Wrigley_1285's Old No Name getting a body swap

[wrigley_1285]

I trying to plan a body swap on my Explorer Sport but I need some measurements. Can someone with a 98+ 4 door extended cab ranger measure from the center of the front wheel to the cab corner. And someone with a standard cab take the same measurement for me.

I've had my X for 10 years and it's been thru hell and back. Wrecked twice, bounced off trees, never been garaged in Midwest winters, the side drug down a ditch and drowned. The drivetrain is solid but the body is completely rusted out and trashed. So I'm trying to plan swapping a 03+ front clip, hood and extended cab onto my frame. If the extended cab us too long I'll have to settle for a standard cab. Either way I'm going to have a ranger cab with a flatbed on my Explorer frame.

I couldn't find any build treads of someone doing this with a 2nd gen. I know I've seen some older rangers on B2 frames.

Any info you guys have would be great.

 

[FR-425]

http://hillerford.com/v2/resource_library/2002/2002trucks/2002ranger/2002rangerdimensions.htm

https://www.fleet.ford.com/truckbbas/topics/2003/ranger.html

https://www.fleet.ford.com/truckbbas/topics/1997/lttrk.html

That should do it.

 

[delexploder]

Subscribed ! I wanna see this

 

[wrigley_1285]

Thanks for the info. I measured my truck and the only way I can use an extended cab is with some major body work or going 4 link and moving my rear axle back atleast 4". Both of those options are going to take more time and money than what I'm willing to part with so I'm gonna use a standard cab. I'm also swapping my BW1354 manual tcase that's been sitting in my garage collecting dust for the last several years.

If anyone knows about a ranger with a good body and bad motor/trans in central Illinois for a good price let me know. I usually check Craigslist and Facebook every other day. Also I'm looking for some shift linkage for my tcase.

 

[FR-425]

The "Shiftser" it's meant for converting an electric shift 1354 to manual.

Also perfect if you have no linkage or are doing a chop-swap.

http://theshiftster.com/

 

[wrigley_1285]

I've been on here for years and I've somehow never seen that before. If I can't find factory linkage for a good price I'm probably going to make my own. I might end up getting one for temporary use and to keep in the truck as a backup.

 

[boominXplorer]

I have a 96 ranger extended cab and 02 sport for parts, too bad your not closer. The issue is going to be the ranger frame is a good 3" narrower than the explorer making the body mounts off.

 

[wrigley_1285]

I remember seeing a post that had side by side comparisons of a ranger and explorer frame. I thought the front half of both frames were the same and only the rear frame section was different.