Ford Ranger Thunder Tyres

Ford Ranger Thunder Tyres – Four BFGoodrich Tyres at Pellon

Tuesday brought another interesting vehicle into our Halifax garage, and this time it was something that looked very much at home on a Yorkshire farm.

A local farming customer arrived at Pellon Tyre and Autocentre in his Ford Ranger Thunder pick-up, requiring a complete set of four new tyres.

The tyres chosen were:

4 x LT245/70R16 113/115 BFGoodrich tyres

Now, the interesting thing about this job was that the old tyres weren’t completely bald. There was still some tread remaining, and for somebody simply driving around town, they might have looked as though they had some useful life left in them.

However, farming is a completely different matter.

The customer had noticed that the Ranger was beginning to lose grip on boggy and muddy ground.

And around Halifax and Calderdale, you don’t have to travel very far before you find plenty of that!

A Tyre Can Have Tread and Still Not Do the Job

This is something I’ve mentioned many times over the years.

People understandably look at the amount of tread remaining on a tyre when deciding whether it needs changing.

That’s important, of course, but tread depth isn’t the whole story.

A working farm vehicle may have to travel from a normal tarmac road straight through a gateway and onto wet grass, churned-up mud or a boggy field.

That’s when the ability of the tread pattern to clear mud and find something solid underneath becomes important.

Once an older off-road tyre loses sufficient tread depth, the grooves simply can’t work as effectively. The tyre can start filling with mud instead of clearing it away.

Then you have a powerful four-wheel-drive pickup with all four wheels turning — but not necessarily going anywhere!

Our farmer knew exactly what was happening and decided it was time for a new set.

BFGoodrich – A Famous Name in Off-Road Tyres: Ford Ranger Thunder Tyres

BFGoodrich is one of those tyre names that has become almost synonymous with 4×4 and off-road driving.

The company’s history goes all the way back to 1870, when Dr Benjamin Franklin Goodrich established a rubber factory in Akron, Ohio.

That makes BFGoodrich a remarkably old name in the tyre industry.

The company went on to become involved in some fascinating pieces of transport history. In 1903, BFGoodrich tyres were fitted to the vehicle used for the first motor-car crossing of the United States from coast to coast.

Then in 1927, BFGoodrich tyres were fitted to Charles Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis aircraft when he made his famous non-stop transatlantic flight.

Quite a history for a tyre company!

From American Roads to the World’s Toughest Terrain

Where BFGoodrich really established its modern reputation, though, was away from normal roads.

The company became heavily involved in off-road competition, including the famous Baja Desert races and Dakar Rally.

BFGoodrich says its first Baja 1000 victory came in 1972, and the company subsequently accumulated hundreds of off-road championships. The lessons learnt in competition have helped shape the road-going and all-terrain tyres for which the brand became famous.

Perhaps one of the most significant moments came in 1976, when BFGoodrich introduced what it describes as the first all-terrain tyre.

That’s really the beginning of the sort of tyre we recognise today on working 4x4s and pick-ups.

And although the deserts of America might seem a long way from Halifax in West Yorkshire, the basic problem is surprisingly similar.

You need a tyre that can cope when the tarmac runs out.

Why BFGoodrich Tyres Suit Farmers: Ford Ranger Thunder Tyres

Farmers ask a great deal from their vehicles.

A pick-up may spend the morning travelling normally along roads around Halifax, Huddersfield or Calderdale, then spend the afternoon crossing muddy fields.

That’s quite a difficult compromise for a tyre.

An extremely aggressive mud tyre may be excellent in a field but less pleasant for everyday road driving. At the opposite end, a normal road tyre can be quiet and comfortable on the motorway but quickly struggle once it meets deep mud.

That’s why good quality all-terrain and off-road tyres have become so popular with farmers, builders, contractors and people who genuinely use their 4x4s for work.

And BFGoodrich has built a very strong reputation in precisely this market.

