This is my first post here on O&E, I've been reading back through the history and have found all kinds of great stuff here, so thanks to those that have made it happen.
Pictured: On my annual trip up to Tahoe National Forest to play music & ride bikes last summer.
I'm TFritch, and I work for a European car shop in San Luis Obispo, CA. I'm a father (expecting #2), mountain biker, musician, surfer, beer aficionado on weekends, and hopeless gearhead.
My truck is a '95 F150XLT 4x4 5.0 with the 4R70W automatic, and it's got the Off Road package so it has manual front hubs, LSD in back (3.55), and skid plates, which is nice. I've always liked this generation of Ford truck, and finally found one of my own. I've had it for almost a year, and it's served me well thus far. I'd like to develop it with overlanding in mind, nothing too crazy, but ready to go anywhere I could reasonably want to take my family or go mountain biking off the beaten path. I'm very active in the local trailbuilding community as well, and it sees duty hauling people & materials out to a couple of build sites on occasion, though that's really nothing it can't do stock.
I've built a sleeping platform in the bed with a long drawer & storage for my EZ-up, a collapsible kid wagon, water jugs, truck & digging tools underneath. It's easily & quickly removable so I can use the load space fully when the need arises. I'll do a little writeup on that in the future.
The only necessary work at this point is replacing the original engine mounts, and addressing a slight exhaust tick at the right manifold. I may just do long headers to fix that, as I'd like to improve low end torque and fuel economy if possible. It averages about 14mpg, though it's not a daily driver so this isn't a huge deal.
The "wanted" list is longer, of course. It includes an auxiliary transmission cooler, Edelbrock plenum, a small lift front & rear with Deaver "soft" rear springs (per the recommendation of a friend of a friend who knows these really well), leveling bags in back (AccuAir is local to me & we bro-deal each other), a steering stabilizer, a shock upgrade, auxiliary lights front & back (back first, the stock reverse lights may as well be candles), onboard water storage, a roof rack (which I have the basis for but need to plan out a bit) and wheels & tires, which leads me to my questions:
Currently it has the stock 15" steel wheels and 30x9.5 Hankook AT tires, and they're not only getting a little thin but are badly feathered so they make a ton of noise. I know tire wear is not the Ferd I-beam's strong suit, and the tires were pretty well hammered when I got it. So it's coming time for new ones, and I'd like to go up a size without having to consider regearing because I'd really rather not get into that, at least not yet. It has 3.55s currently. Will 31x10.5 BFGs or similar suffice for my goals, or should I just do another set of 30s for now and plan the necessary mods to properly fit something larger? Obviously 33s would create clearance and gearing issues beyond what I have in mind with 31s.
As to that suspension work, is there anything else you more experienced fellas would recommend? I'm not after Rubicon capability, but I want to bulletproof it & be able to get into the CA backcountry safely and with room to spare, and be able to reasonably consider trips to places like Moab for some fun & riding without killing the truck. Nothing that I'd need to consider a winch for, at least not in the foreseeable future.
Thanks for any input you might have, and thanks for the great info & trip reports already shared. Cheers!