Driveline Problems with 35's and above?

[paul_smith_347]

Ive seen some awesome rigs on here runnin 35" and larger tires. Just wondering if anyone has encountered any driveline problems. U-joints are cheap and easy, but a trans is not so much on the cheap side. Let me know if the bigger tires have caused any driveline problems for any of you out there. Thanks Pics coming soon I hope.... I have lots of plans for my all stock 99 EB. Thanks

 

[walnuts4x4]

personally I have had nothing besides routine maintenance...

 

[tonydiv]

There is no doubt that running oversize tires will create more wear than running stock rubber. My truck apparently had 35"+ tires on it since it was new. The trans was rebuilt around 100,000 miles. Which seems to be earlier than most.

You'll have to replace those normal wear items like brake pads and wheel bearings more frequently. (Which shouldn't really surprise you.)

 

[Expeditionary]

Yeah ive gone through a couple sets of pads and a caliper in that last year. It also needs new wheel bearings.
None of this would stop me from going bigger though. My next set of tires will be 37"+ at least.
Also might want to check you axle code for your gear ratio. I wasnt worried about 35s with 3.73s but 3.55 or 3.31 i wouldnt have gone bigger than 33"

 

[Thermo]

Paul, if you are smart about how you are driving, running up to 35's on stock gearing is not a problem. Going with 36+" tires, then regearing would be highly recommended. Please keep in mind that as you go with bigger tires, you need to reduce the amount of towing that you do. Not so much how long you tow, but how much weight you tow. If you are running 35" tires, you can no longer tow 7000+ pounds. You should really limit the truck to about 4,000 pounds or so.

Once you regear, then what your truck is capable of towing is a matter of what size tires you are running and what gear ratio you are using. If you were to go with say 37's and 4.56 gears, that is effectively running the factory 30" tires with 3.73 gears. So, you would have the full capacity back.

 

[Canadian Expy]

No real problems here .... knock on wood, just one wheeling bearing so far. I've got over 100,000 miles on it. ( not all with 35" )

 

[paul_smith_347]

Thanks for all the tips. I assume Ford still puts gear ratio on a tag on the diff cover? Thats where it is at on my 78 at least....

 

[Expeditionary]

in the door sticker there is an axle code, if its h6(i believe) you have 3.73s
couldnt tell you what the other codes are though.
If yours has the tow&offroad package then it'll have 3.73s 9/10