I've put 18" Cobra Wheels on an Edge that I owned before; but I had to have the centers drilled out for the larger hub.

The stock 17" '03 Cobra Wheels should be *fine* - as the Cobra brakes would be considerably larger than that on your Ranger; and as you already mentioned, being it's a 2wd, you'll have no problems w/the hubs.

The *only* issue you may have is the backspacing, which would possibly push the face of the rim/tire out of the wheel well a bit. But I don't think you will have an issue w/it, IMO.