Trucks are sketchy

[navsnipe]

I don’t think anyone’s going expectation is their ranger to handle like a unibody vehicle. Physics are physics, I once had to drive a Pt Cruiser in ATL because that was all the rental facility had. I can say my frame over ranger handles better than the neon based unibody pt cruiser. Although, both have different handling characteristics , understeer , over steer , and body roll; I’m certain my ranger inspires more confidence cornering than the neon offspring/ small people hurst. I believe ford’s suspension setup decision for the ranger was based on bottom line, spirited drivers notice some funky stuff doing on with the stock suspension, many of the reviews of the ranger point to the suspension as a negative. I’m okay with that because I already shelved my stock fx4 suspension.
I think it is still okay to talk about the handling characteristics of our rangers, “it is a truck , it handles like a truck” doesn’t do it for me.

I know if tried to go over the west bound upper deck of the GW Bridge and take the right hand lanes on to the Palisades in my Ranger at the speeds I would take my Audi I would be on my left door handle. Not too much I am going to do about a vehicle that sits about a foot higher. I'm not one to do allot of mods on my daily driver, I adapt. It helps me modify the driving style I had developed driving German cars.

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[njdriver19]

I know if tried to go over the west bound upper deck of the GW Bridge and take the right hand lanes on to the Palisades in my Ranger at the speeds I would take my Audi I would be on my left door handle. Not too much I am going to do about a vehicle that sits about a foot higher. I'm not one to do allot of mods on my daily driver, I adapt. It helps me modify the driving style I had developed driving German cars.

I understand not modifying a daily driver , maybe down the road consider replacing the shocks and front spring you will be pleasantly surprised, the fox ford suspension stiffens up the ride and when you hit potholes the suspension resists getting all squirrelly. I personally like stiffer suspensions. I could have done without the two inch leveling in front

 

[njdriver19]

I wonder if the European model rangers have the same shocks, might be a stupid generalization but I feel European vehicle suspensions are generally stiffer / sportier.

 

[BCRanger]

Not sure stiffness of shocks is the issue here or not. Not a suspension expert, but it's complex, you have spring rate and damping and travel and they need to work together. It could be for example that the issue is that shocks are over-damped and so don't have enough compliance over quick washboard transitions. Speaking out of my ass here, but seems like off road suspension tuning has very different priorities than on road.

 

[navsnipe]

I understand not modifying a daily driver , maybe down the road consider replacing the shocks and front spring you will be pleasantly surprised, the fox ford suspension stiffens up the ride and when you hit potholes the suspension resists getting all squirrelly. I personally like stiffer suspensions. I could have done without the two inch leveling in front

I'll have to check the kit out. Not really interested in the leveling, does the kit force you to do that?

 

[njdriver19]

I'll have to check the kit out. Not really interested in the leveling, does the kit force you to do that?

The kit is adjustable but the instructions says not to adjust, I didn’t wAnt to mess w/ preload. Leveling kits are not for everyone, if you haul a lot of weight often, don’t level. I’m thinking of adding a 1 inch block to the rear to unlevel my level lol. I was on the FDR the other night and the truck was a pure pleasure to drive .

 

[Tulumben]

As someone who is interested in buying a Ranger as my first truck, definitely think this is an interesting thread. I've driven trucks a handful times but not extensively so not too familiar with how they drive in different situations. One situation that I'm quite interested in is snow performance. Right now I have an AWD unibody SUV (Mazda CX-9) and I'm very happy how it performs in the snow (with Blizzaks). Should I expect a Ranger to have considerably worse performance in snow? Or is it just a matter of adding weight to the bed?

 

[njdriver19]

As someone who is interested in buying a Ranger as my first truck, definitely think this is an interesting thread. I've driven trucks a handful times but not extensively so not too familiar with how they drive in different situations. One situation that I'm quite interested in is snow performance. Right now I have an AWD unibody SUV (Mazda CX-9) and I'm very happy how it performs in the snow (with Blizzaks). Should I expect a Ranger to have considerably worse performance in snow? Or is it just a matter of adding weight to the bed?

Weight helps, match blizzaks Tough to match, unless you have tire that is known to perform well in snow or snow tire., that includes braking in snow.. your truck will perform well enough to compare to awd. But if I plan on going ice racing then I would rather be in a awd vehicle w/ center diff. And remember just because you can get going in snow doesn’t mean you can stop in snow

 

[MrAnalog]

I your 4WD is binding, you're damaging your drive train. Turn it off until you need it.

 

[Sketch]

"Trucks are sketchy"

Hey! I resemble that remark!

 

[BCRanger]

As someone who is interested in buying a Ranger as my first truck, definitely think this is an interesting thread. I've driven trucks a handful times but not extensively so not too familiar with how they drive in different situations. One situation that I'm quite interested in is snow performance. Right now I have an AWD unibody SUV (Mazda CX-9) and I'm very happy how it performs in the snow (with Blizzaks). Should I expect a Ranger to have considerably worse performance in snow? Or is it just a matter of adding weight to the bed?

