ive been going back and forth on what the heck I want to do with this truck....I picked up a nice commuter car, so I have time to do what I want to the 97 f250/350....
as of right now the shifting is at pretty wacky points with the 37's and 3.55 gearing...im gonna try to reprogram the speedometer and see if it helps at all as having 4.56 gears installed is pretty pricey....


it also has a 6" lift...I was thinking about getting the 2.25 rsk kit, but I think id need all new shocks and brake lines, so im not sure that's worth it either...


with the lift the steering needs tightening up....I added a moog drag link end and all the other balljoints are tight but it still isn't super great....what do most people do? I really don't want to send my hub out to get milled....are there just heavy duty tie rods and drag links?
and with this I need to pony up for a dana 60 dual stabilizer...I made a f250 one work that bolts onto the drag link, but I need the real one down the line


and ive been tossing around the idea of single track bars......are these worth it, and when do u really need them? im not punching it or anything im pretty casual driver.


well....those are the things on my list besides the interior and some body repairs....what do I need or what are my wants? looking for some experienced opinions

 

Do you really like the lift that much?

Every single problem you just talked about could be remedied by making your truck stock again.

You can lie to your computer all day long but at the end of the day you're still going to have 3.55 gears pushing 37s. Only way to fix this is stock tires or different gears. There's no shortcuts.

Dual steering stabilizers are about as useful as **** on a bull. In an ideal steering scenario you don't need a steering stabilizer. As components start to wear out this is when the stabilizer kicks in and hides the slop in the other components.

If you want to keep your truck that way you need to look aftermarket.

 

I don't have any stock parts. Kinda stock with the 6" at least. Are there other alternatives for steering than just crossover? I was thinking of going to 35's but the problem will still exist right?

 

Recalibrating the speedometer to match the tire size is NOT "lying" to the PCM. Right now, the speedo is "lying" to the PCM if it's still calibrated for the OE 235/85s. Granted, 3.55 is a low ratio for such large tires, and changing gear ratios will help with overall performance. But since the VSS is on the ring gear, _downstream_ of the diff ratio change, the shift points will still be off compared to the speeds at which the PCM _thinks_ it's shifting.

We're talking two different issues, with two different answers. For overall performance with large tires, change the diff gearing. For correct automatic transmission shift points with large tires, recalibrate the speedometer so you're NOT lying to the PCM.

 

Alright. I'll give that a try first. Any other options for better steering?

 

There is no need for a cross over steering with only 6" of lift

if Everything is tight, there also no need for a stabilizer to mask it either

I drove this truck around for 5 years with Zero issues and it had 8" of lift.
No steering stabilizers and not crossover steering. BUT everything was tight in the front end

 

Really! Man. That would sure save some coin and let me go that extra couple inches with the rsk kit.


How about track bars. R they for just romping on the truck?

 

You may have missed the point , or .........

BTW , I don't remember reading anything about what you have done to verify the condition of the parts you have. I took me 30 seconds to figure out why my steering was loose . Track bar bushings & steering intermediate shaft bushings.

It may be me though . There have been so many separate posts I can't remember them all . Sorry

 

I did find what was loose....it was the drag link end by the pitman arm...I changed it out to a moog....

 

There ya go . See I forgot sorry . But you are still having trouble . Maybe I don't understand what you mean by "loose" Condition of the Tires & alignment can also be a problem .

 

I did have it aligned but they got it the best they could. I was told that the large tires put flex into the stock steering components

 

What they said is a load of crap .You went to the wrong place .Did they give you a print out ?

Again . What is loose to you ?

 

All Due respect to Madpogue ( Good info) . Just so you know , there are a limited number of times you can reprogram the PSOM . So make sure you do it right, & have the tires you plan on running on it at the time you reset it.

 

That is a potential downside. Not a good choice for those who change their tire size based on what's trending....

(Hmm, hypothetically, if one had two sets of tires, of significantly different sizes, and had real-life occasion to swap them on a regular basis, one could [hypothetically] buy a second speedo head, calibrate it to the second set of tires, and swap speedos with the tires. Just a hypothetical supposition, of course....)

 

I'm running 31's but left the PSOM as it was . BTW . I have a Spare PSOM , miles kind of match right now . I bought it when my wiring to the VSS was messed up . I actually think the wiring was the reason the PO got rid of the truck ( THey thought it was the trans ) Also , the miles on the clock were less than on the title. I suspect they were "trying" to fix the shifting issue