Hey guys, I bought a 2001 Ranger for cheap to swap the front ends and I am finally done school and brought both trucks back home. This week I will start taking things apart and see whats up. I will be swapping the front end from the 2001 (black truck) to the 1996 (blue truck) and then the 1996 front end back onto the 2001 and then sell the entire 2001 truck. I am hoping things bolt up but I am guessing it would be easiest to swap both core supports so I do not have to do alot of cutting and trimming of things twice because I am doing 2 front end swaps at the same time. If anyone has any helpful comments or questions etc etc please ask.

Pics time:

The two trucks:

SSPX0310.jpg?t=1303152844

Front side of 1996:



Front of 1996:



Angled other side of 1996:



Side of 2001:



Front of 2001:



Again:



Other side of 2001:



Hope this isn't too hard!

P.S. Please excuse the embarrassingly bald and small BFG All Terrains. Temporary Measure. Before the end of summer I will be rocking some 315/75/16 Treadwrights

 

Defiantly switch the core supports. Good luck with the swap. Shouldn't be too hard just take your time.

 

you need the hood latch and the fenders swapped over as well.

I'd just sell the black truck the way it is and buy the parts separate and make more money unless the black trucks not drivable

 

hell just swap the entire body over lol truck looks to be in good shape

 

Haha well I would like a 4 door cab, but swapping cabs means changing all the connections and blah blah, So much work, I also want to keep the "good" truck (one I have already invested thousands into) blue, so swapping the cab or box would just be more painting, boxes are essentially the same anyways. The box on the black one is dented and the interior is kinda crappy, I am thinking just the front end will get swapped.

Well I want the bumper and hood as well, and I have looked and looked everywhere, no luck. Anything I find is hundreds of dollars. Also I live in Canada, so buying the parts would cost me so much in shipping and customs and etc. This way I have all the lil things I need too. Like core supports and hood latches. Lil things. The black truck needs an out of province inspection and a reinspection of sturctural integrity or something. It was written off and needs to reinspected for that. Anyways...here is the best part boys:

2001 Ranger: $1850
Painting the front ends after: $600 (ish...estimate...I have connections)
Total cost: $2450

And I have a guy lined up who will buy the 2001 with the 1996 front end for $3000. So long story short. I get a FREE front end upgrade...and I also get around $500 profit. Whoop Whoop!

Yeah I think I have decided to do that. Just drill out the spot welds and re spot weld it in place?

 

Whoop Whoop! Finally got started on this today. Way too long after I said I would. I also picked up some spot weld cutters recently so that should help me out. Heres how far I got:





I am pretty much just taking things off ***** nilly...is there an order I should be following? Then reverse it for reassembly? Any input would be much appreciated as I am feeling quite over my head.

I also have a few questions...

1: How is a 2001 bumper going to go on a 1996 and vice versa? It looks MESSED UP

2. On my 1996 (and probably 2001...haven't got that far) the last bolt to undo the fender is buried beneath many things. How do I get to it? Do I have to take out the air intake thing?

More questions will ensue most likely, if anyone who has completed this already has any answers I would greatly appreciate it!

 

I finally got to working on my trucks and I decided to leave the core supports. Thank goodness I did! I bolted the fenders on the 2001. First two holes lined up so I just did those and the one by the door and the one on the bottom fender, also the brackets worked just fine in the front so also bolted those on. Fenders looking good, also swapped the hoods today (maybe yesterday..I dunno...hoods got swapped at some point

Some pics:

Sexy Hood:



Fenders and Hood Swapped Over:



Fender...works and stuff:



Also spent yesterday putting this bad boy in...one piece!:



Also spent most of today getting this thing running...haha:



The header panel is being the real issue...96 and 2001 is different that is for sure. I did some grinding and cutting tonight so it will have the clearance. Tomorrow I will make the brackets work hopefully.

