After saving up my pretty pennies. i plan on getting a four inch suspension lift, along with a three inch body. I want to go with some 35in TSL's or BFGs. i have a 2wd 84 f150 with a 300 6. Do i need to swap out the gears in order to get some better performance out of the truck once the lift and tires are on. And since it is 2wd do i need to change them in the front and rear?

 

You will definately want to regear because you truck will lose a signifcant amount of performance. In your 2wd, you only have a drive axle in the rear, so your gear swap will cost half as much as us with 4x4's. A locker or limited slip in the rear would be a nice addon too. You also should look at getting a 6" lift over the 4" if you are planning on runnig 35's. 6" is the norm for 4x4 f150's who want to run 35's. Your 2wd sits 2" lower than a 4x4. So with a 4" on your truck, you could run tires as big as a 4x4 with a 2" lift. 33's would be the maximum you could fit with the 4".

 

i second what he said..but

thats why ur running the body lift..i understand, but just run 6 inch lift, the price difference is realyl non-existant, and u'll get ALOT better performance from 2 more inches of suspension lift over a body lift

and..gears, recommended for daily driving and stuff, 4.56 or 4.11, depending if u have a overdrive or not, if u have overdrive you could look at 4.56

 

Try 4.88 for gears if you have an overdrive. The nice thing about a 4in. supension lift and a body lift is that it keeps the center of gravity that much lowwer and will provide better on road handeling. Body lifts are a pain to install corectly so to save headachs a 6in. lift might do just fine. although bigger lifts cause other problems like drive shaft angles and stering geomitry issuse. eather way you will still benifit from any lift.

 

I would use a max of 4.56 if you drive your truck much on the street. I have 4.56 with 35's on my 94 F150 and the mileage went down about 3 miles to the gallon on the freeway at 70 with the 56's. 4.88's are really going to spin your poor 6 awfully high at 70 mph on the freeway, even with overdrive...

 

i wouldn't worry about it. i have a buddy with an 83 f-150 I-6/T-18/BW1345/D44/8.8 with 3.55 gears and he never has a problem with power loss (except in extreme cases). if you have 3.55 and looking to go to 4.10's.....dont', it isn't worth the money. I would wait until i saved up enough and then when I got some 37's+ then re-gear to 4.88. Thats just my .02

-cutts-

Edit: for the time and money it takes to do a 4" suspension and then a 3" body I would save the time and effort and throw a 100 more bucks at Skyjacker and get the 6" suspension and be done with it. it has been my ;experience that body lifts are way more complicated than most ppl want you to think.

 

Ok so here's what i got: Go with a 6in suspension over the 4 and body lift. 4.56 gears only in the back since its two wheel drive. And if i can afford it a locker in the rear. Cool.
But i have another question. Im not as mechanically inclined as some of you guys, and after watching Trucks on SpeedTv this weekend, changing out your gears is something a novice shouldnt do. So the question is: If im to take it to a shop to get the work done, what should i be expecting to pay?

 

it's not that it's hard but it takes a lot of time and a lot of patience. but you gotta have the right tools. when you take it to a shop you are mostly paying shop time for something like this so i would say a couple hundred (akthogh i dunno cause i have never payed anyone to work on my truck)

like i said earlier, i would save the money....3.55 gears will be fine esp with that I6 in there. but that's just me....silly ole me

-cutts-

 

how would i find out what gears i have in my truck now. Saving money would be a great thing. After the lift goes on i have to get the brakes upgraded. and then start with the engine mods. Why does the stuff have to be soo expensive. Jeez im still in school!

 

there should be an axle tag on the diff cover that will have some numbers....if you post them up i can try and help ya out. or you could do it the hard way, jack up the rear of the truck, put truck in neutral and spin the driveshaft...then count the number of times the tire spins for every one turn of the driveshaft. in my truck my tires spin 4.10 times for every one turn of the driveshaft.

-cutts-

 

ok. i drove the Explorer into work today so when i get home ill post the numbers and try spinning the drive shaft.

 

That's not right, is it? I'm pretty sure it's the other way around. Yea, thinkin back now, I KNOW it's the other way around. Unless, of course, your pinion gear is friggin' HUGE and your ring gear is itty-bitty...since the ring gear is bigger than the pinion gear, the pinion gear will ALWAYS spin more times than the ring gear...unless afore-mentioned huge/itty-bitty comparison applies to you (which I'm sure it doesn't)...

 

DOH

sorry about that....momudder you are right. i wasn't awake fully when i put that.

-cutts-

 

for a suspension lift stick with pro comp or bds, don't go cheapo and get tuff country, or superlift

 

Fishman here are the numbers i got off the truck: WDR A 4EOA
2 47 8 8S800A
I hope this helps. Im going to jack up the truck in a bit.