Best Off-Road Ranger

[SenorNoob]

This has turned into quite the informative thread. Sticky?

The dual piston brakes are a nice upgrade IMO. If for no other reason than serviceability. The lack of steering stops is nice in parking lots, just have to be careful especially on the highway.

 

[scotts90ranger]

What would you say is the ultimate way to run 31" tires on a 89-92 RBV? I installed 1.5" RC coils and am on the verge of bumpsteer constantly, even after a high quality alignment. I would prefer a better alternative that did not cause bumpsteer.
Teach me, oh wise one!

If you have bump steer you likely need a drop pitman arm or something, I've had the alignment completely jacked on my '90 and it's always drove just fine aside from the steering wheel being off or pulling to one side or the other... Then there's the fact that an "expert" alignment doesn't mean jack squat on a TTB suspension, most alignment techs aren't old enough to have seen a TTB/TIB vehicle new let alone know the nuances they have with alignment that are completely different than straight axle or A arm suspensions. You might be able to get away with getting the fully adjustable upper ball joint bushings and giving it some caster since they probably just adjusted the camber and toe when they did the alignment.

 

[Curious Hound]

What would you say is the ultimate way to run 31" tires on a 89-92 RBV? I installed 1.5" RC coils and am on the verge of bumpsteer constantly, even after a high quality alignment. I would prefer a better alternative that did not cause bumpsteer.
Teach me, oh wise one!

Excellent articles in our tech library. It’s a geometry problem, relating the pivot points of all the pivoting thingies to each other.

Steering Tech - Discussing TTB Steering and Alignment - The Ranger Station

How it’s supposed to work (and why it often doesn’t work like so) Steering continues to be one of the most overlooked, often misunderstood pitfalls on these suspensions, so I felt this subject deserves it’s very own page. As many … Continued

www.therangerstation.com

 

[rusty ol ranger]

I prefer AT's to MT's.

MT's are great in mud. AT's shine everywhere else.

IMO The BFG AT is the best out there.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I prefer AT's to MT's.

MT's are great in mud. AT's shine everywhere else.

IMO The BFG AT is the best out there.

Thing is, around here BFG AT tires turn into chocolate doughnuts almost instantly in mud and tend to stay that way and they suck in snow here too. So it all depends on where you are in the country and what you’re doing.

I usually go for the most aggressive AT pattern I can find since a lot of times my trucks don’t stay on the road. My Choptop though gets mud tires anymore. It’s light enough that it doesn’t eat the tread driving it on the road.

 

[00t444e]

I prefer AT's to MT's.

MT's are great in mud. AT's shine everywhere else.

IMO The BFG AT is the best out there.

I have the BFG ATs on my truck now an I hate them. They are good for the pavement but that it, they will get you stuck in wet grass if it rains. MT tires are better at everything except for longer tread life.

 

[Uncle Gump]

 

[bobbywalter]

What would you say is the ultimate way to run 31" tires on a 89-92 RBV? I installed 1.5" RC coils and am on the verge of bumpsteer constantly, even after a high quality alignment. I would prefer a better alternative that did not cause bumpsteer.
Teach me, oh wise one!

it depends.

exactly how you are setup now.?.? does it simply have coils?

how do your tires wear?

and what exactly is the ride height verse stock?

...and what factory pitman arm did it start with and is it still on there?


if you have factory pivots a drop pitman arm can make it worse...or help. generally with factory pivots and beams the factory steering has the least amount of change in travel.

the ultimate way to go is exactly as i describe. longer radius arms with lower caster center. best i ever had. and i have had many systems on my main truck.

if you pull the spings and shocks and cycle the suspension it quickly becomes clear what is happening...


of course....
these trucks dont drive like typical vehicles... so driving yours back to back with a stock vehicle if you can may highlight whether or not your perception of bumpsteer is actually happening.

bumpsteer on a ttb is not like a solid axle.

worse...this system at rest in terms of measurement changes at speed running the beams out of the oem range....

the system in terms of pavement manners wants to be under center verse over center. under center off road sux...that inch or so at the beams makes a difference....so i live with the quirks over center.

think about that. technically speaking any changes in height needs corresponding changes in pivot and pitman arm points....IF YOU DEMAND stock steering feel.

that said....i learned to do a rolling toe set. and can get much better steering feel then stock.

depending on spring rate and load you sometimes have to be toe out at jounced rest to have perfect toe and camber at 50 mph. there are very few people that do alignments that will ever understand or know that. so odds of you getting good help are not high.

i had access and was playing with these in the late 80s through 2000 or so on old school hunter and baer alignment racks.

