Need opinions on my F-350!

[Prozon]

My truck has been through alot. Its had its ups, its had its downs.. lots and lots of downs. I've put hundreds into it a month and it always developed some problem somewhere. I've had lots of plans for it. Planned some, threw out the plans. Thought up some more plans. Well a few months ago, I parked it. Well, I stopped driving it daily. I still can't resist firing it up occasionally to listen to my beautiful 460 run straight pipes. My goal; to fix it and build it. Well, the fix it stage is done. (Almost.) The c6 in it needs fixed. Its missing second gear. I keep burning through transmissions. Haha. Next one will be built. I've rewired.. changed lines.. tuned.. tweaked.. and I think its going to be reliable for once. So now the "BUILD" phase starts. But before you can BUILD, you must PLAN. Thats why you're here! I'm planning to run 42" Super Swampers, will put some mods in the 460 later down the road. Currently i'm running a D60 front, 10.25 rear. With 4.10 gears. A fuel injected 460 with a C6 transmission. It has 37" super swampers that are soooo damn close to not fitting. Stock F-350 springs in the front and 4 inch blocks in the rear. I want to know what you think the best set up would be for EVERYTHING. Gears, how I should lift it, axles, even the color of paint. And keep it reasonable folks, i've got enough debts.

[WA.Ranger]

If it was me, I would go with an all spring kit from Superlift. I really like the ride of mine on my truck, and the price wasn't to bad. Your gonna need gears. A built tranny is going to be a must also. I would probly start with the tranny, move on to the gears, then the lift. Cause you know if you start with the lift first it will take forever before you do the other things. Can't go wrong with a white paint job either.
There's a good tranny builder in Lacey. He built my 4R100 and backs it up with a lifetime warranty. Thurston County Transmission. Larry is the owner/Mech, and Lori, his wife runs the office. Good people and stand behind there work.

[9.ford.5]

id say put a manual tranny in there they tend to be tougher and if you wheel it at all lose any and all blocks preferably, your lifting it anyway and 6" lift springs cost very little more than 2" lift springs (the difference between 4" and 6" leafs for my truck is less than $40/set) DO NOT BLOCK FRONT AXLE!, smallest blocks possible on rear IMO

[Prozon]

Sticking it with the auto tranny. I prefer auto's for wheeling. I figured lifting would be first. The transmission works.. you just need to throttle weird to shift. I'm not sure if its skipping second or what. And do you know the price they charged to build your transmission at Thurston County Transmission? I priced a transmission from a shop in Centralia and they told me $1800 and two year warranty. Seemed a bit much.

WA.Ranger, when you said you lived by the racetrack in the other post, you weren't referring to the one down the road from my house were you?? Couple miles out of Tenino. I wasn't quite sure but you mentioning Lacey and the whole WA. Ranger name made me think.

[WA.Ranger]

Originally Posted by Prozon

Sticking it with the auto tranny. I prefer auto's for wheeling. I figured lifting would be first. The transmission works.. you just need to throttle weird to shift. I'm not sure if its skipping second or what. And do you know the price they charged to build your transmission at Thurston County Transmission? I priced a transmission from a shop in Centralia and they told me $1800 and two year warranty. Seemed a bit much.

WA.Ranger, when you said you lived by the racetrack in the other post, you weren't referring to the one down the road from my house were you?? Couple miles out of Tenino. I wasn't quite sure but you mentioning Lacey and the whole WA. Ranger name made me think.

Race track, yes. I lived off of Sheldon Lane. I paid about $3800 for my tranny, BUT there was alot entailed into building 4R100 over a C6. There's machining work that has to be done to make a carrier bearing stronger, had a custom TQ, and so on. He does cover it for life even to the second owner, if you keep up on the maint through him or an approved shop. I would give him a call and see what he would charge. Let Larry know what you want to do with your truck. He does gears also, but I never had mine done cause of the diesel.

[WA.Ranger]

I prefer an auto also for wheeling. No hunting for gears in the slop, easier to keep momentum up climbing big hills, and with the right mods, every bit as strong if not stronger on some apps.

