I put a 96 dash into an 88 Ranger and got everything to work with some modifications.
The stock steering wheel (edit) might have worked but because of the way I did it I decided to go with the 96 (Ranger) steering wheel.
The main problem for me was the way it fastens to the dash and I just found it easier to use the newer steering column. That only required a bit of shortening of the middle segment of the shaft. I was running out of time on my location where I was doing the build and had to speed things up.
I also moved over the heater box from the 96 because the old style would have required more modifications. The heater box from the 96 fit perfectly with just slight modification t the firewall (bigger hole with different mounting).
The only other considerations were the wire harness pass though at the firewall and how the dash was mounted on the sidewalls. The whole dash sits on the sidewall mounts, unlike the original dash which has a few more mounting locations. The newer cabs are a bit wider also...doesn't matter though as the trim allows you to fit it to professional looking or factory finish.
I have some pics of the mods I did but they are on Photobucket and linking them is not working since the changes they made.
Overall, yes, it will work and yes it is worth it to me just to have the side defrost vents working so I didn't have to keep flipping the vent control between panel and windshield.
The upgrade actually looked pretty good too...I tried to upload some pics but they need to be resized...and I can't actually do that with this computer...XP is getting wonky.
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