Wheels & Tires Semi-Tech General discussion of wheels and tires for the Ford Ranger.

rangers bad at alignment

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Old 01-10-2006
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rangers bad at alignment

My boss at work says that rangers need their tires to be rotated more often than others b/c they have issues.....and he says thats why my tires are chopped at less than 1500 miles on them...ive never heard of this nor do i want to call my boss a liar
 
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Old 01-10-2006
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I think it can be true.

Our trucks toast ball joints surprisingly quickly. If you don't keep up with it, you will end up with some bad wear patterns and I've had them. Not fun.

I think the main thing that goes out, unless you crank the t-bars, is toe-in. It seems mine doesn't stay set and I'm adjusting it every 10k or so -- if I don't get lazy. But when I check it, it's drifted. Not sure what the "mechanism" is by which it happens, or if my truck is representative of the breed -- but it does "walk" over time.
 
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Old 01-10-2006
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hmm I had 17k on my old tires and no crank and it didn't wear weird. Now I have about 11k on my current tires with a 1.25 crank and my wear is good.
 
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Old 01-10-2006
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Goodyear Wrangler RT/S tires are notorious for cupping issues. I'd say there is a good chance it is the tires and not your truck if you have them.

NVM, just saw that you have BFGs. I guess it could be your truck. I have never had any unusual wear issues with my truck...maybe it is because I have the coil spring front suspension.
 
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Old 01-10-2006
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I cupped a different set, but I had a more extreme crank.

The problem with torsion crank is that on an SLA (short-long-arm) independent suspension, the camber goes negative for either extension or compression. On small amounts of crank it won't amount to much.

I had quite a bit of negative camber because of the "extremity" of my crank, but the Doetsch spindles appear to have corrected that. My guess is that they assume most of their customers are going to crank the bars, so they made them appropriately.

It's true many Rangers have no wear problems, but I've hear that complaint from a bunch of people before. It probably isn't like an "epidemic" -- but maybe statistically speaking, they are more prone to wear if not kept up on.

Now, keep in mind I beat the living crap out of my truck on and off road. So my problems are going to be more severe than someone who's driving and choice of surfaces is less taxing on the vehicle, lol.
 
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Old 01-10-2006
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actually i want bfg at's i have toyo open country at's
 
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Old 01-10-2006
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It's probably true....


I have had my truck aligned 3 times in the past 5 months, and no one can get to track straight. Only one guy had it perfect and it stayed good for a year, until I had to replace a ball joint, and it wrecked the alignment. The kid doesn't work for town fair tire anymore.

No matter who does it, they can't get it to track straight for more than a week. I've also had the front end check for worn or bent parts, and it's all good.



Vic
 
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Old 01-16-2006
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I've got different suspension than u guys...but same problem :D. After it was lowered it took me a good year to find someone that got the alignment righ...to my surprise it was sears.
 
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Old 01-16-2006
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Originally Posted by vp6799
It's probably true....


I have had my truck aligned 3 times in the past 5 months, and no one can get to track straight. Only one guy had it perfect and it stayed good for a year, until I had to replace a ball joint, and it wrecked the alignment. The kid doesn't work for town fair tire anymore.

No matter who does it, they can't get it to track straight for more than a week. I've also had the front end check for worn or bent parts, and it's all good.



Vic
 
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Old 01-16-2006
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Originally Posted by fletch12518
I'm glad to see that i'm not the only one...LOL


Vic
 
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Old 01-16-2006
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ah.. the one time i paid to get an alignment they fixed it all up then about a week later i was bustin drifts a drove strait into a curb about a foot tall. then the alignment was off. so i just dont waste my time on it anymore. lol

just keep your hand on the wheel and you will be fine. lol
 
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Old 01-16-2006
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The mechanic that did my alignment last week replaced the factory set up with Ford aftermarket eccentric bolts in the control arms. The problem there is the bolts will push/pull the tire around, but if the hole they are in bottoms out the bolt, then you need to egg out the hole and re-align. It's a *****, but I'm sure it can be done. Then all you have to do is keep the whole set up tight so it doesn't fall out over time.
 
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Old 01-16-2006
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I have set my alignment once and haven't had a problem since. That was after I cranked the t-bars last summer. I have had it on the rack at work 3 or 4 times after that and the numbers haven't changed. The truck still goes straight down the road (unless the road has a big crown on it, but that isn't the trucks fault).
Maybe I'm just one of the lucky ones.
 
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Old 01-16-2006
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Originally Posted by pacodiablo
Goodyear Wrangler RT/S tires are notorious for cupping issues. I'd say there is a good chance it is the tires and not your truck if you have them.

NVM, just saw that you have BFGs. I guess it could be your truck. I have never had any unusual wear issues with my truck...maybe it is because I have the coil spring front suspension.
Exactly. By 17k I had already had one tire replaced under warranty for a bulge in the sidewall and had 2 more with smaller ones and all 4 were chopped. I've had Dunlops which aren't the best of tires I know but they've worn very nicely for the past 31k. You do need to rotate them every 6k on any vehicle though.
 
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Old 01-16-2006
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i rotated my tires today and i noticed my front ones were very badly cupped i guess i need an alignment or i need to rotate them more often
 
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Old 01-19-2006
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mine are cupped bad with under 2000 miles on them....
getting an alignment soon
my dads firend is doing it so were going to check how bad it is b4 hand and then were gonna crank my t bars
 
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Old 01-19-2006
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I got 60,000 miles on the factory set of goodyear rts . But the truck hasn't been through hell , yet ! I couldn't find an alignment shop that I would trust . Last three times I went to one I ended up redoing it with a tape measure . As far as I know no one in my vicinity offers a lifetime alignment warrantee , like I read others talking about .Good luck !
 
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Old 01-23-2006
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my alignment is good but why are my tires still cupping.....
 
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Old 01-24-2006
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Originally Posted by mersingt
my alignment is good but why are my tires still cupping.....
cupping good be a bad shock from what i know.... because that happened to me last year i was riding i an old stalk shock and my tires cuped real bad the guy at americas tire's said if i would have go any more i would have a a bad blow out...
 
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Old 01-24-2006
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If you have the "good4ayr" Rt/s thats the problem mine lasted 15k before
they were cupped so bad I couldnt stand it any more.
they were rotated twice. only 2 cupped really bad the other 2 werent so bad
and they ended up being on different ends of the truck... go figure.
Your tires arent cupped until they look like that lol... no i didnt take a belt
sander or die grinder to em.

 
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Old 01-24-2006
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before i did the sas my alignment wass prolbaly the worst in the world. it was horrible.
 
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Old 02-06-2006
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i have a 05 ranger with only 15,000 miles and maybe 1,000 of those in 4 lo the stock wrangler rts are wearing very poorly and a boulder took out the side wall of one tire so when the used tire is done i am goin to get some larger open country a/t or bfg a/t .
 
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Old 02-12-2006
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Originally Posted by fletch12518
x 2. I got 50k miles on my stock tires though with no issues. They look as if they will hit 60+k before repalcement.


truck never has traked straight. unreal
 
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Old 02-12-2006
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a lot of the cupping or high/low spots can be helped by getting some new shocks. stock shocks are only really good for about 15k from what a lot of shops have told me.

Firestone offers lifetime alignment
 
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