15 x 8 " wheels with 275/60's on Gen 1 Ranger?

[Black P-38]

I have been driving myself crazy researching an affordable wheel/tire combo for my Gen 1 2wd Ranger. I think I have decided on a set of 15 x 8" American Racing Outlaw 1 wheels, (5 on 4 1/2), with Toyo Proxes S/T's in a 275/60-15 size.

Anyone know if these will fit? The rims have a 3.75" back space, the tires are 28" diameter with an 11" overall width. I'm about to buy a wheel and tire to see if it will fit but hope someone has experience with a tire/wheel combo of similar size. The truck is not lowered but I may drop the rear a couple inches to level it out a bit.

I have the S/T's on my '94 Lightning in a 275/60-17 and love them, in fact, I'm about to buy my 3rd set.

Thanks for your help guys!
Mike

 

[Original_Ranger84]

I have been driving myself crazy researching an affordable wheel/tire combo for my Gen 1 2wd Ranger. I think I have decided on a set of 15 x 8" American Racing Outlaw 1 wheels, (5 on 4 1/2), with Toyo Proxes S/T's in a 275/60-15 size.

Anyone know if these will fit? The rims have a 3.75" back space, the tires are 28" diameter with an 11" overall width. I'm about to buy a wheel and tire to see if it will fit but hope someone has experience with a tire/wheel combo of similar size. The truck is not lowered but I may drop the rear a couple inches to level it out a bit.

I have the S/T's on my '94 Lightning in a 275/60-17 and love them, in fact, I'm about to buy my 3rd set.

Thanks for your help guys!
Mike

I would say you might be able to but the tire might be sort of tall for a 2wd, but not completely sure because i have a 4x4 that had 30 inch tires with no lift. If they don't fit you could put a 1" coil Spacer up front and get it aligned so they don't wear, the back tires should be fine though.

 

[Black P-38]

Wow, 30's with no lift... that's a pretty tall tire. My Gen I Lightning has 30" diameter tires and they still look big to me... for a stock suspension pavement cruiser.

I was fairly sure the 28" diameter would fit on the back but worried about the front.

I will probably run some taller/ stiffer springs up front with the V-8 swap so I'm hoping the tires will clear everything when turning. I like to keep the same size all around for good handling and tire rotations.

THANKS!
Mike

 

[Original_Ranger84]

Yeah Thinking about it a 28"-29" tire is probably the biggest you would want to go with a 2wd. That would be a 235/75/r15.

 

[jayE]

So, I am here because I'm looking to put 235/75 r15's on my 1st generation 2wd Ranger... How did you make out?

 

[SenorNoob]

I had 30x9.50R15 on the back of my previous truck. It's the front one in that picture.

235/75R15 is 28.88. So you should be fine.

 

[jayE]

Super, Thank you. Did you also use the same tires in the front?

 

[JoshT]

Since you are buying wheels anyway. Look at 16" if you want a good selection of affordable tires. Not losing much sidewall and there is a much bigger selection still in production.

 

[SenorNoob]

Actually the fronts in that picture are 215/70R15. (26.9) Now that you specifically ask, IDK what the tallest tire I've ever run on the front of a 2wd was.

The 1st gen is pretty easy to see where taller tires would rub. It's right at lower corners of the front wheel arches. Right where the screws holding the inner fender together are. Front and back are the same distance from wheel center point.

 

[jayE]

Since you are buying wheels anyway. Look at 16" if you want a good selection of affordable tires. Not losing much sidewall and there is a much bigger selection still in production.

Here's the funky thing. I already bought the 235/75 R15's. Tire Rack has them fitting the '85 Ranger but 4wd. At the time I thought if they fit the 4wd they will fit the 2wd because it's the same body, never thinking about the suspension. I still don't know if Ford lifted the suspension on the 4x4's or not so I thought I would research as to what people have replaced the 14's with. Ugh. I'm still surprised that there isn't any information about this, at least that I have found! Thanks for your help!

 

[jayE]

Actually the fronts in that picture are 215/70R15. (26.9) Now that you specifically ask, IDK what the tallest tire I've ever run on the front of a 2wd was.

The 1st gen is pretty easy to see where taller tires would rub. It's right at lower corners of the front wheel arches. Right where the screws holding the inner fender together are. Front and back are the same distance from wheel center point.

I still have the 14's on there so maybe after I find out their diameter I can add to that the difference between them and the 235/75 R15's (28.88) to make a better guess. I'm not sure.
With it being 2wd, I don't see it doing any off-roading so that helps some. Perhaps buying rims with the same factory offset's will help too.
All 4 of my tires are shot and I just prefer 15" rims to 14's so if it is going to happen now is the time. We shall see. Thanks!

 

[JoshT]

I still don't know if Ford lifted the suspension on the 4x4's or not so I thought I would research as to what people have replaced the 14's with. Ugh. I'm still surprised that there isn't any information about this, at least that I have found!

