i saw a 93? 95? ranger stepside box on a 86-88 short bed toyota truck today while out driving. could not catch up to him and have a good look. does anybody have any idea what is required for the swap? i am considering a flatbed but i would like a real bed even if it is from a ford. i have searched the board with no luck.

Was it an actual Ford bed, or an aftermarket bed made for Toyota's? If may have also been shipped on from over seasnot an could have even been shipped in from over seas. I am not sure, but I think there were some first gen rigs that that you could get a factory stepside bed as an option. I am not sure if it was an oem option, or an U.S. dealer option.

I don't know if anyone actually makes a stepside bed for Toy's anymore, Downey and Northwest Off Road used to list them on their catalogs back in the '90's, but I haven't seen a listing for one in quite awhile.

If the wheel wells and cab line up w/the bed it wouldn't take much to install it, you would likely have to fab up nw mounts, but w/enough efffort and time it could be done.

Check OffRoad.com, a search turned up a discussion about the stepside bed.
This site Action Auto Wreckers in NY builds custom beds that have a military look to them, it might be worth seeing what one costs.

I saw a guy with a Ranger bed on his truck. Managed to bump into him one day; had seen him around town. You've got to do a little welding for your mounting tabs to make it work; he said it wasn't too bad a job. What might also help you out is to get the frame dimensions for a Ranger for comparison. The frame dimensions for your truck should be the same as what's in the 85 FSM here.

i noticed it in the first place because the bed was that ford blue that is definitely not a toyota color. it did not line up as perfectly as you would like of course. but then again, it will not rust out on you. my brother is a welder/fabricator and he owes me more $ than i can remember.

With your Brother's it shouldn't be any problem getting it installed on your truck, that will be the asy part. The hard part will be getting it to look right, i.e. follows the natural lines of the truck, so it won't be as easy to notice as the other one was.

the other one was noticeable because the color did not match. as far as i am concerned, as long as it sits square, i can have body lines pinstriped down the entire length of the truck to make it visually look right. we are also talking about possibly making these ranger bed mounts available for sale on the open market. i am pretty sure that they will sell. he is not so sure. he is not a toyota owner, he just does not understand.

If the lines match up and the Ranger beds look right and are cheaper than aftermarket(if still available), I don't see why you wouldn't have interest from others.

You might also consider some type of wiring harness adapter from the Toy harness to the Ranger tail lights as part of the kit to make it a basic bolt on procedure. I know that Mazda used the same connector as Toyota(wire set-up is different), but I don't think the Ford connectors are the same. Also since domestic trucks use only one light for signal/stop while the imports use 2, you will likely have to include the converter with the kit. Once you are done with the swap make sure to do a right up for it here, I am sure others would be interested in addition choices for replacement beds, especially those that live in the Rustbelt.

Aren't the Ford Ranger and Mazda B-series the same truck? Mazda and ford share parts all the time. If so, the wiring harness might indeed match.

IMHO, stepside boxes look really cool... but aren't very practical, given all the interior space you lose.

If the Ranger's use the same 6 pin(5 used) connector then all you would have to do is rearrange the pins to match those of the Toyota, that is all I had to do to use these Mazda taillights on my flatbed.

However, you would will still have to convert the Toy 5 wire harness to work with the Ford's 4 wire, not a big deal, just something that needs to be addressed if he wants to make the conversion a bolt-on/plug-&-play set-up.

i think the ranger "splash" package had the best fit...