Where will a bone stock FX4 Ranger go?

NOVA_Ranger

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Agreed, any vehicle is going to have limits. I have mine set up for how I plan to use it and it has exceeded my expectations in situations where I might have pushed the envelope a bit. I kind of scoffed at the ‘TM’ thing initially (I don’t need that nanny crap) but it actually works very well.
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PowerTools

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The Gladiator is actually not a Jeep. Not in the sense most people expect. It's a Dodge Dakota or other Mid Size Truck that they branded with Jeep Features / Body. It doesn't have the pedigree. And only about 80% of the parts are swappable.

Is a Jeep Wrangler more capable than a Ranger? Sure - Hands down. No contest.
Is an FCA Gladiator more capable than a ranger? Yes but barely.
And what about the Mojave Edition? I have seen no reviews of that thing yet.
Fun fact. My buddy has a Gladiator Mojave Edition and added a winch, 35" tires and FabFours bumpers. He takes it on the same slightly bumpy dirt roads as I take my Ranger. In his defense, he looks much cooler than me in that truck. I just get back at him by putting long things in my SuperCab bed that won't fit in his. Petty? Sure. Choose your battles.
 

Shaun Harlan

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Yeah the ZR2 might be marginally better stock for stock when you actually do use your front locker (not often), but I bet it won't go more places than a ranger when your little duramax goes into limp mode ? ask how I know.
It's more than marginally better. The locker and available suspension travel make the difference.

The rest of what you said is just conjecture....
 

RVA Overland

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It's more than marginally better. The locker and available suspension travel make the difference.

The rest of what you said is just conjecture....
Two thoughts, as having been an owner of both your opinion is interesting. First I am not sure that the front locker will make a huge difference unless you are literally rock crawling. What is the difference in the suspension travel. I find that intriguing but cant find a comparison between the 2 trucks. What is the travel of each?
 

Leftcoast

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I saw the TFL comparison this morning between the Ranger Tremor, Taco Pro and the Gladiator Rubicon. The Ranger in Trail Control mode motored up a section where Gladiator had to get a running start. The Ranger putted along at 2.5 mph. It slipped for a second and then it hooked up and crawled right over.
 


Shaun Harlan

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Two thoughts, as having been an owner of both your opinion is interesting. First I am not sure that the front locker will make a huge difference unless you are literally rock crawling. What is the difference in the suspension travel. I find that intriguing but cant find a comparison between the 2 trucks. What is the travel of each?
A rear locker is useless some situations, except for when one rear tire is spinning and the other is sitting there twiddling it's thumbs (so to speak). A front locker is no different. The question you need to ask yourself is, if you had a choice do you want a lockable diff or an open one? I'll take a lockable one all day. The open diff will always send power to the wheel with no traction.....i.e., the path of least resistance

As for the suspension: The ranger has about 6" in front and a hair more in the rear. The ZR2 has 10" in the front and rear. That's a significant increase. The rear articulation numbers are even more. So, the idea behind it is the more suspension travel you have the higher the likelihood of keeping tires in contact with the ground. The more tires you have making contact, the better the chance you have of moving forward. Now add lockers to that and the left and right side have to spin at the same speed regardless.....now add a front locker and all 4 are moving at the same speed regardless. The more tires contact combined with more mechanical grip with the addition of ~65% more travel....the better the chance of clearing an obstacle.
 

the5Gmartian

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A rear locker is useless some situations, except for when one rear tire is spinning and the other is sitting there twiddling it's thumbs (so to speak). A front locker is no different. The question you need to ask yourself is, if you had a choice do you want a lockable diff or an open one? I'll take a lockable one all day. The open diff will always send power to the wheel with no traction.....i.e., the path of least resistance

As for the suspension: The ranger has about 6" in front and a hair more in the rear. The ZR2 has 10" in the front and rear. That's a significant increase. The rear articulation numbers are even more. So, the idea behind it is the more suspension travel you have the higher the likelihood of keeping tires in contact with the ground. The more tires you have making contact, the better the chance you have of moving forward. Now add lockers to that and the left and right side have to spin at the same speed regardless.....now add a front locker and all 4 are moving at the same speed regardless. The more tires contact combined with more mechanical grip with the addition of ~65% more travel....the better the chance of clearing an obstacle.
The Ranger Tremor (equivalent to ZR2 at least for now) has 6.5in up front compared to 8.6in for the ZR2 and the Ranger Tremor has 8.1in in the rear compared to 10in in the ZR2. About 2" in the front and the rear advantage for the ZR2.

The Ranger Tremor has a 30.9 inch degree approach angle. The ZR2 has a 30 degree approach angle. The Tremor has a 24.2 degree breakover angle. The ZR2 has a 23.5 degree breakover angle. Tremor has 9.7 inches of ground clearance. ZR2 has 8.9 inches of ground clearance. Ranger has the advantage in every category.

