkage lands and how close it is to the floor

A body lift would help so you can make some bends to get it up on top of the tunnel otherwise I’m not sure it’s possible without some serious fab

 

[97Sandbox]

I'm not 100% sure it'll work either, but would really like to try. With an offset in the lever arm and some trimming of the trans tunnel cover, I think it might work.

 

[97Sandbox]

I think I found one! I was trying to come up with other places to look and I decided to search on car-part.com (online salvage yard database) for '88-'97 Ranger shift linkages. Some of the listings have pictures and I was able to find a few that showed the boot/bezel combo.

One yard in Nebraska had two of them and they were able to pull the boot/bezel from a '94 that they said is in great shape. Hopefully it is when it gets to me because it cost 2-3x what I'd pay in a you-pull yard, but that's how it goes. Even with them shipping to me, it's probably half what I'd pay on ebay (maybe I need a side hustle selling cool salvage yard gems).

It's going to be tight, but I think with a custom lever (and maybe a little hammering on the transmission tunnel) I should be able to pull it off. This pic does a good job of showing where the linkage ends up relative to the transmission tunnel.

I found my RWD M5R2 on car-part.com too and need to remember to use it more often for parts I can't find in you-pull yards and for parts that suck to remove in you-pull yards (I'd gladly pay an extra $50 for someone to remove a transmission for me haha).

 

[410Fortune]

Pffft rwd 5 speed can have that out in 30 minutes hahahaha that’s $100 an hour hahahahaha it’s the 4wd ones that stinks to do in the yard

Glad you found the bits! eBay and car parts.com and the like kick ass!!

 

[97Sandbox]

Pffft rwd 5 speed can have that out in 30 minutes hahahaha that’s $100 an hour hahahahaha it’s the 4wd ones that stinks to do in the yard

Yeah I was thinking of my 4-hour experience pulling the 4x4 M5R2 and 4406M. But if you can pull a rwd trans out of a midwest truck (rust) in 30 min with no lift and no trans jack while laying in a puddle of ATF, sand, and glass, consider me impressed!

 

[410Fortune]

Not afraid
Just go prepared
I’ve spent some muddy muddy slushy snowy days in the junk yards
When you need parts you need them no matter what

 

[97Sandbox]

I feel that and honestly love going to salvage yards. It's taken me years of trial and error to assemble the right travel toolkit to bring in so I'm ready to get anything I'm looking for but also not carrying 200 pounds of tools around lol.

That said, it's getting harder for me to find the time to travel to and be at a salvage yard these days, so I guess I'll have to get used to buying more online. Only 14 years to go until my son can come with me to the local U-Pullit haha. I'm not sure how many 2nd gens will be in the yards in 14 years but I'm sure we'll be hunting down every one we can!

 

[410Fortune]

Not many! But I will still have about 30’of them at my place lol lol
I do not hit the yards nearly as often as I used to, maybe 6-10 times a year. Usually because I just buy the whole dang truck anymore and do the parts taking at home hahahaha

 

[97Sandbox]

Now that space is less of a constraint for me, I'd like to do the same! But I still need a bigger truck and bigger trailer before I get serious.

 

[410Fortune]

Yep. I started with a 01 gmc 2500hd 6.0
Small block and my dads old tractor hauling car trailer 16’ needed new wood.
We used to pull the trucks up onto the trailer with another truck and chain hahahaha
I blew up the 6.0 in that gmc hauling rangers up the mountains of Colorado. I replaced the wood on that trailer deck and sold it, got a 18’ car hauler that needed work. Also bought
My dads old 01 superduty v10 and hauled them for a few years with that truck. Fixed up and swapped car trailers 3 more times… finally settled on my 18’ metal deck superior trailer (no more wood) eventually I sold the v10 in favor of a 7.3 truck, I actually traded the superduty straight across for a 7.3 excursion and bought a 97 f350 4’door for $3000… the rest is history! I crushed many many many trucks to get to this point. Now my 7.3 trucks are fully Built and we have 2 trailers and 3 shops we work out of… took 10+ years to get to this point. I’m just getting started!!!
I’ve been to school, trailer school, tow rig school, and hauling and recovery school, graduated the school of hard knocks