I've been a Ford truck enthusiast since I had my license, but I've never been interested in offroad/mud bogging topics until now. Well, I got my F350 stuck in the woods this weekend and needed to use a big 4x4 front end loader with posi axles and ag tires to get it out. I don't want a repeat of this event but I also don't want to weld my differentials and put the biggest tires that will fit under the fenders on the truck either...what should I do?

The truck: 1990 F350 with the 7.3 diesel, 5 speed ZF, Dana 60 front, 10.25 rear - basically a stock F350 with stock wheels and stock size cheap-o brand "M+S" tires.

What the truck does: 85% driving on dry, paved roads often at highway speeds, 5% plowing upstate NY snow (read: can be deep), 10% driving in mud or slush or both.

Ideally I'd get a set of normal size BFG T/A KO tires, air lockers for the front and rear, and fab up a bracket to mount a hydraulic winch to the plow mount in place of the blade...but I'm not made out of $$ so what should I do? Start with the tires? Try one of those Lock-Right units in the rear? Just get a winch and plan on using it every time I go off the logging roads?

Any ideas would be appreciated!

 

A winch and a hi-jack are never a bad idea if you have the cash to put up. Get a big ****** strap (not chains), a shovel, and carry all of it with you and you'll at least be able to get out when you do get stuck.

The BFG K/Os might actually make you worse off than you think. They're weak in mud (not to start that argument again) and I personally don't like them on ice (couldn't see a difference between them and conti's). Which on a plow truck might cause issues. Go ask the guys in the SD forum about tire choices on ice and mud for plow trucks, since a lot of them are plow drivers. Toyo M/Ts are popular, but I've not heard a lot about them in snow/ice.

Do you have an LS rear end already? You won't need a locker yet if you have one, you'll just have to play with the friction modifier in the diff oil and make sure you can lock it up when you spin a wheel, and it doesn't suck like stock limited slip diffs tend to. If you can lock the wheels together, on stock-ish sized tires on the 10.25" axle, you're fine, you won't break anything. A front auto-locker is dicey if you spend a lot of time in 4x4 on ice, and the cash for an ARB might not be a bad idea just to have the peice of mind of being able to make the diff open.

Mind you this is all geared at keeping the truck mostly stock, and useable as a plow truck. You can ask DCSpecial in the SD forum about plowing with a lift if you're interested in that road. If you do lift it, then your options increase significantly.

 

Thanks guys, this is really helpful. The truck currently has an open diff in the back, I'm hesitant to put in a limited slip when the cost difference to go up to a selectable locker isn't that big. I don't think I'll ever lift it but I do have a set of bigger rims for it, currently mounted with bald 33x12.5x16.5 tires. Maybe I should get some aggressive tires for the bigger rims and run those? I hesitate to do that because with stock size tires the truck handles really nicely and gets nearly 20MPG unloaded.

On the topic of tires, I'm glad I asked as I was under the impression that the BFGs were the cat's meow (I see them on a lot of other muddy trucks with plow frames up here). I do have some sort of crazy cleated things from Dunlop on my antique F250 ("mud-rovers", if I remember right), but I don't think those would last long with the road driving I do.

 

Tires make a huge difference, but before you run right out and throw money way,
lets talk about your driving ability. I know everyone is a great driver, and as individuals none of us have room for improvement right?
Well if this is the case, then you are set, but if you learned something from your last stuck, and you attempt a similar situation again without getting stuck, then you have improved your driving ability.
Tires will help, but again before you go running out and kill your pocketbook for some things that you could do without if your driving skills were a little more refined.

Practice makes perfect, and your truck serves as a multi purpose vehicle, and it is a very capable rig even in stock form. This vehicles capability is primarilly based upon the driver.
Brush up on the skills, and you will be amazed at what your vehicle can do.
Case in point, I am out wheeling every weekend, and there is not been a time when I find a new off roader with all of the equipment that a credit card could buy, and still not be able to negotiate rather simple obstacles.
Anyway, I will get off my soap box, and suggest a little bit of practice will get you in and out of some pretty interesting trail situations.
If you are gonna take some logging trails on, be sure you have basic recovery equipment and a friend with a similar vehicle to help wwith recovery.

 

10% Mud, I would not suggest buying a locker, nor would I suggest buying some beefy mud tires.

My 33" BFG A/T KO's are pretty good, they have a long pavement life and handle decently in the mud, they will go through mud you need to but if your going to go play, like the people in the off-road thread, I wouldn't suggest them. Currently whats on my truck now, but i'm mudding more with that truck then anything so i've got it set up for 37" super swampers. As for snow, I hold up better in the snow than most of my buds with mud tires. THESE ARE MY OPINIONS, LETS NOT START ANOTHER BFG HATE THREAD.

