Lately i've seen a couple pictures of the newer Edge's and they don't have front mud flaps. I've also seen a couple pictures of them without any mud flaps. I'm thinking about taking them off of my 99 tomorrow just to see how it looks and i'm guessing it would make it look higher off the ground, but thats really not what i'm going for. I think that it actually makes the truck more cleaner and 'simpler' if that is even a word. Tell me what you think?

 

I think truck without mudflaps looks good.
That why i took mine off. :)

 

I only have the rear one's i didnt like the look of the front one's

 

anyone wanna trade? I want just the covers for the front so I don't show any holes.

 

took mine off..

 

'04's didn't seem to have any front mud flaps, and the driver side engine bay mud flap is also missing in action.

 

Edges do throw a LOT of stones at the rocker panels and rear fender and flares. I took my front flaps off, but I also have rock sliders and stone guard coating all down my rocker panels and the leading edge of the rear flares.

You will cause more chipping and wear -- not saying don't do it, just indicating they put the flaps on for that reason. I left the rear ones on in consideration of people riding behind me, for whatever good they do. If you have factory step bars that probably helps the rear flare quite a bit, but not so much the rocker panels.

 

Wasn't this a common factory 'oops' on '03 trucks? I seem to remember a photo of Swoop's engine bay coated w/ like an inch of mud thanks to a missing flap?

 

no front flaps for me... didnt come with any

 

that was the reason why I took my rear ones off, cuz around here people like to tailgate in the rain,

and since I took my rear ones off, I just went ahead and took my front ones off, and since its "all in the mind" it made the truck look higher than what it was, even tho its still stock height w/ larger tires.

 

Yeah, we need to see them wide tires :D

 

Exactly -- and his was an FX4 level two! It should have FOR SURE come with the flaps.

 

Yeah, that had to suck..

 

I took my front ones off due to the oversized tires. The tires would rub the flaps when turning.

And Jons right about your truck taking a beating without the front flaps. My fender flares and rocker panels take the most abuse of any body panel on my truck. The rear flares look really bad.

I was going to try and put them back on after the lift, but I haven't took the time to do it yet.

 

Justin, take a look at my Cardomain site and see what I did with the Martin Seynour StoneGuard paint. It would look great on you your truck. It's thick and resembles Rhino lining and protects from the stones. It completely covers all those pits in the flares.

 

The flaps that y'all are talking about is in front of the engine bay?

 

Not a mistake- deliberate. I have heard that the shield was shortened for engine compartment cooling during an extreme high temperature idling test at the Arizona Proving Grounds.

Since I don't live in the desert, and to prevent a ton of mud on my engine, I went to the Ford dealer and ordered a long shield for my 2003. The long shield part number has been superceded to the short shield part and that's what came in. My friendly Ford dealer parts man did a search of other dealers inventories and found me one of the leftover long ones.

I replaced the short shield that came on my truck and found that the stock 31x10.50 BFG KO rubbed on the long shield on right turns. So I reversed the plastic mounting pins and installed it from inside the inner fender lip through the original holes. It was a little harder to install this way but it gives more tire clearance.

NOTE: I have since heard (but not confirmed) that the passenger side shield is the exact same long shield part with the push pins reversed. So that may be a source if you can't find one of the original longer driver side parts.

 

Good research, Bob! All my wheel mudflaps are now off. I took off the front ones after I put on the rocksliders, and I ripped a rear one loose in Centralia and ended up removing the back ones as well.

It may be a "cleaner look" -- but it doesn't result in a "cleaner truck"!

 

Bob, right?! Awesome! Good to hear from yah..

 

Someone else from GenEdge -- though I think not a refugee! It is good that you joined over here, Bob. :)

 

All you need to do is stand next to a hot and running 4.0L and you'll feel why they have half a shield on the driver's side. It's supposed to be that way.

 

Nice to see ya here, Bob.

As for the front mud flaps, they stopped putting them on Rangers in 2003. I don't particularly miss mine, but I do very little mudding/offroading too.

 

Hi everyone! Thanks for the kind words.

Yeah, that was a 'surprise' when I got my 03. The early 03 brochures had them listed as standard but they had been thrifted by the time the newer brochures arrived later in the model year. "Prices and specifications subject to change without notice." I had to get a used set of flaps and brackets for the front. Also-the XLT cargo lights and their wiring went away mid 2003.

 

I have also ditched my mud flaps. It does tend to make more of a mess when I go off road, but it's not much worse. I originally just went to rear flat mud flaps for an older Ranger, but I ran into the same problem as I did with the originals...the paint would be scraped to hell and would rust. There was surface rust from the originals, and small rocks got caught between the new ones and started doing the same thing. Now I don't have any mud flaps. I get a few more rock chips, but not many and the damage isn't as bad as what the mud flaps were doing to the paint. You can get an idea of how it might look without them from my Car Domain site.

 

John, I can't find info on that stoneguard stuff. Google comes up empty. Is it spelled right? Where did you get it?