Switch 98 ranger to 245/70R16 rims

[Jay11]

1998 Ford Ranger 2.5 XL
I came into wheels from Ranger 3.0 like pic below with 245/75R16 tires. Are 245/70R16 tires ok replacements for these rims/this 2.5 truck?

Will this size wear out the suspension faster than factory sized wheels?

 

[franklin2]

What are the sizes on your truck now?

 

[Jay11]

I currently have 235/70R16, rims from a 2004 Escape as below. Pulling steering to the end, there's a slight rub (but I rarely need to do such tight turns.) I figure it must be the rims offset cause they sit a little bit inside in the wheel well. Another reason I would like to switch, to regain the normal ranger look, & eliminate the rub.
Also is there a huge difference in gas consumption between oem 15" and the 16"?
(Truck came with 15" prolly 225s.)

 

[SenorNoob]

Rim size has little to relationship to anything but buying new tires. 14's to 20's can all have tires anywhere from 22" to 40" height. That's what matters the most for drivability.

Second would be width. Especially in the smaller sizes. If the tires are too narrow they'll be tippy. (And hard to seat on the rim.)

Tire Size Calculator @ Blocklayer
That's a good way to visualize it.

FYI, I'm running 245/70R16 (29.5) on those same rims on my 1st gen 4x4. The front is essentially stock height now. (Saggy springs with a 1" spacer.) It works fine.

Your problem would be having enough torque to get going with the 2.5. Only 1/2 in taller than what you've got now. Try it!

 

[franklin2]

The rim is lighter than the rubber tire. So the larger the rim, the lighter the tire/wheel assembly. To keep the same overall diameter with a larger wheel, you need to adjust the tire size.

Google AI says the 235/70/16 tire you have now is 28.95 inches in diameter. It's a 70 series so 70% of 235mm is 164.5mm or 6.48 inches wide

It says a 245/75/16 tire is 30.5 inches in diameter. It's a 75 series so 75% of 245mm is 183.75mm or 7.23 inches wide.

You had better hope the offset sticks these tire out away from the truck, these tires are significantly larger than what you have now.

 

[don4331]

I currently have 235/70R16, rims from a 2004 Escape as below. Pulling steering to the end, there's a slight rub (but I rarely need to do such tight turns.) I figure it must be the rims offset cause they sit a little bit inside in the wheel well. Another reason I would like to switch, to regain the normal ranger look, & eliminate the rub.
Also is there a huge difference in gas consumption between oem 15" and the 16"?
(Truck came with 15" prolly 225s.)
View attachment 130982

The tires the truck came with are printed on the federal sticker on the door jamb.. Most like 205/75R14s (based on '98 XL with 2.5).

The Escape rim have significant offset (40mm), while the OEM rims were most likely 6mm (again based on cheap steel rims on XL)

The equivalent 16" will be about a 215/60R16...

 

[Jay11]

The calc shows the 245s would be + .55" diam, + .39" wider. Is this that much of a significant difference to affect clearance?

I can keep the same tire size on the "new" rims. Does the "new" rim meet specs to accommodate 235/70R16? Does anyone have a link to this rim's specs? What is the smallest width tire for this rim (in case I want to go lower in the future)?

I used to run 18" (2006 Explorer rims), they had a way bigger rub on suspension than the 16". Both sizes reduced my take off speed. I have learned to live with it cos once the truck gets going it' fine.
I have spacers from eBay but I never installed them. They don't have the lip ring that a rim sits on and they themselves don't sit on the truck's wheel hub lip, being slightly bigger. All that kind of spooked me and safety concerns made me not install them with the 18" wheels . Instead I installed a sliver of a wheel spacer ring. That made the front wheels flash with hub and still sit on the lip. EDIT: Actually their centerbore was slightly smaller, they wobbled but the ring spacer took care of that. Which means @lil_Blue_Ford all this time they were lug centric.

@SenorNoob​

-Without spacers do your wheels not clear front suspension components?
I have seen crazy stuff with spacers so I have stayed away from them. Which spacers did you get, link please?
-Have you noticed if your wheels wear out your suspension more significantly, or faster, than oem wheels would?

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Tire size and gear ratio affect performance the most with a given engine. Personally, with the 3.0 and 4.0, the max tire size seemed to be about 30” with it being a little happier at 29” for 3.73 gears. 4.10 gears worked well for 31/32” tires. Tire width is a little less important because most of your more common sizes in those diameters are adequate.

Rim size is more about clearing components. Any Ranger rim should clear just fine on another Ranger with a few exceptions like a 14” rim will not fit on a 98+ Ranger because of the brakes and there was a break there on the centerbore as well.

Rangers are lug centric, which means that the centerbore doesn’t have to be a tight fit because it centers on the lugs. Personally I still prefer a snugger fit on the centerbore but my Choptop has been running rims with a larger centerbore for years.

I have a set of 18” Explorer rims for my green Ranger. The centerbore is too small to work and the offset is way too deep. 1.5”-2” spacers are required. I’ve been trying to hold off until I can afford a set of good spacers because I don’t trust the quality of the cheap ones. One of the big failures that a lot of people make is that you are supposed to use locktite on the stock lugs to mount the spacer and check the torque of them after the first hundred miles or so, then check them fairly frequently after, every few thousand miles to ensure that they are staying snug. I have a thread on here about spacers somewhere.

Rims and tires do not significantly affect suspension wear, that’s age and abuse that do. Overly large spacers can as well (you ever see the trucks with like 6” spacers and rims that stick way out? Yeah, those will trash wheel bearings, a 1.5-2” spacer on a deep offset wheel to make the rim and tire combo sit in roughly the stock position shouldn’t really be any worse than a stock tire and rim).

 

[SenorNoob]

I haven't run wheel spacers on my truck. The spacer I was referring to is a coil spring spacer. Like this:

I used a pair of wheel spacers on a four wheeler once. With nothing to center them on the hub or the wheel on them it was an exercise in futility to keep them from wobbling.

The 98 wheels are close enough to stock on my 88 that it works fine. (Not that stock wheels were on it when I bought it. It had 2 sets of Jeep wheels cut and welded together for a 13inch wide wheel with some oddball tires like 295/55R15 or something.)
I wanted to get a set of Explorer wheels like this:

but the only ones I could find had a lip in the center bore that wouldn't work with my front locking hubs.