I definitely wouldn't counsel you not to buy a Ranger based on snow handling. It's just you have to be prepared for it not to be as no brainer as a decent awd car/suv. I mean, I've def seen more pickup trucks in snow banks than cars but it's difficult to know if that is more due to the trucks or the people who buy them! And I think of all body on fame midsize trucks - ignoring Ridgeline - the Ranger is probably going to do best.

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To follow up on thread, just ran up to our ski hill again. (No snow on road but enough for kids to sled.) Did some donuts in the parking lot, woo hoo, kids were egging me on and wicked easy and very controllable slides in 2HD with traction control off.

Also, tried out the Terrain Management system on gravel setting and mud/rut coming down. Hard to say for sure but Gravel seemed somewhat less squirly than Normal. Not sure why that would be, perhaps it changes the stability control system in some way in addition to throttle mappings and shift points?

My wife pointed out something from her driving on fire roads that was a good observation. The truck actually does fine on transient bumps. Where it gets discombobulated is when you hit a series of potholes or ruts at speed. It seems that the suspension gets overwhelmed after the first few and just kind of skips along, which obviously will loosen the rear end. So I'm definitely leaning to suspension upgrade in spring.

 

[njdriver19]

I definitely wouldn't counsel you not to buy a Ranger based on snow handling. It's just you have to be prepared for it not to be as no brainer as a decent awd car/suv. I mean, I've def seen more pickup trucks in snow banks than cars but it's difficult to know if that is more due to the trucks or the people who buy them! And I think of all body on fame midsize trucks - ignoring Ridgeline - the Ranger is probably going to do best.

---

To follow up on thread, just ran up to our ski hill again. (No snow on road but enough for kids to sled.) Did some donuts in the parking lot, woo hoo, kids were egging me on and wicked easy and very controllable slides in 2HD with traction control off.

Also, tried out the Terrain Management system on gravel setting and mud/rut coming down. Hard to say for sure but Gravel seemed somewhat less squirly than Normal. Not sure why that would be, perhaps it changes the stability control system in some way in addition to throttle mappings and shift points?

My wife pointed out something from her driving on fire roads that was a good observation. The truck actually does fine on transient bumps. Where it gets discombobulated is when you hit a series of potholes or ruts at speed. It seems that the suspension gets overwhelmed after the first few and just kind of skips along, which obviously will loosen the rear end. So I'm definitely leaning to suspension upgrade in spring.

Wish I had a ski hill close enough to call my own. Mt Creek is less than a hour but I can’t justify the lift ticket cost with the size of the mountain. Terrain management just seems like a gimmick to me. Experienced drivers rely on feel and use less throttle in less grip situations unless your nailing it to get out of a sticky situation. The whole adventure truck thing that is selling right now , terrain management is a thing. Terrain management or locking front diff, . Software and button: cost development cost and cost of button vs the cost of hardware for locking diff . Dare I say a few years back I was looking at Tacoma’s and I was turned off by the “(LSD)” which was sensor and software that pumped the the brakes on the side that was spinning. (Tacoma complacency). Don’t get me wrong I’m sure our traction control system has some similarities , but it isn’t getting sold to us as a lsd.
your post has me trying to recall how the stock suspension behaved while at work through bumps and such. I believe in corners preload it misbehaved after multiple bumps as your wife observed. I think the general consensus is the ranger suspension is under dampened but I need to search the forum to verify this.

 

[BCRanger]

Terrain management just seems like a gimmick to me.

Agreed, people should be able to simply learn to modulate throttle. Unless terrain management also varies engine torque. But I do find the Trail Control to be interesting. Still can't quite get myself to let the truck run free but the couple of times Ive tried it ignoring the annoying constant brake pulsing it worked quite well.

I think the general consensus is the ranger suspension is under dampened but I need to search the forum to verify this.

That makes sense, yep. It sort of feels seat of pants to be on the rebound side. Would be interesting to do a direct comparison with FX4 vs non.

For me this happened on straights too at about 2-4degree downslope with shallow potholes at around 60km/h so a few a second. (I've been taking it quite easy on curves as I get used to handling.) TBF in awd car I'd have been sawing wheel back and forth to miss them whereas in Truck just hitting them worked best -- at that rate we'd have been hitting the stops and banging around in car and the truck absorbed them, no jarring at all.

Driving back yesterday there was one case where I had to make a pretty significant correction.

 

[njdriver19]

Forgot to mention that body dive under heavy braking is greatly reduced by the fox ford performance kit, I have a lot more confidence in heavy braking situations. Another advantage of the kit. Have I sold you yet?

 

[BCRanger]

Forgot to mention that body dive under heavy braking is greatly reduced by the fox ford performance kit, I have a lot more confidence in heavy braking situations. Another advantage of the kit. Have I sold you yet?

I'm sold, now can you please talk to my wife? ?

Seriously, thinking about this for spring, budget willing. Or maybe the Eibachs if we end up needing to go cheaper.

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