What did you do to your Ranger today?

[Sariandan]

For anyone interested in the effect on rear light brightness from wrapping the tail light assemblies, I think they're still quite visible.

Tail and backup

Turns

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[BrassSlinger]

Built a fishing rod rack for the bed of my Tremor. It's made entirely of scrap treated wood which I then sprayed with rustoleum spray on bed liner. It holds up to 14 rods which is great for those multi-species camping trips where I target bass during the day and catfish at night.

Very nice work,that looks awesome

 

[E-Rawk]

Very nice work,that looks awesome

Thanks! It bolts above the forward mounted tie down loops at the top of the bed so when I'm not toting around any rods I lose virtually zero bedspace. I'm not quite satisfied with the rustoleum spray on bed liner, it just doesn't match the actual bedliner very well, I'll probably hit it with some roll on to get some better texture.

 

[BrassSlinger]

Thanks! It bolts above the forward mounted tie down loops at the top of the bed so when I'm not toting around any rods I lose virtually zero bedspace. I'm not quite satisfied with the rustoleum spray on bed liner, it just doesn't match the actual bedliner very well, I'll probably hit it with some roll on to get some better texture.

Mix the roll on bed liner with some sand that should do the trick for texture.

I'm looking for a rod holder of some sort where i can secure my trout fishing rods for transport to my fishing spots without them moving around in the bed.

 

[JoeDop1]

organized my super crew 5 ft bed this last weekend. I installed BuiltRight Molle bed panels last summer. I just couldn't figure out the Rubik's cube for water cans, hi-lift jack, water cans and propane tank without going out and above the bed. I made brackets to mount the super strut to the "spare" tie-down holes and eye-bolts to strap the cans in. seems secure. I will take it off road
road this weekend.

-

 

[OrangeStreak]

Attached Tailgate letters and setup the new Garmin Drive 52 GPS
(pics below)

The Tailgate letters were easier to put on than I thought they would be...the N took a little more time to get straight. Very impressed with these letters:
1. Good quality and appearance, raised and beveled.
2. Firm and didn't flop around when attaching.
3. The adhesive can be applied to stick lightly and then the letters can be re-adjusted before pressing them down permanently.
4. The Matte black matched the bumper perfectly.

I cleaned the letter recesses twice with a 50% Isopropyl alcohol and distilled water mix to strip away wax, rinsed and dried with a microfiber towel. Attached all the letters temporarily then went back and adjusted each one to get them straight. These letters will be perfect if they don't separate from the surface.

Amazon.com: okrex Ranger Accessories Tailgate Insert Letters Compatible with Ranger Auto Safety Tailgate Letters for Ranger 2019 2020 2021 2022 3D Raised Rear Emblem Decals with Seccotine(Matte Black) : Automotive

The Garmin Drive 52 replaced my faithful old Garmin Nuvi 52 LM which had finished its life cycle. I will use the Drive 52 as the primary GPS and then use my phone as a backup if ever needed. Love the Garmin quality and their great Customer Support.

Amazon.com: Garmin Drive 52, GPS Navigator with 5” Display, Simple On-Screen Menus and Easy-to-See Maps : Electronics

 

[Synfulz]

Sadly I needed to add a tailgate protector. So my punishment toys don't scratch it. I picked these up today for the wife and I to get some more exercise time together. I had a dream last night that I had a new mountain bike and I was happy riding again. I have not had a bike for 26 years.

 

[OrangeStreak]

Sadly I needed to add a tailgate protector. So my punishment toys don't scratch it. I picked these up today for the wife and I to get some more exercise time together. I had a dream last night that I had a new mountain bike and I was happy riding again. I have not had a bike for 26 years.

Good reminder...been a long time! I need to do some riding too...

 

[Synfulz]

Good reminder...been a long time! I need to do some riding too...

Already been tearing around, it feels good again to just ride a bike. Sometimes the simple things in life can be relaxing.

 

[OrangeStreak]

Already been tearing around, it feels good again to just ride a bike. Sometimes the simple things in life can be relaxing.

For sure...exercise has some amazing benefits!

 

[subquark]

Okay, so I got the ridiculously expensive Bak Revolver X4s on Friday and had watched many installation videos in the last few months while waiting for the truck.

First off, I like to read instructions but had not read all before starting. I did the first Ford Ranger-specific supplement of installing the front and rear reinforcing brackets. THEN .. I saw that the second supplement should have been done first - one that places a few pieces of self-adhesive foam blocks to help seal the bed from water.

No biggie to remove the two front plates and fit the foam and stickie plug material.

Then it was mounting the side rails. Not too hard but it would have been easier with two people. The actual steel of the bed doesn't go down as far as the plastic rail caps do. The plastic caps also don't lay snug against the steel rail sides. So when you clamp down the rails, they tend to angle downward into the bed. The driver side laid pretty flat but the passenger side was leaning. However, based on videos and the install instructions, I then focused on getting the cover itself real square and all that.

