Maximum Tyre size on Ranger Raptor with standard rims?

[Tracy Bowman]

Hi Tracy,

Sorry to hear of your loss. This virus is awful!

best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired

Yes it is!

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[Iancoll]

Hi Bret,

Sorry to Ian...should have clarified. Sometimes...going too fast but in this case I am overcome with sadness as I lost my best friends in Michigan to Covid19. She preceded him by two days but neither one made it...78 years old..

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired

That’s ok ... didn’t want to sound stupid.. our Uk models are all made in South Africa... it’s the biggest selling pickup in Europe now.. I have a wildtrak with the new 2 litre bi turbo engine ... our vehicles are so different to USA cars.. even the body is slightly different ... bizarre really

 

[P. A. Schilke]

That’s ok ... didn’t want to sound stupid.. our Uk models are all made in South Africa... it’s the biggest selling pickup in Europe now.. I have a wildtrak with the new 2 litre bi turbo engine ... our vehicles are so different to USA cars.. even the body is slightly different ... bizarre really

Hi Ian,

Ford's first attempt as a World car was the 1981 Ford Escort...by the time the dust settled on this car the European Escort was much different than the North American version of the Escort. NA Escort had a non free wheeling 1.6L motor with a requirement to replace the timing belt to the OHC motor at 75,000 miles as when the belt failed the valves hit the pistons and the crankshaft exited the bottom of the vehicle. Fortunately the engine was redesigned to be free wheeling. For clarification Free Wheeling means when the camshaft stops turning, the pistons do not hit and bend the valves.

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. retired

 

[RedlandRanger]

Hi Ian,

Ford's first attempt as a World car was the 1981 Ford Escort...by the time the dust settled on this car the European Escort was much different than the North American version of the Escort. NA Escort had a non free wheeling 1.6L motor with a requirement to replace the timing belt to the OHC motor at 75,000 miles as when the belt failed the valves hit the pistons and the crankshaft exited the bottom of the vehicle. Fortunately the engine was redesigned to be free wheeling. For clarification Free Wheeling means when the camshaft stops turning, the pistons do not hit and bend the valves.

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. retired

Phil:

I've always heard it called an "interference" engine - never heard the term free wheeling.

But my real question - do you know WHY they designed these this way? It just seems like an accident waiting to happen. If something - ANYTHING - happens to your timing belt/chain, you have a chunk of metal for the scrapper. My '73 Capri was NOT an interference engine - and I blew the timing gear - it had plastic gears around a steel center - and all it did was quit running. Seems like a much better design to me - what if you got a faulty timing belt and it blew prematurely? Replacing an engine is pretty expensive.

 

[P. A. Schilke]

Phil:

I've always heard it called an "interference" engine - never heard the term free wheeling.

But my real question - do you know WHY they designed these this way? It just seems like an accident waiting to happen. If something - ANYTHING - happens to your timing belt/chain, you have a chunk of metal for the scrapper. My '73 Capri was NOT an interference engine - and I blew the timing gear - it had plastic gears around a steel center - and all it did was quit running. Seems like a much better design to me - what if you got a faulty timing belt and it blew prematurely? Replacing an engine is pretty expensive.

Hi Rob,

Ok a back story on this phenolic timing gear. We all knew these gears were a POS and prone to fail. Engine Engineering kept them as they were cheap and met their requirements but did admit there was a higher than desired failure rate though it was outside the warranty mileage at the time. So we put up with them until it happened. The "it" was when Henry Ford II, the Duce as we called him, was out in California with his mistress when the car he was driving failed the timing gear. It made the papers that he,mistress and Ford were found with the vehicle dead on the road, and resulted in a very nasty divorce from his wife, Katheryn. When HFII found out what happened....you can bet there was an ASAP design change to a steel timing gear... I understand some careers got derailed by this "event" as well.

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired

 

[RedlandRanger]

Hi Rob,

Ok a back story on this phenolic timing gear. We all knew these gears were a POS and prone to fail. Engine Engineering kept them as they were cheap and met their requirements but did admit there was a higher than desired failure rate though it was outside the warranty mileage at the time. So we put up with them until it happened. The "it" was when Henry Ford II, the Duce as we called him, was out in California with his mistress when the car he was driving failed the timing gear. It made the papers that he,mistress and Ford were found with the vehicle dead on the road, and resulted in a very nasty divorce from his wife, Katheryn. When HFII found out what happened....you can bet there was an ASAP design change to a steel timing gear... I understand some careers got derailed by this "event" as well.

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired

I was told it was to "quiet it down" - I now have an aluminum gear and I can't tell the difference between them. The solid lifters are WAY noisier than the timing gear has ever been.

Great story!

 

[Raptor-EU]

Hi Rob,

Ok a back story on this phenolic timing gear. We all knew these gears were a POS and prone to fail. Engine Engineering kept them as they were cheap and met their requirements but did admit there was a higher than desired failure rate though it was outside the warranty mileage at the time. So we put up with them until it happened. The "it" was when Henry Ford II, the Duce as we called him, was out in California with his mistress when the car he was driving failed the timing gear. It made the papers that he,mistress and Ford were found with the vehicle dead on the road, and resulted in a very nasty divorce from his wife, Katheryn. When HFII found out what happened....you can bet there was an ASAP design change to a steel timing gear... I understand some careers got derailed by this "event" as well.

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired

Thanks for this inside information. I also had an European Ford Escort in the last century and was lucky to not have this issue. Though it was widely known as a risk. And still was a major concern for many other non Ford owners as well.

 

[P. A. Schilke]

I was told it was to "quiet it down" - I now have an aluminum gear and I can't tell the difference between them. The solid lifters are WAY noisier than the timing gear has ever been.

Great story!

Hi Rob,

Yeah "quiet" was mentioned but mostly cost driven..... HFII fixed the problem...so they moved to aluminum, eh? Did not know that.. Cast steel if I remember as it was faster to get on line..

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired

 

[RedlandRanger]

Hi Rob,

Yeah "quiet" was mentioned but mostly cost driven..... HFII fixed the problem...so they moved to aluminum, eh? Did not know that.. Cast steel if I remember as it was faster to get on line..

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired

Mine is aftermarket - I don't know what the OEM part was. All the Capri guys I know have changed to the aluminum/steel gears (cam gear is aluminum, crank gear is steel). I've probably put 100k on mine - no problems.

Many years ago (shortly after I bought my Capri with about 75k on it) - an "import mechanic" told me that the timing gears would blow up about 90k. I think mine gave up at about 91k - I was driving to work, accelerating and then "boom" and the engine died. Turn the starter and it just spun free. Needless to say I was late for work that day.

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