they make it for the F series trucks...why not the ranger? makes no sense to me.

anyway i need to lock the tailgate on my ranger.

i bought one of those Pop-N_Locks.. what a piece of crap. never lined up right and kept hanging up and jamming the latch. took it back to the store.

what other options do i have? i dont want to run a power lock back there.

for now i actually did the hookeye thing w/ some cable and latches to the factory tiedowns in the rear corners... it works suprisingly good..and it cost me less than $5 bucks atmy local hardware store..

 

It would cost them more money.

I had a pop-n-lock on my ranger, worked great. Are you sure you were installing it correctly? I thought the same thing the first time I tried to install it then I realized I was trying to install it wrong. Dropped right in place after that.

 

i have a couple friends that use the PopNLock tailgate locks and they say it works great. Just need to install it correctly. I am curious though, what did you mean by the "hookeye thing" ? never heard of it before.

 

Pop&Lock's work great, but not with the plastic tailgate handles. You can pull really hard on my plastic tailgate handle and open the tailgate with it locked. Maybe the metal handle would fix this.

 

I noticed the same thing KLC. I think if it locked both sides of the handle like it does on the OEM f-series that wouldn't happen.

 

Yeah I would also recommend upgrading to a metal handle when installing a Pop N Lock. My power electric one works great. The only time it ever caused any issues was once when the little bullet connector things they use wiggled a little loose and it would stop working once or twice, so replaced them with normal butt connectors and haven't had a problem since.

 

I used a power lock for my ranger tail gate, worked great.

 

well this may seem ghetto but it works..
i removed the top outer torx bolt that holds the plastic tailgate liner on each side of the tailgate.. just the top outer one.. and replaced them with a stainless hook eye loop with machine thread that matches the torx bolt thread. then i took a loop of plastic coated cable and looped it around each factory tie down in the rear corners of the bed.
then i took a caribiner or small thumb hook latch and attached it to each cable.

when i want to secure my tailgate, i simply hook the latch/carabiner to the eye loops on the tailgate. cheap, and effective.
ill have to post a pic.
it sounds hokier than it is.

i just guess i got a defective pop-n-lock. i farted around with it for like 3 hours before i gave up. i like my idea better anyway.. secures both sides wheras the pop-n-lock only secured one..

 

Just wait until the sweet plastic handle snaps off, then it is locked all the time.

 

lol

mazda ftw, factory with metal handle