To keep yourself from relying on another vehicle, throw a shovel in your truck. You can get out of anything with a shovel and time. I would love to tell you to get a winch, but those can be anywhere from $500 and up!

Hope this helps you.

 

I run 33in BFG M/Ts w/LS in the rear and open front and I rarely get stuck but when I do its still pretty rough. I ended up buying a winch and it solved the problem....now I dont really worry about getting stuck any more.

Using a hand-winch or a hi-lift w/an F350 is a PITA!!!!!!!!!!!! (but it works...but just takes a while)
After doing it 3X I decided to buy the winch

 

I'd highly suggest not modifying your truck at all and just staying away from mud with it. It's a very nose heavy truck, and it doesn't have a particularly big amount of power, and, since it is a plow truck, ride height is very important, how much adjustability is there in your plow harness? If you go up in tire size, you will need to drop the push beam so that the plow stays level and you don't end up with a plow that the cutting edge doesn't completely touch the ground at full angle, and you maintain a proper angle of attack.
And, for snow/slush, the stock size tire in a decent snowflake rated A/T tread is going to be MUCH better than anything wider, or any kind of a mud tire, wider = more floatation, which is good in mud, but, not in snow and slush where you want to dig through to the road underneath, and a mud style tire with large tread blocks and not much siping just doesn't grip in the same situation, and you will be all over the place. Mud tires work in deep fresh snow, but, not in every day normal winter driving.
Personally, I run 2 sets of tires on my dd/plow truck, a set of 35" BFG muds for the summer(not my 1st choice in tires, but, I got the wheels/tires cheap,) and a set of stock sized studded General Grabber AT2's for the winter.

That said, you should be able to put a 35" tire on your truck without any modifications whatsoever.
As for a traction aiding differential, a limited slip in both ends for plowing would be nice. A locker is not my first suggestion for that kind of duty, in winter weather, there often won't be enough traction to unlock it and you are as good as driving around with a spool.

 

Get a come-along. ( A bigger one or you'll probably break some teeth off it. )

 

It sounds like I need a winch and some better tires. Good point on working on my off-road driving skills, too. I do have a come-along (a good two ton AMERICAN made one), but I would have had to work it for several hundred feet up hill to have gotten out with it last weekend. Given the incline, I don't think a shovel would have helped (I actually did have one with me).

Interestingly enough, my neighbor has a slightly newer F350 than mine and drove through the same spot where I was stuck as if it was dry pavement! He's got the 351, stock or almost stock sized tires that look kind of knobby but nothing major, and posis in both axles. He does plow with his truck too.

Now, what winch do I buy...I like the idea of a hydraulic unit because I'd rather not have my winch kill my batteries when stalling out is not an option. I do have an auxiliary belt driven hydraulic pump for my plow so I don't need to mess with the power steering to plumb it in. For a mount I'd probably get a receiver plate for it, find a place to weld a receiver hitch to the plow frame, and plumb hydraulic lines to both ends of the truck so I can use the winch on either end. Recommendations?

 

if you buy a brand name it will be a pretty large amount of $$$$$
I bought a warn off craigslist for 1K but there is a guy on here who can get em hella cheap....12K winch for around $750... I will try to find his info again.

SAMS club also sells a 12K winch for $400 its a "gorilla" brand but I havent heard anything about how they hold up.

 

I think that in this case the bfg a/t's might be a good bet, ive heard good things about them on snow and ice, but as for mud, they are pretty **** poor...

But you say mud is not very often....

Arb lockers are like 800 a piece... Just for some insight.....

I think a locker for the rear would be good. and some tires...

 

one of the biggest reasons your buddys truck didnt get stuck is it is a gas engine those diesels are heavy!!!!!!

 

> but I'm not made out of $$ so what should I do?

lunch box locker in the rear, L/S in the front (selectable locker would be good for the front, but, that will cost $1500+ installed).

If you mount a cheap 6K winch in your bed and carry some cables and ****** blocks, you can usually pull yourself out of many stucks so you can try a different line.

 

lockers are not hard to install....

There is a write up on one in the tech thread....

Yea that diesel engine will pull you down into the mud big time... There is no "floating" on the top... If you want to get though the mud, you will need some aggressive tires.

 

Check out MileMarker's hydraulic winches,you could run them off the hyd. pump,and im sure you could make a quick mount for both the front and rear of the truck.......