Ranger Mods

Hi All,

Everytime i take of from a standstill, with moderate throttle, i feel a thump in the driveline. It almost feels like the rear axle is rotating, due to the tray being empty, however had 300kg in the back for a week or so and it was still there. Ive crawled underneath to investigate if something looked out of place, but nothing looked suss. Today i noticed it was prevalent going downhill slowly, on and off the brakes.

Has anyone experienced this? The Ranger is a 20.25 XLT

cheers
Geoff

Check your universal joints and centre bearing. My uni's were pretty average after 60k.

Diagnosing driveline issues can be time consuming and give a lot of headaches but being it is under warranty and if not lifted etc. then make Ford deal with it.

Stewart,

It's goin in for 15k service next week and ive already highlighted that for investigation at the service. I am wondering if it has something to do with hill hold, so will see on Monday i guess.

cheers
Geoff

Hi All,

So after the Ranger was serviced and i pointed it out to the Dealer, they advised me when i picked it up, that the spare wheel was not securely seated. Something so minor having this type of issue, perplexed me, so i crawled underneath today. The locating plate design is poor at best, with no for and aft lateral stability or locating capacity. Whilst laying there, i was able to easily wobble the tyre front to back and can see how the movement occurs. No matter how tight the winder mechinism is, it still cannot stop the oscilation.

Options to control the tyre movement? Wedging 2 small pieces of timber for and aft, should do the trick and be the simplest option, however if anyone else has any idea, let me know.

cheers
Geoff

Are u dialing it up completely so that the spring is compressed? Haven't had any issues with a 33 under the bum. Nor on the other 10 utes in the fleet. Be interesting to hear your solution. Cheers

Lincoln,

Yes, i have loaded it up and spent a week with 350kg in the rear driving around central QLD and it made no difference. The loan ute i had from Ford during servicing had no symtoms whatsoever and having removed the spare wheel all together and it was exactly how the loan ute was. Going to a bigger size, whould definitely resolve the issue, as it wedges againt the towbar cross member. It is quite perplexing, as other utes i have driven and my previous Discovery 4 had the spare underneath and all we 100% rock solid, so it does annoy me.

cheers
Geoff

Lincolnland wrote: ↑Sun Mar 21, 2021 10:49 am Are u dialing it up completely so that the spring is compressed? Haven't had any issues with a 33 under the bum. Nor on the other 10 utes in the fleet. Be interesting to hear your solution. Cheers

Have you wound it up until the spring within the holding mechanism is fully compressed? Nothing to do with carrying weight within the tub. When its fully compressed there shouldnt be any movement if functioning correctly

Flip the tyre over. May give it that extra bit of grip.

Lincolnland wrote: ↑Mon Mar 22, 2021 2:43 am Have you wound it up until the spring within the holding mechanism is fully compressed? Nothing to do with carrying weight within the tub. When its fully compressed there shouldnt be any movement if functioning correctly

Yep, wound it up till i cant go any further. The issues seems to be that the tyre doesn't seat for and aft, only side to side, hence it is able to wobble.

Ive also tried turning the tyre over and that made no difference. Im going back to the dealer next week to discuss options with them.

cheers
Geoff

geoffmc wrote: ↑Tue Mar 23, 2021 10:39 pm Yep, wound it up till i cant go any further. The issues seems to be that the tyre doesn't seat for and aft, only side to side, hence it is able to wobble.

Ive also tried turning the tyre over and that made no difference. Im going back to the dealer next week to discuss options with them.

cheers
Geoff

What width of the area, front to back, that the tyre has to sit on. Mine is about 180mm. It still has a little movement but never had a problem with it being loose as such.

If you have that same 180mm then I could only suggest it is a problem with the mechanism not holding. The spring is at full compression when wound up tight so I don't see that the spring makes a lot of difference.

Hi guys,

So after installing a piece of wedged timber to stop the for/aft movement and it has rectified the thump. I will be taking it back to Ford to have it addressed in the coming weeks and will advise their outcome. Yes i did ensure that the spring in the mechanism was fully engaged, however still too much movement.

cheers
Geoff