Fixing some rust under the bed...

[Mark_88]

Under the bed not so much...under the cab is more important. Many people complain of the heat that rises up off the exhaust and finds a way into the cab on hot summer days...so it can be damaging the paint or other coatings on the bottom of the truck over time.

If you can find a cheap replacement for it and apply it...take pics and post them if you have time...I'm sure others would appreciate your time and effort.

I'm going out to look at mine again...pretty sure it wasn't there last year when I did mine...lol

 

[ghunt81]

Well, I've used some adhesive heat shielding in the past (mostly foil-faced fiberglass stuff, Thermo-Tec for example)...and found some on ebay. I'm just wondering what would work best there. I would think some kind of foil faced tar-like shielding like Dynamat would be great there (especially because you know it would never fall off), but I don't think that stuff is meant to be exposed to the elements like that.

The stuff under the cab I probably won't remove, the underside of the cab actually looks pretty good overall from what I've been able to see, the cab corners and rockers all look good.

 

[cvar]

Here's how to remove the bed, along with info on its 12mm bolt sizes:
http://imgur.com/a/ggIFp <== CLICK

Yes, the heat shield under the bed prevents the exhaust heat from destroying the underside of your bed. The exhaust pipe is only about 4" from the bed, and gets VERY HOT. Hence the "sacrificial" shield. The idea is your shield rots instead of your bed. Your choice? I replaced (for free) my heat shield with stainless steel sheet-metal taken from an old microwave oven (see photo album in link, below). It's held on by pop rivets, cuz glue would not survive the heat. Yes, I'm a cheapskate.

I de-rusted and painted my frame & bed, as shown here:
http://imgur.com/a/CKVUo <== CLICK

 

[bobbywalter]

i dont agree about the heat shield under the bed. i have 100's of k without it with a shit ton more heat then a stock ranger will ever make. in nasty ass detroit salt belt conditions.


but my trans cooler was between the exhaust and bed for many years...so that part may have still be considered a heat shield....you sure as hell did not want to stand on the bed when i was trail riding with it like that though. especially my floor boards.


if you regularly clean and condition these creatures....they last.4


my main rig has been with me well over two decades.

 

[ghunt81]

Well, I didn't get the bed clear off the truck last night but I did get all the bolts out (amazingly enough-nothing stripped, seized or broke) and the bed up off the frame on some boards. I used PB blaster on the bolts I could get at, and around the heads, but probably could have removed them without it, they actually weren't super rusty.

So I have a question, everyone talks about the bed being held on by 6 bolts...why does mine have 10? Did they add more on newer model year trucks?

I can see looking under it now, the front crossmember on the bed (the very front) needs some MAJOR help...lot of rust going on there, can't figure out why it's so bad. The rest really doesn't look too bad except over the exhaust as I mentioned before.

 

[Mark_88]

Perhaps the previous owner, or one of them if more than one, decided that the factory stuff couldn't be trusted with the precious cargo they were carrying...or maybe they were over loading it and didn't want it to separate at high speeds...not sure...would have to see what they used and where...did you take pics?

As for the rust...mine looked pretty clean until I pulled it off...found some perforation rust on the front of the box and had to spend a bit more time cleaning and preparing it before I put it back on...it happens.

And it is possible that a previous owner removed the bed at some point to do work or replace fuel pump or whatever...mine came up easy because the previous owner did quite a bit of body work on the truck...the frame wasn't touched from what I could see but she claimed someone sprayed it every year with WD-40...it was actually flaking apart so I was afraid the body panels were shot too...but...they were almost mint condition...

 

[ghunt81]

Didn't take pics but I can...everything looks factory, has all the clips in the frame and rounded head T55 torx bolts, but definitely 10 bolts. 6 towards the back of the bed, the two at the very front and two more about a foot behind them. All the bolts are the same length except the front two.

Edit: Just found it on google, 09-11 trucks got 10 bed bolts instead of 6. Weird.

This truck used to belong to the engineering company I work for, it was used by the materials testing department and had a cap on the bed for its operational history. I seriously doubt the bed has ever been off this truck, I can't think of a reason they would have taken it off at work. Then again, a couple of the bolts appeared to have remnants of blue Loctite on them, would that have been applied at the factory?

 

[Mark_88]

Yes, locktite could have been used at the factory...and I guess Ford realized the beds were not secured quite enough so they added four more bolts...there is quite a gap between the front two and the back four on the older style so maybe they were just cutting costs back then...

I guess I could have added a few more to mine at some point but I figured it was holding on so far...no point in adding something to something that is already working...

 

[ghunt81]

So here's a question, can you get a replacement front crossmember for the bed?

Went over mine with a knotted wire wheel mounted on my angle grinder last night. The very front crossmember (under the bed bulkhead) was by far the rustiest of anything under the bed. After hitting it with the wire wheel I found out how thin it was, as it got some holes through it around where the bed bolt goes through on the passenger side, so this is probably something that will need replaced in the future.

I can see drilling out the zillion spot welds holding this piece on would be a major PITA but, can you get a replacement for it? Or is this something you'd have to fab up out of bar stock, angle, etc?

 

[Mark_88]

I checked LMC but didn't see anything like that. You may need to consider buying a better box some day as they are still available now. I remember thinking that ten years ago but it is nearly impossible to find them now in Ontario.

http://www.lmctruck.com/icatalog/FR/search.aspx?searchTerms=body+parts&rURL=/icatalog/FR/full.aspx

You can try LMC but I think you might need to look into custom work...and that can get expensive quick. Mine were pretty rusty in spots but I just took then down as good as I could, hit them with rust converter then coated them with rubber guard...the stuff that never dries.

Considering that a 2011 box will actually fit your Ranger and it was the last year of production with some 55,000 units sold I'd say there will probably be parts around when you need them in ten years...

I found this list of production numbers on another Ranger site...

1999 348,358
2000 330,125
2001 272,460
2002 226,094
2003 209,117
2004 156,322
2005 120,958
2006 92,420
2007 72,711
2008 65,872
2009 55,600
2010 55,364

That was unit sales...so we're looking at a good base of healthy parts...hopefully...