As the title states, I was tired of driving on the street. I needed to get out and lock the hubs in for a little 4-wheelin' fun. It's not Ranger related, but hopefully any enthusiast will appreciate a few pics from the back 40.

The 35" Wrangler MT/R Kevlars are a very nice tire. Although they look funny, I can assure you that they do very respectable off road. Here's my favorite mud hole that gave my truck so many fits with the factory rubber. Now I can idle through it, low gear + 4wd low range.







We found some soft, sandy loam. I spun for about 75 yards in 2wd before the back end bottomed out on the differential.





Shifting into 4wd pulled us right out of the loose stuff without a problem. A mile or so later we found a cool spot to test approach/breakover/departure angles. Needless to say with a 156" wheelbase, it's not exactly good. But luckily the wife is a great spotter. Check out the F250 stretching her legs!







Here's a shot of the underside of an F250.















All in all it was a good time. I did suffer one casualty- my lower air dam, the valence, whatever that big ugly plastic piece is called. I'm considering getting a valence off a 2wd truck because they are substantially shorter than the 4wd ones. But I'm afraid I'll rip that one off too. I may just run without the valence. We'll see what happens in the next week or two.

EDIT:
Here's a quick video we took. I really need to ditch that OEM limited slip. I did a lot of 2-wheeling


Chris

 

I love that truck. Only thing that would make it better is if it was a TD

 

Looks good man! When did you get those step bars? They look good on the truck

 

6.4? No thanks!

Sweet truck man. Nice to see you workin' it.

 

Love it!! What engine and trans?

PS - Your wife looks just as good, lol.

 

I got them a couple of months ago. I have a lot of people who ride with me, many of them being elderly and they were having a difficult time climbing in and out of my truck. I picked up these step bars from N-Fab. I believe the company is based out of Houston. The bars are different than the run-of-the-mill Westin bars, which are VERY popular in this are on everything.

 

I ordered the base engine/trans/t-case combo
5.4L V8 backed by a ZF6 6-speed manual trans and a NVG271 manual transfer case. While the drivetrain combo is the base, it is pretty rare as most go with the 6.4L PSD & Torqueshift auto.

Thanks for the compliments on the wife!
She always says I love the truck more than her. I just look at her and say, "I don't love the truck more than you, Sweetheart. I love both of you equally!"

 

Yeah I thought they were the n-fabs, I couldn't tell for sure though. Yeah I know what you mean, seems like the westin style are on everything now, they even come stock haha. The N-fabs are getting more and more popular though, I want some of those Amp Research electric ones but those are $$$$

 

sweet man... now take off that air dam under the bumper it looks gross lol

 

Looks good as usual, Chris. Thanks for continuing to make me want a super duty instead of the F150. haha
I still can't believe you are running with that snow plow on there! Get a "job 1" valance from the early 08 trucks, they are much smaller. I'm sure tasca ford or whatever it is sells them.
Sounds like you are still happy with the tires, how is the side-to-side stability with the 85 series tire?

 

Nice combo. Usually I'm a bit of a diesel only guy in Super Dutys, but I imagine with that 6-spd the 5.4 ain't too shabby.

More pics of both!

 

looks great.. always loved super dutys. though i do love diesels... and yeah its time to dithc that air.... w/e lol

nice pics

 

Ford + mud = pics welcome any time!

 

mmmmmm mt/r's looks bad ***, how is the mpg going with the new tires?? wife looks fantastico as well nice work

 

cool pics man! now throw a lift on! should be easy since you have no silly IFS to deal with!

 

I was hoping you'd chime in, lol. The tires are actually a 75 series tire, 285/75/18E. But to answer your question, the side-to-side stability is very similar to the stock 275/70/18E tires.

I'll try not to instigate the Super Duty mod anymore; I don't want to be that guy. But... you could get the diesel you want and tempt me to do the diesel mod! haha


After correcting for speedometer error, I lost about 0.5-0.7mpg depending on conditions. With the 35s, I get a pretty solid 13.2mpg unloaded combined city+highway. A full afternoon of wheelin' and a lot of idling (I never shut the truck off off road- A/C is nice!) will knock the avg tank to about 12mpg.

 

Oooh, that's right it is a 75 just on an 18" wheel. Either way, it still looks great especially for being stock height. And that was one of the highest load rated tires I found in similar sizes. Your mileage is about the same as mine, but you get a manual transmission and transfer case which makes me very envious!

Lately I have about decided that any extra money I come up with would probably go toward moving back to Oregon instead of a different truck. This place is depressing us more every day. If I can manage to pay off all of our debt and keep what we have (still wishful thinking at this point), don't be surprised to see me quit my job and pack up. Being here with both of us making decent money isn't worth our happiness.
I'll get a crappy job at a hotel or airport again until the economy picks up. lol

 

Glad to see you working on it/modding it. It's looking pretty good. I really hated the looks of those tires in ads, but they look pretty good mounted!

 

I like the steps. I want to get some for my fsc

 

That truck looks badass. Makes me want one soooo bad

 

x2 glad to see you out using the 4wd

 

Wow I love the truck...that body style has REALLY grown on me!

I don't have the testes to get my '97 F250 muddy. I'm afraid of tearing it up..

Are you drunk? Those 6.4L's are pretty kick *butt*.

 

The truck is looking good, I love those rims. I wish I had the money to get them for my 250.

 

I haven't driven the 6.4L but I hear they are monsters. Fuel economy sucks but I hear with a DPF delete and tune it gets better.

 

youre kidding right? Last time i happened to be at the ford dealer there was a dually in ther getting something big done and the damn cab was taken off the frame for them to work on the engine .... im now just waiting for ford to take a page out of mercedes book and stop putting oil dipsticks in em, wouldnt take long

and numerous people on pirate have yet to report over 13 mpg unloaded with one ...