Hey guys im new on the site and i was wondering.
im tryin to sell my 1990 Ranger all long travel and im movin up to the F150.

but im still kinda clueless on the Beam set up on the older F150s.
For example, Rangers went to cast iron beams in 1989.
What year did F150s go to cast?

and Rangers, were not = lengh, now i herd some F150s come = lengh stock? if so what years??

What year has the better motor? and so on and so on.
help me out!, thx guys
Tommy

 

Near as I know...the Ford full size trucks have had forged twin I beam front axels since they quit the one piece I beam axel.

Four wheel drives had either straight front drive axels or stamped twin axels similiar in function to the twin I beam axels.

 

Yea? and i knno all come with the 8.8 rear end with 3:55 gears, some with 9 inc rear ends?

im lookin to stick with the 2wd too, thx for the info

 

I think the '84 and down came with 9" but not all of them are posi some are open diffs. The 8.8's come in different gear ratios from 3:05, 3:55, 3:73 and maybe some other ones and some with limited slips, the newer models. The v8 explorers came with 8.8 with limited slip, and you dont have to cut it to make it shorter unless you want to have the full size width.

 

alright cool, thx

i found a nice F150 for sell BUT, its a striaght 6 now i havnt herd alot about this motor but everyone i ask say they last for ever. and the guy told me i can get more power out of the V6 more than i could the inline.

what do you guys think?

 

IMO the I6 is AWESOME but for very different reasons than the V8's are. Low rpm torque and low redline are great for slow 4x4-ing and even towing. I'd look for a 302 or 351 for blasting down the desert trails.

Now that I think about it, unless I was planning on competing or racing for fun, I'd go with the 6.

I have a secret love affair with Slant 6's, 300 I6's and Both Jeep I6's .

 

Generally speaking the 300 I6 is a low-rpm torque monster, the kind of engine you want on your farm truck pulling stupid-heavy trailers around, or on your daily driver that don't see much of the interstate system. My buddy now wants a 1-ton dually like mine but no diesel, so when time comes we'll be looking for a 300 I6 or a 351 V8 for the decent torque combined with decent fuel economy. I never revved an I6 real high so I don't know how they fare when you're up in the rpms if the kind of driving you're doing requires high engine speeds maybe it would be better to use a 302 V8?

As for the I-beams, I've seen halftons with forged/cast beams all the way to the 70s models... Actually, I got a question on that very subject - do you differentiate between forged and cast beams, or are they the same thing? I do recall reading something a while back that said that some I-beams can be twisted to adjust for caster while others cannot, is that cause one kind is forged while the other is cast? I know all the way up to the mid-'80s the I-beams had kingpins in them, they switched to ball joints with the new body style in '87 and those have eccentric sleeves on their upper BJs to adjust the camber and caster thus eliminating the need for twisting the I-beam itself... Does this apply to your question at all?

 

Thx for the motor info guys!
to answer your question, from what i know of. yes your are kinda right the cast beams get brittle and weak when you modify them like extend cut and bend or weild on them, the forged beams do not get brittle. you can do any modifycations to those and not have to worry.

in the off road seen, kingpin beams are the ****! if you have kingpin beams on your ranger, thats worth so much lol.

hope that helps, thx guys

 

That's kinda what I figured, that you jumper folks would prefer the kingpin setup. By the way, why do insist on a halfton truck, wouldn't a HD 3/4-ton or even a 1-ton (they're basically the same thing anyways) with the larger and stronger front spindles and full-float rear axle hold up better to the abuse of landing after a good jump? They also have larger and more powerful brakes, which I'm sure could also come handy in some situations...

 

what falls under the HD 3/4 ton or half ton? ahah

 

The 1/2 ton ttb's are strong, but even stronger when you put d44's ttb spindles on them. I have the d44 ttb's on my truck running 4wd and they are very strong. if you want to beef them up you can plate and box the beams and put some d44 ends on them. and the 300 I6 is very reliable. its just sluggish when its auto but if your running it stick then its not as bad. Thats what my truck has, its not fast in the desert but i never get stuck and it does the job everytime and im running stickshift. In the rpm range after 4 grand its pretty much useless to rev it up that high all the torque band is in 2 grand. It has low hp's but has the same amount of torque as a 302. I guess thats why its bulletproof cus it doesnt see much wear on having high hp's. If you do get that truck with the 300 make sure its stick. Im running 35's on it also, with 3:05 gearing. Its the one on my avatar.

 

Any F150 is a halfton. A 3/4-ton is an F250, these can be had in light-duty or heavy-duty versions - the HD has the stronger full-float axle with the hubs sticking out the rear wheels, while the LD usually has a semi-float axle which is not quite as strong as the full-float, not sure what the difference in the front is tho. A 1-ton is an F350, those all had the full-float rears. Front suspension parts between the F350 and the HD F250 often interchange, not sure on the LD F250s tho.

Not just that, there is also the fact that an I6 has 7 main bearings, while a V8 only has 5...

 

i cant wait to see what its gunna sound like when i get ahold of that sum bitch V8. puttin high flow cat backs and a muffler. shes gunna sound realllll nice

 

Eh, my philosophy is to heck with sound - gimme the performance first, then worry about how she sounds...

 

well of course, i found a nice one.

its a 1993 F150 xlt cab 2wd and with a 302 V8 5 SPEED. its what ive been looking for!!

now whats the weakest point of that engine??
he said he starts it like once a week, its got HO injecters and a K&N intake on it with a exhuast already. what should i look out for it also has 173xxx miles on it, witch kinda worryes me.

what do you guys think????????