Nobody is saying that the ZR2 isn't a fantastic off road vehicle, because it is. In fact, it is better off road than the Ranger, however, I think the point everyone here is trying to make is that you are overstating how good the ZR2 is and way understating how good the Ranger is off road. Both are great vehicles off road. This is a silly discussion.
 
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Nobody is saying that the ZR2 isn't a fantastic off road vehicle, because it is. In fact, it is better off road than the Ranger, however, I think the point everyone here is trying to make is that you are overstating how good the ZR2 is and way understating how good the Ranger is off road. Both are great vehicles off road. This is a silly discussion.
maybe. maybe we are reacting to the unusual sentiment that the 5G ranger isnt the best thing since sliced bread. most of the forum folk feel that way (hey, my wife and i do too) and it doesnt feel nice to have a naysayer in the mix.

but all that said, i think that the themes that have come up in the last couple pages in this thread: (ranger is fine for typical offroading, ranger cant compete with dedicated offroad vehicles, ranger does as much offroad as normal people in a stock truck would ever care to take on) can be approached from a different angle. the one where this thread originally started.

basically: where has your stock ranger taken you? looking at a stock ranger ticklist is an effective way to empirically state the capability of the truck. so folks who doubt the capabilities of their truck, or wonder about the relative sanity in trying a specific trail, might see a real world data point.
 

Gizmokid2005

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Having a non-FX4, I can definitely say there is a noticeable difference when you have Terrain Management and better than stock tires (Falken Wildpeaks). The ranger is perfectly capable off-road and will keep up with most trails without an issue. It's a jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none kind of truck. It can out tow any other midsize truck and still keeps up with them all off the pavement.

(To add to the above, the ZR2 has a towing capacity of 5000 compared to the Tremor of 7500lbs (since Ford's offering doesn't service m sacrifice capability there), which matters for a lot of people.)
 

Shaun Harlan

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The Ranger Tremor (equivalent to ZR2 at least for now) has 6.5in up front compared to 8.6in for the ZR2 and the Ranger Tremor has 8.1in in the rear compared to 10in in the ZR2. About 2" in the front and the rear advantage for the ZR2.

The Ranger Tremor has a 30.9 inch degree approach angle. The ZR2 has a 30 degree approach angle. The Tremor has a 24.2 degree breakover angle. The ZR2 has a 23.5 degree breakover angle. Tremor has 9.7 inches of ground clearance. ZR2 has 8.9 inches of ground clearance. Ranger has the advantage in every category.

Nobody is saying that the ZR2 isn't a fantastic off road vehicle, because it is. In fact, it is better off road than the Ranger, however, I think the point everyone here is trying to make is that you are overstating how good the ZR2 is and way understating how good the Ranger is off road. Both are great vehicles off road. This is a silly discussion.
Two points and I'll leave this alone. The thread is about a stock fx4 and where it can go and people comparing to the other offroad trucks. We all know that a lifted and larger equipped tire does more than look cool. It obviously helps in those offroad metrics you mentioned. Approach, departure and breakover. Why ford couldn't out a front locker in the Tremor I'll never know.

Second point, I'm not over stating anything. The type of wheeling I do the ranger isn't anywhere close to my ZR2 but is on par with my trd off-road. If you haven't experienced having both axles locked and more travel then you can't say that I'm over stating anything. Couple those two things with a diesel, 4lo and 1st gear it just walks up a lot of stuff.
 

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I bought my truck to tow a travel trailer(looking at around 3,000 lbs).

I know I bought 'too much truck'. I'm part of the 99% . :LOL:
 

VAMike

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A rear locker is useless some situations, except for when one rear tire is spinning and the other is sitting there twiddling it's thumbs (so to speak). A front locker is no different. The question you need to ask yourself is, if you had a choice do you want a lockable diff or an open one? I'll take a lockable one all day. The open diff will always send power to the wheel with no traction.....i.e., the path of least resistance
Choice 3: terrain management smarts. It's good enough these days that the marginal improvement from a locking front diff isn't worth the trouble for most people/most situations.
 

PowerTools

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I bought my truck to tow a travel trailer(looking at around 3,000 lbs).

I know I bought 'too much truck'. I'm part of the 99% . :LOL:
Ford is monitoring this thread and if we don't use the Ranger at it's capacity, they will automatically exchange our Rangers for Mavericks.
 

Shaun Harlan

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Choice 3: terrain management smarts. It's good enough these days that the marginal improvement from a locking front diff isn't worth the trouble for most people/most situations.
It's not a marginal improvement ??
 

Gizmokid2005

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It's not a marginal improvement ??
As mentioned previously, unless you're doing serious rock crawling, there's a near-zero set of circumstances where Terrain Management won't perform just as well, if not better, than a *FRONT* locker, especially if you already have a rear locker.

Front lockers are so incredibly limited in their usefulness.
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