What did you do to your Ranger today? (Part Deux!)

[ben_2_go]

drug sub?

 

[Rick W]

I think your year has a gear driven speedometer and odometer. If I’m correct, you need to change the gear to correct for the change in tire size. I don’t think you have to worry about the change in gear ratio, just the tires. So, that may be why your mpg is so low. The odometer is off and giving you a bad number to calculate your mpg.

Of course, that also means your speedometer is off and reading slower than you are actually traveling. If it is the factory gear for your original tires, that will be off by a large amount.

You could do math to figure out what the difference is between the old tire and the new one but that is a lot of work and the conversion would have to be done every time. Getting the correct gear, or at least one closer to being correct would be easier in the long run.

Going from the factory 29” tire to a 31” tire dropped my mpg by about 2-3. Yours is a bigger step but eric’s quote is probably more like what you should be seeing than the 12 you got.

Dead on track, but I believe changing the rear end ratio will also alter the accuracy of the speedometer. Changing the rear end alters the ratio between the number of driveshaft revolutions converted to rear axle revolutions. My “345” rear end means that there are 3.45 turns of the driveshaft for every turn of the axle. If I change it to say 411, would read 16/17% too fast since it is taking more driveshaft revolutions to turn the axle/wheel the same amount.

Increasing the tire diameter has the opposite effect. It will take fewer revolutions for each complete turn of the tire, so the speedometer would read low compared to the distance traveled.

Hans, these two things could be offsetting and balancing, but you’d have to do the math.

And here’s where I may be wrong: I believe most vehicles have a gear or an electronic pick up located at the output end of the transmission. Whether it’s automatic or manual, it has to be reading output unit/shaft no matter what gear you’re in.

I vaguely remember hearing or reading that some newer vehicles have an electronic pick up out by the wheels, but I’m thinking that’s for electronic vehicles.

 

[ben_2_go]

Yep. My truck came with 215-70 r15 I have 235-75 r15 and my speedo reads slower than actual speed. Wanna freak your friends out, put tiny wheels and tires on your truck and go for a rip down the highway with the speedo registering 110mph and everyone is keeping pace with you.

 

[Rick W]

I have this tire comparison chart as a “quick click” on my phone. I use it all the time.

Tire Size Comparison

Tire size comparison the easy way. Use our tire size comparison calculator to compare diameter, width, sidewall, circumference and revolutions per mile.

tiresize.com

 

[Rick W]

I thought I’d share another one a Ricks Tips too.

I’m sure we’ve all used a spare battery with a couple wires hanging off it to test whatever. I like to keep a second deep-cycle marine battery in my vehicles that have the strobe lights and such for extra juice when I need it. But it also becomes my testing battery.

Instead of doing who knows what crazy things with tape and clamps or old battery connectors on the posts, I use the screw terminals. But I don’t use wing nuts or nuts.

I cut a small piece of the right size vacuum tube. I slip the stripped end of the wire into that little piece of vacuum tube, and then I slide it over the threaded terminal. It takes a second and I could pull it loose with one hand (for one of the thousand times I daydream and ground it to the wrong place).

I guess you could do it with a bigger diameter hose on the regular terminals too. I usually keep the tubing and the original delivery plastic caps on everything when I’m not using it, and then leave it on the trickle charger if it’s not in the truck.

Hope it helps…

 

[Uncle Gump]

I thought I’d share another one a Ricks Tips too.

I’m sure we’ve all used a spare battery with a couple wires hanging off it to test whatever. I like to keep a second deep-cycle marine battery in my vehicles that have the strobe lights and such for extra juice when I need it. But it also becomes my testing battery.

Instead of doing who knows what crazy things with tape and clamps or old battery connectors on the posts, I use the screw terminals. But I don’t use wing nuts or nuts.

I cut a small piece of the right size vacuum tube. I slip the stripped end of the wire into that little piece of vacuum tube, and then I slide it over the threaded terminal. It takes a second and I could pull it loose with one hand (for one of the thousand times I daydream and ground it to the wrong place).

View attachment 100270

I guess you could do it with a bigger diameter hose on the regular terminals too. I usually keep the tubing and the original delivery plastic caps on everything when I’m not using it, and then leave it on the trickle charger if it’s not in the truck.

Hope it helps…

You NEED a power probe...

 

[Rick W]

You NEED a power probe...

