This "mod" is for 98+ coil spring trucks and possibly 98+ torsion bar trucks as well.

So I noticed that after my last mudding trip and doing my UCAs and BJs that my factory gap guards were looking pretty sad. The UCAs had torn them severely they were starting to dry rot. I've heard new guards are $30+ a piece from Ford. So I happened to have some extra material around that would work prefect so I decided to make my own.

I used the remaining material from my dad's Protecta Rubber Bed Mat. It has a fake diamond plate design and it is very think, a quarter inch or so. I'm sure you can get any type of rubber sheet from a hardware store.

Here is my sad looking factory gap guards.


Here is my very exposed engine bay and upper suspension after gap guard removal.
To remove the gap guards they are held on by 10 of those black trim clips. It is IMPOSSIBLE to save these clips from damage. They will need to be replaced, we will get to that later.

Passenger Side

Driver Side

Here's the material I used. It is VERY thick. I used 2 brand new razor blades and a box cutter while cutting it. I dulled both blades completely cutting through this stuff.



I placed the guards on the mat and I had JUST enough room. I weighed them down with bricks and used a silver sharpie to outline and mark the holes.




All cut out!


Drilled out holes with 3/8 bit


Compare new with old


Instead of getting new dinky plastic clips I brought one of them into the hardware store and found comparatively sized bolts and washers. Depending on how warn out the holes on the inner fender are you made need to go up a size or two.


INSTALLED!
Compressed

Fully flexed


On both sides I had to do some more trimming to the UCA holes and other areas. I also had to redrill a hole or two because they weren't in the right spots. I think this was due to the thicker material being not as flexible.


After about a week I have zero problems except one bolt came out of the inner fender due to the hole being stripped. They work great and keep debris out of the engine bay much better than the stock gap guards. I am interested to see other people do this "mod" with other lighter grade materials or even heavier material like aluminum sheeting.

 

That a nice idea, I've noticed my gap guards are pretty inflexible and tend to not stay where they are supposed to. They make a noise when i turn my wheels all the way either direction. I assume they are rubbing somewhere. I had one question/suggestion. Would it be possible/better to use bolts with nuts and lock washers rather than the screw type bolts that you used? That way it wouldn't matter if one of the holes was "stripped out".

 

Pictures?

 

^x2 no pictures in thread

 

This thread is also 4 years old, the crash might have screwed up the pics and the OP no longer drives a ranger but instead a tacoma

 

The guy who currently owns this truck logs on here from time to time. No telling whether the truck still has the gap guards mentioned in the original post.