hey guys....just wondering who tows with a 6.0 and if you added bigger tires but did NOT re-gear. how does it tow? I have 3.73s and I am deffinitely going to a 35" tire....but thinking of 37's. thoughts? thanks! oh btw, I tow 6k lbs a few times a month. wont be more than that for a few years at least and no tlooking to re-gear righ now.
I wouldn't go with 37's. I don't own a 6.0 Ford by any means, but I have driven a couple of them. Going off my gearing that I currently have with 33's and 3.54's, it's about as high geared as I could tolerate when towing. Getting loads moving from a dead stop on a grade boggs my engine pretty good for a few seconds and at those times I wish I had a lower final ratio. Granted, you aren't towing very heavy, but the PSD isn't as torquey as the Cummins on the bottom end, and again I wouldn't go with 37's. Personally, I'd probably not go over a 33" with 3.73's, especially with a PSD 6.0. Don't forget too that the bigger tire you have, the more it effects the handling of your truck when towing.
what if I added a programmer for some more low end? the bigger tires I understand as there is more sidewall flex but I was going to get 22" rims and use a 35" tire which actually has .8 less sidewall than I have now. i know its all speculation but figured it would handle a little better. and you cant talk me out of adding wheels/tires....it just has to be done! lift is already on the truck...Icon 4.5" and it rides and sits GREAT!
From my understanding, Ford puts the stock size of tire and wheel on there because that combination works best for that truck. The farther you deviate from the stock setup, the worse-off you will be. Although it may be tolerable to run larger tires, you will notice your mileage and acceleration go down, as well as accelerated wear and tear on your steering and drivetrain components. RJ is right, stick with a 33'' tire if you want to keep stock gears, if you want to go 35''+, you should probably re-gear so it ends up back near stock. Oh and by the way, simply throwing more power in with a programmer will not solve your problem.
A Ford with flashy 22's, nope....thats not over done at all....:stir: Please tell me you aren't going with a big Super Single 22.5" truck rim are you? 22.5's and 24.5's will just make your gearing even that much worse due to their rediculous weight. A programmer basically won't make up for improper gearing, you would be best off with a 4.56 gear with 37's. Having a large 22" flashy wheel won't make much difference with a 37" tire with stability when towing AND not towing. That much rotational mass is going to make a fairly negative effect on the truck in every category you can think of, except for offroad uses of course. If all you plan to do is pull around small stuff that doesn't weigh more than 6K, then you could probably get away with the stock gearing and 37's, many people buy HD pickups and just want the big lift/tires/wheels and don't bother with gearing, but never plan on actually using the truck for it's intended purpose. Those trucks that are just a fashion show on wheels; the stock gearing probably will work with almost any tire size. If you plan to use the truck the way Ford built it to be used, you aren't going to want to go over basically a 33" tire. 35's might work but I'd still regear to 4.56 to stay in a decent gearing range, but that won't help the negative handling effects. Anything bigger than 35's and it's starting to limit the vehicles towing capacity anyway, regardless of gearing.
Not to mention you will be lucky to get 13mpgs with the lift and 35s and 10mpgs with 37s. My buddy had an F-250 6.0 4x4 ex cab short bed with a 6speed manual. He had 33s on it with 3.73s and even with the added gearing of the 6speed (granny gear) It would bog off the line with a load. It was chipped intaked and exhausted and ran pretty good empty. The 6.0 is NOT a torquey motor by any means and has the worst bottom end of any diesel truck I have driven. Adding bigger tires w/o re-gearing will just make this problem more prevelant. I realize that you want a cool looking truck (the 05-07 Fords are the best looking trucks out there in my opinion) but you can do things and then you can do things right. just doing things may be cheaper initially but will tear your truck up and cost you lots more in the long run.
I currently love my setup of larger tires. It may not help your case since my truck has factory installed 4:10 gears. But I am running 315/70/17r bfgs. I'd recommend having the truck tuned with an SCT, most vendors can send you custom tunes to adjust the tranny for larger tires and help correct the speedo. Here's a pic of my truck. Truck does see some mud on occasions.
well the 35's are here...from what I have read over 5-6 forums..the majority say they have no issue's. prob wont get the rims till next month but i will let you know
yeah let us know how that works out regarding fuel mileage... mine went down when i had a 3rd gen dodge...
still holding back on rims....have about 1k miles of towing though with the 4.5" lift and its fine...seems to tow just the same with a 5-6k lb loadand same gas mileage
