2019–2023 Ford Ranger Upgrades, Ranked: 3 Mods in Order, With Cab-Bed and 2024 Listing Traps

Every 2019–2023 Ranger is now a used truck, and a used truck comes with someone else's choices. The fit rules in our guides turn into five checks you can do in the driveway.

• Cab. Count the doors. Four full-size doors is a SuperCrew. Small rear-hinged doors is a SuperCab. Wikipedia describes both North American cabs as four-door, so read "four-door" in a classified ad with care.

• Bed. Measure inside the bed at the rail from the bulkhead to the inside of the closed tailgate. Expect about 61 in or about 72.7 in.

• Bedliner. Tyger says an over-rail bedliner needs small holes cut for the T3's clamps, while under-rail and spray-in liners need nothing. On a spray-in liner, a Ranger5G owner cited in our tonneau guide advised an adhesive prep so a hard cover's seals stick.

• Bed hardware. Tie-down cleats, bed-divider brackets and the edge of an over-rail liner sit where cover clamps land. Take them out, or confirm clearance with the seller.

• Floor. Lift out whatever mats came with the truck. A fitted driver liner hooks onto Ford's retention posts and clears both pedals at full travel. Never stack a new liner on an old mat.

Then think about warranties. Our tonneau guide notes that BAK's 5-year warranty on the BAKFlip MX4 runs from the original purchase date and is not transferable, and that Retrax's limited lifetime warranty covers the original buyer. Price a cover that came with the truck as a part with no warranty unless the maker tells you otherwise.

On the US-market 2019–2023 Ranger the cab decides the bed, so one fact answers two questions. The SuperCrew has the 5 ft bed and the SuperCab has the 6 ft bed. Our vehicle data stores the SuperCrew bed as 61 in and the SuperCab bed as 73 in, both rounded to whole inches. Cover makers print 61 in and 72.7 in, sold as 5'1" and 6'1".

The newer truck removes the choice. MotorWeek's report of Ford's launch says the 2024 Ranger comes only as a SuperCrew with a 5 ft bed. A SuperCab owner who trades up changes cab, bed and every bed part at once.

On the Ranger the year line that matters sits between 2023 and 2024. The 2024 truck has a new cab and a bed our guides list at about 59.6 in long and 48.2 in between the wheel wells, against about 61 in and 44.8 in on the 2019–2023 SuperCrew bed. Our tonneau guide notes that a cover that is off by an inch won't seal at the tailgate.

Branded cover makers answer the redesign with a new part number. Some liner and rack listings answer it with a longer title. On a 2019–2023 truck, a title that runs past 2023 is usually harmless. It matters when the title is the only evidence of fit, and when you trade up and expect the part to move with you.

The bed rack is last on the buying list and first on the deciding list. Our tonneau guide says most folding covers leave no rail for a rack, so the cover you were about to buy can rule out the rack you want later. One Ranger5G owner reports a Diamondback bifold cover with Front Runner racks and a rooftop tent, so some combinations work. Confirm with the rack maker. The pairings our guides could document:

• Roll-up under a rack. Putco says the Venture TEC works with roll-up covers that mount inside the bed rails. The TruXedo Lo Pro, about $540, is a roll-up with internal mounting. Putco names the cover type and not the model, so confirm the pairing before ordering. Ranger5G owners describe the same layout and note that a rolled cover takes about 5–6 in, so the bars need more clearance than that.

• Tower rack with a tonneau kit. Yakima says select covers need its Tonneau Kit 1 under the OutPost HD and OverHaul HD towers. Its product pages don't name the Ranger, so run the truck and the cover through Yakima's fit lookup.

• Railed cover. Retrax sells the RetraxPRO XR, part T-80335, for the 5'1" bed with T-slot rails for crossbars and racks over the cover. Our product list bands it at about $2,000–$2,400. Confirm the price on the listing.

• Not stated. Our bed rack guide says to check with ZROADZ about covers under the Z835201, and the JOYTUTUS and OBNAUX listings don't mention covers.

Payload is the second limit. Ford's 2018 announcement of the 2019 truck gave a maximum payload of 1,860 lb. That is a best-case figure, and we could not confirm which cab and drivetrain carry it, so use the number on your door-jamb label. Everything comes out of that one figure:

• The rack. ZROADZ lists the Z835201 at 125 lb. Yakima lists the OverHaul HD towers at 59.52 lb and the OutPost HD towers at 44.09 lb, both before crossbars.

• The cover. Tyger lists the soft T3 at 27.56 lb, and the one-piece UnderCover SE weighs about 58 lb.

• The tent, gear and passengers, plus tongue weight if a trailer is hooked up.

Fit things in this order. Floor liners go in first. The cover goes on next, since our bed rack guide says to fit the cover before the rack. Then square the rack to the cab, tighten every clamp to the maker's torque and recheck the fasteners after the first drive.

There is no trailer hitch guide and no running boards guide for the 2019–2023 Ranger on this site, so neither is ranked here. This is what the truck may already have.

The receiver. Not every truck has one. A copy of the 2019 Ranger towing guide posted on Ranger5G lists the hitch receiver, with a 7-wire harness and a 4-pin and 7-pin connector, as the optional Trailer Tow Package (code 53R), and calls for that package on trailers over 3,500 lb. We read that guide for the 2019 model year only, and we could not confirm whether any trim had the receiver as standard. Our vehicle data lists the factory receiver as Class IV with a 2 in opening; we did not find the class on the Ford pages we read. Don't go by trim name. Look under the rear bumper. If a receiver is there, an aftermarket trailer hitch adds nothing.

The rating. Our vehicle data lists a maximum of 7,500 lb with the factory tow package. Ford's announcement words it as 7,500 lb when equipped with the tow package and a trailer brake controller. Ford's 2021 Ranger media page also gives 7,500 lb as the maximum. We did not read the 2020, 2022 or 2023 figures. Your figure is in the owner's manual, and a receiver never raises it.

Running boards. We have not checked any running board listing for this generation, so we name none. If you shop for them, the listing should name your cab, because the SuperCrew has four full-size doors and the SuperCab has small rear-hinged ones. The year range should sit inside 2019–2023, or the seller should confirm the brackets for your year in writing.