My rim size?

[dvdswan]

Some factory wheels will have a JJ15x7 on the rim in one of the unfinished areas you can see from the front.

 

[Curious Hound]

Your truck came with 14” rims and 15” tires. At least that what Ford says…

View attachment 85868

How can that work?

 

[dvdswan]

How can that work?

Well, on the assembly line they have a guy on either side of the truck and they install the rims that have. No one checks if they're the same. This is where the gangster lean came from.

 

[James Morse]

That rim size has to be wrong. I don't think those deep dish option cast aluminum wheels came in 14" they were an option only on the XLT and 14" tires never came on an XLT 4x4. According to the brochure.
You could have got the deep dish wheels with either 235/75R15 or optional 265/75R15.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

14's are generally a 2wd thing.

 

[James Morse]

@ericphoto this explains why all tricked out 4x4 have 5 identical wheels. If you get a flat out off-road somewhere and you need 4x4 to get home, a sub-size spare just doesn't cut it and you are given the choice have it hauled out somehow or risk the good probability you will break something.

I guess what I would want to do long term is get one additional matching wheel and tire then try to mount it underneath (I could know this having only the 4 by trying one) and if I can't then mount it one of the multitude of other ways. Rooftop is kind of cool, but you'd have to cut into the truck to have a mounting (not good)? Or maybe there are some rooftop kits like Thule or something. Then you could put your fog and/or off-road lights up there on the roof, that would work nice.

If you don't mount the spare underneath it would maybe give you more options if you wanted to have a good bumper on the back and hitch. Or not... just thinking about making things sturdy so the bumper can have D-rings and the hitch will withstand a winch.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Couple options for mounting in the bed.

Rear is an option too but will be all custom. Various options with varying levels of inconvenience for tailgate access.

I made a bumper and swing out for the rear of mine, @Uncle Gump added a swing out to an aftermarket bumper and @ericbphoto devised a drop down tire carrier for his if you are interested in going down that road.

 

[Josh B]

Your truck came with 14” rims and 15” tires. At least that what Ford says…

View attachment 85868

How do you put a 15 inch tire or a 14 inch rim ?

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

How do you put a 15 inch tire or a 14 inch rim ?

Loosely.

Much easier than going the other way lol

 

[Curious Hound]

How do you put a 15 inch tire or a 14 inch rim ?

That's what I asked up above. But not everyone caught it.

 

[Ranger850]

How can that work?

Loosely,

Much easier going the other way lol

 

[don4331]

Ford Ranger 1997 - Wheel & Tire Sizes, PCD, Offset and Rims specs - Wheel-Size.com

I'm confused about putting the spare on the front is ok in 2wd... what if the flat is on the rear? I have lsd. Are you saying I'd have to take the front tire off, put on the back, then put the spare on the front? That would be problematic with one jack. I kind of have to think that for short distances the 235/70 is ok, I can't believe Ford would make things that complicated?

You can wear out an LSD in as little as 25 miles running on pavement after swapping 235/75R15 spare in place of 31x10.5R15.

If you have tires different size than spare, you put the spare on the front, and the front on the back and the flat in the box. You really don't have to have larger tire as you will get the flat fixed and put it back where it came from, the tire from back to front and spare back under the truck. As you only every have one wheel off at a time, one jack is fine.

Note: if you have 2wd with lsd/locker and are running big rears/little fronts, you would have to swap both fronts to back, put back on front along with spare, a lot of work.​

The spare is a temporary thing, you're not necessarily driving on it full time, which is why Ford mounted spare on steel rim/used slightly different size as it wasn't to be there long and they saved a couple buck. You can get hitch mounted tire carriers and front mount hitch - puts tire up front counter balancing load e.g. camper in box.

It can be PIA when box is full and flat is muddy, but them's the breaks.

Hence, why when my daughter had flat on back of her truck she called D. A. D. service as it was -25 and windy.​

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

You can wear out an LSD in as little as 25 miles running on pavement after swapping 235/75R15 spare in place of 31x10.5R15.

If you have tires different size than spare, you put the spare on the front, and the front on the back and the flat in the box. You really don't have to have larger tire as you will get the flat fixed and put it back where it came from, the tire from back to front and spare back under the truck. As you only every have one wheel off at a time, one jack is fine.

Note: if you have 2wd with lsd/locker and are running big rears/little fronts, you would have to swap both fronts to back, put back on front along with spare, a lot of work.​

The spare is a temporary thing, you're not necessarily driving on it full time, which is why Ford could mounted spare on steel rim/use slightly different size as it wasn't to be there long and they saved a couple buck. You can get hitch mounted tire carriers and front mount hitch - puts tire up front counter balancing load e.g. camper in box.
View attachment 85878


It can be PIA when box is full and flat is muddy, but them's the breaks.

Hence, why when my daughter had flat on back of her truck she called D. A. D. service as it was -25 and windy.​

Front spare can screw with engine cooling too.

I have mulled it for mine, not sure I have enough cooling reserve to keep the V8 cool with the camper in the back.

 

[James Morse]

Send more pics of camper please.

It all makes sense except what are you saying about little fronts and big rears? Are you saying some people run different tires front/back?

I hate it when there are errors in the info, because it makes you wonder, are there other errors, since you only find them if there's a hiccup somewhere. I just assume, there was 1 error, that's all, we found it.

 

[Curious Hound]

Are you saying some people run different tires front/back?

Yes. It was more popular with hot rods back in the 50's - 70's. But some still do it. That's a "2wd only" kind of thing unless you gear the differentials properly for it. Some farm tractors and construction equipment is geared that way.