Then the issues starting to show up.

First, no way the tailgate would close, the cover was way too far back. I had lined up the front just like they said but it was a good two-pus inches too far back!

So I adjusted that and ended up pushing the cover all the way against the cab (with maybe an eighth of an inch gap to prevent some rubbing). This then allowed the tailgate to close tight to the rear seal.

BUT ... the passenger side of the rear rail was so low that it was cutting into the tailgate plastic cap. So I tried bending it up a bit (derr) before realizing that it actually needed to be shimmed.

They give you plenty of shim material but none of the videos showed using it.

That night, after messing with it for two or three hours, I searched for videos talking about shims and Ford Ranger issues. Lo and behold, I found a couple. The shims were the right way to fix it! I even found a video of someone using stainless steel washers to shim up the rear of the rails (I immediately thought a nickel could work).

So the next day, Sunday, I took the entire thing off, cover and rails. Then I saw how the cap wasn't flush and I shimmed at the four places on each side that the rail clamps connect to. I cut the shim material and had to layer it in some places. The front and rear plates got one sim on their parts that stick below the rail and then another that overlapped that part and went under the rail. Making the rail much more solid to connect to.

Then I placed the clamps many times, I'd adjust the shim, tighten, remove, shift, and did this probably half a dozen times on each side.

I made sure the side rails were firmly pressed against the bulkhead and made sure the tailgate would clear each rail.

I would say to do this well before placing the cover on. The rail-to-tailgate part is the most critical to get right.

Then I placed the cover on the bed and brought it all the way to the cab. No knurled front knobs yet. Just making sure the tailgate could close against the seal. Once I was happy with that alignment, I rolled up the cover and unrolled it a few times. It'll kind of center itself but you still want to make sure there's an equal gap on each side for the locking tabs and the channel they roll in.

One that was good, I tightened up the front knurled nuts. And it fits much better, the front mounting brackets were much easier to attach now that they were level and not angled down, even though one was only angled down very slightly in the beginning.

BUT the cover still seems too long and I'll reach out to Bak about that. I suppose it going all the way to the cab will only helps it seal better, I'm not very concerned about it getting wet, since we will be using it for our inflatable kayaks (a pair of Sea Eagle Razorlite 393rls).

So it took me two days, some cussing, some videos, and some luck to finally get it on. I do like it quite a bit and, for the price, it should be perfect.

My BIG gripe is that for over $1,100, they should spend 1 minute sanding/filing the rear of the rails.

The driver side had a wicked sharp burr and both have crazy sharp corners. It would definitely tear a hole in your arm if you brushed them while loading gear. That's just really poor design and finishing on Bak's part and I'll call them out on it (several have mentioned it on YouTube). I spent about 30 seconds on each side with the Leatherman Free's dumpy nail file and got the edges much safer.

So I hope this helps others that may be excited to get this on do a better job than I did!


First step, get the Foreman comfortable!

Front reinforcing plate - not shown are the added shims - on the part under the rail to make it flush with the plastic rail cap, then add an overlapping shim over it that goes up over the side of the bed cap. Also not shown is the foam block that should be put in first and the stickie plug for the hole on the left!

Rear plate, same here - need to add two shims ...

You can see a silver glint of the wicked sharp rear rail edge from where it was cut and this is actually from the first day with the rail sloped ever so slightly into the bed.

I had to bring the cover even more forward than this pic shows, now there's only an eighth inch gap. It's till not easy to close the cover onto the closed tailgate, like your supposed to be able to do, but the front seal would need to be pressing against the cab for that to happen. But it does make for a very tight seal when you close the tailgate against the cover.

Then we went to the dump with the giant @$$ box and the Foreman was pleased, even though it did take this lackey two days to finally get it right!

 

[OFC Ranger]

Process of upgrading my rear seat delete platform...

Fold up floor panels to access storage area underneath, but also raised the platform sub-frame so I can store other things as well. In the end it will have camlocks and gas struts.

Floor panels will be wrapped in faux pebble leather.

 

[kpgreenwell]

Okay, so I got the ridiculously expensive Bak Revolver X4s on Friday and had watched many installation videos in the last few months while waiting for the truck.

First off, I like to read instructions but had not read all before starting. I did the first Ford Ranger-specific supplement of installing the front and rear reinforcing brackets. THEN .. I saw that the second supplement should have been done first - one that places a few pieces of self-adhesive foam blocks to help seal the bed from water.

No biggie to remove the two front plates and fit the foam and stickie plug material.

