Windows .......... interchange ???

[Grumpy]

anyone here know if the drivers side door glass out of a 89 Bronco II or a 94 explorer well fit in a 85 ranger ????

[cgrey8]

It might not.

I know that an 86 Ranger glass fits in my 89 Ranger's door. And you might be thinking well why wouldn't it go the other way? When I compared the two, I noticed that the glass I pulled from my 89 was longer on the edges by a few inches than the 86's, otherwise they were shaped exactly the same. Best I can figure is Ford made the glass longer to further resist the glass getting cocked sideways and jamming...that's just a guess.

Also between 86 and 89, Ford changed the brace that is riveted to the glass from a big, long, piece of plastic to a much smaller piece of metal. If you have to reuse that big plastic piece in your 85, there's a chance that a glass from a newer vehicle with those longer edges won't fit with that older piece of plastic. So I'd be wary of that or plan on getting the donor's mounting brace & vertical slider as well so you can use those in your door. I don't know that the slider is different, but it might be.

And BTW, don't mess around trying to get the glass out without tackling the rivets on that brace. If you have an angle grinder, it just takes a few minutes to grind the heads off and the glass comes right off. 1/4"x1" bolts will replace the rivets. I put silicone gasket on the threads to make sure the nuts never back off the bolts. Threadlocker probably would've worked just as well, but sometimes I'm afraid of using threadlocker on bolts I might need to take off again.

One thing I do appreciate is taking the time to regrease horizontal and vertical slides as well as the teeth on the rack-n-pinion crank mechanism. The window rolls up and down SOOOO much smoother now. If I replace the door speakers, I'll also regrease the passenger's side too so it rolls as nice.