Hello, everyone. First post here and please believe I tried to search out all the info I could on this subject before making a post.

I have a grasp on what gear ratios mean to the performance of a truck, but not so much when considering all the other variables (size/weight of truck and engine).

I've been searching for a good 9th gen F-150 lately. My high school car was a 93 LWB 4x4 302 and I always regretted that I had to give it up over mpg concerns when I went to college. I wouldn't have the slightest clue what the gear ratio was in that truck, but I do recall that my highway mpg was worse than my average/mixed mpg and even the slightest incline on the interstate caused the truck to kick down if I wanted to maintain any kind of speed. I couldn't say how the truck did under load because I rarely had a load in it.

I think I may have two decent prospects for purchase. The only thing I've been stubborn about is the LWB, which both of these are. The similarities end there.

Truck #1: 92 Extended Cab LWB 4x4 with a 351 but I think it might have 2.73 gears (2.73 came up on a VIN decoder that I ran, but I've not been able to go see the trucks yet to get the gear ratio code from the door).

Truck #2: 96 Regular Cab LWB 4x4 with a 302 and (I think) 3.08 gears.

I don't plan to do a lot of towing, but I might want to haul around an ATV in the bed every now and again. The truck will probably see a good mix of rural backroads and highways, and the highways I drive the most tend to have hills (I-77 from Statesville, NC to the Beckley, WV area).

I think I'm worried that if the heavier extended cab doesn't have a shorter gear ratio than the regular cab then I might not be happy with the performance and feel like I'm driving a boat, but the one extended cab 5.8 that I did drive felt like it could handle the highways without having to search for gears (didn't buy that one because it was leaking from the rear main, trans pan, and rear diff and the seller still wouldn't budge from a price that was kind of high to begin with).

Even if I don't have the exact numbers right, would the 5.8 engine sort of "offset" the taller gear ratio in terms of the power "feel"?

As far as modifications that would impact this sort of thing, the most I would probably look to do is level and, at most, something like a 32" tire. Nothing too crazy.

I hope that question makes sense....

 

If your encountering fairly steep grades I would stay away from both trucks mentioned. Most Fords of this gen have 3.55s, so you should have no problem finding a truck with axle gearing better suited to the road conditions you will encounter.

BTW I live in an extremely flat state (Indiana) and I still want more gear then the 4.10s and 33s provide for my 302.

 

I hear you, but, man, it's been tough to find a couple longbed 4x4 trucks that aren't rusted out over the wheel arches and./or bombed out in the interior. The 4x4 has been especially hard to find in the southeast. I'm surprised by all the RWDs up for sale.

I'm hoping the VIN decoder I'm using is just giving me generic information and the gears on both are shorter than that.

As a general question, though, should I expect the 5.8 to compensate somewhat for taller gearing?

I drove a guy's 302 (don't know the gears) with 33s on it here the other day and it was terrible. I know I couldn't handle that, so if that is what bigger tires do to these trucks, I'll gladly pass on that mod.

The 351 extended cab I drove, by comparison, was chewing up the interstate around Asheville, NC like it was nothing. I put it to the floor a little bit and looked down to see that I was rolling about 85. I don't know what the gears were in that one and the tires were either stock or just 30x9.50s, but I didn't feel like the truck was straining at all. Wish I had paid more attention to the gear code on that one.

 

After playing around with the VIN decoder some more with some other trucks, I'm pretty sure the ratios it is giving are generic, so I suppose this question has just gotten more general.

Still wondering if it would be worth compromising gearing to get the 5.8 if, in fact, I find out that the 5.8 xcab has taller gears than the 5.0 reg cab...

 

Getting a 5.8 is cheaper than re-gearing, so you either get a truck with what you want already or you decide which way to go.

 

I wouldn't own one of these trucks with any higher lower(numerically) than 3.55

I really like my 4.10s in my lightning with a TINY 29" tire. It still does 16mpg on the highway, and it gets there pretty quick

 

The 5.8 will offset a taller gear ratio somewhat but given your location in NC I'd still recommend a minimum of 3.55 gears for a 5.8 truck and 4.10 for a 5.0 with any of the auto overdrive transmissions.

As far as I know 2.73 gears were only available in I6 trucks as a special option, otherwise 3.08 was as tall as it got but if you get a truck with that gear you may as well just forget it even has an OD ratio because it'll perform better and get better milage in drive.

 

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You need 3.55 gears as a minimum.

 

Hey, everyone. I want to thank you all for your advice. Turns out I went way out in left field on this one and didn't end up with either of the two trucks I was thinking of looking at a couple weeks ago.

I thought I had an agreement on a 93 Lightning but the guy didn't seem like he really wanted to sell it. He had it blocked by other older, non-moveable cars in a garage and didn't seem too concerned with doing too much work to get it out for me to drive. Just started it up in the garage. I offered him anyway so long as I could take it for a drive when I came back the following the weekend to close the deal and he accepted. The problem that arose then was that the title was an open Georgia title from the person he bought it off of 5 years ago. Even though he said he had driven it on multiple occasions, CarFax says he never registered it and the open title that he was carrying not in his name would suggest that as well. He didn't seem to understand why I was concerned about all this and seemed irritated that I had the audacity to want to follow NC DMV laws about having a notarized title from the owner of the vehicle. The nerve of me. That deal obviously fell through.

Now comes the "out of left field" part...I agreed to buy a 1988 Ford Bronco Eddie Bauer with 5.8 engine, 3.55 gears, and C6 transmission just yesterday.

I'm not totally out of the game on getting a truck, but this one popped up on Craigslist at a good price from someone not too far away from me and serves a fun, utility vehicle. Plus, I was getting tired of having to take time off work to go look at trucks 3 hours away that people weren't serious about selling.

Anyway....I think this will be a pretty fun ride. It is in pretty nice shape as it is but will probably turn into more of a "project" long term.

I thought it revved a little high on the highway during the test drive. I anticipated that some due to the C6, 3.55 gearing, and the small-ish tires that are on it (I believe it has something like the stock 235/75/15 on it right now), but driving down the road at anything much more than 70 (definitely 75) felt like you were flogging the engine pretty hard. The tach was up in the 3000-3500 range if I recall correctly with the speedo bouncing bouncing around in the 70-75 range. If there was any kind of incline on the stretch of road I was driving, it was very, very slight. I'm hoping some taller tires might help remedy that and give it some better highway manners.