OK. As some of you may know, I traded in my 98 ranger a few months back for a new 05 ranger (You can see the specs in my sig) And aside from some improvements, I have one big issue. The armrest.

I like having an armrest, I like the 60/40 seats. I like the material of the seats. But is it just me or is the armrest pushed waaaaay back on the new trucks? Like 4-6 inches? The old armrest sat about an inch or two back from the front of the seat. Thats it. The new one sits back about 6 inches or so! That my not see like a whole helluva lot, but its kinda of a pain to practically have to turn around in the seat to get something sitting in the back of the armrest. Not to mention it sticks out of the back of the seats alot, in my case actually runnin into my bazooka tube, meaning I can't actually lift the armrest without pulling the seat forward.

Any one else notice this problem?

I'm a mechanical designer by trade and my best friend is a machinist. My plan this weekend (I'm planning a "Truck weekend" like I used to have, where I'm going to do rip apart the truck, do some painting and finally finish my remote start install.) while the truck is apart and the seats out, is to try and design a bracket that will move the armrest forward a few inches. Any thoughts?
Thanks.

 

yes i noticed on phils truck that the arm rest is WAY farther back then my 93 and its also lower i dont care for it

 

Going from a 2002 to 2004, I didnt notice any difference.. My guess is the seats are set up a little different in your old 98 then they were in 2001+.

 

I don't remember it being different on the older trucks (except for them adding the cupholder in it,) but its been a while since I drove an older Ranger. I do agree that its a pain, and sometimes dangerous, to try to fish things out of the back of the storage compartment while driving.

 

i had a 97 and now an 03, and i didnt notice the discrepancy youre talking about. weird.

 

my 04 is the same way. i wanted to figure out a way to move it foward to but i am to lazy to. i hate that its so far back its like wasted space that i could put my arm not to mention having a reg cab i cant really put anything behind the seats with out it hitting it. but good luck with the bracket and let us know how it turns out.

 

I've been looking at it all weekend, and I think its possible to make a small plate that will move the armrest up, and just give it a bigger radius, but I'm also gonna go look at a junk yard and see if I might be able to steal some of the bracketry from an older ranger. I'll keep you guys posted.

 

if you are good with metal this should be really easy, all you would need a is a plate that is nice and thick, and about 8-10 inches long and then drill out the three holes on both sides, I just did the 40/40 mod yesterday and saw exactly how it bolts down, and if you would mind it sitting up higher than what you are used to you could bend the plate like an "Z" and get it back down to regular. good luck and have fun.