Hi all,
I bought a 2001 ex, with the 7.3L yesterday.
It has load range D tires, so I need to get them replaced with load range E.

I will be towing a bumper pull trailer, max weight of 11,000 pounds
we'll be between 10k and 11k pound I'd think.

it currently has 35" open country toyo tires on it. and 20" rims
325/60-20

and according to the owner it still has stock 3.73 gears.
I'm going out after posting to jack it up and manually check.

my questions are:
can/should I go with smaller tires?
I'm assuming it'd help the mpg?
and would help keep the load down on the differentials?
also the smaller tires would make it tow better I'd think, if it does have the 3.73 gears, because of the 35's would change the ratio the 3.73's would behave more like 3.55's or less I'd imagine?

so, I have a call in shortly (when they wake up) to the wheel manufacturers,
the wheels on it are supposed to be able to hold up to towing, according to the PO.
according to this website they are BMF novakane 8 lug with a weight rating of 3200. is that good?
BMF Wheels NOVAKANE - Death Metal Black - BMF Wheels - Aluminum Wheels - Wheels - by Performance 4 Trucks

what I don't want to do is go to stock tires and have it look crazy with the lift and stock tires.

it has an icon lift.
4" in front with 1 1/2" springs as well.
4" in back.
the PO wanted it to look "prerunner style"??
which means that the rear is lower than the front.
which means i'll have to put a 6" block in the back to level it.

It has the V series spring mod in the front, stock in back.
and sway bars front and back.
it also has a class V hitch,
so for tires I need load range E.

I'm wondering if anyone has suggestions for what size?
what wouldn't be too hard on the EX diff's and what would look ok with the lift I have.
I'd just as soon use the 20" rims again if I can, not cause I'm attached to them, but mostly cause I'm cheap, and already have them.

It also has a DP chip and pillar gauges. I need to find a DP guy and get it tuned after I buy an RV.
Right now the EGT guage is either 0 or 1050. 0 at idle, 1050 under any load. there is no in between.
so will need to fix that as well. not sure if it's a gauge or sending unit?
not even exactuly sure how the whole gauge thing works for trouble shooting.

I'm assuming I need the ??B?? rear spring conversion and maybe 6" blocks to level and air bags for the towing?

I am VERY new to the whole thing.
never owned a EX before,
don't know much about lifts, or mods.
Or diesels for that matter.

I've done a fair bit of research.
and am very happy with the EX so far.

I'm off to get tires tomorrow, and maybe an RV this weekend, so I don't want to buy the wrong ones.

I took a couple pictures, but can't figure out how to post them.
I'm usually not computer illiterate, but I don't see anywhere to add them...

thanks for any help!
Dan

 

Welcome! And congrats on the 7.3 Ex!

IMO, keep the tire size if you like the looks and are willing to deal with the loss of MPG that comes with a lift and large tires.

And based on your towing needs, regear to 4.10's which will put your final ratio very close to what it was from the factory with stock tires and 3.73's.

That's pretty much how my X is setup.

You will get a million opinions here, so brace yourself, sort thru, and pick what is best for you!

 

hmm,
thanks, I'm very happy with it so far!

as I'm not the best mechanic, I'd imagine I'd have to have someone do the gears.
front and back since it's 4x4.
around 2000.00 I'd suppose?

plus the new tires
plus the springs
plus the lift fix?

my cheapness is leaning towards smaller tires
maybe i'll go to the tire guys and hold a few smaller ones up and see how they look?

thanks a ton for the reply though!
my lie-o meter showed 16.5 coming home at 65mph.
I'd be happy with 10 towing.
I need to do an actual run off the odometer, or the gps would be better for the mpg.


haha, best thing happened.
my wife looked out the window this morning and said, man that is a sexy truck are you sure you need to get smaller tires
woo hoo!
love it!

Dan

 

tried to figure out the gear ratio by jacking it up and turning the tire/driveshaft.
for some reason it didn't come out at all, tire turns without turning the driveshaft, and just turning the driveshaft turns one tire a little while and then another.
hold one tire still and it still doesn't come out, it's about 1.8 or 1.9:1, which makes no sense to me.

tag on rear diff says
S 410 8
.73 10 2 OK24

front diff says
3.73 1C34 JA
61I071-1

so I'm assuming they're 3.73's? or were.
hopefully they would have swapped tags if they'd swapped gears?
prev prev owner had a 8" lift and 37" tires.
who knows.
maybe the tire guys can make sense of it tomorrow.

If it's 3.73's I'm thinking bump down to 33" or 31" tires for more mpg and less strain on the diffs and tranny when towing? and less hunting from the tranny when towing.

Dan

 

The Open Country AT (not AT II) is available in the 325/60R20 size you mention - is that the correct model? If so - the tire is rated at 3195lbs per tire at 50psi and is a D Range tire. They match your wheel rating and would be fine for the load you are towing. Looking at the max capacity of the tires would give you (3195 x 2) 6390 lbs at the rear axle . My door tag shows 5250 lbs capacity on the rear axle - so from a weight carrying perspective you are within the limits.

I ran D rated Mickey Thompsons Baja ATZs on mine for almost 4 years until the noise got unbearable - ride was good, traction was great and towed the boat with no issues. There are definitely D rated tires out there which do not have the correct weight capability but you certainly do not have those.

 

If not lifted I would go to a smaller tire

 

It says Toyo A/T LT325/60-20 Load rating D
same as these I believe.
OPEN COUNTRY A/T - OnlineTires.com

and it does say load rated at 3195 pounds, so that should be good for towing with aye? that would be good news indeed.
they are at 32 psi now, so I can bump them up to the max 50psi for towing.

that is good news indeed, having looked around here some it looked like they needed to be E rated tires for sure for towing, so I never really looked into it. That VERY much for the reply, that's a big help!
now I just need to ponder if the larger wheel size will hurt anything else, but it's not an immediate need for change right now anyway.

the open country's are pretty quiet, or seem to be for me.

thanks again!
great news!

Dan

 

yeah, my thoughts as well.
even with the lift, the 35's look a bit big to me in there, so I might get away with something smaller.
I might pick up some 285/75 R17's or 16's off craigs list and give them a try.
looks like a set with rims can be gotten for 400.00 or so.
worth a try and I can see how they work.

thanks for the reply

dan

I see where you can post pictures with photobucket, but when I log into photobucket it's setup is very different than before, and I don't see any options to link to pictures or anything. is there a better alternative?