hey guys i been lurking this site for a while now and now it is time to join. i have a 2002 f150xlt v6 2wd. i am putting on a 3" body lift, 7.5" suspension lift on 35x12.50x17. my question is the regearing. some of my friends say 456 and others say 410's. i dont really offroad and about 60% of my driving is freeway. i want a lil more aggression than stock but i dont want 8mpg haha so any advice and opinions would really help me out. thanks guys!

 

4.56's or lower, more like 4.88's or 5.13's. a v6 doesn't have much torque, so the more gear reduction, the better. manual, or auto? how fast do you drive on the highway? why the hell do you want 10.5'' of lift on a 2x4?

 

thanks for the fast response Dan
haha its all about looks with a lil bit of play out in the desert here and there. and i have a few hook ups on the lifts so it doesnt cost that much. its a manual and freeway mph's are 75-85mph. i wanna make sure i dont destroy my engine with the wrong gearing. oh and im gonna add a superchip too

 

i say 4.88's for sure. 4.10's would be too high, and 4.56's would be borderline. 4.88's would be great, but 5.13's would be better if you didn't drive so fast on the highway.

 

if i stayed around 65-70mph would the 4.88's or 5.13's be ok on the engine?

 

here's a chart. look for yourself and see what rpm you are ok with. this link has calculators to figure all of this out so you have a starting point. these are rpm's at 65mph with a 1 to 1 ratio, 4th gear for you. i don't know what your fifth gear ratio is, but it is probably around 0.75 to 1.
4Lo.com :: Gear Ratio & Tire Size Chart

 

oh, and if i remember right, v6's should be around 2600-3100rpm for cruising speed, so figure 80mph as your cruise speed.

 

rad, thanks so much!

 

4.56's, MINIMUM!! I have a 4.2 powered 99 4x4 with 35's. With the stock 3.30 gears, it would do 120mph in 3rd gear. But, it wouldn't go any faster in 4th. If you shifted into 5th, the truck would actually slow down!! Top speed in 5th gear was 80mph....on level ground.....with a tail wind. If you wanted to go faster, you had to downshift to 4th.....or sometimes 3rd(if you going up hill).

The manual transmission has a relatively low .80 overdrive. 4.56's would be ideal. However, the engine will still handle 5.13's with ease.....even at 80mph. The 4.2 is a very rev friendly engine.

I'm with Dan...I don't really understand why you wanna put that much lift on the truck. You do realize you can clear 35's on a 2wd with only about 4 inches of lift.......depending on wheel width and backspacing.

 

3.30's a big jump to 4.10...
So saying 4.56 minimum is an odd statement.

Building a mall crawler guys, we'll make fun of him later lol.

 

they were high geared from the factory, kris. trucks and cars aren't the same from the factory. v6 trucks get the suck before they ever leave detroit. look at the smaller trucks. the only ones worth a damn have 4.10's factory. the foreign trucks have anywhere between 3.90-4.70 gearing to make them small motors feel peppy.

 

It doesn't matter what you started with. It's what you NEED. Yeah, 4.10's would have been better than 3.30's. But, would STILL suck compared to 4.56's. I'm even running 4.56's with 35's in my 05 with a 3v 5.4. And I can tell you that the truck would not run NEARLY as well if it had 4.10's. So why would I recommend a taller gear for a smaller motor??

Dan's right about the V-6 mini trucks. Toyota and Nissan equip even their 2wd trucks with gears in the 4.70 range.

I don't know why Ford has to castrate their full size trucks with stupid gearing. I can maybe understand the reason behind the 3.30 gears in the V-6. If the 4.2's had 4.10's.....they would never be able to sell any 4.6 V-8's. But I have no idea why Ford chose to use 3.73 gears with the 5.4. 4.10's weren't even an OPTION!!

 

my truck sits super low in the front. the front bumper valence is only 7" from the ground so in theory a 10.5" lift in the front and 8" in the rear should level it out.i want it big and i wanna be able to mess around in the desert with the truck and not just a dirtbike. my buddy has the same truck with the same lift but with 33's and 4.56's so im gonna mess with it this weekend and see how it is.

 

no mall crawlin here. deserts and badlands all around here

 

i would forget the body lift if you are planning on jumping this truck. the spacers have been known to crack and shatter, and that is a lot of leverage to put on some bolts that have a lot of stress already