No. At "speed" with the load moving, at least on level ground, there isnt much power needed to keep it going. ITs just pushing tire friction and wind load.

Resonances are the big killer.

Thats engineering stuff...

BTW, my Dad had an insurance claim years ago of a car driveshaft that broke and tore up the back seat passnegers legs... and another where the whole vehicle pogo-sticked upside down when the shaft stuck in the pavement.

 

So I could do some modifications if I wanted? Obviously I'll be checking legality of modifications with the CDL school.

How does resonance affect towing? Or are you just talking about the drive shaft tearing apart?

 

Maybe he was confused by your description of the situation in the OP and it was not an assumption.:


"Was headed to vegas and had a guy that insisted on driving in my blind spot (definitely not a cop). I was already doing 80 and I figured I had two options: slow down to put some distance, or speed up to put some distance. I opted for speeding up as I had been watching this guy in my mirrors for a while doing the same thing to other drivers (would be hauling *** then would slow down and pace people in their blind spots [like a cop but definitely not a cop] ). So I didn't want this guy in front of me creating a hazard for me.

So I start accelerating enough to get some good distance from that guy and notice I top out at 88mph. What the ****?"


Road rage in the making.

 

This. Especially the tires thing.
If you wanted to go faster with a big truck, the F350 DRW was the way to go. Otherwise, get a Mustang

 

The maximum speed rating of the OEM 19.5" tires fitted to F-450 pickups is 87 mph, not "82" mph.

The foregoing applies from 2008-2010, and from 2015 through present day.

During the years 2011 through 2014, Ford fitted 17" Load Range E tires, identical to the F-350.

Ford Chassis Cab 19.5" tire speed ratings vary by model and year.

1999-2004 F-450 / F-550 chassis cabs were OEM fitted with 81 mph max speed rated tires, that typically failed at 75 mph (I experienced 3 failures, at less than 70 mph).

2005 through present day F-450 / F-550 chassis cabs were OEM fitted with 87 mph max speed rated tires, with the not necessarily universal exception of vehicles ordered with maximum traction tires, depending on model year. (Continental changed tire designs now and again over the last 20 years).

2020 through present day F-600 chassis cab uses a different size 19.5" tire (245s as opposed to 225s), and the OEM issue Hankook 245 tires have a maximum speed rating of 81 mph... which is faster than most 245/70R19.5 tires on the market, which are speed limited to 75 mph.

On the other hand, due to the volume of 225/70R19.5 tires fitted to Ford and Dodge chassis cabs, as well as Ford F-450 pickups, tire manufacturers have upgraded most 225 tires to 87 mph max speed rating.

One solution to "get away" from someone driving in your blind spot, is to simply pull over and wait one minute.

If the other driver is doing 80 mph, then in one minute he or she will be 1.33 miles away. End of problem.

No tuner, no new driveshaft, no upsize in u-joints, no changing output yokes and pinion flanges, no fussing around in FORScan, no biting nails about warranty.

I'm not sure how many minutes it would take to remove and reinstall a rebuilt driveline, plus carrier bearing, pinion flange at the rear end, and output yoke at the transfer case, but I imagine the labor time would added up to a few hours.

I'd trade 1 minute, and zero dollars, against those hours and the cost of parts and tuning any day of the week. And twice on Sunday. I might wait two minutes then, by which time the other driver will be nearly 3 miles away.

 

Something F'd up, never mind...

 

and there you are the "real" solution to your "problem"...

 

ok yeah i can see the confusion. I should've clarified that I was on a desert road and the other drivers were easily a mile up the road that I was watching after the guy ended up in front of me. As well as quite a ways back while I was watching him come up. My mistake there.


Hardly road rage in the making though. That's something i don't do. Wanting to get away from someone isn't road rage and being concerned for my safety with this guy in front of me also isn't road rage.

I mean yeah I don't disagree with this, just not usually my immediate thought process. I should work on that.

 

Originally your story was you need to get away from this guy in your blind spot because you were worried about him causing an accident in front of you, where you sounded like it was going to be unavoidable by yourself. Now you are saying the other vehicles were well over a mile up the road. Cut and dry you had a small bout of road rage or you're the kind of person that gets pissed any time anyone passes you. The smart thing was/is either pull over or heck even slow down, driver passes you and more than likely you never see him again. Let's pretend he causes an accident a mile ahead of you, that's plenty of time for you to react and slow down, stop, get out of the way, etc. You're poking holes in your own story as to why you want the limiter removed.

