Crushed ranger rebuild - let the photos speak for themself

[TuckerP]

let me lead with photos...

[HazardousRanger]

AWW MAN!!!! at least the front window is intact....shit that sucks man!

[TuckerP]

This 2002 4X4 ranger was my brother's up until last January (2010). He lives in California and on one unfortunate day, someone took his parking spot at work. So, instead of finding the guy and throwing a fit, he parked on the street (or something to that effect)...which lead to the ranger's demise

living in an apartment near the beach, my bro didn't have the space nor time to do a rebuild. So, I drove out from Colorado and forked over the $1200 to buy the truck from the insurance company.

The truck runs fine with only 160k miles, but you get a slight crick in your neck driving it as is...lol

Started out by jacking the roof back up to a "normal" looking shape. Then installed a plexi rear window with sheet metal crews and silicone. Drove it like that since august, while i slowly accumulated parts

I recently replaced the driver's rear door and bed. un-bent the frame 2 inches on the passenger side where the tree had smashed through the bed, bending the frame down. and just today, FINALLY found a top half of a 4 door ranger cab (turns out they are very scarce in Colorado)

So, I will be starting the cab graft in the next few weeks or so with the intention of getting this baby back to stock by May. I thought you guys would get a kick out of this and maybe having a running build thread, I will be more diligent about taking photos (and posting them!). stay tuned for more!

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but alas...the front window did not survive the cab reshaping...took the high-lift one "click" too far

[HazardousRanger]

very nice man! unfortunate for sure man....i havnt seen that happen around here yet thankfully

[ObsoleteE]

Wow, that's nuts. Lucky he wasn't in the truck at the time. What caused the tree to fall? I am looking forward to more pics, good luck with the rebuild.

[TuckerP]

Bad for my brother, good for me i guess! lol

That's good to hear! Trees and cars DO NOT mix. This happened in LA last year. I guess you guys were having tornadoes and really bad weather then?

you should hear the comments I get on this thing..."WHAT happened to your truck man? did you roll it or something?"

Or my favorite, "Someone sure had fun in that thing!!"

[Dabiscuit]

I'm gonna be doing the same soon lol. Mine isn't anywhere near as bad though.

[TuckerP]

@ Dabiscut - What happened to your truck?! what are your plan on fixing it? got any pics?

[lovemud]

take your time and do it right man. dont want the body to fall on u when your driving

[TuckerP]

So, here is a little update as to what I have done so far...

in the attached pic, you can see what I was able to do with the jack and hydraulic ram in getting the roof beat out. It is rough, but keeps me dry most of the time (gets a bit noisy on the highway though...lol).

This pic was right after I picked up the new bed. Still has the temp lights i rigged up on the bumper so I could drive down without the old bed and put the new one on. this picture really illustrates how badly the frame was bent - good 2"+.

I also found a side door which I did a rattle-can paint job to get me by until I paint the whole thing.

The second picture was after I straightened the frame. actually went 1/2" too far up with it. But, I will be working on it again because I have a small kink I need to go back with a torch and work it out

[RLong31]

Are you going to re-enforce the frame somehow? I would think it being bent 2" and bent back up too far, and then bent back down... heating up the metal.. It would make it quite weak in that area? Also, why not just find another ranger w/ a blown motor and salvage what decent parts you can from the totaled one? Will be a nice project, and interesting to follow, good luck :)

[brinker88]

I dont know how he did it, but at my shop we cold bend frames back into shape

[Dabiscuit]

@ Dabiscut - What happened to your truck?! what are your plan on fixing it? got any pics?

Didnt have the ebrake set all the way. Rolled down the driveway hit a bank then rolled on its lid. I plan on fixing it. I started a thread.

http://www.fordrangerforum.com/vehicle-snapshots/27999-rolled.html

Im gathering parts now. Gonna start with some work today.

[TuckerP]

I dont know how he did it, but at my shop we cold bend frames back into shape

Yeah, I did it cold using a 10 ton ram to bend it back up. I will have to go back though with the torch because the tree actually smashed through the bed and kinked the frame right at the 2nd bolt for the bed. right now I just have a 1" spacer under the 2nd bolt so I can still load it up without messing up the bed.

strength-wise, I am not too worried about it. if you look at the crude drawing I posted, you can see where it bent; which is not exactly a high stress area (and is already reinforced by the curve over the axle). Black lines are what it is supposed to look like. also, it took every bit of that 10 ton capacity to bend it back, so I don't think I will ever be able to over-stress it under normal use.

[knightmare1015]

Good luck. Here's a little tip for you. when you go to replace any part of the top with new sheet metal, attach a roll cage to that section so it will retain it's shape if you have to detach it to fix any problems with the doors, a pillars,etc. It will make it alot easier in the long run when you go to do any metal work later on.

[Outcast]

Good luck. Here's a little tip for you. when you go to replace any part of the top with new sheet metal, attach a roll cage to that section so it will retain it's shape if you have to detach it to fix any problems with the doors, a pillars,etc. It will make it alot easier in the long run when you go to do any metal work later on.

x2

Found this out during a chop top on my bug.

Sent from my Droid

[knightmare1015]

x2

Found this out during a chop top on my bug.

Sent from my Droid

Yep, I found this out while helping a friend chop a 1949 Merc. It saved us alot of time and god knows how much money we saved.

[TuckerP]

Good luck. Here's a little tip for you. when you go to replace any part of the top with new sheet metal, attach a roll cage to that section so it will retain it's shape if you have to detach it to fix any problems with the doors, a pillars,etc. It will make it alot easier in the long run when you go to do any metal work later on.

hmm...please elaborate! Not sure exactly what you mean here

I will not be adding any "new" metal. I have the top half of an undamaged cab cut at the bottom of the front pillars and 12" below the back window.

are you saying I should build a substructure under the old cab so that when I cut it off I have a shape to fit the new one to? is it permanent?

[knightmare1015]

hmm...please elaborate! Not sure exactly what you mean here

I will not be adding any "new" metal. I have the top half of an undamaged cab cut at the bottom of the front pillars and 12" below the back window.

are you saying I should build a substructure under the old cab so that when I cut it off I have a shape to fit the new one to? is it permanent?

That's what I was saying. Build a TEMPORARY structure so when you do any cutting or chopping,all of your parts fit. Think of building a full rollcage used TEMPORARILY for your task.