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2000 ranger XLT 3.0 4x4


Tomm1468

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Hey everyone,

I recently was moving cross states and had an interesting experience, while on the highway I noticed with every flaw in the road, my ranger would excessively be affected by pulling or shifting around a lot. It was so bad I almost lost control a few times. I’ve only be doing 60 because I have a bed completely full of my stuff. I read through some things and stopped and replaced the rack and pinion, along with both tie rod ends. After a dirty DIY alignment in the oreillys parking lot I set back out. I notice it was less affected than before, but still significant enough to almost make me lose control. I took it to les Schwab for inspection, they said they didn’t see anything wrong. I recently replaced all four shocks, and all the front and rear brake hardware. Both my upper control arms are also brand new. Only thing I can think of it is something to do with my tires, or the fact my leaf springs in the rear are fried and I’ve been waiting to replace them. Anyone have any ideas ??
 


DILLARD000

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SportTracJob2
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SwayLinks?
 

Tomm1468

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4WD
Total Lift
3"
Tire Size
245/75R16
Sway links look ok, wouldn’t be the worst to replace them. You think worn links would do that much to the truck??
 

DILLARD000

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New SwayLinks might help some, depending the condition of your old ones.
If your Bed\RearEnd is overloaded could be causing FrontEnd to be riding Lite+High & going unstable over bumps.
Pulling a trailer?
 

Tomm1468

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Total Lift
3"
Tire Size
245/75R16
I was going to pull a trailer, but it seemed to be too much at highway speeds, the oh so powerful 3.0 was struggling too much. But I do have about 1000lbs in the bed. My current theory is all that weight plus the leaf springs being in bad condition is lifting the front more than it should. But I won’t know until I am able to unload the bed tomorrow.
 

DILLARD000

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Think you've found your cause, just being overloaded on worn out LeafSprings.
Consider installing new LeafSprings or upgrade to HeavyDuty versions
along with AirAdjustableShocks in the rear, before loading her up again.
 

Stumblefoot

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I run a pair of overloads on mine--its a long story---but it also depends on how the 1000 lbs was distributed in the bed..I'd almost bet once you get it unloaded you'll be fine.
 

DILLARD000

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Yep, moving heavier items toward the front of the bed might help.
 

Tomm1468

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Ranger XLT
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Engine Size
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Transmission
Automatic
2WD / 4WD
4WD
Total Lift
3"
Tire Size
245/75R16
Update on the situation, I got the bed unloaded and it was better, but still a little weird. So I went and bought some new “heavy duty” sway bar links, before I put them on, out of the blue, I decided to measure my front ride height, I was an inch lower on my drivers side while on flat ground. I cranked the drivers side all the way up and had to loosed the passenger side to even the truck out. Would that possible be the candidate? (I have no experience with torsion bar suspensions)
 

Tomm1468

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2000
Make / Model
Ranger XLT
Engine Type
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Engine Size
5.0
Transmission
Automatic
2WD / 4WD
4WD
Total Lift
3"
Tire Size
245/75R16
later update, I stuck the new sway bar links on and rechecked everything to ensure it was all tight and in place. I made a long (12+) hour drive again and it's still wandering pretty bad. after that, I installed new "stiffer" leaf springs, shackles, and spring mounts. like everything else I've tried, it helped a little, but still wandering to an uncomfortable degree. At this point, I have installed new: (power steering rack, tie rod ends, sway bar links, leaf springs, shackles, and leaf mounts, shocks) all to no avail. I was starting to wonder if I was just being unreasonable about my expectation of driving a truck, but I had a 1995 ranger before this one and never had a problem with the steering. So I'm guessing it's not that. I've come up with a few ideas over the past months. First. the front tires are pretty worn they def's need to be replaced sooner than later. Second. It's possible that my ball joints are on the edge of failure, just good enough to avoid mine, and ASE mechanics detection, but IDK, that's just a thought. at this point, I'm going to replace both, get an alignment, and hope for the best.
 
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stmitch

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Are the front tires worn evenly, or is it worse in certain areas? Too much or too little tow or camber can do weird things with handling/tracking and can cause uneven tire wear too.

New tires and professional alignment seem prudent to me
 

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