Hello all,

I am new to the forum (as a registered user), I have a 2001 Ford Ranger 4.0 V6 with the Flareside bed.
I frequently do projects with ply-wood, sadly my Ranger's factory bed is too narrow to fit a sheet of ply without warping or resting it on the top side of the bed (not in the box).

Can swap the bed to a Styleside and gain the extra inches need to fit a sheet of ply-wood, e.g. 48".
I know the box is not long enough for the length, I don't care. Is something like this even possible, or should I look for a used Ranger with the right bed for me?

 

Switching beds isn't a problem, But the Flareside bed is still only about 42 inches wide between wheel wells, so a 48" piece of plywood still won't fit flat on the floor.

but you can do this
https://www.ranger-forums.com/new-id...plywood-49188/

 

Thanks.

I see now the wheel wells won't change the between value, does the distance on top of wells change. Wall to wall.

 

I built three Cross-Bars to hold the weight, but weight limit is the question.
I made them to fit across the bed with extra room on the outside edges to tie the load to.
I added shorter 2x stock at a 90 degree angle under the cross bars to stop flexing, cut to fit the inside of the bed, glued and screwed them centered to the cross bars.
I drilled holes in the shorter pieces to allow tying to the bed and in the cross bars to allow tying the load down.

Now I can carry wider piece of material on the top edges of the bed, allowing for weight limits of the bed sides.

I plan to add turn buckles to tie the Cross Bar Assemblies to the Hold Downs inside of the bed.
Also I made three cross bars, four might be better but three works for me.
The center bar is not secure to the bed just the load, although all three cross bars are the same except for the Planned Turn Buckles, you can put them almost anywhere.

I used the same bars on my Styleside, just had to modify the support brace with to fit the Stepside Bed width and I have been using them for over 15 years.

When the truck was a Styleside, I carried a Jeep top from CT to MA on the back, also carried a Jeep Body about 25 miles each way to get the body work done, not sure I would have done that with the Stepside though. More recently I carried a 60" Bush Hog about 15 miles to my house on the Stepside Bed using these Cross-Bars, and to protect the bed, I used a 1/2" sheet of plywood AND to protect the Cab/Back Rack, I used two pieces of 2x4 between the Bush Hog and Back Rack.

These little Ranger have a good capacity although limited is volume, you just need to be careful.

Get creative !

Ltr

p.s. There are cross bed 2x mounting points, as mentioned in another post, these can't carry a 4x8 sheet of plywood because of bed width limits but they are good for double stacking in the bed. I've used these to stack 2x4s on after placing other items on the bed floor.
It's all in how you want to do it.