Are all Ranger stock rims lug centric?

[06_FX4]

Along with my 2006 FX4 , I own a 1998 2wd ext cab 4.0L with 190,000 miles. The stock rims on the 98 are 14x6 (225x70x14) and when it came time to replace the tires, I bought a set of 1998 stock 15x7 Ranger rims from craigslist.
The new rims came with 225/70/15 tires which were worn out and noisy, but fairly balanced. I ran these rims and tires for about a week.

Now for the problem. I went and bought four new Wrangler 225/70/15 tires and had them installed on the truck with the new rims. For the first couple of days everything was OK, but then the vehicle developed a bouncy sort of shimmy. The ride is smooth unless you drive between 60 - 75 mph, then the shaking will make you crazy. While the car is shaking you can see the passenger seat shake side to side and squeek.
So in the past two weeks I've taken the vehicle back three times for rebalancing and alignment, but no luck. During this time I have also replaced the u joints thinking I had a bad drive shaft. I tweaked all kinds of front end parts until finally I remounted the old stock wheels and tires I had kept. Like magic all the vibration stopped. So I took the vehicle back to the tire dealer and now he says the wheels I bought from craigslist are not lug centric and have a slightly larger center bore. (The new wheels were mounted with the same old conical lug nuts from the original rims) He says the new rims aren't centering up exactly because the aren't designed as lug centric. Now he wants to sell me new rims. Yeah, right.
I say he's full of it, but thought I'd ask here to see if I might have a screw loose. So, were there any hub centric stock wheels for Rangers, or, are they ALL lug centric. (?)
Attached you will find pics of my good 14x6 stock rims (with the hole pattern) and my chromie new 15x7's , both of which appear on the tech forum and are listed for 1998 rangers.

 

[4x4junkie]

I think he (the tire place) is full of it.

Ranger rims are all lug-centric w/acorn-style nuts '83-'11. 15" wheels usually have the bigger hole only to clear 4WD hubs on the front.

I would be suspicious of a defective tire (out of round, belt separated, etc.) and the place might be trying to get out of having to replace it.

 

[Heavyfire14]

???????????? um, WTF??? maybe the tire place is just stupid?

try getting them to mount another set of tires on there or get a refund and take your money somewhere else?

 

[gjm4l]

yep what they said. Sounds like a tire issue and the tire guy trying to screw his way out of a mistake or pita warranty replacement. Out of curiosity does the vibration remain the same if you rotate the tires around, does it feel like its coming from one corner. Or like all four are screwed? Look and see if one or more of them has a holy crap amount of balance weights compared to the rest (making that place totally unprofessional by selling you a bad tire). They would have tried to sell you new wheels right off if one of them was out of round so if there's alot of weight it's a crap tire. So unless you hit a hell of a pothole and ko'd a rim(you would have known) the tire guy is jerking your chain for whatever reason which would be reason enough for me to get my money back and go elsewhere.


.....Although if I remember correctly back when I was doing that kind of work those steelies in particular have a very thin lip where you smack the weights on for balancing so if everytime you take it back for rebalancing it does great for a few days then goes to the shimmy shakies it could be a simple matter of the weights are flinging themselves off causing a vibration and making you and your tire place butt heads. It may be worth finding out if they keep track of the amount of weight per tire and cross referencing it and/or asking for stick on weights used for wheels with no lip and expensive custom wheels. Or they just suck lol. Good luck!

 

[BRUTUS_T_HOG]

lug centric wheels always have tapered bolt holes. hub centric wheels have flat holes.

if your wheels have tapered holes you have defective tires

 

[06_FX4]

Follow Up

Thanks for the info guys. I have rotated the tires front to back, and side to side, but can't tell where the bad tire is, if any.
Two of them have small weights on them, the other two have larger weights ,but not any larger than ones I have on my FX4 31" tires.
I talked to the tire dealer today and I think he's confused about the center bore being larger than the hub on the rotor. I tried to tell him the wheels are from a 4wd, and its the lugs that matter, but he's stubborn. I asked for my money back, but he won't return the bad tires. Instead I get store credit. I'm pissed to say the least. I was really looking forward to my steel chromies.
I'm not even sure what my choices are at this time. I need the store to put on a different set of tires, but he won't put them on the 15x7 rims. My only other choice is to have him put a set of 225/70/14 on the old rims, or find some different 15 inch rims.

