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Explorer Wheel on Ranger (offset different)


backporch

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1999
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Ranger Off Road
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245 75R16
I am looking at picking up an Explorer as a parts car for my 99 ranger. The ranger has 16 inch rims, the ones with oval holes. Offset is 14mm. The explorer (2000) rims look like the 2002-2003 5 double spoke that are also 16x7 but have a 44mm offset. Anyone know if it will work. The tire sizes are different but close. Ranger stock is 245 16R75 and these tires are 275 65 R16. I did an online comparison and the explorer tires are wider and almost as tall. My real concern is the effect of the different rims.
 


don4331

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Backporch:

Your post is slightly confusing so I will answer in 2 parts:

2000 Explorer rims are identical to 1999 Ranger rims (more/less) so you can directly swap.

As you note, 2002-05 Explorer rims have greater offset. As a result, they will make contact when you turn sharp. Mustang rims have similar offset, so I run 1.5" (40mm) spacers so that the rims don't make contact/the "look" is correct.

The 275/65R16 are only about 1% difference in diameter than the 245/75R16s. The extra inch of width won't be an issue on '00 rims; but would exasperate the issue on '02-05 rim if running without spacers.

Hopefully, that answers your question.
 

backporch

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4WD
Tire Size
245 75R16
Don443. You answered exactly the concern that I had. I was not concerned about tire diameter because they are so close. I was thinking about clearances to the frame, especially up front when turning, and calipers. I think I need to consider spacers to get the offset where it should be or swap the rubber to my rims.

I don't like the idea of anything additionally added, like spacers, but I haven't seen anyone saying they are a bad idea.

What surprises me most about the explorers is that those rims ( unless there are spacers already added ) don't look odd having the much larger offset. Maybe something difficult to determine from a picture. Same year ranger with smaller offset rims kind of looks the same.
 

don4331

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Backporch:

There are good spacers and bad spacers; and design has as much (?more?) to do with it than country of origin (poor design and less desirable country of origin due tend to go together though) At one time or another most (all?) of the big 3 have run spacers on their 1 tons so they could use same front hubs for both SRW and DRW trucks.

What to look for:

Is the spacer hub centric; machined to Ranger hub diameter? (Asking spacer bolts to hold wheel concentric and then hub bolts to hold spacer concentric is asking for trouble).
Is the spacer thick enough to extend past existing hubs? (15-25mm spacers are at issue here than the 30mm+ which we are talking here)
Are the nuts provided with the spacers thin enough to be below the surface of the spacer? (Rim sitting on the lug nuts is recipe for disaster).
Are the heads of the bolts 2X diameter of bolt - assuming Aluminium spacers. (Using regular bolts, which are designed for steel, is asking for them to pull through - heads are just too small).

Note: 6061 T-6 Aluminium, which is what most aftermarket spacers are made out of, is ~75% yield strength of cast iron, which is what was used in the 1 ton spacers.

Last: Are you using spacers to put contact patch back where Ford Engineers intended it? e.g. Mustang rims on Ranger. Or are you using spacer to do something you probably shouldn't? e.g. 4" spacer for F-250 so you can run dually rims on back. (Then pretending truck is F-450 and loading a camper. :icon_twisted: )

p.s. I was lazy and didn't mount the spacers on the back on my Ranger before installing the Mustang rims last time around. If one wasn't told to look for it, one didn't notice the 30mm difference. The front on other hand made bad noises pulling into parking spot at mall, so the spacers were quickly reinstalled.
 

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