How can i make this truck into a better truck for mudding. For some reason i cant keep the front tires on it. it chews them off faster then i can get new one's. I was reading articals and it seems like u guys have far more experience than me.  

No surprise on it eating front tires. You have a TTB swing axle front end which changes camber angle (tire contact angle) and wheel track width. Since you have a ranger, the axle is narrower and the camber angle and track width changes are more aggressive due to shorter pivot radius on swing axles. Throw in a heavy V8 and you are "erasing" the tires driving it from the forces mentioned above. The only ways you are going to keep front tires on it longer are, one, do not drive it much, two, put in a smaller light engine or three, loose TTB and convert over to a solid front axle. The last choice will improve tire life and handling a lot.  

It's not the TTB or camber that wears the tires out so quick, its the TOE change caused by the bad steering linkage angle that is almost invariably brought about by the lift.

If you don't have a drop pitman arm on it, GET one. If you HAVE a drop arm, chances are you may need the bigger one Skyjacker makes.
(if it's got the stock steering linkage on it, it has to be down flat (not up at an angle) to work well)


For the weight of a V8, some washers as shims underneath the coil springs will bring it back up a bit to compensate.


Hope that helps  

sfr4x4:
It's not the TTB or camber that wears the tires out so quick, its the TOE change caused by the bad steering linkage angle that is almost invariably brought about by the lift.

If you don't have a drop pitman arm on it, GET one. If you HAVE a drop arm, chances are you may need the bigger one Skyjacker makes.
(if it's got the stock steering linkage on it, it has to be down flat (not up at an angle) to work well)


For the weight of a V8, some washers as shims underneath the coil springs will bring it back up a bit to compensate.


Hope that helps

You are not on target here. Camber angle changes radically with that front axle which changes load center on tire and also place a lot of side forces on tire and track width changes with chamber and in effect "erases" tires. A heavy engine in front makes matters worse because there is more weight on tires as they are being erased/skidded with side forces constantly. (tire rolls forward and backward with not sideways) You can shim it and change links and pitman and it is still going to eat the tires. The TTB will eat tires faster than any other front drive axle out there by a wide margin and lift, big tires and added weight just makes it worse..  

Gee, that's funny... the tires on my TTB truck (BFG MTs) have always lasted at LEAST 25,000 miles before reaching 50% treadwear.

Your knowledge about what exactly affects tire wear is what's off target here.
Sure, camber does affect it to some degree, but literally DRAGGING the tire sideways continuously as you drive down the road (bad toe) will easily strip the tread off a tire 20x quicker than the tire simply leaning over a degree or two (have you not noticed the many late model vehicles with IRS the rear tires are leaned inward (neg camber)? You don't see these BMWs, MBs and even all the Honda Civics out there blowing through tires right away because their tires aren't loaded "on-center"... Its very rare to see these problems on an unlifted TTB as well. This is because the toe isn't all out of whack.

Toe is what's responsible for 90-95% of your tire wear.  

No it is not. The case of ranger, it has a shorter radius so more camber/track width changes and more wear. BTW, my straight axle and heavy burb has 35 K on Mich tires now and there is 65 to70% tread on them still and they are wearing even too. You will NEVER see this on a TTB ever. Furthermore, you have far more than a degree or two of shift here, In max deflection range you are looking about about a 25 to 30 degree range. (plus or minus 12.5 to 15 degrees from level or proper static camber) Track wide will also change more than a foot too. This is simple physics.  

Uh-huh... Yeah whatever you say...
My 30,000 mile Mud Terrains (last rotation about 7000 ago) are wearing just like you've never seen lol.

I'm also guessing you have this frequent habit of recklessly jumping through crowned city street intersections constantly?? That's about the only way you'd ever be able to reach 15° of max camber deflection with any regularity

.

xXMudMonsterXX, if you would like some sources for looking up additional ACCURATE info about your truck's suspension, you can check out some of these links:

www.therangerstation.com
www.explorerforum.com
www.race-desert.com
www.dezertrangers.com

(those last two are mostly about prerunners (desert racing), but the amount of info there about setting up your steering & suspension, and how it all works together is still very applicable in your situation)

I'm done with this post now though, it's no longer worth my time.  

You miss the point here. It is a poorly design front end that place side wear loads on tires. Any pothole or bump will produce a big camber shift and track width change too and unless you are driving on a glass smooth road at constant speed it is always changing. Over a rise the front end lifts and camber changes and track narrows several inches for  bit. When it settles back it changes again. When you brake the front end settles and camber and track changes (the harder you brake the bigger the change) AL this can take place maybe hundreds of times when you drive on over a year, tens of thousands of times and more. In doing so it erases the tires and cases them to get the classic TTB wear pattern and shorter tire life. In all my years I have never seen a TTB that did not wear front tires funny and quicker. Sure you can rotate them and then they can all look funny after a while.  

WOW,that was painful to have read.