Carpeted Panel between Cab and Bed Holding Water

[Blue Streak]

I searched for it on the your oem parts store site (basically the same as Levittown) in both the 2019 and 2020 versions and found nothing as well.



By chance are you able see how many or where the pins are secured to on yours? I took a good look at mine again If the push pins are accessible from below, perhaps an upholstery tool may be able to be worked up in the gap from below and pop some of not most of them loose to ease removal.




This is the best I can get with my phone. When I used the flash from the top, the glare from the truck body washed out the image.

This is from the passenger side.

View from the driver's side.

View from underneath the truck. As @Cabose-1 stated, there's very little room underneath to work with here. Maybe 3/8" at best.

Towards the right side almost straight up from the muffler there is a hole for what looks like a place to secure it with a push pin like Caboose-1 was mentioning.

Mine don't

is that it?

Mine does have that

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[Cabose-1]

is that it?

Thats it!! In the red!! Id take pictures of mine but my phone is just not doing it. Good luck to keeping that area clean. Made for small stuff. When leaves and garbage like that get in. Just blocks everything and works like a dam. Another alternative may be a long wooden or plastic stick. To stick down there and knock it all out. Just added another chore

 

[Mustang2Ranger]

Recently I saw this panel between the cab and bed. It is a carpeted panel with a jute backer on it and extends the width of the cab resting on a lip extending out from the cab. The issue I have with it being there is not only does it trap leaves and other trash but more importantly water. Since this part of the cab it's sitting on is steel, it's only a matter of time before things start to rust. I searched all the available parts for the Ranger and cannot find this panel listed anywhere.

It's been raining off and on the past couple of days and there's a mildew smell in the truck when I first open it up. This has been a thing since I got the truck. On several occasions when the mildew smell is present, I have checked nearly every inch of carpeted area inside the truck after rain storm with a moisture meter and nothing. No trace of water inside the truck. When I crawled up under the truck today to inspect the panel and pressed on it, water poured out like squeezing a soaked sponge. I am convinced this is the source of the mildew smell since it sits directly below the pressure vents on the back wall of the cab.

I can't see any way to get this out from below the truck since the lip it's sitting on does not allow much room to shift it as well as the parking brake cable assembly, drive shaft, etc being in the way. Once it dries out, I may be able to use a fishing hook or something to grab it and lift it out provided it's not secured by anything. Does anyone else have this panel sitting here? If so why would Ford think it would be a good idea to put something like this there and create a corrosion issue.

You summed up my thoughts, I was wondering the same thing. Been under there twice to see how to get it out. Seems it is glued and like you mentioned, the lip underneath prevents access

I really wish I could take it out if there was a somewhat easy way

 

[Porpoise Hork]

Well the dealer had no information on the carpeted piece and they checked out several Rangers on the lot and none of them including a Lariat. They could not even pull up a part number or find it on the parts breakdown since the one Ranger Pride found is listed as a rubber flex seal and not carpet. I decided remove it that since it is holding leaves and other debris against the cab/bed.

Talk about a complete and total pain in the ass to remove... So it's actually two separate pieces and secured with 3 plastic push pins on each section, but also some rather strong adhesive of some sort. Five of the six pins are easy to get to and clip with side cutters. Then there is one that is over the gas tank close to the frame. The only way to reach it is to lay on your left side between the muffler and drive shaft, then reach up and over the drive shaft and across the tank with a very small pair of cutters and feel for it.

After the clips have been cut then take a very long flat bladed screw driver and push up from the bottom of the carpet material on the outer edge of the bed to break the adhesive loose. It's not bad idea to try to work as much of the carpet loose as possible while your under there. Once a good section of carpet is loose get into the bed and pop out the large oval plugs at the front of the bed. Take a long pair of needle nose pliers and work the carpet to the hole and pull out enough to expose the hole that the outer most plastic pin was inserted into. I used a paracord tie down with a carabiner clip on it and fed it down between the cab and bed then fished it out the hole to secure it to the carpet via the pushpin hole and pushed the carpet back through the hole so the cord and clip are hooked to it to pull the carpet out. Let me say that the glue they used is some stout stuff and did not want to let go even with part of it already separated so you have to pull extremely hard.


This one of the plastic clips

The carpet pieces. The one on the left is from the driver's side of the truck and the other is flipped over to show the back. Both of them while dry had a very strong musty/mildew scent to them. You can also see where the carpet was preventing debris from passing as well. I don't know if this was the cause of the intermittent musty mildew smell in the cab after a rain storm or not.

