Hello all,

I am taking over my wifes former daily driver as a work truck. Its a 2000 F150 4X4. It's been an okay truck, but has had issues... trani gone in less than 12 mo's, ABS went out ( never fixed ), ashtray cup hold thing broke fairly quick, door seals leaking (whistling) and now the "service engine soon" light is on for an unknown reason... and since its all computer I can't just work on it like my old truck. New truck is all computer controled which I don't knwo alot about or how to work on.

As background, my previous work truck is on 81 F150 4X4 that my father bought new... its had 3 engines, 2 trani's all the misc stuff like water pumps and starters thru its 300,000 mile ( plus ) lifetime. I keep trucks thru thier entire life cycle and extend that life as much as possible.
The new truck has 94000 miles now and I intend to keep it at least another 200000 more.

I am a portable sawmiller and tow a trailer most of the time and go deep into the woods alot. The truck currently has some cooper at's on it, but they will never get me into places I need to go. i want to put on some 33's and really like the pro comp mt's. The 17" wheels seem to be an issue with offroad tires. They are big$$ to begin with but they are also 12.50's which makes me thinkthe 7.5 wide stock rims are not gonna work. I have read here I can go down to 16" wheels wich makes selection pretty wide and tires are cheaper. I read the 16's will clear the 4 wheel disks, but are there any issues I'm not considering here?

I would really prefer firmer shifting... is a chip the best way to get there? The power is okay, but more is always better. The MPG is good right now so I don't want to kill that and I really like to buy the cheap gas over the higher grades.

I know this was long so thanks for taking the time and any wisdom you can share would be great.

 

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First I've never seen anyone go from 17 to 16s. Thats just me but if they came stock with 16's and 17inch wheels where optional why wouldn't they fit? You could always buy one wheel from a junkyard or borrow from a friends truck to test the fit. Your speedo is prob gonna be off. That's one consideration. But for a work truck who cares? Firmer shifting. My superchip adjusted my tranny and firmed up the shifting. But do you feel like spending 3-4bills for a slightly firmer tranny? I've seen aftermarket valve bodies that will firm the shifting.

 

I have seen a few guys go from 17 inch to 16 inch, just for the wide range of different tires and rims. A guy can get a nice set of american racing rims in 16 in for around 100 dollars each now!

 

16's will fit, no problem,but 15's won't clear the brakes.

 

Has anyone actually tried a 15" wheel to find out it doesn't clear the brakes? I was wondering if its possible. I plan to buy another F-150 sometime and I like the '97 I had, and would like to be able to use my old mag wheels again.

 

Yeah, I should have mentioned, when I tried it, it was on the rear and my truck has drums, but as soon as I seen that the studs and nuts were different, I quit right there. Sorry man forgot to add that before!

 

15's don't come in the 5 x 135mm bolt pattern for that reason. They hit the disc brakes.
Plus, wheels for 97-03 trucks are hub eccentric, which means that they senter on the hub, not the bevel in the lugs. They also have metric studs, 12mm 97-99? and 14mm on newer ones.