35's or 38s?
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35's or 38s?
Truck is a 1990 ford f150 4x4 3 inches of body lift it has 35 x 12.5 thorbirds on it now i like the aggressiveness of those. I am gonna be doing a fabtech 6 inch susp lift to this in addition to the 3 inch body already should i keep 35 12.5 or step up 38? Its a 302 and i dont wanna get into gear changing right now i am not sure what gears are in it but i dont wanna get that deep right now. Will the 302 be enough to tun 38s? its a 5 speed manual
-Randy
-Randy
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From: Davis & Newcastle, CA
If you're running stock gears with those 35s on a 302 you are already pushing the limits of that engine/drivetrain. Bumping up to 38s, in my opinion, would be an AWFUL idea with stock gears and a 302. I'm only running 33s and I just upgraded my gears from 3.55s to 4.10s, and I'm running a 351 too.
Thats just my .02
Thats just my .02
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Welcome to FTE,
Ok i dont know how experienced in offroading you are so i will give a well rounded but not overly specific answer.
yes the 302 can turn 38's but a gear swap along with would be best if you ever want to get out of 4LO.
As you can see by my sig ive got the same truck as you minus the body lift, im gettingready to do a 9" suspension lift and will be running 38x15.5 tires, keep in mind that your stock axles will be your weakpoint with tires that big, the TTB will start eating shafts. I am switching my front axle to a D44 solid and to a 9" rear, and will likely go with 4.10 or higher gearing, ive heard sujestions as high as 5.13. Once i swap axles then the weak point in my drivetrain shifts to the M5OD tranny (same as yours) so keep that in mind.
And i would ditch those thornbirds ASAP, they look agressive but are quite possibly the worst offroad tires made, the lugs are spaced WAY to close and dont let them self clean at all, and once mud and crap get in the lugs the tire glazes over and it becomes like trying to offroad with racing slicks.
what sort of wheeling do you plan on doing?
Ok i dont know how experienced in offroading you are so i will give a well rounded but not overly specific answer.
yes the 302 can turn 38's but a gear swap along with would be best if you ever want to get out of 4LO.
As you can see by my sig ive got the same truck as you minus the body lift, im gettingready to do a 9" suspension lift and will be running 38x15.5 tires, keep in mind that your stock axles will be your weakpoint with tires that big, the TTB will start eating shafts. I am switching my front axle to a D44 solid and to a 9" rear, and will likely go with 4.10 or higher gearing, ive heard sujestions as high as 5.13. Once i swap axles then the weak point in my drivetrain shifts to the M5OD tranny (same as yours) so keep that in mind.
And i would ditch those thornbirds ASAP, they look agressive but are quite possibly the worst offroad tires made, the lugs are spaced WAY to close and dont let them self clean at all, and once mud and crap get in the lugs the tire glazes over and it becomes like trying to offroad with racing slicks.
what sort of wheeling do you plan on doing?
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Well here is what i want to do. I want to drive this truc kto work, and be able t ogo out into the woods and take a run at it. and the local mudhole! I dont want it to become undriveable yet i want it to be able to hang! I havnt driven the truck on the road due to a few things i am working on. And i am not sure if there are any mods to the differential i know not a whole lot about whats actually in the truck i know all four wheels dig pretty good so far. I mean can i get by with 35'd until i get around to a gear swap to say 410's I would like to keep the 8.8, and the dana 44 setup i dont want to go way overboard with this just a nice offroad toy and a drive to work truck. Granted i go to work 7 days at a time and dont drive everyday. I plan to build a new shortblock for this as soo nas i get the engien pulled from the 70 ford truck we have. Just gotta figure out how to get some more power out of her without tripiing out the s/d comp. Do these trucks have the e7te heads? Will it throw the compiuter off if i build a 347 stroker for it , and some ported e7's and a slight cam for s/d? And maybe some light port work and gasket matching in the intakes?
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Oh also what tires do you reccomend?
I want somethign thats awesome offroad and can do ok on road i dont care about noise or anything else!! Mainly being aggressive looking and actually working ! and being DOT. Best bang for the buck i guess?
I want somethign thats awesome offroad and can do ok on road i dont care about noise or anything else!! Mainly being aggressive looking and actually working ! and being DOT. Best bang for the buck i guess?
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If your building a 347 stroker your gunna need a new computer tuned to your specific setup.
What considerations do you have for tires? do you care about tread life on street? which do you hit more, mud or trails?
What considerations do you have for tires? do you care about tread life on street? which do you hit more, mud or trails?
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From: Davis & Newcastle, CA
For the functionality that you're looking for in the tires, I'd recommend getting a brand name All Terrain tire. My family has always had good luck with BFGs, and I love the look of them too.
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Well i plan to do alot more trail riding i guess in the osceola forest. tread life dont care to much about as long as its decent.
Whats is my best bet with making more power? And not getting real crazy swapping systems?
-Randy
Whats is my best bet with making more power? And not getting real crazy swapping systems?
-Randy
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From: Davis & Newcastle, CA
Originally Posted by stangbanger
Whats is my best bet with making more power? And not getting real crazy swapping systems?
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Originally Posted by Skandocious
Open up the exhaust, lopier cam, longtube headers, 1.7 roller rockers, electric fan, MAF swap (if you want to really open it up), msd 6a ignition. Thats just a few things that work well on these trucks.
-Randy