1995 Ford Ranger Body and structure Problems

“I was pulling a small trailer going about 15mph out of my driveway and felt the trailer drop off of the vehicle I stopped and got out and noticed that the last 2 feet of the rear frame rails fell out taking the license plate lights and bumper with it. …”

“Vehicle is a 1995 Ford Ranger xl. As of july 2010, the drivers side of the rear bumper had started to sag but I did not think much of it as the truck still drove fine and there were no rot holes upon visual inspection. 8 months later, I hit a pot-hole and the bumper let go completely on the drivers side. It was still held up by the passanger side although it was barely on there. I looked underneath more and the back portions of the frame were competely rotted away (non-existant). …”

“I was driving at work going from point a to point b and I heard the rear brakes grinding, metal to metal sound, was going about 40 MPH, slow down and made it to point b, about 1 mile, in town.... Parked and checked under the truck.... And discovered the emergency brake cable was stretched tight... Crawled under truck and discovered that frame was rusted in half (broken all the way thru) on driver's side and passenger side was almost as bad.... Also a cross member was rusted away... And the driver's side shock was hanging down (bracket rusted away) truck is now parked at home can't fix it.... …”

“1995 Ford Ranger, 150-odd miles. No indication the failure was coming. The gas pedals bracket is spot welded to the floor, and the welds broke between applying a little gas while backing up and switching gears to go forward - the gas pedal disappears from underfoot and ends up laying flat on the floor on its side, the bracket detached from the floor.”

“Washer failure due to wear/corrosion causes bumper to sag. Concern about possible safty hazards. This bumper sag has been observed on many other rangers of the same design type. Please contact me and I may be able to provide a better description, and/or pictures.”