I have a 1997 ranger and am getting 31 inchers for it. Is this gonna have any sort of wear on the tranny or the drivetrain?

 

Welcome to FTE.
Short answer is yes. It's going to effectively change the differential ratio. It's also going to put more strain on the wheel bearings, brakes, suspension systems components.

 

The long answer will be "yes" also. How many of you guys have seen a lifted pickup truck sitting along side the road dead with the front or rear of the driveshaft lying on the ground? A lifted truck exponentially increases the wear on the U-joints, among other things.

 

On the '97 Ranger, I wouldn't recommend it. The older Rangers had weak brakes to start with, and the larger tires will make this worse, maybe even dangerous. The brake diameter was increased in the later models, but I don't know what year that was done.

For instance, when I put 31" tires on my old '91, the brake pedal required a lot of pressure for anything more than a normal stop, but my 2004 FX4 came with 31" tires as stock and the brakes are very good.

 

31 inch tires were released on 93 and newer Rangers but they were called P265/75R15.
They were only available on 4x4 because of clearance issues with 4x2 Rangers and the were only available with 4.0L motor and 3.73 axle ratio because of driveability issues with all other engine sizes and axle ratios.

 

My 97' ranger extra cab, 3.0L 2wd automatic came with I believe 255 70 14" tires from factory and I still run these. They are raised white letter and look small but they ride and handle very good.