[TheTinian]

I hate autos for wheeling for the simple fact that you cannot really control what gear you go into. I couldnt tell you how many times in my red truck ive almost made it, but then the tranny shifts into a higher gear and I lose all my momentum. Manuals will hold up alot better in water too. Electronics and water dont mix too well.

My blue truck is a 4 speed with granny, and I would never change it. It definatly takes some getting used to though.
If you build up the C-6 and make sure all your seals are good you should be ok though. And you wont need gears right way...im running 44" boggers with 4.10s. I need to regear, but its do-able for now until I get some extra money.

As far as your build,

Keep your stock springs, do a body lift and like 8" blocks, front and rear. It will be the easiest and cheapest.......

[hav24wheel]

Well I would say an auto is the way to go, being u have a C6 your good to go. The trany is the ONLY part in my pickup I have not had to replace. Its got over 100,000 miles on it. I make sure I change the fluid regularly and adjust the band. Mine has been slipping when it shifts into 3rd for about 4 years now. The C6 is a really strong trans. If u put it in 2nd it stays there, same for 1 st.
Also get the lowest gears u can. 5.38s for your axles. That way u will have the power to spin the tires in the deep stuff. I think rear blocks are ok for lift as long as you have a good tracrtion bar to keep the axle in its place.

[trugertha]

yupp keep that auto, way better than shifting gears all the time imo..also for the e4od and other electronic auto trans you can get an aftermarket pcm, that you plug into your computer, and change the shift points, control torque converter clutch.

[Prozon]

I have a C6, not a E4OD. No overdrive for me. As much as overdrive would have been nice for driving on the roads, there's too much electronics to shove into the truck along with it. When I priced C6's awhile back, I got one set up for four wheeling and a few shops told me around 800-1000, and the one I called said $1800, thought it was a little much, compared to the others.

I really don't like manuals for wheeling, I think that I lose my momentum shifting manually moreso than automaticly. I don't want to be sitting in a mud hole churning mud and have to try to shove it in the next gear.

TheTinian, not sure if you were serious about that or not. I'm pretty sure front blocks are illegal. And 8" blocks would be ridiculous. Small body lift i've been considering. Not too much though, I don't like the look of a body lift all that much.

I was wondering about upgrading u-joints. I break U-Joints all the god damn time. I really don't know anything about what the stock ones are or what I would upgrade them to. My rear driveshaft's u-joint has a cap tac welded because I lost my rear driveline and broke the part off that held the clip in.

[hav24wheel]

For a rear driveshaft look for a superduty shaft. I bought a bent shaft off a 06. It has 1410 joints on it. Than when u regear it,get the flange style yoke to fit the shaft. I'm not sure what yoke will fit the tcase you have, but I scored one for a dodge cummins with a 205 tcase. To fit the 1410 joint. Than u will just have to retube it to the right length.

[Prozon]

I'm just worried about breaking the rear u-joint again. Last time it broke I sheared off two sides and broke the yoke in three spots.

Now it will be damn near impossible to replace anywhere but in my shop. :P

[hav24wheel]

I have had 0 problems with my 1410 rear shaft. I had the same size joints as u have now. And I broke them all the time, and I only have a 351M. I think if u put some 1410s in there u will have no problems.

[master_mechanic]

I would personally go with 6 inch skyjacker springs and a shackle reversal... should fit 42's. the c6 is a great tranny, i had mine custom rebuilt with a shift kit and higher stall converter and stuff, it works awesome. i would go with a detroit locker in the rear and a powerlock in the front with 5.13 gears... you could go with a doubler t-case if you want some extra low range.

[bad96]

keep the c-6 they are 1 of the strongest trans out there,
---my c-6 was only $750 rebuilt by a race shop with a shift kit and manual valve body and i put a 2800-3200 stahl also
--- i would get a good trany cooler and gauge since heat is what destroys them
---a spring lift of 6-8 would fit the 42s fairl well with travel room
---i have 5:13s with my 37s and it has more than enough wheel speed, even if i had 42s
---also a detroit in back would be a good idea