The Ford Ranger Thunder

The customer’s vehicle was also rather special.

The Ford Ranger Thunder was introduced to the UK as a limited-edition version of the extremely successful Ranger pick-up.

Ford announced the model in 2020 and limited European production to 4,500 vehicles, with only 1,400 destined for UK customers.

So you don’t see one on every street corner.

The Thunder came as a double cab with four-wheel drive and Ford’s 2.0-litre bi-turbo EcoBlue diesel engine producing 213 PS and 500 Nm of torque, coupled to a 10-speed automatic gearbox.

Ford also gave it distinctive styling and a much more luxurious interior than the traditional basic farm pick-ups many of us remember.

And that’s part of the reason modern Rangers have become so popular.

Pick-Ups Have Changed Enormously: Ford Ranger Thunder Tyres

Years ago, a farmer’s pick-up was very much a working vehicle.

They were often noisy, basic and designed mainly for carrying tools, feed, fencing equipment and whatever else needed shifting around the farm.

Modern pick-ups are different.

A Ranger can still carry equipment and tow and tackle difficult ground, but it’s also comfortable enough to use as everyday transport.

The Double Cab gives you proper rear seating, while modern heating, air conditioning, automatic gearboxes and all the other comforts mean these vehicles aren’t just agricultural workhorses anymore.

The Ranger Thunder took that idea even further by combining serious four-wheel-drive ability with almost SUV-like comfort and equipment. Ford itself described the Thunder as retaining the Ranger’s load-carrying and towing capability while adding more style and comfort.

For a farmer, that’s a very useful combination.

Perfect for Calderdale Farming Country

Living and working around Halifax, we’re surrounded by farming country.

Head out towards Queensbury, Bradshaw, Ripponden, Barkisland, Norland or the hills above the Calder Valley, and you’ll soon see just how quickly the landscape changes.

Beautiful countryside, certainly.

But after a spell of Yorkshire rain, fields and gateways can become incredibly soft.

A working vehicle needs to be able to get onto that land and, perhaps more importantly, get back off again.

That’s where fitting the correct tyres becomes every bit as important as having four-wheel drive.

People sometimes assume that a 4×4 will go anywhere simply because all four wheels are driven.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t work like that.

The engine and four-wheel-drive system can only make use of the grip that exists between the tyre and the ground.

If the tyres can’t find traction, all the clever four-wheel-drive equipment in the world can’t manufacture grip out of thin air.

Four New BFGoodrich Tyres Fitted at Pellon: Ford Ranger Thunder Tyres

So we removed the customer’s worn tyres and fitted the Ranger with its new set of four BFGoodrich tyres.

For this particular farmer, replacing all four made perfect sense.

He wasn’t changing them because they looked old or because somebody had told him he ought to spend some money.

He changed them because the vehicle wasn’t doing its job properly anymore.

That’s an important difference.

The remaining tread might have been acceptable for certain types of road use, but when you’re trying to get across boggy agricultural ground, you soon discover whether your tyres are still up to the task.

The new BFGoodrich tyres restored the sort of tread and grip he needed for his everyday work.

A Proper Working Vehicle Deserves Proper Tyres

I always enjoy seeing vehicles like this come into Pellon because they’re being used for the job they were designed to do.

The Ford Ranger Thunder might be comfortable and rather smart inside, but underneath it’s still a tough four-wheel-drive pick-up.

Pairing it with a set of BFGoodrich tyres seems particularly appropriate.

BFGoodrich has more than 150 years of tyre history behind it and decades of experience in some of the toughest off-road competitions in the world.

Our Halifax farmer doesn’t need to cross the Baja desert, of course.

Sometimes a wet Yorkshire field is challenging enough!

And after fitting four fresh BFGoodrich tyres, his Ranger Thunder was ready to head back out into the Calderdale countryside and get on with earning its keep.

That’s what tyres like these are really about.

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