Hi, Guys.

Not a big poster, sorry. But I did want to pass this along to those who may not know this.

I had a passenger front speaker buzzing. So wanted to remove the door panel and put a good speaker in. I have the Factory Ford Manual. I got the screws and switches and everything removed just fine and went to remove the panel. Now...the manual says to use a special tool and pop the panel plastic clips loose from the door. Now this is important.
...........WRONG...........NOT CORRECT..........THIS IS WRONG IN THE MANUAL ........YOU WILL BREAK YOUR PANEL............................!!!!!!!

I called a local body shop and they said bring it in and they would pull it for me. I knew something was wrong when the panel was just being too stubborn with the first "clip" I tried to pop free. Well I found out later that I had broken it off. Those panels just HOOK in place. The body shop guy walked out to the truck without any tools and just grasped the panel and pulled upward. Lo and behold, it moved up and away from the door. The panel has large flat plastic hooks made onto the inside of the panel. To reinstall you just put it up against the door, line up the lock rod into the hole, and push downward and it pushes down and into place. Then you can reinstall the switches and door handle panel. That factory manual is INCORRECT.

I just wanted to pass this along to anyone who may be wanting to remove the panel. There are no round plastic clips holding the panel as the manual shows. After everything is removed, you just push it up and away from the door.

I'm just glad I only broke the one hook piece before I stopped and consulted an expert.

I hope this is helpful.

All my best.

 

Yup, the 2003s work the same way. It's pretty slick actually. It beats the heck out of those plastic buttons (which generally break even with the tool).

 

04s too.

 

The plastic retainers always break, or at the very least get stripped out. I hated those, but the new panels are much better.

 

what about a 2010 ranger xl 4 cyl regular cab door panel removal???

 

Power windows and locks?

 

nope all manual.. no power stufff....

 

2010,

Remove the visible screws and window crank. Then pop off the door handle surround, there will be a screw behind there. Now just pull up, the panel will come right off.

 

A few more notes on this...
Roll your window down first. It will make it much easier to reposition the lock ****, and will protect the window if you get frustrated and yank up on it.

There is a screw at the bottom of the door as well as in the grab handle location. Also, the window crank has a plastic cover hiding the screw. Pry this off with a flat blade screwdriver and rotate the cover around, pivoting on the spinner ****. Then you will need a long shank T-10 or T-15 (can't remember which) to remove the screw in the middle to get the crank off.

Use caution not to break the spinner **** off, and don't try to remove it. Just rotate the cover around the **** so you can access the screw. If you don't have a long-shank torx screwdriver, you can use one of multiple bit kinds. Just insert the bit in the hole first, then lightly insert the driver being careful not to allow the magnet in the driver to suck the bit in. This will allow you to get a few turns on it, since the driver won't likely fit in the hole where the screw is.

While you have the door panel off, douche the latch mechanism with WD-40 and tighten the screws holding the speaker on as well as the nuts holding the mirror on.

 

LOL... those stupid door switches. grrr my 02 ranger's drivers side is a sensitive lil bugger. If i go around a bumpy right hander it will think the door is opening and the dash "door" light will come on and it beeps at me. lol

 

You can spray WD into the latch mechanism from the outside of the door to fix that. The door ajar switch is built into the latch.