Diesel conversion

[Kman2019]

Hi there

I am new to this forum and am seeking some advice on an upcoming project. Last year I bought a 1986, regular cab long box, 5 speed, 4x4 Ranger with the 2.3 diesel in it. It was to be my sons first vehicle and had been running well to date.

Unfortunately it was bought without me seeing it and has a little more rust than expected. Both cab corners are rotten, the floor pans, radiator support, firewall, front fenders, etc. The box, hood, tailgate and doors are fine though. The truck is running fine and drivetrain is tight.

I am thinking about trying to pick up a donor vehicle to do a swap.

We have never done anything like this but are planning it to be our father/son summer project.

There are a few questions I have though and would appreciate any advice from someone who has done something like this.

• Will an extra cab short box fit on this frame?

There is an 1988 extra cab, short box,4x4 without rust for sale locally for about $500 USD. It is an automatic but I assume we could use all the parts out of our 1986 but will likely have some issues with the driveshaft lengths, transmission, mounts etc. I am also going to have to have some new engine mounts made up for the truck.

• Would we be better to pull our motor and transmission and put them in the extra cab?

• Would we be better off finding a cab that is rust free and installing it in the truck we have now?

There is a first generation regular cab here in town at a wrecker that is rust free that we could likely pick up for about the same amount of money as the extra cab.

• Which option would have the highest resale value if and when he outgrows this truck.

With either option the VIN would likely be changed and the numbers would no longer match. Is that even a concern?

Thank you in advance for any guidance or suggestions on how we can make this work.

Gary

 

[rusty ol ranger]

The regular cab/long box would be ideal, assuming thats what yours is.

Id swap the body/core support onto your frame rather then trying to switch the mechanicals over. Itll be eaiser.

I wouldnt worry about the VIN issue. Its a 30+ year old truck, parts get changed. Ive had vehicles like that abd it was a non issue, im in michigan though and there pretty lax.

 

[sgtsandman]

If your truck is a regular cab, the frame will be too short for an super cab unless the truck has a 7' bed. If it currently has an super cab, then there won't be a problem.

 

[adsm08]

The cab has to match the frame. You can't put a super cab on a regular cab frame, and it sorta works going the other way, but not well.

You can put a short box on a long box frame, but it looks stupid. It leaves a foot long gap between the cab and bed.

The VIN can be moved to a new cab if needed, look into your local laws on the matter. I know Canada is weird about that kind of stuff.

It would probably be easiest to get a clean body and throw your stuff in it.

 

[Ranger850]

What is the difference between frames on a single cab long box (7') and a extra cab regular box (6')? I think is the question.

 

[sgtsandman]

What is the difference between frames on a single cab long box (7') and a extra cab regular box (6')? I think is the question.

I think the difference is in the bed mounts themselves than the frame. I'm pretty sure the same frame is used on the regular cab long box is the same frame used on the super cab regular/short box. Adsm08 can probably answer this better since I've never been able to closely inspect a long box truck and they were never very common at all around here. But knowing how miserly Ford was with the old Rangers, I can't see how they would have a special frame just for the long box trucks.

 

[adsm08]

What is the difference between frames on a single cab long box (7') and a extra cab regular box (6')? I think is the question.

Super cab Ranger is the longest wheelbase you could get. It was 127.5 inches, regular cab long bed was only 114 or 118, but the rear wheels sat back farther in the bed.

The kicker with cab/frame compatibility is that the Ranger frames are not flat, they are a "split-level" kind of deal, where the frame rises about 6 inches starting right at the back of the cab. If you try to place a super cab on a regular cab frame this rise will cut into the floor, and then you need a 6" body lift on the front two positions to make it work, and you have nowhere to bolt the back of your cab, or you have to do some pretty extreme modifications to your floor pan.

Also the rear cab mounts are different, both in position and form. The front-most locations are the same, as are the middle ones. The rear ones are in drastically different places due to the length differences, and are very different. My rear cab brackets were rusted and blown out, I looked high and low for new ones before repairing the old ones. New ones for a regular cab are abundant. New ones for a super cab are few, far between, and expensive.

As far as the beds go, there isn't much difference except length. Obviously the 6 foot bed is a foot shorter than the 7 foot bed, and so it takes up a foot less space. You can bolt a 6 foot bed to a 7 foot frame, but I think you will only ever get 4 of the 6 bolts in. I've seen it done, but only a side view, they didn't show the bolts holding the bed on.

You probably can't bolt it up against the cab and have the rear of the frame exposed due to spacing of the bolt holes, and it would also be extremely inconvenient trying to get things in and out of the rear, and you wouldn't be able to open the tailgate all the way. It would probably stop at about a 20* angle, and wouldn't over-hang the bumper very far, if at all.

That leaves bolting it up at the rear of the frame, which leaves you with a good 13" to 14" gap between the cab and bed, because you lost a foot off the front of your bed.

The pictures I saw of this are down now. The article about the Shadow bed that popped up near Allentown PA had a link to a CL ad that showed a Ranger in the back ground with a crazy huge gap between the cab and bed. It was a regular cab truck, so it was probably a short bed on a long bed frame.

 

[adsm08]

But knowing how miserly Ford was with the old Rangers, I can't see how they would have a special frame just for the long box trucks.

There were 6 frames in total. One length for each wheel base, and then each of those had two versions, one for 2wd, one for 4x4.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

The short box was 6', the long box was 7'. Wheel wells are about in the center of both, so putting the short box on a longbed frame should put a 6" gap between the cab and bed and 6" between the bed and bumper.

 

[Ranger850]

Ok. Thanks. That's why I ask.