What is different about my truck??

[ThermonuclearWarrior]

Ok, when I go to tirerack, and try to tell it to show me tires, whenever I pick my year/model... (1998 XLT, according to the badge on the truck.) I get 195/70-14, 205/70-14, or 215/70-14... when the truck itself says the size should be 225/70R15. Why is this? Is it an option package or something?
http://i1272.photobucket.com/albums/y383/MasturbatingWalrus/truck_zps49d1e55b.jpg Picture of the GVWR sticker on the door.

 

[bigtruck94]

It could be your drive train. They are picky and since yours is a 2wd, they think of the rims that size in a 2wd ranger. If you go back to tire rack and put in ranger 4wd, they will have 225/75r15's. I'm sure they have a thread here in the forum that says something like that. If you could, maybe try to fit some 235/75r15's in there. That's what I have.

 

[ThermonuclearWarrior]

Sure enough that is one of the options. Hmm. Plan to put larger tires on it anyway. Maybe a slight lift... Must have offered larger rims/tires as a factory option Thanks!

 

[straycat]

I just went to their website and I typed in a couple different Ranger...2wd and 4x4 and this comes up for 2wd and 4wd for 1998:


Original Equipment Sizes for 1998 Ford Ranger 4wd
Ford equips your vehicle with more than one possible size during production.
Please select the size installed on your vehicle from the choices below.

Description Size
Original Equipment Size 1: 215/75-15 View All Tires
This Size
View Best Sellers
Tire Decision Guide
Original Equipment Size 2: 225/75-15 View All Tires
This Size
Tire Decision Guide

Original Equipment Size 3: 235/75-15 View All Tires
This Size
View Best Sellers

 

[bigtruck94]

I'm pretty sure you could fit bigger tires in there. Small tires are for sissys. lol. What kind of tires are you looking for? goodyears? Hankooks?

 

[ThermonuclearWarrior]

I want to go to 245/75R16's cause I have a set of alloy rims off a crown vic I run the snow tires off my town car on. Sold the TC, kept the rims for the ranger. I'm thinking the alloys will offset the increased mass of the new tires, since the 15's are those steelies with the chrome inserts. Well, 3 of them are... lol! Otherwise 30x9.5r15's. Prolly wrangler duratracs. Or silent armors. My dad has a set of silent armors, but they are the 10 ply ones... not convinced the 2.5 in the Ranger will turn those well enough to say so. Even with the manual tranny. I would like something with super aggressive tread, but swampers are not so great in the rain, and my wife drives the truck a lot.

 

[bigtruck94]

Whenever you get bigger tires, make sure you get an alignment ASAP. If you don't, your gonna roast some tires in months.

 

[ThermonuclearWarrior]

Yeah, esp. if I lift it too. Good reminder though. Any tires suggestions? Also keep in mind it's a 2wd ranger.

 

[bigtruck94]

Goodyear duratracs are really good! Those are gonna be my next set when I'm done with my hankook dynapros. Hankooks are good too. Goodyears last longer though. Toyo also makes good tires. Visit all the websites and look at all your options that they have. BFgoodrich are ok. My dad had a set and only lasted him 2 years.

 

[ThermonuclearWarrior]

Not convinced I'd do hankooks. My '08 focus (also manual.. came with a set and they were baaaalllld after 20K miles in a year. To be fair, they were the factory tires... lol That was before I started doing 36K a year. I don't drive the ranger that much though. The wife puts a good 20K+ on it a year though!

 

[bigtruck94]

Well it depends what your gonna do with it. Are you using it for off-roading or a daily driver. There are so many options to pick of what your using your truck for.

 

[gw33gp]

I would never put Hankooks on a Ranger. I recently went on a long off-road trip with a group of vehicles, 4 of which were Rangers. One of those Rangers had Hankooks and he destroyed two of them in the dirt. Both tires failed by splitting the side walls. The tires were not that old and had been run within Hankooks air pressure specs.

He had to leave the group early to find some tires. No one else had tire problems.

 

[ThermonuclearWarrior]

Well... mostly it's a DD. But the wife works on a farm part of the week, and when it's been raining she drives our '12 impreza.. also manual. lol! She won't drive anything but a manual. But I digress... Also I live in upstate NY, so I gotta have tires with good winter capabilities. Thinking of putting a locker in it. Will be some offroad, but not a lot, since I never have time to squeeze that kinda stuff in. :-(

 

[Earl43P]

That 2.5 won't turn those 245/75/16's very well.
Heck, I down-sized my 2000 3.0 4wd MO5D 4.L10's down to 235-75-15s from 245-75-16s and it really woke that truck up.

I also put 235/65-16s on my other blue 2000. It was a 2.5 MO5D with 4.10s open. Smoothed the ride out pretty nicely and made it handle corners better. I also had added new rear shocks and a rear swaybar. I gave that truck to my son and he likes it. I wouldn't go any taller than what I put on that blue truck. I also drove it in 4th gear most of the time unless I was up over 60mph, if that tells you anything.

I'd suggest you find out what ratio your axle is, but I can just about guarantee you will NOT be happy with 245/75-16s on that little truck. They are too tall and quite a bit heavier.

Here are some helpful links:
http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/Speedometer_Change_From_Tires.html
http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/Metric_To_Inch_Tires.html
http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/tire_and_speed_calc.html
http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/gearandtirechart.html
http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/Axles.html

Plus, it's going to make the speedo pretty far off.

 

[ThermonuclearWarrior]

That link in the tech library to the axels... according to y GVWR sticker it's an
86. Open 7.5" with a capacity of 2750 and a 3.73 ratio. So I ought to stick with 235/75r15's eh?