Eagle Mountain FX4

Phil Howell

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Hi. I'm Phil Howell, live in Eagle Mountain, Utah, and have completed many project vehicles over the years as Editor-in-Chief of 4Wheel Drive & Sport Utility Magazine and Off-Road Magazine. As I enter my sunset years, backcountry exploring is more inviting than rock crawling so I'm building my 2020 Ranger FX4 SuperCrew to that end.

I've already installed a Stubby Jr. antenna from CravenSpeed, put black Ranger lettering on the tailgate, and installed the must-have (lol) DeeZee tailgate damper. Planned upgrades are Fabtech Intrusion Beams, wheels and tires, suspension, Rocky Road Outfitters Supersliders rocker guards, Warn winch, Baja Designs lights, camping equipment, etc.

Here's what it looks like now in stock trim as purchased from Larry H. Miller Ford in Provo, Utah . . .

2020 Ford Ranger FX4 041 web.jpg
2020 Ford Ranger FX4 031 web.jpg
2020 Ford Ranger FX4 042 web.jpg
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Hi Phil...great looking Ranger! BTW, if you want to stop now, quit the forum before you get the bug and end up like me... ? ?
 
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Phil Howell

Phil Howell

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Aftermarket wheels and larger BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KO2 tires are planned, so something had to be done about the intrusion beams. The Ranger T6 doesn't have intrusion beams, nor does the F150 Raptor, so I considered just removing them. I didn't want to compromise the crashworthiness of my US-spec Ranger, though, so installed Fabtech's Ranger Intrusion Beam Offset Kit that allows larger tires and wheels with less offset/backspacing to be used. These intrusion beams (crash bars) are BEEFY. I chose to cut off the OEM intrusion beams but regretted this decision after doing the job. I went through eight reciprocating saw blades and a grinding wheel. I also trimmed off a corner of the plastic blocks in the rear of each fender well so the outer intrusion beam bolts could be removed. If I had to do it again, I'd probably loosen my front bumper and rear fender trim to remove the OEM bars and delete those plastic blocks altogether. The Fabtech bars installed easily. If you choose to use the Fabtech intrusion beams on your Ranger, don't forget to keep the pieces of OEM intrusion beams that fit inside the frame -- you'll reuse those when installing the Fabtech kit. I now have room to run LT285/70R17 tires, which I might in the future (have LT265/70R17s to install right now), and the Ranger's front tires will stay outside the cab if the truck's ever in a crash.

2020 Ford Ranger FX4 002 web.jpg
2020 Ford Ranger FX4 003 web.jpg
 
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Phil Howell

Phil Howell

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Hi Phil...great looking Ranger! BTW, if you want to stop now, quit the forum before you get the bug and end up like me... ? ?

Ha. It's too late. I've been upgrading (?) vehicles for many years and there's no way I've found to stop. When I bought the Ranger, I told my wife that I'd leave it alone. She rolled her eyes and said, "Yeah, sure." Unfortunately, she was correct, as always.
 
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Ha. It's too late. I've been upgrading (?) vehicles for fifty years and there's no way I've found to stop. When I bought the Ranger, I told my wife that I'd leave it alone. She rolled her eyes and said, "Yeah, sure." Unfortunately, she was correct, as always.
I told my wife wheels and tires only... ?
 


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Phil Howell

Phil Howell

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LT265/70R17/C BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KO2 tires were mounted on 17x8.5" Icon Alloys Compression Titanium wheels. I've used KO2s in the past and have been impressed with their on- and off-road traction, durability, and quietness on the highway. The mountain snowflake symbol means great snow performance, too. I chose to run this size as it's the largest Ford will warranty with the performance flash, which I may or may not get. This size fits with no lift, which is important as the suspension upgrades I plan won't be available until December. The Icon wheels have a +25 offset and are Ranger hub-centric with a 93.1mm center bore. I have a fifth tire and wheel as a spare that fits in the OE spare position. While the 265/70R17 tire will work with the OEM steel spare wheel, if I run any larger tire in the future, the steel OE wheel has too much backspacing, hence the fifth Icon wheel. The Icon's +25mm offset equates to 5.7" vs the 6.6" OEM backspacing. Less than an inch of backspace change means very little increase in scrub radius and the tires barely protrude past the fenders. The Icon Compression wheels look great IMO, are strong, and the BFG KO2/Icon combo balanced perfectly without taking much weight.
2020 Ford Ranger FX4 051web.jpg
2020 Ford Ranger FX4 053 web.jpg
2020 Ford Ranger FX4 064 web.jpg
2020 Ford Ranger FX4 078 web.jpg
2020 Ford Ranger FX4 079 web.jpg
 