Then it was mounting the side rails. Not too hard but it would have been easier with two people. The actual steel of the bed doesn't go down as far as the plastic rail caps do. The plastic caps also don't lay snug against the steel rail sides. So when you clamp down the rails, they tend to angle downward into the bed. The driver side laid pretty flat but the passenger side was leaning. However, based on videos and the install instructions, I then focused on getting the cover itself real square and all that.

Then the issues starting to show up.

First, no way the tailgate would close, the cover was way too far back. I had lined up the front just like they said but it was a good two-pus inches too far back!

So I adjusted that and ended up pushing the cover all the way against the cab (with maybe an eighth of an inch gap to prevent some rubbing). This then allowed the tailgate to close tight to the rear seal.

BUT ... the passenger side of the rear rail was so low that it was cutting into the tailgate plastic cap. So I tried bending it up a bit (derr) before realizing that it actually needed to be shimmed.

They give you plenty of shim material but none of the videos showed using it.

That night, after messing with it for two or three hours, I searched for videos talking about shims and Ford Ranger issues. Lo and behold, I found a couple. The shims were the right way to fix it! I even found a video of someone using stainless steel washers to shim up the rear of the rails (I immediately thought a nickel could work).

So the next day, Sunday, I took the entire thing off, cover and rails. Then I saw how the cap wasn't flush and I shimmed at the four places on each side that the rail clamps connect to. I cut the shim material and had to layer it in some places. The front and rear plates got one sim on their parts that stick below the rail and then another that overlapped that part and went under the rail. Making the rail much more solid to connect to.

Then I placed the clamps many times, I'd adjust the shim, tighten, remove, shift, and did this probably half a dozen times on each side.

I made sure the side rails were firmly pressed against the bulkhead and made sure the tailgate would clear each rail.

I would say to do this well before placing the cover on. The rail-to-tailgate part is the most critical to get right.

Then I placed the cover on the bed and brought it all the way to the cab. No knurled front knobs yet. Just making sure the tailgate could close against the seal. Once I was happy with that alignment, I rolled up the cover and unrolled it a few times. It'll kind of center itself but you still want to make sure there's an equal gap on each side for the locking tabs and the channel they roll in.

One that was good, I tightened up the front knurled nuts. And it fits much better, the front mounting brackets were much easier to attach now that they were level and not angled down, even though one was only angled down very slightly in the beginning.

BUT the cover still seems too long and I'll reach out to Bak about that. I suppose it going all the way to the cab will only helps it seal better, I'm not very concerned about it getting wet, since we will be using it for our inflatable kayaks (a pair of Sea Eagle Razorlite 393rls).

So it took me two days, some cussing, some videos, and some luck to finally get it on. I do like it quite a bit and, for the price, it should be perfect.

My BIG gripe is that for over $1,100, they should spend 1 minute sanding/filing the rear of the rails.

The driver side had a wicked sharp burr and both have crazy sharp corners. It would definitely tear a hole in your arm if you brushed them while loading gear. That's just really poor design and finishing on Bak's part and I'll call them out on it (several have mentioned it on YouTube). I spent about 30 seconds on each side with the Leatherman Free's dumpy nail file and got the edges much safer.

So I hope this helps others that may be excited to get this on do a better job than I did!


First step, get the Foreman comfortable!

Front reinforcing plate - not shown are the added shims - on the part under the rail to make it flush with the plastic rail cap, then add an overlapping shim over it that goes up over the side of the bed cap. Also not shown is the foam block that should be put in first and the stickie plug for the hole on the left!

Rear plate, same here - need to add two shims ...

You can see a silver glint of the wicked sharp rear rail edge from where it was cut and this is actually from the first day with the rail sloped ever so slightly into the bed.

I had to bring the cover even more forward than this pic shows, now there's only an eighth inch gap. It's till not easy to close the cover onto the closed tailgate, like your supposed to be able to do, but the front seal would need to be pressing against the cab for that to happen. But it does make for a very tight seal when you close the tailgate against the cover.

Then we went to the dump with the giant @$$ box and the Foreman was pleased, even though it did take this lackey two days to finally get it right!

You just described the exact same problems I had installing my resolver X4s what a pain in the a$$ to install.

 

[subquark]

Process of upgrading my rear seat delete platform...

Fold up floor panels to access storage area underneath, but also raised the platform sub-frame so I can store other things as well. In the end it will have camlocks and gas struts.

Floor panels will be wrapped in faux pebble leather.

Looks great! =)

 

[subquark]

You just described the exact same problems I had installing my resolver X4s what a pain in the a$$ to install.

Thanks for letting me know. It was so frustrating and I took a crescent wrench to bend up the side cutting the tailgate cap, only to then straighten it out the next day.

So does yours also almost touch the cab? Maybe it depends on Supercab versus Supercrew.

Thanks again, I don't feel like I got a bad one. It does work well and I like how easy it rolls up and down.

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