It's not that for lifted the 4wd Rangers, but that they are different supensions and the extra height is built into the suspension. They are the same style (Twin Beam Independent), but all of the parts are different. The Frame is different, the frame mounts for the beams are different heights, the 4x4 beams them selves drop lower because they are thicker to allow for the axle components.

There's a lack of information because it isn't something that we think about. Most of us know that there is a difference in the suspension between 2wd and 4wd rangers, so we don;t put much thought into that. Either we research what fits out suspension before buying tires, or we know the tire size we want and are prepared to do what it takes (lifting/cutting) to make it fit.

Since you've already got the tires you can lift the truck to fit them if necessary. You probably wouldn't need a full lift kit. Your clearance issues are most likely going to be in the front, not the rear. There are some cheap options for getting the front end up a little bit without a full lift kit. Namely spacers under the spring perches that can bring the front up to level with the back, assuming that spring sag hasn;t already made them level. You can find details about that in the tech library.

Not trying to be negative here, just addressing the comment.

Also... When talking about buying wheels, I was responding to the original post (OP). Someone revived a thread that is old enough to join the military, and I did not catch the dates before responding. I know you are new here and don't know what your experience on other forums is like. On this one, in a situation like your question in post #5, you are better off creating a new thread than reviving an old one. I'm not going to say never revive an old thread, but when doing so think about the nature of the thread and what you are adding first. Providing useful info in one of Jim's pinned tech threads is a good place/reason to revive, asking a new question (or for updates) in a very old thread generally is not. When reviving seems necessary younger is better, and if it is more than a few years you are better off starting fresh. Also original posters experience would not benefit you much. The sizes between you and the original thread sound similar, but they are different enough to make a big change in fittment. Just my 2 cent on using this forum.

 

[jayE]

It's not that for lifted the 4wd Rangers, but that they are different supensions and the extra height is built into the suspension. They are the same style (Twin Beam Independent), but all of the parts are different. The Frame is different, the frame mounts for the beams are different heights, the 4x4 beams them selves drop lower because they are thicker to allow for the axle components.

There's a lack of information because it isn't something that we think about. Most of us know that there is a difference in the suspension between 2wd and 4wd rangers, so we don;t put much thought into that. Either we research what fits out suspension before buying tires, or we know the tire size we want and are prepared to do what it takes (lifting/cutting) to make it fit.

Since you've already got the tires you can lift the truck to fit them if necessary. You probably wouldn't need a full lift kit. Your clearance issues are most likely going to be in the front, not the rear. There are some cheap options for getting the front end up a little bit without a full lift kit. Namely spacers under the spring perches that can bring the front up to level with the back, assuming that spring sag hasn;t already made them level. You can find details about that in the tech library.

Not trying to be negative here, just addressing the comment.

Also... When talking about buying wheels, I was responding to the original post (OP). Someone revived a thread that is old enough to join the military, and I did not catch the dates before responding. I know you are new here and don't know what your experience on other forums is like. On this one, in a situation like your question in post #5, you are better off creating a new thread than reviving an old one. I'm not going to say never revive an old thread, but when doing so think about the nature of the thread and what you are adding first. Providing useful info in one of Jim's pinned tech threads is a good place/reason to revive, asking a new question (or for updates) in a very old thread generally is not. When reviving seems necessary younger is better, and if it is more than a few years you are better off starting fresh. Also original posters experience would not benefit you much. The sizes between you and the original thread sound similar, but they are different enough to make a big change in fittment. Just my 2 cent on using this forum.

JoshT, Thank you for your reply. I'm not sure how this is going to play out just yet. I'm not sure how involved I want this to become simply because I bought tires that are potentially too large. If returning the 235/75 R15's and going with 215/70R15's erases this challenge then that's the way I'm leaning. Raising the body isn't necessarily an issue but I don't want to start messing with the back leaf springs too.
Admittedly, asking for help from someone not seen since 2019 was not one of my better ideas.
No matter what, I will post an update when I am done.

 

[superj]

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[JoshT]

I'm not sure how this is going to play out just yet. I'm not sure how involved I want this to become simply because I bought tires that are potentially too large. If returning the 235/75 R15's and going with 215/70R15's erases this challenge then that's the way I'm leaning.

If you are returning those and getting something smaller that still fills the wheel wells fairly well, the 26 to 27" diameter would be a good range for a 2wd first gen. Unfortunately it is totaled and I don;t have many pictures from when it was still in tact, but this is my 1984 2wd long bed on stock height (minus 20ish years of sag) suspension.

In this grainy picture is is wearing 225/70R14 tires, on old Ford car 14x6 wheels.

In this one it is wearing 225/60R16 tires on later model stock Ranger wheels (from my '99).

I liked the style of the first wheels on the old trucks, but tire size was already getting hard to come by in the early 2000s. The second set brought a noticable difference in handling due to less sidewall flex, but didn't sacrifice in ride quality IMO.

Those are about a 26.5" diameter tire. Unfortunately, an equivalent doesn't really exist in the 15", you'll have to go up to a 27" or down to a 26" diameter.