I am in the market for some new tires and I am having trouble finding exactly what I am looking for. I have a 2003 F-150 FX4 with Stock 265/70R/17. I would really like to go to a 285/70R or 75R/ 17. Any help would be appreciated. I have been all over (BFG, Goodyear, Michelin, etc.) They say I would have to go to a 16" wheel which I do not want to do. Any suggestions. Thanks

 

That's bs!

You can get a 285/70r17 in a BFG AT, but it is not a common tire like a 285/75R16 so you'd most likely have to order it.

FWIW, Sam's club is the best place to order tires...they won't nail you on the shipping charges.

 

If been covered on this thread I am really sorry, but I have a 1997 f-150 4.2L Scab.

It has stock 235 70 16 on it, time to buy new tires and was wondering it is ok to go with 255 70 16, or 265 70 16.

Which of the two would fit with no lift?
WOuld I lose power and gas mileage?
How about strain on engine, tranny, drivetrain, etc.?

THanks in Advanced

As always any advice is good advice

 

Any time you increase tire size, you increase the rotational inertia that the motor has to over come, this translates into more fuel, and less mpg.

Taller and narrower is always better for mpg, but it's sometimes hard to find a tire that is just taller and narrower instead of taller and wider (heavier tire).

 

Thanks Supermann,

I took your advice and went to Sams Club and sure enough they had them in stock. I am going to have them put on this weekend. Thanks

 

I have a 2002 f150 sc 4x4 7700.Is the suspension height the same as other regular 4x4 or the Xtr or the FX4????Can I put the 285/75/16 on my truck.I find it in stock form a little low for a 4x4..

 

Since it's a 7700 you'll have a bit more room to go even a tad bigger than 285's if you want.

 

Do you think?Does anyone know the actuall sizes of the reg 4x4 and sc4x4 etr's and fx4's.I mean axle to fender clearance.I thought the fx4's and xtr's had more room than my 7700??I know they have bigger wheels and tires but they still seem to have alot of room between the tire and fender.

 

The 7700 has the stiffer front torsion bars where as all the other F150's regardless of trim level, all have the lighter duty torsion bars.

Your torsion bars will not sag as fast as the standard bars for the simple reason that they are stronger. This allows you a little more breathing room for larger tires over time.

 

Forgive me for being a moron, but what r y'all talking about regarding the 7700? Sorry for being ignorant on this since I'm still new to the fullsize truck.

NCSU Wolfpack Forestry......got wood?

 

The 7700 is the Heavy duty option for the F150. A 7700 F150 and a LDF250 are in fact one in the same. They are both based on the F150 frame but have upgraded suspension and internals over the standard F150.

A standard F150 has a GVWR of 6800lbs and a "7700" F150 has a GVWR of 7700 lbs.

 

here is a nice guide to see the diferances in tire sizes in ctual number you can understand to campare and contrast http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

 

hey i was wondering if u have found a list of tire clearance for a 1996 f150 but for body lift not a suspension lift. i have a 3 inch body lift and was looking to take it off and was wondering if my 33'' 12.50 tires would hit my frame. any help?

 

I noticed this thread and couldn't help but to look. I have a 2000 F150 4X4 that I have lifted and installed larger tires on and I just thought I might post some of the issues I ran into along the way as I noted that some of you were asking in this thread. These held true for my individual truck and may or may not hold true for everyone. I installed a 6 inch Fabtech suspension lift combined with a 2 inch body lift. The installation instructions were pretty much straightforward for both kits. Lifting the front of these newer IFS F 150's gets pretty involved, though. If this is the first time you have lifted one of these trucks(as it was for me), 12-16 (full weekend) hours installing the suspension lift can be expected. I have heard of experienced shops doing these in about 6 hours, but for the average person better double that. I wound up having to shorten my tie rod ends by about 1/4 inch to get enough adjustment to have the front end properly aligned. Not all trucks will need this mod from what I understand. I installed 37/12.50/R17 BFG Mud Terrains on this truck on 17 X 9.75 inch Centerline rims with a 4.5 backspace(I think that this is the stock backspace). Some sources informed me that the 9.75 wide wheel could cause a vibration problem but I have not noticed any vibration on my daily driver(I put around 80 miles a day on it) and have around 60000 miles since I lifted mine. These tires do not rub (not on my truck anyway)with the lift combo used if the bumper is lifted correctly to match the body lines using the brackets supplied with most body lift kits and setting the torsion bars at the stock setting when adjusting the bars. I regeared my front and rear diff's using 4.56 gear ratios. Because of drivability issues I would consider lower gears in any of these trucks running tires bigger than around 33-34" Some people might argue this but these gears helped me to maintain all of my truck's power and still get around 14.5 MPG out of the 5.4, which is pretty good for a lifted ride of my height if you ask me. The last issue that I ran into was the speedo calibration. My truck had 3.55 gears and 265/70/17 tires stock. The 37 inch tires and 4.56 gears gave me fits. The stock computer would accept a max tire size of 34" and would not accept my numbers. What I wound up doing was mathematically calculating the error and picking a dummy tire size and gear ratio that would give me the right percentage of correction for the speedo and ABS. For the tire/gear combo I chose I wound up entering around a 30 inch tall tire(if memory serves me correctly) and a 3.73 axle ratio in place of the stock 31.6 tire height and 3.55 gears as the parameters in my vehicle's computer. Everything seems to work fine now and my speedo is within 1 mph of my GPS riding on my dash. I know that this info is a little beyond the scope of this thread but I noticed that several of you were considering lifting your trucks and I thought I'd share my experience with mine and some of the things I ran into. Sorry about the long post.

 

Thanks for the post Johnny