Bed swap
 

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I have a 97 ranger 3.0 step side standard cab and I was wondering if I could swap the bed with a standard bed. I don’t like the fiberglass fenders. And can’t find camper shells for it. And hate I loose so much space in the bed bc of it.

YES !

I swapped beds the opposite way and everything bolted on... I put a Steppie Bed from a '97 Ranger on my '03 Chassis that had a Style Side Bed OEM.
Only problem I found other than getting a new filler neck and new bolts, was the Tire Carrier... The '03 had a hole under the Tailgate for the tire carrier lift, the Steppie did not have the hole and little did I know it was needed.

The fenders on the Steppie come off separately, and after the tail gate is off, the center section is light enough for two people to handle without a problem.

Soak the bed bolt holding the bed on the chassis, a few days ahead of the project, using your favorite rust buster, do it again each day allowing the rust buster to work in; this allow the bolt to come out a little easier. I use BP Blaster, seems to work pretty good but don't use it with the truck on a black topped area, might break down the material and definitely stain cement.

AND if you want new OEM Bolts/Nut Clips, order them ahead of time, always good to be prepared and finding them can be a pain. I think they are the same bolts but believe me at least one of these bolts will lock up and you will need to cut the head off to get the bed off, I had two of them lock up, cut the heads off, got the bed off, but then had to get them out of the clips in the frame... then I had to go look for new bolts !

Nothing else gave me any trouble, new filler tube fit with new clamps, new beed bolts/clips made bolting the bed in place easier, but watch the torque you can over tighten these bolts easily. I don't know the amount of torque needed but find out the factory settings.

The project should go relatively easy !

Ltr

1993 to 2009 Rangers used same 6ft beds, regular or extended cab
Only the 7ft long bed was different, and NO, you can't use that on a regular or extended cab frame, the axle on the long bed was 6" farther back

The tail gates are different for flareside/stepside and style side, different widths
And the rear bumpers often need to be changed if you change "style", depends on the bumper you have

So yes, find a 1993-2005 bed you like and bolt it on

Tail lights
1993 to 2005 are physically the same size so can be swapped, 2006-2009 are different size I think

1993-2000 used different wiring, they used separate turn signal bulb
2001-2009 combined turn and brake on 1 bulb

But if you got a 2004 bed you can swap in your 1997 tail lights to match your wiring