Does anyone have wiring diagrams for 1996 and 2001 Headlights? The connections are way different and I will need to swap those

 

What are you going to do with the 01? Sell it after the swap? Are you going to change beds too? Just curious the purpose of the swap. I would assume you jut like the newer styler better.

 

Yeah I just like how the newer style looks, way better. And I like aftermarket 2001 headlights better. Haha. Yeah I am selling the 2001 after. I bought it for $1850! And should be able to get $3000 for it...after I took $500 worth of body parts off it. Not bad if I do say so myself. Nah I am going to keep my bed. There is not much difference and the 2001 bed has a dent on the other side

 

I was under the impression that the core support swapping wasn't optional. Good luck!

 

Nope. Not swapping the cores is looking like it will work so far...

I did a bunch of work on the 2001 today!

Had to modify the core support a bit to clear the 1996 header panel, I cut out the middle bit and also trimmed around the top so it would snug up, and I trimmed and flipped the brackets:





Ended up looking like this:



Managed to get the header panel bolted on semi tight and ended up with a truck that looked like this:



Lines are looking not bad:











I am still going to jiggle to hood around to try and get it looking a bit better, and the doors have to be moved back ever so slightly. The bumper will go on next and hopefully that will not be too hard. Then I have to figure out the wiring and get the lights working some how??? Also I will have to do some custom work on the hood latch mechanism

 

Awesome! Hopefully this thread will help someone swapping a 93-97 to a 98+ front end in the future. Every thread I've seen before they have swapped the core support or made there own.

 

Well so far the 2001 to 1996 swap has been harder...looking at what I have to do for the 1996 to 2001 swap it should be easy!

I did have to trim my fenders to clean the inner fenders tho, on the 2001 fenders that is. Check this out:

http://www.therangerstation.com/Maga...conversion.htm

Hopefully I can get a bunch done by today. Also have to do some drywalling so I do not have much time. We will see. Hopefully I can get some more pics up for tonight

 

Did this today:



The fenders are still low and a bit out. So I am going to build a lil bracket that pulls then in and up a bit and then attach it to the core support. That will pull the header panel up and then it should look normal, right now in this pick the header panel is just attached to the two fenders. Hood latch for this this is going to be INTERESTING thats for sure

 

Check it:



Finally got it done. Hood latches are working on both of them. Made some header panel brackets for the blue one. I am waiting on the headlights for the blue one. I will make brackets for the blue ones bumper soon hopefully. And its looking like I will need to build a custom bumper for the black one

 

Looks real good!

 

x2!

 

Thanks guys! It was a fair bit of work...and I don't wanna get the paint bill. Haha. The paint isn't quite right on the blue truck...Its slightly less of a bright blue. Hard to tell in the pic but I can notice it (I also want it to be perfect...my family can't notice it) I think I might get my buddy...who works at an autobody and did this painting...to blend it back with the doors

 

swap those mirrors!!

 

Ooooh? Never even thought of that. How hard is it to do? If you can point me to a how to it might give me something to do tomorrow. haha

 

Should be a direct swap. Take off the door panels, it's 4 screws, plus the torx screw in the window crank, and I use a pocket knife to pop off the handle and the black door trim piece. Then lift up on the door panel and slid it off the door lock pin on the top. You will see a triangular white piece of self adhesive paper stuck behind the mirror mount. Rip it off. Then you will 3 holes in the inner door, look in them and will see the 3 nuts that hold the mirror on. Take them off and hold the mirror from the other side so it doesn't fall off.

Put new mirror on and reassemble.

 

Haven't built a bumper yet for the black one and haven't got my headlights yet for the blue one...frick...but I did swap the mirrors:

 

so... Dweeno.... Where are the updates?

 

I am slacking aren't I. Long story short I had to get some inspections done on my 2001 Ranger so the 2001 bumper is on the 2001. Once I get it back the bumpers will be swapped. I have done alot of other stuff so watch for a Dweanos Summer Work thread (or something of that nature) haha. It will detail all the things I did this summer

 

that looks great , nice job