 

I've hit 100 too and fully expected it to top out at 96 mph, or so I've heard. I was locked into 10th gear, speedo was at 100 and still climbing. I was on a newly repaved familiar stretch of road with zero traffic so I wanted to test it's legs really quick. I was impressed and kinda shocked that it didn't hit any limiter. But, then I thought, maybe it's limited when a trailer is connected? I can see programming like that being put in place.

 

I'll agree, after the discussion with everyone, that yes the smart thing is to pull over and wait a bit. you're making assumptions about me though. Again there was no road rage and I do not care about people passing me. If you assume something a mile up the road has no chance of getting you involved in an accident you aren't thinking about all of the possibilities.

Let's assume for one possibility (not my situation but let's assume) that I'm an idiot and not paying attention to what's coming up, and I slam into the accident that's already happened (one mile come up pretty quick). Now let's make a real life assessment involving my skill with driving (watching as far as possible both in front and behind me constantly). I slow down, come to a stop, or pull over, or safely pass if possible. The two latter options leave me at risk to an idiot or distracted driver behind me that slams into me (the chances of that are non zero). The last option to safely pass if possible solely relies on the possibility of doing that (also a non zero percentage situation).

So yeah don't make assumptions based off of a few comments I've made in this thread. You don't know me or my driving habits based off that.

In regards to removing the limiter, due to everything I've learned here, I'm no longer interested in doing that.

 

Hey man - I agree with you. People that drive in your blindspot are complete morons. That's a d*ck move on the highway/interstate and dangerous. In most cases, I speed up and leave them in the rear view because I don't want those jacka$$es in front of me and my family.

 

Yeah that's my main thing. If I can be in front I'd prefer to be in front, on an open road. On a congested highway there's really nothing you can do and would be dangerous to try and speed up or Bob and weave through traffic, so **** that. Also, getting further away from the bad driver, the intent is not to continue speeding. Just to get some diatance, if possible and safe to do so.

I guess, with these trucks and from what ive learned, that is not a safe option due to the limits of the materials used.

 

It is almost ALWAYS better to have the ones who will potentially cause an accident be a ways in front of you instead of behind you. You can see what's in front of you better than what's behind you - it could be YOU that they're plowing into the rear of. You can brake a LOT faster than you can accelerate - if they wipe out in front of you, you stand a better chance of avoiding the accident.

When I was younger and dumber, I used to try the 'run away from them' thing. Now? I'll just pop the cruise down a couple and let them go. Get them a ways out in front of me, then pop it back up to where I was. It's easier, it's free (actually pays back marginally - mileage goes up minutely for a little bit), they get to find the cop sitting up the road a ways first, and I don't have to worry about anything.

 

When I see someone being an A** on a public roadway like the guy the OP was talking about, I don't hesitate to just call them in now.

Aside from harmonics you have to worry about angular velocity and acceleration-not just from speeding up and slowing down, but the forces that cause internal stress of the rotating part just holding itself together. Once you exceed the critical speed it can just rip itself apart with no warning. Regardless of how much torque or static load is being applied. This can happen to the driveshaft or the tires.

How much factor of safety there is on a part or system is largely up to the individual engineer. There is no standard to account for user error. With the way bean counters are these days and the bottom line being the most important metric I wouldn't be surprised if engineering teams are pushed to make parts with the least amount of material possible while still covering their butts for the performance specifications it has to meet. Factors are often added to account for small levels of statistically probable material defects or unforeseen circumstances and still attain a certain level of reliability. This is all dependent on how good your material and manufacturing control is though and what the desired outcome is given the risk factors. Airplanes are designed with a safety factor of 1. Meaning they are designed exactly for the anticipated loads. This keeps them light, but they also do extensive testing on the materials they are receiving - lots of rejections on raw materials.

Trucks are probably not that tightly controlled. It's a roll of the dice though if you have a part that has a 1.1 or 1.25 factor on it. Could be it's fine with 125% of design load or it might just have an accidental material or manufacturing defect they were trying to account for and will just get it over the limit. And there is a small number of parts that don't make it to the limit. Hence the reason for warranty.

All that being said I just got some 245 tires delivered for my F-450 this morning that are 75mph rated. I don't go any faster than that when towing, but I'll probably run up to 80 with them on occasion when empty.