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Phil Howell

Phil Howell

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Here's before and after shots, as well as a look at the back. The truck has no lift and is OE except for the Fabtech Intrusion Beam Kit. Those were probably not needed with the 265/70R17 tires, but they will be if I jump to 285/70R17s in the future.

I purchased four Motorcraft 315MHz TPMS sensor valve stems from Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LZ2Y1DW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

and a TPMS Reset Programming tool:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07ZKJ4TS1/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I only purchased four TPMS sensors because the spare doesn't run one. I had read where people had changed tires/sensors and didn't have to program them, so I mounted the wheels and went for a spin. No TPMS warning light said things were good, but when I checked the pressure readout, it was still reading the 30 psi in each tire I was running in the stock Hankooks. As the LT tires were inflated to 37psi, something wasn't working right. So, I stopped, put the truck in TPMS learn mode (a dance with the key on and off and pressing the brake pedal), and used the cheap programmer I had purchased. Programming was quickly completed and when I checked the pressure reading, they all read 37psi. Success!
2020 Ford Ranger FX4 027 web.jpg
2020 Ford Ranger FX4 072 web.jpg
2020 Ford Ranger FX4 077 web.jpg
 
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Levcrowley

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Here's before and after shots, as well as a look at the back. The truck has no lift and is OE, except for the Fabtech Intrusion Beam Kit. Those were probably not needed with the 265/70R17 tires, but they'd will be if I jump to 285/70R17s in the future.
2020 Ford Ranger FX4 027 web.jpg
2020 Ford Ranger FX4 072 web.jpg
2020 Ford Ranger FX4 077 web.jpg
Great looking truck!
 
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Phil Howell

Phil Howell

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Great looking truck!
Thanks! I write too fast and forget to check what I wrote. It's repaired now in my post and was supposed to say, ". . . but they will be if I jump to 285/70R17s in the future." :crazy:
 
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NvrFinished

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This size fits with no lift, which is important as the suspension upgrades I plan won't be available until December.
OK, that got my attention :). What suspension is coming out in December?
 

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Here's before and after shots, as well as a look at the back. The truck has no lift and is OE except for the Fabtech Intrusion Beam Kit. Those were probably not needed with the 265/70R17 tires, but they will be if I jump to 285/70R17s in the future.
2020 Ford Ranger FX4 027 web.jpg
2020 Ford Ranger FX4 072 web.jpg
2020 Ford Ranger FX4 077 web.jpg
The white color looks awesome on those wheels. So no rubbing at all on the knuckles? What is the distance from the side wall to the knuckles with this wheels?
 
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Phil Howell

Phil Howell

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The white color looks awesome on those wheels. So no rubbing at all on the knuckles? What is the distance from the side wall to the knuckles with this wheels?
Thanks! There's no rubbing at all - full lock either direction, in reverse, or compressed. The 265/70R17's 10.4" section width is the same as the OEM 265/65R17 tire's. There's an additional .9" clearance to the knuckles using the Icon wheels vs OEM. I can easily fit (almost) three fingers between the knuckle and the sidewall.
 

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Thanks! There's no rubbing at all - full lock either direction, in reverse, or compressed. The 265/70R17's 10.4" section width is the same as the OEM 265/65R17 tire's. There's an additional .9" clearance to the knuckles using the Icon wheels vs OEM. I can easily fit (almost) three fingers between the knuckle and the sidewall.
That is great. Thanks for the info, I'll keep in mind the Icon wheels when time to upgrade.
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