Are crew cab door panels interchangable?

[hesutton]

I hate the rear door panels on my '86 crew cab. The door handles are just bolted on with two small sheet metal screws. The passenger's side was broken off before I got the truck and the driver's have now broken off. How that happend, I don't know. I warn folks getting in the back NOT to use the handles to climb up.

Anyway, anyone who has a '86 style crew cab knows what I'm talking about. Having seen the panels and handles in newer crew cabs (92-94), they certainly seem more sturdy and I've not seen any of them with the door handles broken off.

I said all of that to ask this:........ Can I swap the rear door panels from a '92-'97 crew cab in my '86 crew cab?

Heath

 

[bike-maker]

I've thought of this myself.

The main issue I see is the handle to open the door from the inside is in a completely different spot. Would have to check if the door had provisions for bolting the handle into the new location; than maybe some of the linkage from a newer door could be used to make it work?
The other issue would be the felt at the top of the door that goes up against the window is probably a different length since the newer crew cabs have a single window instead of the split windows on our trucks. This could possibly be trimmed to fit.
It would be worth trying. It took me almost 2 years to find my rear door panels (my truck didn't have any when I got it), and I still haven't been able to find a set of arm rests that were in descent shape.
FWIW, the interior handles for the 80-86 crew cab rear doors can be pirated off of a mid 80's Ranger - that's where mine came from.

 

[Diesel_brad]

YES. The doors are the same, so they will go right on. You will just have to relocate the armrest support. And since the 83-86 door has a"wing window" you wound need to cut the 92-97 door panel antirattle strip to fit around the window divider.

I can get you pics of 87-97 door with no panel and a 92-97 door with no panel if you need. I also have a TAN pair of 94-97 power door panels if you are interested

 

[hesutton]

I need the brown panels for sure, but my stuff is all mechanical...... no power windows/locks. If I just need to trim the strip at the top of the panel, then I'm certainly going to try and replace them.

Heath

 

[Blind Driver2]

My rear panels are shorter then the fronts. Just happens to short the same distance as the vent windows are long

 

[hesutton]

So......... does anyone know where a guy could get some brown '92-'97 rear crew cab door panels..... manual locks/windows????

Heath

 

[Diesel_brad]

Like bike maker said. the 92-97 handles are just like the front handles. Unlike the little 83-86 handles.

I am sure you could make my power ones work, just put the window crank in the power window switch hole

 

[bike-maker]

I know I'm digging up an old one here, but I've searched all over for the rear door panels off of a newer crew cab to no avail; so instead of going that route, I just made some new door handles for the existing door panels. My 5 year old daughter managed to destroy the last handle/arm rest in the back of mine, and now that I have new weatherstripping on the rear doors, the kids didn't have anything to pull on to get the door to close all the way. There's not a lot of these old crew cabs left out there, but for those who have them, this is an option. Everyone I have ever seen had the handles either ripped clean off or seriously mangled.

I took the door panel off, bolted a piece of 1/4" x 2" aluminum to the door where the handle sits, then put the door panel back on, eyeballed the location of the new handles, and drilled / tapped through the 1/4" x 2" aluminum and door skin. Bolted the new door handles on and was good to go. Took about 2 hours including making the new handles.

 

[Diesel_brad]

Nice looking job Mike. I just wouldn't want to catch my elbow on one

 

[bike-maker]

Yeah, not much for arm rests either.

 

[bghnkinf350]

I like those handles! Those look great! How did you make them? Mine are there for decoration only.

 

[bike-maker]

1/4" x 1" aluminum flat stock. Bent them in my bench vise with a BFRH (R=rubber). Then added a few "speed holes" with a Unibit. Then made the backing plates out of some .080" aluminum sheet - cut them out with a jig saw and finished them off with a sander (they're 2" wide, so 2" flat stock would have worked if I had enough). Some elbow grease with a red Scotchbrite pad, and I was done.

 

[RLDSL]

You can interchange different year doors, but look carefully at the bottom edge of yours. There are some oddballs out there that have an extra little bend in the bottom 1" of thedoor panel and there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason as to what year models that it appears on . I found this out after being told that all X model years interchanged with my 92 and I got a door home and started prepping it , only to find , that mess, and Id already torn into it too far to take it back so I had a MAJOR undertaking to make it match.

 

[gunz]

I think I have a set of red panels from a 1990 if that helps.

 

[Diesel_brad]

You can interchange different year doors, but look carefully at the bottom edge of yours. There are some oddballs out there that have an extra little bend in the bottom 1" of thedoor panel and there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason as to what year models that it appears on . I found this out after being told that all X model years interchanged with my 92 and I got a door home and started prepping it , only to find , that mess, and Id already torn into it too far to take it back so I had a MAJOR undertaking to make it match.

September of 95-97 have the extra crease at the bottom(crewcab and front doors)