I will be getting an 2002 F-250 XLT extended cab w/short bed in a week or so. It needs new tires and I was planning on putting BFG All-terrain T/A's on it. I also wanted to pput on 265's because hey susposedly wear better. The only thind I need to know is what the size of the rims are? They are the aluminum factory rims form ford. Can anyone help me out?

 

If they are stock wheels - they are 16" x 7"

 

16x7 with 4.25" backspacing.

 

thanks guys

 

What tires and what size do you guys run and get the best milage out of them? Are they 265 70R 15 or 265 60R 16? I don't know if that is even a tire size , take the numbers as an example and compare them to yours'.

 

Stock size is 265/75R16. I am currently running 285/75R16 tires (Liberator A/T). Seem to be wearing fine. I rotate them every other oil change.

 

Don't know if the SDs are the same as the others but you can't fit a 15" rim on a 250 without grinding down the calipers, alot.
Mike

 

I have the 4:10 gears as when my truck was built Ford still had the 3:73's dropped. I have always loved the 3:73 gears. I put the Goodyear AT/S 305 16" on the stock wheels to help speed the 4:10's up a little. I actually got a little help on the fuel mileage when I did this even with the wider profile which really isn't so good on fuel mileage.

I know quite a few guys around here that have much newer trucks than mine and they have played with taller tires and have made the mileage go down, didn't care so much, but did go down. Seems to be really where you can run down the road at what RPM to a point, then you load the motor up even with the RPM under 2000 at highway speeds and fuel consumption gets worse.

I know with the 305's and 4:10's on mine if I keep the RPM's under 2250 I get really good fuel mileage. Mine runs up the motor pretty tight at 70 MPH, it will run over 2250 real easy and she will pull on the fuel from there on up. This truck was manufactured when we still had the 55 MPH speed limits, everyone still remember those LOL.

I feel certain if I would drive mine at 55 now she would pull down over 20 MPG, NOT going to happen though. I do really good keeping mine under 75 @ 2400 RPM's LOL. Just thought I would share this.

 

I run 285/75 BFG A/T's on my '03 and they are great. The stock 265 Firestone Steeltex lasted 40K, and basically sucked in the snow and offroad. I don't have a lift and the slightly bigger tire fills out the wheel well nicely with no rubbing. I did lose 1-2 mpg, but that came back with intake/exhaust upgrade. Hope this helps. My gearing is 3.73 L/S.

 

I have 285/75's mounted on my stock wheels that I use for winter, and the rest of the time I run 305/70's on 16x8" wheels. I think stock height trucks look real good with the 285's - fills up those wheel wells a little bit.

 

Just my opinion, but I've had experience with the BFG AT since the mid 80s and again just my opion, but they are not a good rain tire because they have no consistent pattern for the water to escape. They are not a self cleaning tire so they're not so good in the mud or snow. BUT, they are a good sand tire, ride good on dry pavement, have a good load rating for application on a f250 or f350, AND they do look and sound cool going down the road if that counts for you. Again, just my opinion. I think there are a few tires out there with a 50k mile warranty and a more practical tread patterns in comparison to the BFG AT.

 

Hey Rowdyone
With the 4.10 rear end think about adding an aux tranny from somebody like GearVendors.
http://www.gearvendors.com/
At present your final drive ratio in OD is 2.91 the gear vendor unit will give you a double OD that produces a final drive ratio of 2.27 you will be turning about 1700 RPM at 75MPH