Before I order them... 15in jeep rims

[ngzcaz]

On an 89 Ranger Supercab, 2 wheel drive. Presently has 14 inch wheels, have a set of 4 extra 15 in from a 87 jeep cherokee. Looking to put on dedicated winter grips. The rims bolt on w/ out tires but I dont have any tires to try it out before ordering the winter tires..

 

[BIIHawg]

My buddy bolted a set of jeep rims on his ranger and he ended up taking them off cause due to the offset...they rub on the tie rod ends. So if they are stock jeep rims you may wanna double check the fit.

 

[BlackBII]

Yes, they will have the same bolt pattern..

You have the rims already, so bolt them on and check the clearance, account for the tire as well. I would do front and rear.

I think they (jeep wheels) usually have too little backspacing so they rub, like previously mentioned^

 

[ngzcaz]

I was planning to mount them on the rear only. The rear would be 15 in, front ranger rims are 14 inch. This would the raise the back exactly one inch from stock with 215/70/15 inch rear and 215/70/14 inch front. Trying to avoid buying another set of rims. One inch shouldn't play with the geometry too much.. when I bolted them on the rear, the clearance from the rim to the leaf spring was 2 1/2 inches on both rims, stock and jeep. Height certainly shouldn't be a problem. But... once they are on the rims, they are mine for better or worse.

 

[chvlfrk]

Fyi:

I was planning to mount them on the rear only. The rear would be 15 in, front ranger rims are 14 inch. This would the raise the back exactly one inch from stock with 215/70/15 inch rear and 215/70/14 inch front. Trying to avoid buying another set of rims. One inch shouldn't play with the geometry too much.. when I bolted them on the rear, the clearance from the rim to the leaf spring was 2 1/2 inches on both rims, stock and jeep. Height certainly shouldn't be a problem. But... once they are on the rims, they are mine for better or worse.

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Rear mountin is fine, front requires a machine shop to bore out the center hole to clear the Ranger hub.

I did all 4 of mine & used aftermarket push-through centers, you can see mine in the pics via the link in my signature.

Post some pics....................

 

[ngzcaz]

Nice job on both units. Can't imagine the power of those small block chevys in the Ranger. Plus, the tone of the exhaust is unmistakable.. Years ago when hot rodding was "in " my brother put a 55 pontiac V8 in his chopped top 39 Ford pick up w/ matching automatic w/ dual exhausts.. course this is the same guy who currently has a 389 pontiac in a 1938 Cleat-trac bulldozer. 2 foot chrome stacks coming up the sides...and he just turned 72.

 

[chvlfrk]

THANK YOU for the compliments!

Nice job on both units. Can't imagine the power of those small block chevys in the Ranger. Plus, the tone of the exhaust is unmistakable.. Years ago when hot rodding was "in " my brother put a 55 pontiac V8 in his chopped top 39 Ford pick up w/ matching automatic w/ dual exhausts.. course this is the same guy who currently has a 389 pontiac in a 1938 Cleat-trac bulldozer. 2 foot chrome stacks coming up the sides...and he just turned 72.

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Not that it bothers me, but generally get critisized for puttin a SBC in a Ford, but I'm not loyal to any brand. Best to take the best of one & unit with another IMO. I personally think a Ranger is sportier than an S10, PLUS I can build almost 3 SBC's for the price of 1 SBF, find parts easier, cheaper, and generally get more power.

Since you mentioned exhaust tone, here's a short vid of me returnin from havin it out this spring, as you can tell, I ran into some valve train trouble.
Currently takin it out to find the problem or build another motor, either way, have it out for next summer.


Somebody had a post lookin for walkarounds or somethin, so I did this vid..

 

[ngzcaz]

They are up and running. No problems, speedometer off approx 3 mph. These are dedicated winter grips ( hankook Ipike 409's ) and I'm surprised how managable they are on the Pa. turnpike at 65 mph. Rear sits a bit higher ( I like it ) and I may do the same thing in the summer with the other two jeep rims. No noticeable road noise as well.

And BTW, the guys on here might have a heart attack if they saw the guy down the road that put a 350 chevy in a 56 Crown Vic.. to each his own.

 

[BIIHawg]

I'm no tire expert but i'm pretty sure 215/70/15 and 215/70/14 are gonna end up being different sized tires. The numbers 215/70 are based on a percentage of the rim size, so although the numbers are the same, the over all size of the tire will be lightly different. Just a heads up. I learned that one when i went to put winters on my car and i wanted the same size tire but for a different rim. Although i went from 17's to 14's which is a bigger jump than 14 to 15. I'd probably still ask a competent tire store.

 

[BlackBII]

I'm no tire expert but i'm pretty sure 215/70/15 and 215/70/14 are gonna end up being different sized tires. The numbers 215/70 are based on a percentage of the rim size, so although the numbers are the same, the over all size of the tire will be lightly different. Just a heads up. I learned that one when i went to put winters on my car and i wanted the same size tire but for a different rim. Although i went from 17's to 14's which is a bigger jump than 14 to 15. I'd probably still ask a competent tire store.

That is true, but, the two sizes mentioned, 215/70/15 and 215/70/14, will only be .2 inches different from eachother, not enough to worry about in most cases.

http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/Metric_To_Inch_Tires.html

 

[Sunk]

I'm no tire expert but i'm pretty sure 215/70/15 and 215/70/14 are gonna end up being different sized tires. The numbers 215/70 are based on a percentage of the rim size, so although the numbers are the same, the over all size of the tire will be lightly different. Just a heads up. I learned that one when i went to put winters on my car and i wanted the same size tire but for a different rim. Although i went from 17's to 14's which is a bigger jump than 14 to 15. I'd probably still ask a competent tire store.

You're close. The first number is the tread width in MM, and the second in the height of the sidewall in percentage of the tread width. In this case, 70% of 215 MM. The diameter is twice this plus the rim size, so yes the rim size does have an effect.