I would rather have stock or that PimpX Megasquirt setup from Sniper (I believe) especially if traveling with a 30-35 year old vehicle

 

These are shorter than the factory 2wd f150 trucks with 215/75/15
This means since the truck your looking at has 3.55 gears, these tires change your effective gear ratio in your favor to 3.69 (close enough to the common aftermarket [& probably latter ford truck options] 3.73 ratio) giving you slightly better towing performance. Keep them for towing. Put on whatever you want (up to 31x10.5 x15 without a lift or cutting front bumper up) if you want, when you're not towing if you want a beefier truck look.
Don't tow with them on, because you'll then have an effective gear ratio of 3.21. Not ideal for towing of course, but in Florida, that 300-6 would still do it. You just wouldn't be happy pulling out in traffic, trying to get up to speed.

 

The stock efi is perfect if you want stock power and manners.

If it works leave it alone.

Ditto for tires and suspension.

Alot of good trucks have been ruined in the name of style.

 

If you want to go aftermarket ecm. Don’t go sniper. That would be backwards. Holley terminator is the EFI setup. They make a lot for mustangs that will work. Saved money on a new intake.

 

im so confused. so the 295/50/15 is bad or good?

 

It’s shorter than stock tire. You can do it, just not sure why unless you’re lowering it.

 

It is not a stock size... it also not a common size.

Probably fine with no load or towing.

Shorter tire is like deeper gearing, so better acceleration.

Playing with tire height requires PSOM reprogramming on trucks with digital odometer.

 

It's very simple. For towing you want the lowest/shortest gears you can get; example 4.10 ratio. You don't want high/tall gears, for example 2.50

When you change tire size on a vehicle, you change the effective gear ratio. So when you see guys lift their truck and throw on big tall tires, you know they probably ruined their trucks performance (most do not re-gear). It looks cool and it's great for off roading and mudding, but it's not a work truck anymore. They can re-gear it to help and bring it back and it will help a lot, but all that rotating mass still hurts both fuel economy and performance. You can bring back some performance but that fuel economy hit is for good.

When you put on shorter tires (like someone did to the truck you're looking at) you change the gearing for the better, performance wise. The truck takes off faster and tows easier. The lower the gearing, the more fuel you use, but a great advantage is, this also greatly reduces stress off the engine and transmission.

If none of this interests you, don't worry about. Try and keep your truck as stock as possible and if you can, when you need tires next, try to resist the urge to put the largest tires you can on it. You'll hurt the towing performance and fuel economy both. If you can't help it, run short tires for towing and 31" tires when you're not and have your cake and eat it too.

Like mentioned though, the PSOM does need to be calculated for different size tires and if I recall, you only can do that like 6 times. I had forgotten about this, so it's probably not all that wise to own multiple size tires, unless you can run by a gps or something for one of your tire sizes.

All you need to know is this:
Probably the smartest thing you can do if you buy that truck is put 215/75/15's on it after the current tires ware out. Check the speedo for accuracy (adjust the psom if needed) and then keep the truck that way.

 

Adding to the previous post.

Since, you are talking about towing a camper make sure the tires are appropriate for the load.

 

will it still tow with that tire size and if its lowered or will i have to raise it and re-gear it? i included a pic of the truck im looking at possibly buying

 

i was impressed at the fuel mileage my 300 inline 6 got while towing a fairly heavy load, against wind, at 70mph in hilly terrain with stock 235(whichever other numbers) tire size and 2wd and 3.08 rear ratio in late 2024

ive pulled 2 cars of this weight (4,000 pound cars, fairly aerodynamic because the front ends were below the height of the cab so air can slip over


I had positioned this giant hopper thing backwards on the trailer (my dads suggestion) and this is what i pulled on the hilly terrain I mentioned
however, that 3.08 ratio really makes off the line painful for everyone nearby (either stuck behind me or me trying to get up to speed)

The exhaust of the inline 6 tho, sounds really nice when its loaded. doesnt complain but it performs without a fight. I would like to compare to a 3.55 ratio that i hope to some day swap in.

 

2 of them stock sizes for 15s compared side by side. The



if you wanted to have the shorter of the 2 sizes, it looks like falken DOES sell a 215 in Load Range D This is only mentioned because as of like 2 years ago, Falken was the only one that I knew of that made a 10 ply 15 inch tire( the second one in this picture above )

 

There is , to my knowledge, other partciularities than just losing OBD2 connectivity

I think for the 4.9 you are talking about an entirely different EGR setup, that you would have to downgrade to the physical tube, valve, solenoids, etc....then make surei ts vacuum is ran correctly too. THen you would be talking about downgrading the VMW evap valve for a CANP system, whatever that entails, then you would need to forgo the crank sensor which IS great to have but it would be unused by the PCM (sell the bracket to recoup money on the swap?)

The majority of everythign else should be the same, to my knowledge I dont think the sensors would change except for the TPS sensor , which may work just it may be different from the obd1 era? The IAC may be different, but id havbe to see the throttle bodies side by side to know if its different enough.

To my knowledge, the large connector at the fusebox can be made to work for either setup if I remember right. The 96 4.9 has WAC( wide open Ac cutoff or whatever) but i dont think 95 does
The o2 sensors may be different


if you dont want to modify the 4.9 PCM, its about the only way to retain MAF and delete the EGR setup simply, otherwise I think you need to program er out. same with secondary air.

 

You can tow with a lowered vehicle. I do it daily. I do landscaping and my truck has a 4” drop.

 

Yes, like I stated twice now, it will tow BETTER than the factory larger (215/75/15) tires. Smaller tires makes gearing lower. Lower gearing, makes towing easier. You have very good gears in that truck; 3.55. With those tires, you have even better towing gears; basically 3.73 (for simplicity sake.)
Go buy that truck before it's sold! That's NICE! (You lucky rust free vehicle owner Floridians!)
It's probably not lowered, it's probably just shorter tires (if it is, it looks like 215/75/15 might fit anyway).
You have to check the load rating of the tires though. Some of that 5k will sit on the back of the truck/tires. Don't exceed the rating.

Both my '85 and '96 were factory 3.08 trucks. I swapped in 3.55's in the '96 and it's absolutely night and day. You will LOVE the upgrade! Don't put it off. You'll kick yourself for doing so. Yeah, you take a small fuel economy hit, but it makes the truck so much more capable for what you're doing with it.