I just got new tires put on my two wheel drive 2007 Ranger XLT extended cab that has 51,000 easy miles on it. Immediately after getting the new tires I hear a clunking sound when I hit bumps. It sounds like the left front. Do things start going out at 51,000 street and highway miles?

 

could have a bad sway bar link or bushings

bad tie rods

bad ball joints

mileage itself has nothing to do with when stuff goes out..its all how it was driven during those miles

 

^^ Agreed. Sometimes those front end parts just wear out quick. Look at the ball joints for grease leaking out.. good sign it's going bad. Dry, cracked bushings.. couldn't hurt to lift it up and wiggle things around.

 

Thanks guys. I'm doing that today. I'm 70 years old. I hate crawling around under cars. I just expected more from a Ford truck. Guess they aren't any better than the others. We have a Toyota Echo with 180,000 miles and it hasn't cost us anthing outside of oil changes, and those three big bill 60,000 mile routine maintainces. I sort of got spoiled, I guess. This Ford is starting to act like my old Chevys that I gave up on. Maybe I can get my nephew involved.

 

I think the shocks need to replaced. Nephew can bounce the front end up and down too easily. Rear shocks look bad, too. Weird. Just had a 50,000mile $750 service done at Ford, and they didn't say anything. ????

What kind of shocks do you like like?

 

Never heard a bad thing about bilsteins

 

Bilstein and Rancho are the 2 most popular brands Ranger owners get. Rancho shocks came stock from the factory on some models. I personally just bought a full set of Bilsteins, just haven't put them on yet.

 

Put new shocks on. Put rear shocks on first. A lot of noise was eliminated. Still had noise, but i could pinpoint it to the front. Went to put front shocks on a couple days later. Whoa! Looked at the suspension with the tire off. Broken sway bar link. Went ahead and put shocks on. Going to get two new sway bar links tomorrow. I guess it was just a coincidence that the sway bar link broke just after getting new tires out on. Everything else looks and feels solid. i see from the net that the sway bar links are a weak link on the Ranger.

 

Get the Moog sway bar links they are metal and will hold up better.(about the same price to) It was probably a side effect of being on the lift. Old parts maxed out in range of motion when the weight of the truck was removed thats not all that uncommon.