I'd noticed a scraping sound in the RF corner of my truck at low speeds, and figured to identify and repair it while I was doing the ball joints.

As soon as the rotor came off, the problem was obvious- the dust shield behind it had rusted out near the bottom bolt, and was bent and touching the rotor.

It's just a piece of sheetmetal, in an exposed location, so I figured it should be pretty easy to get my hands on one...not so. Neither Napa nor Carquest can get them at all, and the Ford dealership is out of stock (and wants $132, besides).

Suggestions?

I suggest hitting the local salvage yards, and try finding one that way.
Especially if they want that much for just the dust shield.
If that's not an option, talk to some of the guys on here, and I'm sure someone will be able to help you find one.

The salvage yard would be the best bet (around here anyway). In the rust belt...not sure.

Surely somone around here would have one off a ranger (or could get one) if you can't find one locally.

Junkyard stuff...

I wouldn't really worry much about running without it though...

Oh..if you had a portable welder in the back of the ranger..you could just weld some new sheet metal to it.

Why can't you just bend it back?

It is rusted out as well. I assume he bent it away from the rotor already.

Yeah...it mounts to the knuckle in three places. One of the "ears" where it mounts rotted completely off. I could bend it back, but it won't have enough support to stay off the rotor. Even if I had a welder, there's really no good metal left to weld to.

I'm going to try calling the junkyards around tomorrow...they're easy to find new for Chevy pickups, but next to impossible for Fords, according to both parts stores in town. At $132, I'll run it without if I can't find one.

It's a bit of a nuisance to get to (have to remove rotor) so I'd really like to get my hands on one before I button the truck back up tomorrow, but if not, I'll run without, or maybe cut the bottom half off the thing and leave the part that's more solid to provide a little protection.

As a temproary thing...it probably would not hurt to run without. I would replace it as soon as you find one though (even if it is a bit of work). They put them on there for a reason. They would not go through the expense at the factory if they were not needed at some point on the road.

1st choice - junkyard

2nd choice (no welder available) - cut/trim/form an appropriately sized piece of sheet steel to make a repair section, install onto exiting dust shield via mechanical fasteners or lastly large pop rivets, match drill mount hole on dust shield w/existing hole or locate and drill hole in repair section, apply corrosion protection (paint, etc), install fastener CT knuckle/dust shield, done.

*Check clearance between rotor and proposed fasteners and fastener locations to verify no rotor contact and that 2nd choice is feasable before starting work.

i know of a guy parting out a 99 ranger on another site as long as it doesnt stir the pot its at www.ranger-forums.com.. as of today it was listed in the general discussions but you will also find a classified section there

I'm going to have to look into compatibility a bit...my '97 was the last year of the twin-i-beam front end, though I don't know that that would affect this part. Thanks for the tip!

*Bill...I'm going to talk to a buddy to see if he thinks we can fab up a new one, if I haven't located another one. I think if I can get my hands on a piece of scrap to work with, it shouldn't be too hard, but he's more experienced than I with metalwork.

Check carpart.com for one. http://car-part.com/

The list can be changed to how many miles from you if you so choose. I know they are on there!

john112deere said:

*Bill...I'm going to talk to a buddy to see if he thinks we can fab up a new one, if I haven't located another one. I think if I can get my hands on a piece of scrap to work with, it shouldn't be too hard, but he's more experienced than I with metalwork.

Click to expand...

Actually, I'm thinking of just a repair section that will attach the remaining portion of the dust shield to the knuckle. The idea is to replace only the material that was lost to cancer with solid metal. It needn't be much more than a bracket you fabed from steel that you might find at a local hardware store, nothing fancy here. Of course, a junkyard donar would still be the most convenient.

Well...the part that actually broke off is small, but I don't think there's enough solid metal left on the original shield to make it worth trying to repair.

john112deere said:

I'd noticed a scraping sound in the RF corner of my truck at low speeds, and figured to identify and repair it while I was doing the ball joints.

As soon as the rotor came off, the problem was obvious- the dust shield behind it had rusted out near the bottom bolt, and was bent and touching the rotor.

It's just a piece of sheetmetal, in an exposed location, so I figured it should be pretty easy to get my hands on one...not so. Neither Napa nor Carquest can get them at all, and the Ford dealership is out of stock (and wants $132, besides).

Suggestions?

Click to expand...

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F57Z2K004A RH/LH List $137.08 Sell $98.70 ea

Ed

Ive been running withought them for 2 years and havent had any trouble.