I learned they are not as set and forget in the specs like they say.... especially with Plow trucks... but very forgiving in tolerance in regards to road feel...not necessarily tire life. a truck in spec will tear tires up if not rotated. even TIB.

my goal was tire life...as i drove 50 to 90k miles per year just to go to work back then.

handling developed from there.

as to tire size and type...that depends on where you live and what you do.

but wheel offset and tire type will effect feel..if you have high offset wheels that may be where the bump steer perceptions are coming from

i prefer all terrain or all season for the road in summer and winter tires where it snows in winter and put on mud tires when i am going to play.


i can not afford to use mud tires on pavement as i run alot of miles and is the reason i generally use military tires for the road ....they are cheap.





if you can have only one set... all terrain for sure.

and the poorboy lift worked great for me.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

Thing is, around here BFG AT tires turn into chocolate doughnuts almost instantly in mud and tend to stay that way and they suck in snow here too. So it all depends on where you are in the country and what you’re doing.

I usually go for the most aggressive AT pattern I can find since a lot of times my trucks don’t stay on the road. My Choptop though gets mud tires anymore. It’s light enough that it doesn’t eat the tread driving it on the road.

Mud i agree with you. They take an obnoxious amount of wheelspeed to clean. Like...35 or 40mph.

Never had an issue in snow though.

I got a feeling the KO3 will be even worse in mud

 

[rusty ol ranger]

I have the BFG ATs on my truck now an I hate them. They are good for the pavement but that it, they will get you stuck in wet grass if it rains. MT tires are better at everything except for longer tread life.

Ive never had an issue.

 

[MT_PLS]

My 89 Ranger has stock steering and suspension, other than the addition of 1.5"-2" Rough Country coil springs and shocks. The alignment shop I took it too is run by a father and son who both own multiple 1980s and 90s era F150s and Rangers. They know TTB setups. They did install adjustable cam bushings when they did the alignment. My steering just feels erratic and is hard to hold my lane.

 

[Curious Hound]

All this talk about ATs being good in mud or bad in mud. Each person’s experience will be different. Not all mud is the same. Clay based mud will stick to anything a lot better than non-clay based mud. And sandy mud is different yet. So, in different pats of the country, experiences will be different.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Mud i agree with you. They take an obnoxious amount of wheelspeed to clean. Like...35 or 40mph.

Never had an issue in snow though.

I got a feeling the KO3 will be even worse in mud

Like I said, it’s where and what you’re doing. I’ve found that if I can’t wedge my fingers deep into the tread, it’s likely not going to do what I need it to around here. Less hilly and or different soil conditions, then yeah, different tires may work well.

Years ago dad tried BFG AT tires and was very unhappy with the results, especially in snow. He went to running more aggressive pattern tires and was happy. I learned from that and also a bit of trial and error on my own. I actually did have some 35x12.5-15 BFG AT tires on the front of my Choptop and BFG MT tires on the rear and it did better than expected. When the dry rot started getting too bad I replaced them with Mastercraft Courser MXT tires front and rear. So far the Mastercraft tires appear to be an improvement, but I need to get 4x4 functional again to really test it.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

All this talk about ATs being hood in mud or bad in mud. Each person’s experience will be different. Not all mud is the same. Clay based mud will stick to anything a lot better than non-clay based mud. And sandy mud is different yet. So, in different pats of the country, experiences will be different.

Yeah, we have clay based mud around here. Back when I had front and rear lockers in the Choptop I once had it sitting in a minor slope of clay that had been rained on. I couldn’t climb it, just sat there spinning all four tires uselessly. I’m talking less than a 10* slope about 20’ long. I’ve actually got better traction on hardpack snow and ice. Of course, that had been cut kinda smooth with a machine too since it was where my driveway was to go. If it had been rough enough to grab a bite, it would have tried to load up the tires.

We got dad’s skid steer stuck around here a few times and he runs the sort of flattened AG pattern tires on it, two facing forward and two facing rearward so it has equal front and rear traction. Even those wide open lugs load up around here.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

All this talk about ATs being good in mud or bad in mud. Each person’s experience will be different. Not all mud is the same. Clay based mud will stick to anything a lot better than non-clay based mud. And sandy mud is different yet. So, in different pats of the country, experiences will be different.

And it can vary within a couple feet in an area too.

Around me mud isn't much fun, it is usually bottomless if you get to digging too much.

Yeah, we have clay based mud around here. Back when I had front and rear lockers in the Choptop I once had it sitting in a minor slope of clay that had been rained on. I couldn’t climb it, just sat there spinning all four tires uselessly. I’m talking less than a 10* slope about 20’ long. I’ve actually got better traction on hardpack snow and ice. Of course, that had been cut kinda smooth with a machine too since it was where my driveway was to go. If it had been rough enough to grab a bite, it would have tried to load up the tires.

We got dad’s skid steer stuck around here a few times and he runs the sort of flattened AG pattern tires on it, two facing forward and two facing rearward so it has equal front and rear traction. Even those wide open lugs load up around here.

Most things with ag tires can't get enough wheelspeed to clean them... as they are not really intended to be used in mud. This is me a couple years ago.