Porpoise Hork
Well-Known Member
So I found something rather interesting and maybe a cheap and simple solution to the vibration problem many if not all of the NA spec Rangers have. Perhaps @P. A. Schilke or someone else more familiar with driveline geometry can chime in on this.
While looking to see what suspension options (ie struts) are available in the AU market for the Ranger I came across this little gem.
Centre Bearing Spacer Kit (Ranger PX/BT-50 Gen2)
With that I went and tried to find the vehicle dimension specs for the AU version and compare them to the NA. When taking into account converting metric to imperial the US spec, nothing seems to match up exactly but they do get fairly close. However the numbers on a sheet wouldn't necessarily match the production if they have not been updated to include the rear leaf spring shims.
There are several variants of this kit available on different sites for the different models and generations, so obviously it's something they have been dealing with for quite some time over there. So it may possibly be something that can be installed to resolve the issues on the NA trucks.
While looking to see what suspension options (ie struts) are available in the AU market for the Ranger I came across this little gem.
Centre Bearing Spacer Kit (Ranger PX/BT-50 Gen2)
Once I saw that last sentence I immediately started to wonder if the cause of the vibration is due to Ford US inadvertently altering the suspension configuration / ride height as a result of parts manufacturing locations. My reason for suspecting this is because we already know that they have been adding shims to the rear leaf springs to sort out an issue with ride/frame height from left to right side. I looked at mine and sure enough the rear has shims installed on both sides adding about .5-.75" height to the rear suspension.The Ranger/BT50 centre bearing spacers are applied to the u shaped cage that holds the centre bearing into position, and effectively lowers the cage, and centre bearing, down to take the angle out of the pinion. The kit is supplied complete with 12 x 3.9mm spacer washers, to suit for the spacing requirement identified (from 3.9mm to 23.7mm), depending upon your lift. All lift kits quoted for Ford Ranger/Mazda BT50 should include a Centre Bearing Spacer Kit, because driveline vibration can be experienced even with the smallest lifts.
With that I went and tried to find the vehicle dimension specs for the AU version and compare them to the NA. When taking into account converting metric to imperial the US spec, nothing seems to match up exactly but they do get fairly close. However the numbers on a sheet wouldn't necessarily match the production if they have not been updated to include the rear leaf spring shims.
There are several variants of this kit available on different sites for the different models and generations, so obviously it's something they have been dealing with for quite some time over there. So it may possibly be something that can be installed to resolve the issues on the NA trucks.
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