Thanks, I think I’ve got one actually, probably a couple and a couple power meters too. But can you refresh be on how I attach them to my feeble brain so I remember to connect all the wires when I’m doing stuff?

 

[James Morse]

Vicky got this outside temp gauge at Goodwill. It sets behind the inspection sticker so doesn't obstruct anything and can't see it much from outside either.
Has clock and indoor temp too, kind of useless for me. I mount the tiny detector on the windshield molding.

 

[scotts90ranger]

On the way to work I heard a horrendous noise from a rock thrown by a school bus, was dark on the way in so didn't pay attention since I forgot by the time I got to work. When I went to get out at home I saw the impact mark... just under the middle of the drivers side wiper blade, dime size hole in both layers of glass and a the inner layer is pooched a bit but sealed since it probably rained an inch today...

So, I guess I get to shop around for a windshield...

 

[scotts90ranger]

Oh, and over the weekend some friends went out to the sand dunes we go to in the middle of the state and the eclipse went through Saturday morning which was neat... was going to make a quick simple trip with the Explorer and the wife but her back was not behaving so I headed out myself in the sploder... By the time I got there the engine had a solid 300 miles on it but it's doing good! Including going over a mountain pass it indicated 17.4mpg by the time I got to camp, sort of, I took a detour through the dunes which brought it down to like 15.5 , was 16.9 by the time I got home yesterday though! Not bad for a V8 with a cam and headers that developed a misfire about 40 miles into the journey (headers and plug wires don't cooperate). That said after the 400ish mile journey it didn't burn any oil, had power, trans worked great, there's something wrong up front probably a CV joint and I found one of the noises. I've heard the SLA suspension works horrible without a sway bar and I believe it, one of the 8 bushings on the sway bar links was missing and I realized I had 3 rolls of sway bar bushing material (electrical tape) so I got up Saturday morning and installed a bushing... it drove way better! I might just take the link apart and replace the tape with a piece of fuel hose or something more substantial... I'm not buying $40 worth of bushings to plasma cut the front suspension out next year...

 

[Dantheman1540]

After finishing my rear bumper I noticed the rear suspension was sagging a good bit especially on the driver side. So I added 2 leafs back into the passenger side and 3 in the driver side which brought it up to level, except for the front pass corner which is an inch taller still. Might have to cut half a coil out up there.

Also got a new tool box that actually fit all my ropes, straps, spare fluids, parts, and tools! I dislike losing so much bed space with such a big box but it’s not as deep as some and there’s room to slide my paddle boardkayaks under it. Atleast until I get a bed rack I can put them on top of.

Also finally got a 2”ball/pintlehook combo which I’ve wanted for awhile. Unfortunately for some reason it was very long with the pin hole way in the back so it stuck out nearly 2’. Took a lot of drilling with a bunch of different sized bits but it fits much better now and I won’t have to remove the shackle hitch to swap in my 2” ball everytime I want to pull a trailer or vica versa.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

After finishing my rear bumper I noticed the rear suspension was sagging a good bit especially on the driver side. So I added 2 leafs back into the passenger side and 3 in the driver side which brought it up to level, except for the front pass corner which is an inch taller still. Might have to cut half a coil out up there.

Also got a new tool box that actually fit all my ropes, straps, spare fluids, parts, and tools! I dislike losing so much bed space with such a big box but it’s not as deep as some and there’s room to slide my paddle boardkayaks under it. Atleast until I get a bed rack I can put them on top of.

Also finally got a 2”ball/pintlehook combo which I’ve wanted for awhile. Unfortunately for some reason it was very long with the pin hole way in the back so it stuck out nearly 2’. Took a lot of drilling with a bunch of different sized bits but it fits much better now and I won’t have to remove the shackle hitch to swap in my 2” ball everytime I want to pull a trailer or vica versa.

I've stacked a 2x4 or 2x6 on edge on the bedside and then the toolbox on top to gain space beyween the box and floor.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Despite @Mrs. Eighty Five's best attempts... I survived.

 

[Curious Hound]

Despite @Mrs. Eighty Five's best attempts... I survived.

View attachment 100322

Can't wait for the video report on this adventure.

 

[Mrs. Eighty Five]

Despite @Mrs. Eighty Five's best attempts... I survived.

View attachment 100322

Our rig for the day that Justin picked out… not crazy about a wildtrack