I have a 1996 F350 4x4, 5.8L, C6 with 3.55 gearing. It came with 285/75R16 tires. It's a work in progress, so I have hardly driven it. After a full tune up and new fuel filter, it runs perfect (I will be checking timing tomorrow). However, with the tire and gear combo, power wise, it's very anemic and would not make a very good work truck. I'd be very hesitant to pull anything heavy with it.

So, what's your favorite tire size and gearing for a truck similarly equipped?

The 285's look nice, but it does make getting in an out of the truck cumbersome, even though I'm 6' tall. Also, not sure if they make a good work tire. I'm having trouble finding a load range E tire in that size and wonder if there would be too much side wall flex when loaded.

As far as gearing goes, I see after-market, there is 3.73, 4.11, 4.56 available. It would be a daily driver, 10 miles a day on 55 MPH roads. It may see 70 MPH on the highway on very rare occasions.

 

I'd suggest installing headers and some kind of exhaust plus 1.7 rockers, that should put some more grunt under you right foot, and then drop down to 245/75R16s and go to 4.10 gears.

 

Thanks Paul for the helpful reply.

I found someone that has a set of 4.10 axles that will swap with me. I'll order the 245's in the spring, they should work good. Suppose to have snow next week, so the trucks going in the pole barn until spring. I'll work on rebuilding those axles this winter.

 

Goodyear Wrangler Duratracs come in that size and that rating. I'm running the exact size and rating on my 94 F-150 (at a lower air pressure though) and can't complain about them. A lot of guys (myself included) are run them year up here as they're snowflake rated to boot.