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Quick update! Picked up a '20 CanAm Defender HD8 a couple months back. Needed something to get around on the new deer lease. Already done a few mods to it. 4500lb winch, SuperATV windshield, and some other odds and ends that aren't pictured here. I'm really liking it so far, it rips and has a ton of power. Also had to get this 16ft trailer to go with it! Got a pretty damn good deal on it and it's exactly what I was looking for. 16ft, tandem axle, two foot gate, and dovetail. It pulls really well.
But I've been itching to re-gear the truck for a long time and now that I'm towing this thing quite a bit from the Houston area to around Austin and down to Laredo quite a few times a year, I decided to go ahead and do it. Did some research and got quotes from a few places. My original plan was to go from the stock 3.55 to 4.10s but after quite a bit of contemplation and math, I decided on 4.56s. With the 295/60 Ridge Grapplers (34") and towing 65-75 mph, truck would down shift into third and really be screaming up hills and a dog off the line. Plus I plan on running 285/65 (35") Ridge Grapplers for my next set of tires. It may be geared down a bit too much but it's not my daily driver. And I figured even if it is, it's considerably less stress on the engine, trans, and torque converter than towing 4-5k lbs on 35s with 3.55s.
I'll report back with rpms and certain speeds and how much of a difference it makes. I'm looking foward to it!
Nice looking truck! Are you going to be regearing your truck yourself or going to have the shop do it?
I had a gear shop in the Houston area perform the swap. Guess I should've updated this thread as it's been about 6 months since the swap and I have about 15k miles on the setup since then.
At 75mph, the truck runs about 2450 rpm. And at 80mph it's running about 2600rpm. Not terrible, but mileage at that speed and rpm is about 13mpg unloaded... I wouldn't advise doing this swap if your setup is similar to mine and the truck is your daily driver. The mpg doesn't bother me since it's not my daily driver. It's a beast off the line now and tows the CanAm and trailer SO much better. Before the gear swap, I would lock out 6th gear when I was towing because the truck was such a dog and was constantly downshifting. Now I can leave it in 6th and it'll run up decent hills and not even downshift to 5th. And even on the steepest of hills in my area (East/Central/South Texas) it'll only downshift to 4th. Where before it would scream in 3rd up a hill periodically.
Looking forward to racking up some more miles in the truck with this setup.
Figured it was time to update this thread. Sold the truck in October of '20. Was definitely a tough move because I loved the truck so much and I had so many mods done to it. But I got a good offer on it and decided to sell it and hop in something new. Plus the new truck was somewhat of a unicorn that I was looking for. Guess I'll probably need to make a new build page for it?
2020 F150 Lariat 502A FX4
5.0L, 10 speed
3.55 E-Lock 8.8" Rear
Oxford White
Sport Package and Black Appearance Package
36 Gallon Tank
No Panoramic Sunroof, not a fan of them and knew too many people that had issues.
04-07-2020, 05:54 PM
