What did you do to your Ranger Raptor Today?

[HGHVLTS]

Got some 2020 Rear headrests and put the factory black leather upholstery for folding headrests.

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[landiscarrier]

That's a straight-up slobber hound!

We smartened up and bought a car specifically for him. Haha. $2500 for a used 2012 Chrysler PT Cruiser. Hahahaha.

 

[STEVE_K]

We smartened up and bought a car specifically for him. Haha. $2500 for a used 2012 Chrysler PT Cruiser. Hahahaha.

Good call! At least that PT Cruiser finally has a purpose in life!

 

[danmoochie]

Added ranger lettering on hood. Oem ford parts from Thailand.

Really like this look, how did you purchase them? How much?

 

[Bt_okst]

Really like this look, how did you purchase them? How much?

https://ebay.io/m/7FIL9N

 

[pablo94sc]

Can you lock your key fob in the truck and unlock it with the keypad? I would like to leave the keys in the truck and lock it, but I know some of my Mopar vehicles didn't allow it to lock if they are inside.

I've done it. Really handy when you're going to the beach.

 

[pkvir]

Paid it off.

 

[Lion77]

Installed 4x strips of 4 foot US Cargo Control L-Track for securing items during offroading and utility (i.e., securing a stack of 2x4s from home depot so they dont slide out of the bed with an open tail gate).

 

[Lion77]

Some notes about the install:

I went with carbon steel 1/4 in plus nuts that are zinc plated for corrosion resistance. Stainless obviously would be better for corrosion but its a softer alloy and not as strong, so i coated the plus nuts in cavity wax I had left over from spraying inside the rockers. I stayed with stainless for the screws since I was more concerned about a plus nut pulling through than a screw stripping out, 1/4 in is pretty meaty and there a 10 screws per strip (40 screws in total!).

Process was tedious and I did run into two snags. Tried to miss the structural U channel under neath but ended up drilling right next to it on 3 holes so the but wandere about 1/8in off the intended location, had to file the L track holes for each of the 3 holes that happened since the hole location in the bed was off becuase it was up against the U channel. 4th one by the U channel apparently was just far enough i could carefully thead it in without needing to widen the L-track hole.

Worked out though despite that snag and got all the plus nuts properly installed and expanded, only lost use of one position on the three right most tracks due to screw sticking up an extra mm or two for those spots which is irrelevant since there are so many spots. Visually you cant tell either those three are 1/8in off. So 99% of the install went well.

Other snag was one plus nut didnt expand properly and I had to cut it off and pop it out to replace it. Replacement went in fine, I think when I was crushing it with the tool I was tilted sideways more than I realized and two of the petals expanded on the top side of the bed instead of underneath. My bad, but nothing a cut off wheel couldnt take care of since thankfully it was towards the tail gate, did have to take my spare off though to get that one out.

I measured 6.5 inches from the edge of the bed liner at the tail gate end to the end of the L-track, if you go with 6.25 or 6in distance between the end of the L-track and the edge of where the bed liner stops it would have missed the U channel for anyone that ends up doing a similar install.

 

[Lion77]

4hrs of labor (aka me). Install was tedius because I did not want to risk my drill holes being too far off it would cause an issue.

So I started by drilling the last hole for each track strip closest to the tail gate, holding the track in place to use as a pilot hole locator. Drilled 1/4in hole. Since I went with plus nuts instead of the nuts/ washers because threading those on would have been impossible for a few spots and frustratingly difficult for most of the others, the 1/4in holes only served as pilot holes for the 3/8 final size to fit the plus nut.

So I had to drill 40x holes in my bed, then re-drill them to 3/8. So 80x holes in total! But by drilling and finish drilling the ends im 3/8in first, I could then screw in the ends to hold the strips in place as a template for all the pilot holes, making that part much easier.

All in all, it wasnt the most enjoyable being hunched over on my knees on a foam pad for nearly 4hours and then having to do some filing for the 3x holes that were up against the U-channel or replacing the one plus nut that didnt go in properly, but now that its done, im glad I went this route.

Personally I'm not a fan of heavy racks, drawers and other setups that add a lot of weight and kinda limit how else you use the bed space. I went with L-Track not for convenience, but versatility, very low weight (only 2.5 lbs per strip, mayb 3 lbs in screws) and high strength. w
When its not needed it also has no impact on the utility of the bed space since it takes up no room and is flush with the height of the structural ribs in the bed (aka I have full use of it still).

This is more of a race truck approach, keeping weight low and the setup simple / bare bones which was my goal. Tonneau cover can also be removed via two wing nuts, in just a few minutes if I need to maximize bed space for large cargo (like my Honda Fourtrax Rubicon, eventually ill get a trailor, but for now the Ranger bed works!).

PS I went with close to even spacing so you can use it in a grid pattern, for larger items you can skip one track or go all the way across (i.e., 1 and 3 or 1 and 4). For narrower longer items like the Plano box in the pic, you just go with the two closest tracks or you can go from a track to a tie down for odd shaped items if needed. Overall this adds significant bed utility for managing cargo, especially when offroading.

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