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Cherry Baby

Member
Joined
Jun 28, 2020
Messages
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Location
Northwest Indiana
I just placed a 2008 Dark Cherry V6 4x4 Limited Edition Sport Trac in the stable and I am excited to find this site, as it looks like the place to learn all I need to know about the Sport Trac. My new-to-me vehicle has a couple of missing pieces that I hope someone here can help me with. I am in need of a 2nd Gen. bed extender. I discovered that the 1st Gen. unit from my 2003 ST will not fit the 2nd Gen. bed design. Anyone have any leads on one or suggestions on modifications to make the old one fit?
The '08 also was missing a spare tire and had a broken spare tire hoist cable, so I scavenged a hoist unit off a wrecked ST at a local PicknPull and installed it on Cherry Baby. It seems to work perfectly but I won't know for sure until I can get a spare tire. Having a difficult time finding a reasonably priced (cheap) 18" steel wheel to mount a spare tire on. I have checked with the larger salvage yards in my area and have come up empty. Any suggestions?
Thanks for all your help and I will try to post some pics of Cherry Baby later.
 
Welcome!

Unfortunately, I just sold a 2nd gen extender on here to another Hoosier.

Check Facebook marketplace and Craigslist for the extender. Keep an eye on the Facebook Sport Trac groups too. They’re insanely expensive to ship (like $150-175 via UPS ground just for shipping), if you can even find one on eBay or this forum or explorerforums.com, so driving distance pick up is best. Make sure and get the striker bolts unless the truck already has them.

The 1st gen extender should kind of fit if you flex it out slightly, but it won’t rotate in and out with a tonneau cover installed. It will hit the tonneau cover strikers because the center section is a little too wide. You can use it if you can get it on the striker posts, but you just have to completely remove it to flip it over instead of rotating it.

ToddZ always suggests you can probably get a muffler shop to bend it to fit. I have both 1st and 2nd gen extenders at the moment, so let me know if you want side by side photos to show how it would need to be bent.

For the spare, did you expand your search to include 2006-2010 Explorers and Mercury Mountaineers?
 
I wish i could post the pics... the gen 1 extender DOES FIT the gen 2.... ONLY if you DONT have a factory bed cover.... then it hits the brackets.....
 
Welcome!

The 1st gen extender should kind of fit if you flex it out slightly, but it won’t rotate in and out with a tonneau cover installed. It will hit the tonneau cover strikers because the center section is a little too wide. You can use it if you can get it on the striker posts, but you just have to completely remove it to flip it over instead of rotating it.

ToddZ always suggests you can probably get a muffler shop to bend it to fit. I have both 1st and 2nd gen extenders at the moment, so let me know if you want side by side photos to show how it would need to be bent.

For the spare, did you expand your search to include 2006-2010 Explorers and Mercury Mountaineers?

Thanks, Duncan. I had not considered Mercury Mountaineer as a compatible wheel and tire option. I will check around today.

Before I read your post, I was musing about getting a muffler shop to bend my Gen 1 extender into the shape of the Gen 2. I think I will take you up on your offer to provide me with side by side pics of the two for reference on the bending necessary to accomplish the task. In the meantime, I will just use the "completely remove and flip" method for bed extension. Thanks again for the welcome and your kind assistance.
 
You're welcome. I'll try to get photos after work today or tomorrow. It's storming here now, so it may be tomorrow.

I'd be interested in how that works out, since I think I like the Gen1 stainless bars better than the Gen2 painted black ones. The paint scratches pretty easily.
 
Hopefully you can see the difference in shape below. First photo is side by side. Second is with the 1st Gen stacked on top of the 2nd Gen.

i also noticed the 1st Gen extender is significantly heavier than the 2nd Gen. The tube diameter feels like it might be slightly larger (I didn't measure it) but I suspect the tube walls are thicker.

Extenders 1.JPG
Extenders2.JPG
 
Thanks for the photos Duncan. They should make it easier for the tube bender to adapt the Gen 1 bed extender to the 2008 ST. I'll keep you advised of my progress in getting this mod done and try to video as much of the work as possible.
 
Sounds good. I will make some rough measurements and post here. I didn't have time yesterday morning or today.
I would also be sure to let the shop see how it hits. I don't think it will require as much modification to "fit" as it would to completely match the 2nd gen extender
 
Sounds good. I will make some rough measurements and post here. I didn't have time yesterday morning or today.
I would also be sure to let the shop see how it hits. I don't think it will require as much modification to "fit" as it would to completely match the 2nd gen extender
Nice picture at the Ford plant I should have done the same, I was not thinking about it at the time.
 
139BE9E0-46E1-4047-B990-B13813220FF7.jpeg
Hah! It’s the wrong plant in the profile photo (on the east side of Louisville). I inadvertently went to the wrong plant. Our trucks were manufactured at the Louisville Assembly Plant south of downtown next to the airport.

I got a photo there last weekend, but it’s not nearly as good. Sky looks the same though.
 
View attachment 1288 Hah! It’s the wrong plant in the profile photo (on the east side of Louisville). I inadvertently went to the wrong plant. Our trucks were manufactured at the Louisville Assembly Plant south of downtown next to the airport.

I got a photo there last weekend, but it’s not nearly as good. Sky looks the same though.
Well at least you tried, what can I say if it was easy everyone would wont to do it. I thought about it on the way down there and was going to ask if you wonted to go there or if you had all ready. Then we got to talking and I didn't think about till I was all most home.
 
Hey Dean. I forgot about taking the photo until I was back on the road last weekend and needed to fill up anyway. The mistake I made last week was asking permission at the guard shack instead of just pulling in to the drive and taking a photo closer to the sign. They said no photos if you’re on the property.

Guys, Dean (BigD48) and I met in Louisville last weekend so I could deliver some parts that were crazy expensive to ship. It was great to meet another member here!
 
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