What causes this?

[rusty ol ranger]

More curious the anything but...

On my 87 2wd ranger why the hell do the tires look like this...

\ /

After backing up?

Ive put quite a few miles on the truck with cheapo discount tire specials and no inner wear, or other symptoms to think its a ball joint, and they straighten up once i go forward.

Ive had tons and tons of I beam trucks and have never seen this happen.

 

[Ramcharger90]

Mine do this every once and a while but every thing is new under there.... /----\

Sometimes its like this..... |---|

I have cheap tires also Nperez $180 for all 4 on ebay. But they stick good in the rain and snow. And no uneven wear.

 

[Grumpaw]

Rusty, if your ball joints and front end linkage is "tight", then most likely your camber bushings are shot. You can get stock non adjustable or new adjustable bushings. After install you'll most likely need a front end alignment.
Had the same problem on our 2012 Ford E-450 based motor home, and the adjustable bushings took care of the problem, and that was 40,000 miles ago.
When the bushings start to go, there's really no way to tell other than the "canted" wheels...there's no "play" or "wobble" that will occur.
Unfortunately there's no way to check other than putting your rig on a professional alignment machine. There are OE spec's used and if the tech can't get those spec's, then it's your bushings.
But being that your Ranger is light weight, the stock replacement bushings should be fine.
Grumpaw

 

[rusty ol ranger]

Never paid much attention to the front end. It drives excellent minus a slight pull to the right, feels good and responsive. Im pry not gonna worry about it to much.

 

[Grumpaw]

The bushings are not hard to install, but after you'll need an alignment. And, the bushings themselves aren't that expensive
Just a FYI.
Grumpaw

 

[rusty ol ranger]

The bushings are not hard to install, but after you'll need an alignment. And, the bushings themselves aren't that expensive
Just a FYI.
Grumpaw

Maybe thatll be my first project once i get my shop setup.

 

[Uncle Gump]

My guess is the old ranger chassis has finally succumbed to the massive power generation of the 2.9L...

Welcome back Rusty!

 

[rusty ol ranger]

My guess is the old ranger chassis has finally succumbed to the massive power generation of the 2.9L...

Welcome back Rusty!

Thanks!

And yes, that was my original thought. But its hard to twist stuff up when your putting power thru 205/70/r14 rubber pizza cutters.

 

[Snoranger]

That’s actually common on the TTB/TIB. It’s caused by the same thing that causes bump steer.
It’s basically tie rod length vs I-beam length and the different arcs they travel in when the suspension compresses.

 

[4x4junkie]

The toe alignment is probably off.
By your description, it's toed-out.

 

[scotts90ranger]

yep, what junkie said... mine is/was doing the opposite, when I backed up the tops of the tires would go in, last weekend I toed it out a half turn on the drivers side (steering wheel was off a touch so only screwed with one side.

All sorts of things can cause that to drift over the years... if someone changed a tie rod end (without alignment), worn radius arm bushings, someone changing a ball joint in the past (again, without an alignment), upper balljoint bushing drifting around over the years, aliens... On my '90 I just use a tape measure and calibrated eyeball to get it aligned which has treated me very well over the years but going to this 4x2 '97 I tried similar and it's harder with 14" wheels with the tape measure for a few reasons one of which it's low as heck . On the '90 the 35" tires make it easy to see problems.

For what it's worth, set up the '97 to about 1/8" of toe (at the outside of the bead on the wheels) in with a tape measure maybe a touch less then just started driving, about 3000 miles later I noticed the passenger front tire is wearing on the outside a little (they're almost to the wear bars so easier to tell) so I adjusted from there... There's better ways to do a DIY alignment but my ain't care level is high on this cheap daily driver...