Initial road tests are inconclusive as I was not able to detect any difference in noise in the cab. So I have no idea why these were installed in the first place.

 

[FoD]

Here's the answer - 2019 Shop Manual, In the Body and Paint, section 501-30, Rear End Sheet Metal Repairs

NVH stands for noise, vibration and harshness

 

[Porpoise Hork]

That would be the one.

I figure if I get any increased noise after removing it I can just dynamat the back wall of the truck cab. Something I was planning on doing anyway.

 

[landiscarrier]

On my way to the dealer now to see if they'll remove it. I spend about 35 minutes at the drive in car wash yesterday trying to blast out mulch that got dumped in there.....what a nightmare! If they won't do it...I'll unbolt the bed and take them off...8 bolts I believe. It's a breading ground for rust and smells!

 

[TremorPNW]

Just looked I have the carpet looking piece on the bed on the driver's side. Looks to be glued on good. Passenger side missing as well as the rubber pieces on each side

 

[Porpoise Hork]

Just looked I have the carpet looking piece on the bed on the driver's side. Looks to be glued on good. Passenger side missing as well as the rubber pieces on each side

The vertical rubber flaps are fine where they are and there is no need to remove those.

Those jute pieces are glued on with fairly stout adhesive as well as held in with the plastic tabs. The quickest method I found to get them out was to clip all the tabs underneath the truck then push up from below with a long flat bladed screwdriver on the outer most edge to of the carpeted liner. Keep doing this to get as much of the adhesive loose. Next pop out the large access plugs in the bed out and use along pair of needle nose plyers and pull the jute through the access port until you have one of the pin holes from the bottom edge through. Fish a small carabiner or some other tie down with paracord or similar between the cab and bed and through the access port and secure it in the hole and work the jute and cord back out. Next comes the fun part... Start pulling up hard with steady force on the jute to remove it. The adhesive will slowly begin to release and allow the jute to be pulled out. It was a total pain in the ass getting them out, but at least now there's no more debris getting trapped down there.

 

[Nick Barber]

Just discovered this on mine, packed full of leaves. Seems like a real pain to remove the carpet pieces. Any thoughts or luck on unbolting the bed and shifting it just enough to get in and remove the pieces?

 

[NotBudule]

Must be a "deleted item" on mine ...

 

[Bob902]

Have a build date of 04/21. Do not have it on mine.

 

[landiscarrier]

Just discovered this on mine, packed full of leaves. Seems like a real pain to remove the carpet pieces. Any thoughts or luck on unbolting the bed and shifting it just enough to get in and remove the pieces?

My son and I thought about doing that. He’s a GM tech. We started the job and then determined it was a lot more in-depth than we wanted to tackle in the driveway. I used a power washer to get “most” of the leaves and debris out. It’s a very stupid design.

 

[gfitzge2]

Recently I saw this panel between the cab and bed. It is a carpeted panel with a jute backer on it and extends the width of the cab resting on a lip extending out from the cab. The issue I have with it being there is not only does it trap leaves and other trash but more importantly water. Since this part of the cab it's sitting on is steel, it's only a matter of time before things start to rust. I searched all the available parts for the Ranger and cannot find this panel listed anywhere.

It's been raining off and on the past couple of days and there's a mildew smell in the truck when I first open it up. This has been a thing since I got the truck. On several occasions when the mildew smell is present, I have checked nearly every inch of carpeted area inside the truck after rain storm with a moisture meter and nothing. No trace of water inside the truck. When I crawled up under the truck today to inspect the panel and pressed on it, water poured out like squeezing a soaked sponge. I am convinced this is the source of the mildew smell since it sits directly below the pressure vents on the back wall of the cab.

I can't see any way to get this out from below the truck since the lip it's sitting on does not allow much room to shift it as well as the parking brake cable assembly, drive shaft, etc being in the way. Once it dries out, I may be able to use a fishing hook or something to grab it and lift it out provided it's not secured by anything. Does anyone else have this panel sitting here? If so why would Ford think it would be a good idea to put something like this there and create a corrosion issue.

First of all Thanks for posting this. After 3 years owning my Ranger It never occurred to me to look there. Sure enough mine also had some debris, I think I got most all of it out, and now that will be part of my wash routine.

This modified blow gun helped clean that area out.

 

[halligan1201]

I have it and it's spotless - nothing stuck in there. However, my truck sleeps in the garage. I'm more concerned with the drain tubes from my tonneau draining on top of it I'm assuming since it's exposed to water anyway it won't hurt anything

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