Will the mirror from a 2nd Gen ST or a '06+ Ranger fit on a 1st Gen ST?

[NewTrac17]

Hehe, a little thread necro but there's some good info in here so I'm glad you brought it up for your question.

Is a 1st gen ST essentially the same as a 2002-2005 (third gen) normal Explorer? And is a 2nd gen ST the same as a fourth gen Explorer? The pictures I see on Google make me think so, but someone should confirm before you drop money.

If they are, then yes. A 4th gen Explorer (presumably 2nd gen ST) mirrors fit a third gen Explorer (1st gen ST) perfectly. It's completely plug and play, no modification required. I did a 4th gen to 3rd gen mirror replacement because I too couldn't stand the tiny mirrors on my 04 Ex.

Again, confirm that they use the same mirrors before you spend money.

Thanks for making the information easy to follow and easy for someone else to answer! That's pretty awesome that it's as simple as plug and play between a 3rd then and a 4th gen Explorer. Hopefully someone replies, but if not I may just go to the autoparts store and buy a couple mirrors, test, then return what doesn't work lol.

3rd and 4th gen swap
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=217471

 

[NewTrac17]

Okay so according to autozone's website, the part numbers for the 2008 Explorer and 2008 Explorer Sport Trac mirrors are the same. But the 2004 Explorer and 2004 Explorer Sport Trac mirror part numbers don't match up

 

[TGtrac05]

If you look closely at pics of a 3rd gen explorer mirror and a sport trac mirror, they look almost identical but the base is pretty different actually. So I don't think we're lucky enough to have it be plug and play. But the ranger mirrors that are our style do at least look identical to ours and here's how they swap them out, still not exactly plug and play but possible. http://www.fordrangerforum.com/how-submissions/60790-how-06-mirror-swap.html

EDIT: beat me to it lol

 

[MidnightRebel07]

Ok so I did more research on other forums and linked the answer here before. I'll find it and post it here.

 

[MidnightRebel07]

Alright, not sure where the thread is that I already posted the answer so here is how you do it...

http://www.therangerstation.com/forums/showthread.php?t=113290

 

[NewTrac17]

This is the post that first got me wondering

http://www.ranger-forums.com/interior-exterior-electrical-123/how-install-06-mirrors-107484/

Looking at the autozone part numbers, the 2004 Ranger, Explorer, and Sport Trac are all different.

Look at the pictures in these links. They 3 bolts seem pretty close, eyeballing it anyway, but the outer plastic edge seems far off

2004 Sport Trac - http://www.carparts.com/details/For...53&c2cid=c9447aa5-262a-4508-afbd-9ce9350d6ad2

2004 Ranger - http://www.carparts.com/details/Ford/Ranger/Kool_Vue/Mirror/2004/FD34EL.html

Maybe I should be the guinea pig:scratch:

 

[Burnout]

That's interesting. So it looks like the "base" (or whatever the official name for the mounting area is) is the same shape, but the non-sport trac has extra plastic there. If that's the case then that's good, if it was the other way around and the shape was different you'd have a much harder task on your hands!

If you do end up trying it out, take some pictures and post here! Guarantee you won't be the last person looking into this. Also, keep an eye out for third party mirrors. When I did the swap on my Ex, the OEM mirrors were going for ~120 a pop but I got third party ones (which have worked exactly like the official ones would for a few years now) for ~40 a pop.

 

[NewTrac17]

That's interesting. So it looks like the "base" (or whatever the official name for the mounting area is) is the same shape, but the non-sport trac has extra plastic there. If that's the case then that's good, if it was the other way around and the shape was different you'd have a much harder task on your hands!

If you do end up trying it out, take some pictures and post here! Guarantee you won't be the last person looking into this. Also, keep an eye out for third party mirrors. When I did the swap on my Ex, the OEM mirrors were going for ~120 a pop but I got third party ones (which have worked exactly like the official ones would for a few years now) for ~40 a pop.

I'm planning on trying to fit a different mirror on my st tommorow. I doubt any auto parts stores have mirrors in stock, but maybe I'll get lucky. If not, there are a few local junkyards I can check out. I'll look for a 2006-2010 Ranger mirror, 2006-2010 Explorer mirror, and maybe a gen 2 st mirror. I'll probably return all of what I buy, and order online to save money, but will report what does and doesn't fit.

The ranger and gen 2 st mirrors seem like the closest fit

 

[NewTrac17]

Quick update: Picked up the 2008 ranger mirror yesterday and took some quick measurements before taking my truck apart. The ranger mirror "base" was smaller by a decent amount, but I decided to give it a shot. 2 of the 3 ranger mirror bolts matched the holes on the door and I'm sure you could use some JB weld or something to make another mounting place for the third bolt. Anyway, I took the foam and bolts off the ranger mirror so I could see how it would really fit and the base was too small to where it would look funny if mounted. The ranger mirror base edges matched up with where the ST mirror foam would end. (Make sense? I didn't take a pic, but click on this link if you want a visual) Scroll down to page 4 of this thread and look at the pic with a number 4 on it. http://www.mysporttrac.com/mysporttrac/projects/Side_Mirror_Replacement.pdf
It looked awesome though! Here are some pics

 

[TGtrac05]

Damn. We sure got screwed out of being able to easily swap better looking mirrors

 

[MidnightRebel07]

Follow the swap project I linked to. There's a couple 1st Gen ST's on the web that have newer Ranger mirrors on them. Couple guys on the ranger sites that have done it to their ST's.

 

[swshawaii]

Ranger thread discussing separating the OEM mirror from the mounting base and replacing only the mirror. Possible?

http://www.ranger-forums.com/exterior-semi-tech-39/ranger-vs-explorer-pwrd-mirrors-106545/

 

[OffTrac]

Am I the only one that doesn't have a problem with the mirrors?

 

[swshawaii]

Am I the only one that doesn't have a problem with the mirrors?

I didn't until this happened. Stood up fast working on the brakes and snapped the mirror pivot with my shoulder. Lucky it wasn't the top of my head.

 

[Burnout]

Haha, that looks like it hurt even without hitting your head.

I didn't have a problem with them until I started driving commercial vehicles. I got so used to being able to see everything with the massive mirrors that going back to the ****ty "is there a car next to me" mirrors was impossibly difficult. It was just luck that the later gen mirrors were bigger and fit perfectly.

 

[OffTrac]

I guess I never really notice because my truck is very rarely on a road with more than two lanes. If I am on a highway, I'm not the one trying to get into the left lane, lol.