Rosa the Ranger (formerly: I blame y’all)

[Texan209]

Little update for everyone: after my battle with the new coolant reservoir (the amazon replacement didnt come with the proper o-ring (I-ring? It was round but flat and tough to track down - that's all I know) and a bad sensor - replaced that and my temps are back to normal), I slowed down on the upgrades.

I spent some time sound-deadening the doors (100% recommend) and replacing the speakers, but have yet to re-do the headliner. Also still need to cut some foam out of the drivers seat because this thing is a bit short for me.

New wheels and tires have been awesome for traction over the cheap-o tires she came with (esp in the wet), but had to lose the hub covers b/c they were wildly uncomfortable lug-centric. Hub-spacers have pretty much fixed the ride. Still need to find some new front hub dust covers and paint the hub-rings.

Added a 2" lift in the front and 1" in the rear to help with some rubbing. Before/after pics from the lift included.

This leads me to a question for the audience: what do I do with the rear diff? I think I want to move to 4.10 gears in the rear to get some of the pep back from the larger tires, but while I have it in the shop, I'm considering an LSD or even air-lockers. I have no illusions about making a RWD truck a serious offroader, but I have more west-texas driving in my future and want a little more capability here. LSD would obviously help more day-to-day, but probably not compare on trails or in serious weather.

 

[Lefty]

Little update for everyone: after my battle with the new coolant reservoir (the amazon replacement didnt come with the proper o-ring (I-ring? It was round but flat and tough to track down - that's all I know) and a bad sensor - replaced that and my temps are back to normal), I slowed down on the upgrades.

I spent some time sound-deadening the doors (100% recommend) and replacing the speakers, but have yet to re-do the headliner. Also still need to cut some foam out of the drivers seat because this thing is a bit short for me.

New wheels and tires have been awesome for traction over the cheap-o tires she came with (esp in the wet), but had to lose the hub covers b/c they were wildly uncomfortable lug-centric. Hub-spacers have pretty much fixed the ride. Still need to find some new front hub dust covers and paint the hub-rings.

Added a 2" lift in the front and 1" in the rear to help with some rubbing. Before/after pics from the lift included.

This leads me to a question for the audience: what do I do with the rear diff? I think I want to move to 4.10 gears in the rear to get some of the pep back from the larger tires, but while I have it in the shop, I'm considering an LSD or even air-lockers. I have no illusions about making a RWD truck a serious offroader, but I have more west-texas driving in my future and want a little more capability here. LSD would obviously help more day-to-day, but probably not compare on trails or in serious weather.

 

[Lefty]

I have a 4.10 but also installed a Torsen LS. It's extremely well behaved and totally transparent on the road, especially up here in the snowbound north. Lockers are okay, but better for off road, than street.

And BTW I drive off road too...not a lot, no big rock crawling adventures, but often enough. I also enjoy the James Duff traction bars. They take away the widgy, sloppy feeling that comes with axle wrap and help the oversize tires to dig right in.

 

[Curious Hound]

, but had to lose the hub covers b/c they were wildly uncomfortable lug-centric. Hub-spacers have pretty much fixed the ride. Still need to find some new front hub dust covers and paint the hub-rings.

Glad you're successfully enjoying the truck. A good LS differential can help with offroad traction and still be very road-friendly. However, if you have the money, a selectable locker would be much better for offroad/dirt/gravel.adventures.

I'm curious about what you're talking about regarding the quoted section up above. Seems to be some confusion about terminology, perhaps. I can't think of any kind of hub spacer that would appreciably affect ride quality. Have any pictures of what you're talking about?

 

[Texan209]

Glad you're successfully enjoying the truck. A good LS differential can help with offroad traction and still be very road-friendly. However, if you have the money, a selectable locker would be much better for offroad/dirt/gravel.adventures.

I'm curious about what you're talking about regarding the quoted section up above. Seems to be some confusion about terminology, perhaps. I can't think of any kind of hub spacer that would appreciably affect ride quality. Have any pictures of what you're talking about?

In the second picture, you can see a thin metal ring between the hub and the bore of the wheel - the idea is to make the wheel "hub-centric" as opposed to lug-centric (just centered based on where the lug bolts are). I didn't think it'd be a problem, but no matter how I mounted the wheels, I was getting bad vibrations. Basically felt like an unbalanced wheel. I hadn't heard of them before getting my wheels re-balanced and truck re-aligned to make sure, so I'm guessing it's an uncommon issue.
In hindsight, I never tried a different set of lug nuts, so maybe the wheels don't like the taper angle of these, but it's supposedly the correct setup.

 

[Texan209]

I have a 4.10 but also installed a Torsen LS. It's extremely well behaved and totally transparent on the road, especially up here in the snowbound north. Lockers are okay, but better for off road, than street.

And BTW I drive off road too...not a lot, no big rock crawling adventures, but often enough. I also enjoy the James Duff traction bars. They take away the widgy, sloppy feeling that comes with axle wrap and help the oversize tires to dig right in.

That's great feedback - despite the fringe cases I'm trying to plan for, probably 99% of driving hours will be on-road (even driving to go off-road is a 6-7 hour drive for anything truly challenging). I'll be happy to take good rain/snow performance b/c when we do get snow/ice every few years, it turns into the Christmas version of Mad Max down here.

I've had my eye on those traction bars for a while, and I think I'll add them to my to-do list.

 

[Curious Hound]

In the second picture, you can see a thin metal ring between the hub and the bore of the wheel - the idea is to make the wheel "hub-centric" as opposed to lug-centric (just centered based on where the lug bolts are). I didn't think it'd be a problem, but no matter how I mounted the wheels, I was getting bad vibrations. Basically felt like an unbalanced wheel. I hadn't heard of them before getting my wheels re-balanced and truck re-aligned to make sure, so I'm guessing it's an uncommon issue.
In hindsight, I never tried a different set of lug nuts, so maybe the wheels don't like the taper angle of these, but it's supposedly the correct setup.

Interesting. I never heard of them before. It could be that due to tolerance issues, they might be fighting with your lugs. Ranger wheels and hubs are designed to be lug-centric. I would expect best results by leaving them that way. Just my 2 cents.