Doing some upgrades on my 98 4.6L F150 XLT and was wondering peoples opinions on gearing. I'll be adding the RCD 5" and going up to 35's. I do tow a horse trailer from time to time, not a ton of off road driving, but enough for the tires and lift. From what I've been reading up on I'm thinking of going to a 4:10 ratio. Any one have any suggestions or thoughts on proper gearing? Your opinions are appreciated.

 

What do you have now?

4.10s with 35s would probably be around stock.. But since you said you tow a horse trailer sometimes- get 4.56s.

 

x2 on 4.56's, 4.10's would work well if you were sticking with stock tire size, but since you're going to 35's, I would go with 4.56's

 

4.56 or 4.88's

if you plan to go any bigger than go 4.88's

 

I tried 4.56s and changed to 4.88s and still have the stock size tires. I had a TruTrac carrier installed with the gears. You gotta get that setup n the rear. Fronts are stock carrier with gear change. I've yet to find snow deep enuff to slow me down.

 

I agree with the above as well......4:10's would work well with 33" and lower, but anything above that go with 4:56's. I'm sure Kaboom has no problem smoking stock tires on 4:88's......must be a city bomber for sure?

 

I'd go with 4.56's at least.

 

Between the tuning and the gearing the tires are wearing out faster than expected. It does not like wet/damp/snowy pavement. There's a tune made for winter only. 2nd gear starts are needed at times. Feels like there's a load in the bed then.

 

I put a 6" fabtech running 35"s, then went to 4.56 gears, it helped, a little... If I could do it over, 4.88's would definatley be my choice. Especially if you're hauling ANYTHING. The 4.56 made it drive exactly like it was when I bought it bone stock. I'm mostly all empty highway miles now, except during hunting seasons, when I load it down with corn, feeders, dogs, etc. The 4.6 is not a great towing engine at all even for that. According to my edge evo on level two I'm holding a steady mpg between 15.5 and 16 unloaded. Every now and then I'll hit 17 mpg with the wind to my back, but loaded that easily drops to 13-14. I've also got a Spectre cold air intake and no muffler at the present. I'm fixing to delete the rear cats and see if that may up the mpg's a little bit more. 4.88, yup definatley...