I am just purchasing an 88 Ranger XLT 4x4. I really like the truck, and I hate for one of my first questions to be such an inane one, but ... I have already searched the forum in case someone else already asked; and I Google'd to see if I could find anything about it, and no luck. So I just gotta ask ..

... what in the heck is up with that big square hole in the dashboard where a glovebox oughta be? I mean, seriously, what was Ford thinking with that? "Here's a place where you can put something you want to come flying out at you the first time you punch the gas." Has anybody figured out something creative to do with that space? Anybody devised a door for it? Handcrafted a GPS mount to fill the space? An iPad tablet mount? ANYTHING?

 

welcome to the site. your best bet would be to look in the audio section or the project section.

 

you could just buy an 89 dash and eliminate it if you have problems remembering not to put things there

 

thats funny. I had an 88 and totally forgot about that. I just put all my bigger crap behind the seat or in my old toolbox.

thanks for the memories

 

I put all kinds of crap there never had anything come out and attack me but fast takeoff and 2.3L don't go very well together LOL!

 

Well, I know its not the most important aspect of a vehicle, but ... the hole is UGLY! ROFL Never seen a vehicle before, car or truck, that just had a big hole where the glove compartment was supposed to be. I will have to figure out something to do with that space that looks a little better than that!

 

There once was a Door made of plastic that was sold by a lot of After Market Parts Stores, not sure if it is available now.
The door was flat so I do not think it would be hard to make.
The door was held shut with HD Velcro and it had a hole in it to open it.
The Hinge might be a problem but it was a light duty Piano type of hinge running almost the full width.
I had the door on my 88, the hole always bothered me, worked well, only had smaller items in it but it covered the hole.

Luck on the hunt… take some diamond plate or std 1/16” Aluminum, maybe even plastic and cut one out.
Use HD two sided sticky tape to mount the hinge to the plastic and as said HD Velcro to latch it up.

 

Someone on here just redid theres and redid it with some nice fabric or felt. Looked nice.