Collision! Now the fun begins...... Might need a little help though.

[AlilDirtnvrhurts]

Hello all, I don't post here much, mainly because it seems all of my questions have been asked/answered already so far. This is going to be a bit wordy but I'll try to get to the point. So I operate heavy equipment for a living and the other day at work someone backed into the green machine and messed up his face pretty badly.

I am however shocked at how little damage there was seeing as how it was a caterpillar 627 scraper that ran into it! So I was told that there was insurance to cover it since I was at no fault and I got to thinkin about my old s10 again. I took the grille from a bravada and used that in place of the factory Grille.

I like the look of the 02 edge? Ranger, you know the open mouth lookin one. Are these trucks identical under the skin like their chevy counterparts? What I'd llike to know is if I can just bolt up fenders hood and front facia from an 02 ranger or if there will be any modifications required. Even though this could be seen as a modification if everything bolts up I can justify it to my company because surprisingly 02 ranger front body parts are quite a bit cheaper than 01 explorer. Only reason I care is because I suspect that they're gonna pay this out of pocket so their insurance doesn't go through the roof, and I just don't want to look like I'm exploiting them to customize my truck.

 

[koda2000]

Looks like mostly cosmetic damage, but even it there's insurance coverage they'll probably call it totaled. You could take what they offer you, buy it back from the insurance company and repair it with used parts fairly inexpensively (maybe a few hundred dollars, not considering paint, if you find a dead vehicle on CL for parts). Having stuff painted would be the most expensive thing.

Looks like:
Hood
Fender
Bumper cover and related pieces
Driving/fog light and bracket
Maybe the metal part of the bumper and brackets
Headlight w/parking light assembly
Bull bar, if you want to replace it
Grille and associated pieces

That pickup looks like a GMC Sonoma. Pretty much like the Chevy S10. Ranger and Edge are Fords.

 

[AlilDirtnvrhurts]

I may have been confusing in my question, what I'm asking is, can I just bolt on parts from a ranger or is modification required to do so? I mentioned and showed pictures of my 91 chevy s10 (not a gmc s15, which later became the Sonoma) because what I'm wanting to do is very similar and in the Gm midsized trucks (chevy s10 pickup, s10 blazer, gmc s15 and Jimmy, and oldsmobile bravada as well as the Isuzu rodeo in later bodystyles) only differ in skin deep cosmetics, so is it the same with ford and mercury? Do mountaineers, explorers, and 98-11 rangers only differ cosmetically? I'm a competent mechanic but all my knowledge base is with chevy I was hoping to find some ford knowledge here.

 

[AlilDirtnvrhurts]

Is ford commonly interchangeable like chevy? For example my s10 had a sport ratio steering box from an 88 Monte carlo, springs from an iroc camaro, and the Grille from a Oldsmobile bravada, chevy basically used a narrow version of the g body front suspension making parts for an s10 plentiful and cheap are fords at least interchangeable within a similar platform?

 

[koda2000]

Perhaps it's my mistake. I admit I did not read your entire thread.

I could be wrong, but I've never heard of anyone using Ranger parts on an Explorer. I know there are mechanical differences. The '95-'01 Mountaineers and Explorers are the same except for trim. I believe up until '96 even the grille and headlights were the same.

 

[toypaseo]

Maybe this thread will be helpful: Ranger to Explorer Front end swap project

 

[AlilDirtnvrhurts]

Maybe this thread will be helpful: Ranger to Explorer Front end swap project

Thank you and I did see that thread before posting but in that thread he cuts and splices fenders which would be fine if I was doing the work but due to the circumstances I won't be and that would be a charge I couldn't justify to my employer.

 

[AlilDirtnvrhurts]

Well I found the answer, funny thing is that I searched on here for a long time with no results and what finally did it was a Google image search of all things leading back here! Long story short it's not a bolt on situation sadly, although now I'm so compelled that I'll probably do this on my own in the future. I just noticed that the ranger fenders also appear more forgiving in regard to large tires, hmmmmmm. Here's the thread if anyone else is interested

www.explorerforum.com/forums/index.php?threads/2001-ranger-edge-front-to-2000-explorer.464833/

 

[boominXplorer]

You can do an 01+ explorer sport / sport trac front end. It's bolt on pretty much.

 

[AlilDirtnvrhurts]

Interesting, do you know if there is an issue with fender to door gap like with the ranger fenders? The thread I linked in my last post shows a pretty nasty gap from ranger fenders to explorer doors, btw does anyone else have issues typing on a mobile device? Predictive text doesn't seem to play nice in the typing box here.

 

[boominXplorer]

It all fits, just molding is slightly different. My buddy just went from sport trac to mountaineer front end.

 

[AlilDirtnvrhurts]

Hmmmm interesting, thank you boominX, now I have something to think about.