i just heard that on the newer trucks it can be regeared for bigger tires by hooking it up through a computer and changing the rpm it changes gears at. would you guys consider that or actually get new gears for it?

 

Both, gears will help by less strain on all the driveline, and the computer will tell it when to shift with new gears/tires..

Jon

 

The "computer gearing" you speak of is not gearing at ALL! That is merely reclocking your speedo and transmission. This same objective is made possible by most hand held programmers such as Superchip or Hyper Tech. If you have significantly larger tires than stock regearing is not only helpful but necessary.

 

No way, you should go back and slap whoever told you that. The actual gears must be changed. As far as gears stay away from Motive, a lot of performance shops around the country won't even install their stuff because they whine so bad. I'd go with Genuine or Precision. I had both of them in 4.88s in my 2006 F150 and they were awesome.

However you'll need a tuner/programmer to correct for the addition of gears and to correct the speedometer as well. I'd look into custom tuning via a Xcal2 or Xcal3 from Justin with VMPTuning.com. The gears and the custom tuning that VMP Tuning did was just awesome. The truck actually had some ***** to it. As far as pricing it's $395 with three custom tune files for the Xcal2. So you can have say a 93 octane performance, 87 octane performance and a towing tune of whatever octane you want or even a gas mileage tune. Justin can do anything you want. Another great thing about the Xcal2 or Xcal3, as with a lot of tuners, is that you can read trouble codes from the computer. Also with the Xcal2 and Xcal3 it will work on all Ford vehicles from mid 1990s. Of course you can't tune more than one vehicle at once and you'll need a new tune but you won't have to buy a new programmer. Tunes are $50 a piece so it's not too expensive. I know it's a lot of information but if you have any questions feel free to ask me.

 

in my case i went from basically a 30x9.50 D rated street tire to a 34x12.50 E rated all terrain. Due to finances i have a V6 with 3.55's. When i did the switch to bigger tires it destroyed my performance and gas mileage. Not to mention that it puts alot of strain on the engine transmission and the gearing, (the whole drivetrain). So bit the cash bullet and put Yukon 4.56's in the back and not only got my gas mileage back to 17mpg but took the strain of my entire truck. It is probably the most important mod you can do when lifting or adding bigger tires.

 

Forgot to add that Yukons are pretty good, too. Just stay away from Motives, simply garbage. Lamatta Performance here in Florida won't even install them if you bring them to the shop.