35s with the Tbars Cranked
 

POST THOSE PICS!!!

Everyone post up your trucks stuffing 35s with the tbars cranked only. This question gets asked at least once per day, I want to get it to be a sticky.

List your wheel and tires specs, what and where you had to trim.

For those of you that don't know, on 97-03 4x4 f150s you can clear 35x12.5s or 315/70s with just a torsion bar crank, with minor trimming all depending on your wheels back spacing. The widest wheel you can run without major cutting of metal is 9" wide. Wider than a 9" wheel with negative offset will cause you to rub in the splash guard and possibly the metal behind it, this is when taking a sawzall to the metal is required.

The rule of thumb when cranking your tbars is to not go past 24 1/4 inch from the center of your hub to the bottom of the wheel well. Above 24 1/4 inches all of your front end suspension components will wear out 2-3x as fast.

AFTERMARKET TORSION KEYS- yes you can use them without messing up your truck, by fallowing the same rule above, don't go past 24 1/4 inches. Which can be attained with the stock keys, which is why everyone will tell you there worthless. Aftermarket keys are great to get you back to that height if you have a heavy aftermarket bumper or a snow plow in the winter.

WHENEVER YOU ADJUST THE TORSION BARS YOU NEED AN ALIGNMENT

35s AND REGEARING
Everyone asks do I need to regear for 35s? Well it depends, do you want to tow still? Do you want your drivetrain components to last longer? And do you want your low end power back? You can run 35s with stock gearing but you sacrifice everything above. If you have 3.55s or lower I recommend regearing, your mileage will suck, power will suck and towing will suck. If you have an fx4 with stock 3.73 gearing you can get away with out regearing, but power loss is still noticeable.

Here's a gear calculator thanks to Craigv!
http://www.rcgearhead.com/gearing.html

AXLE CODES
B6-3.73 limited slip
H9-3.55 limited slip
B5-4.10 limited slip
X27-3.31 open
X19-3.55 open
X26-3.73 open
X27-4.10 open

Well that should cover the basic knowledge for everyone, lets get this to be a sticky so the same questions aren't asked everyday.

315/70r17 with t bar crank and 1 inch taller blocks in rear to level it out.

Should also mention that 285/75/16 and 285/70/17 will fit stock 4x4 with or without minor rubbing and no torsion bar adjustment.

3.73 was not stock on FX4's. 3.55LS was more common, at least on Supercabs.

Good tips keep em comin!

I have a 03 fx4 single cab running 35s, any idea what stock gearing is for the fx4 single cab?

Check your door jamb sticker, look for axle, if it says H9 you have 3.55ls if its B6 you have 3.73ls.

Awesome thank you, learn something new every day

This is awesome, thanks 03FX4604!

Perhaps you could update the first post every once in a while, aggregating the info others post. That'll make it even more useful and easy to find all the relavent info even easier.

OK, I have another question. I ordered the 35's, and will get the place to crank up the torsion bars to level it until I get the lift installed.

I plan on doing some light towing, and am therefore interested in what it takes to re-gear.

I have a 1998 Lariat 4x4 the the 5.4L and the tow-package (if that even makes a difference), but the door-jam sticker is missing. Anyways, using the helpful VIN Decoder from this site, I found that my truck has 3.55 gears, but it also says that the max size is 3.55. Is this true, and does that mean that it's impossible to lower the gearing?

Mine are 16x10's and fit fine and i cut no metal at all and 305/70's on these wheels needed a bit of trimming too.

Attachment 572871

Attachment 570848

Attachment 573856
They still werent rubbing in the rear and I was trying.