Transmission damage if I lift and add 18s with 33s????

[NewbieVet]

So I stopped by my buddy's shop today and had a chat with his head salesman / mechanic. They don't do lifts there, but the guy told me that if I did a lift on my expy and then put 18s with 33s on them, I would need to modify the transmission or it would become damaged as a result of the 33s having a 2inch plus increase in diameter? Yall' know i don't know shyyt about this stuff so I put it to ya', is this right?? Thoughts / comments welcome! Cheers!

J

 

[SOLISIMO]

Full of crap dont listen to him, you dont even need to change the gears. They need to get out of the Flinstones age

 

[KWT2000]

going to 33's is not a problem don't listen to people like that.... look at walnuts with 37's

just take care of your stuff and maintain it... get the speedo corrected so you shift points are correct and you will be just fine

 

[SOLISIMO]

Were these them?

 

[KWT2000]

 

[panda24619]

sol. quit posting pictures of nuts family! thats not cool. you mods need to stick together. haha but yeah its a load of SHIT! smooth from the old forum, no clue why hes not on here yet, has 32s or 33s and a 3/2 lift. no problems. hell he off roads in it too. works pretty well. less times pulling him over the easy stuff. but he did get me out of a sticky situation since talls couldnt do it for me. haha

 

[JDMitchell]

I have 33's with a 3/2 lift and I have not had a single problem. I don't drive my Expy a bunch but when I do, I usually am finding a mud hole or hauling bikes. So it definitely doesn't get pampered.

 

[2000eb]

i have ran several lifted vehicles with 33's etc. the only way i guess he could justify what he was saying is if he was refearing to the lazy transmission shifting these expy's have. sorry i dont know about your transmission so someone else will have to confirm or correct me. the first gens do have the lazy shift cause its considered more luxury the truck etc. but a programmer can fix this issue. and if you dont adjust the shift pressure your just gonna shorten the life of your tq converter thats all. and by the way these things have a decent size tire stock a 33 isnt that much bigger. so i would say the guys vehicle knowledge is mostly hear say and not actual experience. there are alot of so called mechanics at shops that are way better at blowing smoke up your a$$ then actually fixing your vehicle


o and sol that pic is way off hillbilly rednecks where some of the first to start lifting anything that moves they are probably just tryin to figure out how they should lift it and if they can fit a deer in the trunk

 

[ExpyPlowGuy]

You'll be fine. The 33's are only going to be a one inch difference. The only issue I have on mine with the 33's is the traction control kicks in sometimes because of the bigger tires so I've gotten into the habit of turning it off.

 

[tallsville]

didn't you figure out that the tires you are running now are close to 33's? and you might to tell your friend to get rid of that guy. if he is telling the bosses friend that kind of stuff what is he telling the customers. wouldn't want him giving your friends shop a bad rep.

 

[tonydiv]

Look, there is no doubt that towing or running larger tires puts more strain on the transmission. That is something we all know and accept. The difference in life expectancy is maybe 15 or 20 percent. A programmer will help firm-up shifts and reduce heat and wear, which will increase the life expectancy of the trans.



Now, my truck had 37" swampers on it from the day it was born (it was built as a show truck to bring to trade shows) and the trans had to be rebuilt at 100,000 miles. They never used a programmer though. I assume that poor maintenance, the Florida heat and the sloppy shifts were the cause of its failure.

 

[jacks3am]

Bigger tires cause more stress on the drivetrain, but your tire/rim combo is not going to make a difference at all. the only times ive heard of tires messing with the trans is when people lift diesels with automatics and dont regear, which is not good

 

[Thermo]

I ran 35's on my stock tranny for many, many years. NOt a problem, if.......