 

[gjm4l]

Are you talking to the manager or just the salesman? Thats a bummer they're being like that. If all the weights are about the same and the vibration doesn't go away regardless of rotation then either they have broken belts or they were out of round tires. A few years ago I got some BFG's like that from 4 wheel parts and that was a major PITA I ended up just going over their head and dealing with BFG myself but I was lucky that I worked at a Ford dealership then. Have they tried rotating the tire around on the rim. I forget what its called but they can improve vibrations by adjusting the tires highspots to the rim. I had alot of success with weird wobbles with seemingly perfectly tires. Maybe someone can chip in with what its actually called cause for whatever reason I'm drawing a blank. If it's a chain store I'd take go talk to a manager at another store or take the store credit to another store. Good luck

 

[BRUTUS_T_HOG]

force matching

 

[gjm4l]

force matching

thank you

 

[06_FX4]

The manager is the only person I've talked too. He knows me well because he's serviced my vehicles a bunch.
I've been out of town this week, but come Saturday, I'm going to be having a long discussion with him again, face to face.

Now I'm going to tell you a few details I left out of my earlier posts. I didn't mention all of this because I wanted to examine the lug centric issue without prejudice, and I'm embarrassed to admit I have had problems with the tires from this shop in the past.
The last two sets of tires for my truck I bought from this shop. (Dobbs)
Two years ago Dobbs installed four new tires on the stock rims and the ride was like crap. They replaced two tires and said they were possibly defective. Then I noticed the truck would torque steer hard left when I would hit the gas on the highway, or while going around a cloverleaf. The manager (same guy as now) said he test drove it and it scared "the crap" out of him when he almost lost control. So he dicked with the alignment for a while and then replaced all four tires at my request. Like magic, problem solved.
Now this year I stupidly went back for more punishment from this place. Here's another little secret. Dobbs has already replaced one tire on this very set of tires because it developed a bubble in the sidewall within two days. Then I drove the truck from ST Louis to Dallas and back. As you could imagine, I was cursing Dobbs all the way down and back. So now they tell me the runout is too high on the front wheels and they can't guarantee a decent ride unless I buy new wheels, or have a stock tire size mounted on the stock rims. What puzzles me is that there was a set of tires on the rims when I bought them, and they rode just dandy for a whole week. Those tires were 225/70/15s too. Obviously they are selling some factory reject tires.
The last thing I want to do is go home with these bad tires, but we will see what he does when I remind him about the previous fiasco in front of his other customers.

 

[gjm4l]

yep my opinion is shady dealings to make money so anything goes to convince the customer it's not the businesses fault. If the rims you got were bad they would have definitely documented it and/or tried to upsale a set of rims on the spot (like a business would) usually in the form of "yes sir, we installed your new tires but we can't promise a great ride because your rims are a little catywhampus" or "we don't want to install tires on these rims because they are out of round we can sell you a set for a great deal" then so suddenly now the rims are the problem...... shady. No offense intended but sounds like you should have taken your business elsewhere several sets of tires years ago. I hope it ends up working out for you.

 

[06_FX4]

I think you hit it on the head gjm4l. I should have gone somewhere else.
I post this now because sleeping isn't easy with all this burning in my brain.
The best way to approach the argument with the manager might be that I paid Dobbs not just for their tires, but for their expertise. And if they sent me on my merry way with wheels that are never going to fit (their opinion), not once, but THREE times, then they are responsible for not seeing that everything was done correctly from the get go. Had they said something about the rims on purchase day we would have no problems. But since I put 1200 miles on the tires in one week, they have a problem. Mind you, I told the manager on purchase day everything had to be right because I was going out of town. The manager's response was don't worry, we have a 30 day ride guarantee. Some guarantee.
So far all they have suggested is to exchange the bad tires for smaller ones that will fit on my old 14" rims.
650 bucks isn't what I want to spend to get that setup back.

Any who, I can't wait to hit the road for home on Friday. It will be a sweet 10 hour road trip in the FX4 pictured on the left.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

How old are the tires?

I know you think they are new, but they can sit on the shelf for awhile... and 15's are not flying out of the dealer like they used to. If they have been sitting for a long time or damaged while in storage they can do funny things.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=11

Tell him the old tires were smooth on the road, the holes are tapered and Ranger never has been hub-centric.

We had a guy that brought his tractor in after having new rear tires put on it, the thing would buck like crazy. If you got them synced it wasn't too bad but if they were opposite each other you would spend more time out of the seat than in it. Turned out they were defective from the factory, the hole was 2" off center from the outside of the tire. With a 38" rim and a big mooshy tire that is hard to eyeball BTW.

 

[Flat Toy]

Thanks for the info guys. I have rotated the tires front to back, and side to side, but can't tell where the bad tire is, if any.


Take two 15 inch tires off front and reinstall two of your good 14 inch rims if you still have them. Take it for a drive. If no change move the 14's to the back.
See what happens.
If you don't have good tires on the 14's put the spare on one corner at a time and see how it drives. Just don"t drive forever with one odd size tire on a drive axle. should not hurt to drive the time it takes to see if you have a bad tire.

 

[daniel3507]

not meaning to thread jack, but are ranger rims hub centric?