If so what years match up and if a 15" does it need spacers, what kind of low profile will work withour messing up my od

2 WD Ranger should be 14 inch rim, 5 bolt. Not sure if 4WD uses 15 or not, should be 14. I used my 84 Ranger 2WD spare to get my wife's 93 home when she hit a sharp hunk of steel and we found that the spare on the Aero's spare had no air (this was the first week we owned the Aero so I hadn't fully gone through things like spares).    

14" Ranger rims are identical to standard steel 14" Aerostar rims. Standard tire on most Rangers is 19575r14, Aerostars are usually fitted with 20575r14.  My '96 came to me with 21570r14 mounted, and they seem to be okay.   The bolt pattern is the standard Ford 5x4.5 circle, like an early Mustang (and most other 60's and 70s Fords) use. Limiting factor on wheels and tires would be the rather limited wheelwells. The rears will rub on the lip of the wheelwell if you go too wide. I've seen people run the 15" alloys from an Explorer, or the 15" steels from a Crown Victoria, with 225/65r15 without rubbing, but it didn't look like there was any room to spare to go any larger, without pulling out and flaring wheelwells, and that it could rub under a heavy load with a lot of suspension deflection. The wheels from the various front-drive Fords (Escort, Tempo, Taurus) have a different bolt circle and offset, as do the Fox body cars (79-up Mustang, Fairmont, etc), and the Pinto/Maverick-based cars, and won't work.   You should not throw off your odometer or speedometer if you keep the combined tire/wheel height the same. In other words, if you fit 15" wheels, go to a 60 or 65 aspect ratio tire. If you fit 16", you would go with 55 or 50. A tire store will have a chart with tire heights to compare. Keep in mind that low-profile tires do not generally have as high a load rating as 70s would. You don't want to give up load capacity for looks with a van. If you are using your van to tow, you also may want to stick to steel rims for the extra strength.   I doubt seriously you could do any damage to your OD by changing wheels and tires, unless they were badly unbalanced.   AC

On a similar note. knowing that some things chaged from the 86-92 Aeros to the 93-97's...looking at some cannibalization of the old 86 2.8l carb'd Aero to the wife's 93 stretch and my 86 shorty cargo. I want to take the box mirrors (factory, not aftermarket) that mount to the doors in the same place as the factory on my cargo (I realize the bottom mount will be a drilling job as the factory mirrors now use only the upper mount) and use the factory roof rack from the 86 (adjustable one, really nice unit) to the cargo. I have to take the headliner out to look but I imagine that the exterior screws I see in the rails have nuts inside rather than nutplates welded in? The roof stamping is the same on all Aeros I'm guessing. I'm also taking the trailer hitch off the 86 (aftermarket of course) for the cargo van but I know from the manufacturer's site that it fits 86 to 97. We're looking at removing the entire set of 2 front buckets with lumbar bladder, the 2 mid body captain's seats and full rear bench for the 93 stretch - is the locking point in the floor the same in all years? I have no problem with the fronts as I know the 4 bolts for the buckets are the same on all. Both the 93 and the 86 have grey interiors but changing the door panels from one to the other isn't possible as they changed the position of the electric lock buttons and probably the door's inner harness as well. I'll be probably selling the 93's entire seat set, or using the front buckets in the cargo and selling the blue armless vinyl seats. Not sure on that yet. At minimum the 3/4 and full bench from the 93 will get sold or traded.   With that answered soon people will likely be asking me the obvious - yes I will be parting the 86 out. About the only damage it has is the rear bumper cover and RR corner by the taillight but the taillamp is like new, stolen from the recently totalled 95. Once I'm sure of how the swaps will work I'll have some things I'll look into a pattern of removals that won't harm other things - not pulling windows if I have a good interior left. The engine is good but has been sitting a couple years because it blew the head gasket. More to come over the summer. Some items will require the buyer to come here and remove such as engine (trans I can do easy enough). Not enough time in a year for all the projects I have so the 86 will become an organ donor rather than rot in the yard.   Thanks in advance for any swap info.  

I think you'll find that the factory used what is commonly known as a "riv-nut" to mount the cargo rack. These work something on the order of a pop rivit crossed with a hollow wall anchor. We used them at a truck shop I used to work at to mount glad-hand brackets and such to the rear of truck cabs. It takes a special tool to install them, you drill the hole insert the bolt and riv-nut into the hole the tool then pulls on the bolt and pushes on the riv-nut causing the riv-nut to expand tightly in the hole.

The answer is MAYBE. Not all Ranger rims can fit on all Rangers. I don't know what fits what. Rims on my 1999 Ranger have a larger center hole than rims for my 1983 Ranger. Rims on my 1991 Aerostar match the 1983 Ranger rims. I've been fooled too often about rim interchangeability. I don't believe rims will fit unless I try them.

I know exactly what you mean, we used them on aircraft panels in the AF. We have a Fastenal store here now, might see if they carry something like that. Thanks.    

Seems Fastenal does carry the pop-type nut inserts - cheap enough although the tool is a bit pricey.    

Here's an idea! If there is a small volume semi truck dealer/garage in your area and you drill your own holes, you might be able to talk them into installing them for you at a minimal cost. Or even ask them at Fastenal who in the area would have the tool to rent or who they sell these to and ask them about installation. No need to buy a tool your only going to once, maybe twice, in your lifetime.

Here's a link to an online tire size calculator where you can plug in everything from a 12" to 23" rim size and compare outside diameter of various side wall height tires and it gives a percentage of how far your speedometer will be off and which way i.e. slower, faster.   http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

Also here's another link where you can download software to do basically the same thing   http://www.cat.cc/tiresize.htm

Back in the days of full size Chevy stationwagons, the roof racks were installed with a nut that was incased in the end of a thick rubber tube with a flange on the opposite end of the rubber.     The tube was pushed into a hole in the roof metal so that the flange rested on the outside of the sheetmetal.  When the screws were tightened into the nuts, the rubber would compress making a water tight seal as well as anchoring the rack like a wall anchor in drywall.    I recently found the same type fastener holding the power window regulator in the door of a nineties Dodge minivan.   These are available in the wrecking yards, and over the counter at both GM and Chrysler dealerships!  Check them out!  AND they don't require any special tools to install; just a hole in the sheet metal.   Preston III  
Bill

I remember seeing these back in the "old days" when cars were nothing more than small semi trucks LOL. I'll have to take a look at some sources and see what I can come up with. Fastenal doesn't want to rent the tool for the others so that avenue is out for now, not paying $100 for a one time use tool.