Hey,

Quick question. My daughter put 31x10.5 tires on her 1999 Ranger before she "gave" it to me (I'm actually the owner listed on the title and the lien, but it's a long story). The left front tire rubs a bit when backing out of the driveway and turning the wheel to the left. What's causing the rubbing, and is there a way to mitigate/eliminate it? Haven't heard it rub on the right side at all.

BTW, as an afterthought, do the bigger tires cause the speedo to be inaccurate, or does the speed sensor in the rear axle adjust for that?

Thanks.

ERRRG, and I can't create a sig yet. So here's the truck's vital stats:

1999 Ranger Club Cab
4.0L EFI OHV
31x10.5R15 wheels/tires
125,150 mi

 

They may rub a bit without a lift, and the speedo will be off.

 

Those tires will not rub on a 4x4, so yours must be a 4x2. If it is a 4x4, your front springs may be a little tired. Try not turning so sharp. Not be a smart remark, but can you back out of the driveway and turn right instead of left?

 

Some brands of 31/10.50's will rub on a 4x4. The only way to fix it would be to go to a smaller tire or get different rims with the proper back spaceing. A lft won't help either as the stock rims place the wider tire to close to the suspension. I put 31's on my 96 ranger 4x4 and had a slight rub with the stock rims. I purchased american racing AR-52 rims and that stopped the rubbing. A cheap fix would be wheel spacers, I'm not a fan of them but they will work in a pinch. A lift woulf fix it if the tire was rubbing the fender, but if it rubs when the tire is cocked, then you need to get the tires away from the suspension as with new rims or spacers.

 

if it rubs at full lock are there adjustable stops that you could adjust?

 

Yeah, I figured out the speedo issue. 9 mph at 60? That's pretty significant. My son-in-law bought the new tires prior to my taking over the truck - I may see if he can get his money back and go with stock wheels/tires. My youngest daughter wants to drive it, but with that large a deviation in the speedo I'd be afraid to let her.

The other issue is to change out the rear end ratio, and I'm not that mechanically inclined.

You're right, it's a 4x2. I suppose I could turn right. I know the shocks need to be replaced, so that's job 1.

 

To fix the speedo, you can do that with an engine programer like bama chips. Your local ford dealer may even do it for you if you smile right.

 

regearing would give you back "stock" power before the bigger tires were added though. its a high price to pay for just a speed correction though. and theres special tools needed for correct gear set-up. almost as much $ in tools as for a gearset, gasket & oil to refill. if you were to change gearing, it would be best to take it somewhere rather than first-time it if youre not comfortable doing it. id love to re-gear but besides needing set-up tools, ive got 2 gearsets (4x4) to buy, dont really want to sink that much cash into a 14+ year old truck thats getting ready to lunch another manual transmission (2nd gear, again)

 

Well, the other option I'm looking at is to find some stock wheels and put some LT225/70R15s back on it, and give the current 31x10.5s and wheels back to my son-in-law so he can sell 'em (he and my daughter have a baby on the way and the xtra cash would be nice).

The thing does seem to have a lack of dead-stop power, though, with the bigger tires - suppose that's OK if you do a lot of off-roading, but from a stop light it's not a benefit. So probably back to the 225s, once I get new shocks and de-carbon the engine.