Ok, I feel like a woman in a shoe store here...I can't make up my mind! So, I figure I'll turn to you all for some input. I have an 06 F250SD that I want to lift and put bigger tires on. Originally I wanted to go with 35's on 20" wheels. Then, I started considering 37's on 20's or 22's. I've never been real sure on what lift I want or need. I'm concerned that the truck will not be practical with 37's. But, I really like the looks. I've read where a few guys have went 35 and wish they would have went 37. What lift will I need? Any suggestions? Keep in mind I like the LOOKS of 37's but this truck will be on the road 98% of the time. I'd like to go 37 IF it doesn't mean that my truck will turn into a loud, rough riding, poor handling rig that I have to use a forklift to put my kid's bikes in the back. Just curious what everyone thinks....oh, and pics are more than welcome!! Thanks for your input!

 

Also, please be specific on any lift suggestions. I really have no idea what I need (size, brand, 4 link, shocks, etc) for either tire set up. Thanks again!!

 

if you go 37's you will have to regear axles, so this is the expensive rout
if you go 35's all you have to do is get a leveling kit
depends on how much $ you want to spend

 

Like said above it all comes down to how much you want to spend...
37's you should get new gears which can cost around 2,000. 35" tires are about $75-100 cheaper a tire than 37". As far as lift height 6" for 35's and 8" for 37's. Brand of lift will depend on who you talk to but whatever you get stay with a big name brand procomp, icon, skyjacker... 4 link kits or radius arm kits or radius arm drop kits will all boil down to how much you want to spend since you are mostly highway and not offroad you don't need a fancy 4 link kit but they look sweet.

What's your budget?

 

Huh, I read in a 4 wheel mag that 35-37 tires would be fine with stock gearing. Maybe that's not the case. I'm assuming there are no real advantages to spending the extra money on a 4 link system since I will be driving primarily on road. As for the leveling kit...I don't like the looks. I don't want or need a huge amount of wheel clearance, but 35's with just the front leveling kit look too stuffed to me. Just my personal opinion. I'm not interested in changing the gearing at this point, so I guess a 6" lift with 35's is probably the way to go. Wish I had two trucks side by side with 35's and 37's so that I could walk around and compare the two. Lol. Thanks for the help!

 

What engine do you have? The 5.4 and V10 need higher RPMs to put out their real power, that's why some V10s came stock with 4.30s. A lot of people feel that the 6.0L really should have come with 4.10s stock instead of 3.73s, and several guys here have regeared to 4.30s and been really happy. A regear to 4.56 is a good thing for any truck running 37s, but you'll always get people who swear you don't need to bother with it and they'll give a laundry list of excuses. Personaly, everytime someone shows a truck that hasn't been regeared on 37s towing a trailer, I'm waiting for them to come back and say they burned up the transmission, because that's where the stress from not regearing goes. Plus, since usually the goal of lifting a truck is to increase it's utility offroad, regearing is a great excuse to drop in a TrueTrac or a Detroit locker, since the stock LS unit commonly accepted as a piece of junk. But if you want to wait, that's your call. Personally, I wish I was regeared to 4.30s.

A 6" lift and 35s is going to look stretched out and goofy, the tires that come on stock 20s are 34s, and I run just under 35s on stock suspension. That doesn't look stuffed to me I don't think:


Get an Icon 4.5" lift kit, it comes with everything you'll need to do the lift; it's short enough that 35s won't look wierd, and then you can decide if you like the look, and the power that you'll have without regearing. Then, that kit is expandable up to their 7" lift with basically new coil springs, so if you decide to upgrade to 37s and want them to look less stuffed, you have an easy way to get 2.5 more inches. If you put 37s on your truck, I get the feeling you'll start wishing for either a tuner or gears, and if you have the PSD, gears is definately the way to go unless you want to get into supporting mods for engine programming.

 

go here and enter the sizes you want to see, great site for this.

http://www.trucktoyzperformance.com/...earch-blue.php

here is my truck 6" and 35's, I don't think it looks streched out...

 

My truck with the same tires, 2" lift: I think they look small under your lift personally,

 

Go with 35's on 17 or 18's ( more sidewall better ride on road better ride off road, tires for 20/22 wheels are way more expensive , difference of 1" ride height from 37-35 worth the $$$ ? ) Lift go the 4.5 one that would be plenty for 35's just go with a wider wheel like 9" and the tires will look nothing like stock u see alot of trucks on 35's and 7" wheels look very stock ...put the money you'll save on a 8" with 37's on 22's to traction bars for rear ( axle wrap bad ) plus u mentioned using the back jacking it up makes it a pain for loading anything...all that said make sure u post some pics when 10" lift 40" tires on 24's is on

 

It's not a 2006 but it is a 6" lift with 35" tires, I had a 4" lift with 35" tires for years and always wondered why I didn't go 6", now with six I may go with 37" tires but I have a choice.

 

Joe B how wide are those weld rims?

 

They are the dreaded 16.5 x 9.75 that you can't get tires for, Hahah

 

4.5" Icon (Donahoe Racing really, but exactly the same)

I thought it was the 7" kit for a while. You can see that even the lowly 4.5" lift gives plenty of room. Also, my rims are 18x9 Welds with 35/12.5/18 mudders.

17/18" rims give you more sidewalk protection if you offroad. If your truck will never really see dirt, a set of 20" dims will be better IMO. THe shorter sidewall will offer a more firm ride with less flex on corners or braking. More stable for a street truck, but still good for light 4x4

 

WOW!!! Thanks for all the great posts guys, it really helped. I think I know what direction I am going now. Personally, I like the looks of a 6" lift. The 2.5-4.5 lifts don't look bad, just not as much wheel clearance as I like. Just a matter of personal opinion. For now I'm going to go with 35's on 20's because I don't have the cash to do the gearing. Another reason I want to go with a 6" lift...I can go to 37's later if I decide to change the gears. Jlmotox, the link you gave really helped a lot. I could look at a lot of different set ups. I'm still torn between 35's and 37's, but my budget settled that dilema for me. Maybe later. I don't think I'm going to go with a 4 link since it's just extra cost, and as I stated earlier other than putting a round bale of hay in the pasture for my horses the truck probably won't be off road. Suprisingly, I don't care for the looks of most of the 4 link systems. I know a lot of people love the way they look, I guess I'm just different.

One last quick question...I like the looks of the wider tires, I'm guessing 13.5-14.5. Will those work on a 6" lift without wheel spacers? Or, do they need spaced out?

Thanks again for all the great posts. I will post pics when I get it all finished.

 

One other question...any suggestions on good websites to buy the stuff? Obviously there's 10 million sites online where you can purchase off road parts, wanted to see if you all had suggestions on any good ones. Thanks!!