Got truck 3 months ago with 60k miles. First 500 miles were O.K. Then developed vibration between 60-68 MPH (65 MPH the worst). Brakes had started seeming wobbly at same time (warped rotors?), so after reading many posts on this forum, had brakes done. Still had vibration . Brake guy checked driveshaft and front supension, and after driving it said tires were bad (tires only 2 years old but were junk-brand). Went and had Firestone Destination LE's put on at local franchise tire shop. Still had vibration and now small alignment problem (tended to drift to the left). Tire place guy drove it and said "that's just the way Rangers are". Refused to accept his answer. Took it back to local tire shop and they fixed alignment, but still had vibration. Took it to Ford Dealership--they verified driveshaft was original (brake guy said it was replacement) and all good. Also checked all front suspension and deemed all good. Road-force balanced tires, and said 2 were way out of spec. Took it back to local tire guy, who replaced the 2 tires N/C, and vibration is now gone, thank God. As stated in another post, I'm happy now.

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2006 Ford Ranger XLT, 2-Door extended cab, 3.0l, Automatic, Air-cond., Cruise, AM-FM Stereo (no CD), ARE Impulse camper shell, Plastic Bedliner, and that's it, as far as extras.

alway's use road force when balancing truck tires.
glad you got your problem solved.

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2001 Ranger Edge 4x4 (sold)
2006 F150 Lariat 4x4 (sold)
2007 Explorer XLT (Destroyed by Deer on highway)
2014 Explorer XLT (inherited from parents)

Is road force different than spin balance?

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97 ranger 4cyl 5 sp 2wd

Goes hand in hand with each other. While being spun on the balancer (in a road force balancer) there is a wheel that comes down and rides on the tire tread applying pressure (hence road force) to the tire during its spin balance.

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'04 Sonic Blue Ranger, 2 tone Katzkin leather seats, Custom Ford script spray in liner, Spyder LED tails, 8000k Morimoto HID's, LED 3rd brake light + signal mirrors, 06 badges, grille, corners, K&N intake, Magnaflow exhaust, AR Shelby series 17x8 chrome wheels, Pioneer P4300DVD, Hybrid Audio Technologies Imagine 6.5 components up front and Pioneer TS-D681R's in rear, Alpine PDX-V9 5 channel Amp, Image Dynamics IDQ 12" sub. Optima Red Top, "Painted to match" interior pieces

thanks

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97 ranger 4cyl 5 sp 2wd

AHA!! Had the same problem exactly. Bought new tires from Sears,& had terrible vibration at about same speed. After 500 miles went back for balancing. Told by Sears I needed all kinds of front-end work but tires were ok. I'm suspicious of everyone so I went for a 2nd opinion at an independent shop I like. They checked out front and back, brakes, tie-rod ends, bearings, etc. Ended up with one blown shock on front which I replaced, nothing else apparently wrong. Went for test-drive and same vibration still there. I had to drive out of town about 500 miles and had the vibration the whole time. Went back to mechanic and had them pull everything off and check out the front end, suspension, brakes, everything was ok. They said it was tires. They checked for proper inflation and found 8lbs overinflated on each tire from when Sears rotated and balanced last. Deflated to 32 lbs and vibration was slightly different. Now I'm going to have the road force and spin balance.

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2001 Ranger XLT ext. cab 2wd 5-speed 3.0

I just do a basic spin balance on my tires (do it personally) and have had no vibration issues.

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'2008 4x4, 3.0L, 5 speed
regular cab, XLT
93,000 miles.

"Thats the way rangers are" Typical careless mechanic.

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Sometimes road force balancing is the only way to get a good balance. Some tires are weird that way. Thankfully, I've never ran into your problem but I have heard of it.

Sent from my DROID X2 using FRF App
'98 XLT, 2.5, 5MT, RWD
'11 XLT, 4.0, 5MT, 4X4

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Sgtsandman's Work in Progress
2011 Ranger XLT, 4X4, 4 door Super Cab. 4.0L, 5 Speed M50D-R1HD, 3.73:1, 8.8" open differential, Jason Pace cap
2019 Ford Ranger STX FX4, Super Crew, 2.3L Ecoboost, 10 speed automatic, 3.73:1 with rear locker, Leer 100XR cap

I can attest that a balance can make a huge difference because I had no idea that tires can "get out of round". I know that tires wear differently, which is why a rotation and alignment should be regular maintenance along with proper air pressure. Anyway, I have driven nothing but Rangers since 98', and I can tell the difference when pressure gets low because of how the vehicle feels. One thing that could have saved some aggrevation is a good tire gauge and not those cheap $1 ones that resemble a pencil. Even the $5 or $6 dial ones at Wal-Mart are so much more reliable. Glad you got everything figured out.

I have had this same exact problem for like 2 months. What chain place will do a road force balance?! I want to fix this TOMORROW. Pretty sure Walmart balanced my 2 front tires and a local tire place did my rear wheels.

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I figured i just had a warped rotor. I had all 4 tires balanced a while after the vibration started an it was still there so I gave up on the wheel balance hypothesis.

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