You knew that was coming. Keep in mind that Expy's have the potential to come with 3 different gearing possibilities. You have the choice of 3.73, 3.55, and 3.31. If you are adding 33's to a truck equipped with the 3.31 gears, that can lead to problems as the motor will be running too slow and therefore the tranny is going to be getting stressed a lot. If you have 3.55 or 3.73 gearing, then it isn't a problem as long as you are using it as a people mover. But again, notice i said a "people mover". If you decide to start towing heavy trailers (over 5,000 pounds), then the bigger tires are going to start adding to the total stress on the truck. But then, how often are you towing a trailer like that? THe rule of thumb I would use with the 33" tires is if you have the 3.73 gears, then limit the trailering to 6,000 pounds. IF you have 3.55 gears, then limit it to 5,000 pounds. By doing this, the total stress inside of the tranny will be still within allowable.

So, for daily driving, put on the 33's and drive away. The odds of you having the 3.31 gears is highly unlikely as this gear ratio was used on only like 1% of the trucks. MOst of them came with 3.73 gearing in the early years, but later on the 3.55 gears were more common to help with mileage.

 

[Big Red Monster]

is thermo like some sort of Guru? lol sorry to kind of steal your thread but quick question for thermo. my truck is a 2002 eddie bauer with the AWD option and I have the 12 bolt rear axle. my gearing is probably 3.73 right?

 

[tmajikman]

is thermo like some sort of Guru? lol sorry to kind of steal your thread but quick question for thermo. my truck is a 2002 eddie bauer with the AWD option and I have the 12 bolt rear axle. my gearing is probably 3.73 right?

Look at the tag on the diff to confirm, if you have the towing package it more than likely is, the tag will tell you everything.

 

[tonydiv]

Just remember that you are going to have a reduction in power getting to the ground, to the tune of about 10%. A lot of people don't think about that and end up being disappointed with how the truck runs once they bolt on those bigger tires.

 

[walnuts4x4]

DONT LIFT IT OR GO TO BIGGER TIRES!!!






hell as people said... I have stock gears and stock tranny turning 37s.... as well as tow my 17ft boat... as people said it is "harder" on the drivetrain....so drive easier and baby the truck a little more and no problems....

 

[NewbieVet]

is thermo like some sort of Guru?

Do a quick search of the old forum and I'll think you'll find that yeah..."Guru" is probably an understatement.

 

[panda24619]

well hes a car god! like i keep saying. we need to change the saying under our names. his would be car god! and just cause you have the tow package dont mean you have 373. i have the tow package and every cooler given from the stealership you could imagine and i have 355 gears and open diffs front and rear. look on the door jam. itll tell you axle codes. http://www.fordexpeditionforum.com/showthread.php?t=721&highlight=axle+codes and again the car god speaks! haha see i have axle code 17. i have a 98. so that mean i have 3.55C or 3.55 gears and open diffs. wish i had limited slip. but o well. and also wish i had 3.73. but thats not a big deal. when i make this my project/money pit, if i keep her... im going to get detroit rear arb front and most likely a really low gear. like 5.13 or something close to that.

 

[Thermo]

Big Red, when it comes to the size of rear axle you have, if you have the 5.4L motor, then you definitely have the 9.75" rear end. If you have the 4.6L motor, you more than likely have the 9.75" rear end as Ford pretty much went to putting the 9.75" rear end in the back of all the Expy's. As for the gears, the axle codes are the only way to be sure short of lifting the rear end of the truck and then rotating the rear driveshaft as you count the tire rotation. LIke Walnuts said, if you look on the rear axle (while facing the front bumper) the upper right corner will have a metal tag. You will see the code (2 characters) and then in the other corners, you may see something like "373", "373LS", "355" or 355LS". These are also an indication of what gear ratio you have and whether you have the limited slip (LS) option.

As for being a car "god/guru/etc", I am just someone willing to step out and try something a little different. I was one of the first to step up to 35's and am the only one I know of running 37's with only a 4" lift. After dealing with these trucks for 14 years (I got one of the first off the line), you get to learn what works and what doesn't. I have also been fortunately enough to have people willing to let me work on their trucks for various projects. I also am not afraid to pass on the information to others so they don't have to have the learning curve that I have had.