Ranger bed/boxes are notorious for having their cross member or braces rot out so heres a quick little summary of how I remade 2 of mine that needed to be replaced. There are many ways to make these, this is just how I did it with the tools I had. Its not going to be in super detail but I can answer any questions below.

First you need to drill out the spot welds to remove the rotted out cross members, this was easy for me as I removed all the bed floor around them as I planned on replacing it as well. Once you have the spot welds drilled out you can remove them from the floor and start measuring for where you need to make your bends with your new sheet metal. I have a cheap 3 ft brake but the cross members were 38' in length so I cut out with my shear 2 matching pieces of sheet metal in 19' in length and appropriate width. Once I measured and scribed where I needed to make my bends I went ahead and made them. Its a good idea to practice on a piece of scrap to make sure your bend measurements are right, also both cross members were the same length but all other measurements were different. Once both pieces are bent I fit them up and tig welded together. Once welded I ground smooth and made a template with tape on the old piece where I needed to drill all the holes and transfered it on the new piece.


One half of one brace made along with some of the bed floor I need to replace


2 halves partly welded together, ran out of argon halfway through welding




Drilling out the spot welds



Bending up one half and it matched well


Tack welding together

Both cross members completed

 

Very nice, good work

 

Thanks Ron!

 

Hey, love the post, as I am about to remove my bed and start working on some rust repair.

I was just curious what gauge sheet metal you are using for the cross members

thanks, have a great day

 

When you made them, did you happen to take all the measurements?