I've been noticing here lately that the bed seems to be a little off-centered on my Ranger.It seems to be higher on the driver's side than the passenger's side.I did some "eye-measuring" on each side at the alignment marks and from what my eyes can tell,I'm right.The driver's side is a little higher than the groove in the cab and the passenger's side is lower.So,that seems to be the problem.

A little insight -

When I bought the truck used,the salesman told me that that the owner popped a parking post with the right rear fender and he had a body shop repair the damage.Well,I think that he was right on that.The right rear fender has a fresh coat of red paint on it and a coat of clear,which makes it look like a million bucks against the rest of the truck's faded red paint .But,I don't believe that the body shop was very well educated in their field though.The same fender that was repaired has numerous dents on it that appear to have been painted over,which means that the body shop didn't care to fix them.What losers...

Anyway,so I have a crooked bed.Where to go now..I don't know lol.

The first thing that I want to try to do is to fix the bed so that it will be in line.Is this possible?Are there any screws or bolts that hold each of the side panels to the front panel of the bed?If so,I reckon that I can start there.Would it be possible to get it back in line that way?

Option number two would be to hunt the pick n' pulls for another bed.I figure that bed's off of Ranger's 1992 and earlier will fit my chassis.The 1993 to current beds look a little thicker.Will they work though?

And my last option..Will a Splash bed bolt to my frame as it is at this point?I'm talking about the step-side beds just in case anyone doesn't know .

All in all,I'm not really worried about this.It can be fixed one way or another,so it's no big pain.Once I get that crooked bumper off and replace it's bent mounts it might look a little better anyway lol.In either late July or August,I'm going to utilize my buddy's painting facility and paint my Ranger.I've done some body work and painting in the past and I just don't have anything better to do...So what the heck!I'm going to go with the factory red so I won't have to mess with changing colors or whatever.PPG's Omni line is what I plan to use.Their red runs about $120 a gallon lol.Maybe it'll last several years if taken care of properly though .

Durn...Looks like I already answered my question ...

Thanks for any insight.

Nightrain

 

BTW,just in case it comes up,I don't believe that I have a bent or warped frame.Everything about the frame looks straight to me.

Nightrain

 

Option #4 would be to shim the bed to frame mounts and use the existing bed.

 

Good idea there.Can't say that I thought of that one.I won't know for sure how bad off the bed is until I can get it off the truck and sit it on a flat,level surface.That'll tell me more about it then .

Nightrain

 

Is just the bed crooked or is the whole truck leaning to one side? Heres a thread with a similar question.
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/s...hreadid=130631

 

As far as I can tell,the bed is crooked.There's not indications of the whole truck leaning,as from the rear,everything is level except for the bed being slightly higher towards the driver's side.

Nightrain

 

Maybe someone had taken the bed off before and forgot to put the rubber bushings back on the one side.

 

Could be.That "body shop" that repaired the damage described in my first post could've taken the bed off to do their repairs and forgot to put the bushings back on that side.BTW,the chrome wheel arch trim is missing from that fender also.By that,if they did remove the bed,they could've forgotten the bushing just like they did that piece of trim.

Nightrain

 

Or maybe the guy that owned it before you did a ghetto body lift. lol.

 

Could be...

Let's hope not though ...

Nightrain

 

If I were you, I'd take the bed off and check/replace all the bushings and see if you see something that's making one side higher or lower than the other. The bed is fairly simple to remove and not all that heavy, all you need is a big torx bit to remove the bolts and a friend to help you take the bed off. Watch out for your wires if you take it off so you don't pull on 'em or break 'em.

 

As soon as it gets a little warmer around here,me and my dad are gonna pull the bed to replace the fuel sender float in the tank.That'll be the perfect time to check the bushings,alignment,etc.If we don't do that,I already have plans to take it off when I paint it.

Nightrain