Front wheel and tire size.

I need to get the truck setting at ride height. What size wheel and tire would you suggest for the front of my 93 F150. 24", 26"etc I feel like the rim needs to stay at 15"

The truck is a stock suspension truck. I would like to have it as low to the ground as I can. I know I can notch the rear framerail but the front has me worried.

Josh

Most of us Lightning truck guys run a 27-1/2 - 28" tall tire. Anything less and they start to look out of place,.....considering these trucks came with a 30" tall tire from the factory.

Josh,
Stick with me as I try to explain this to you. Use the lightest spring possible for the front of your truck to get it to sit at the ride height you want. The lower you get the truck to set on the springs alone will add some stored energy to get the weight transferd to the back of the truck and onto the rear tires. It's going to give you some front end travel that can be limited if need be. But you did say stock suspension. Get the thing as low as you can and you may actually be able to run a taller tire to get the ride height to where you want it to set and have more front end travel.

Example of what I am talking about. I have a 69 Nova here right now that I am finishing up for a guy. Added a rack and pinion, changed everything to the front of the crossmember so it is now front steer and not rear steer, swapped spindles from side to side, MOVED ENGINE BACK approximatly 9" from the stock location, firewall is moved back also. Car is a BBC / powerglide combo. I put small block mid rate springs in the car so the front would settle down and sit nice and low, yet be compressable and extendable to, not bound up so to speak. Got it all together and put the car down on the ground, I was disappointed that it only would collapse or push down very little, checked and rechecked everything, then went back on the great internet and found some 69 Nova 4 cylinder front springs with a smaller wire diameter, same extended length and lighter poundage per inch. Put those in and the car was softer, sat lower but still not exactly as low as I was looking for with full weight in the car. (needed about 1" yet ) . You had to compress the springs to even get them to start into the pocket, so I measured to make sure the srings were not going to be to short for full extension. Good to go with about 3" to play with. So I cut a full coil off, reinstalled and got to where I need to be with a 28" tall tire.

So now to the logistics of all this babble. Stock Suspension #1, Low ride height accomplished with a softer spring #2, By lowering it with the spring and using a taller tire the spindle is actually pushed up away from the ground thus giving you more front end travel,( refer back to #1 - stock suspension ) If you would have used the tire to just lower the truck , it would have lowered it but the spindle would not have been moved any and the tire is the deciding factor , decreasing front end travel. #3 , You have been taking weight off of the front of the truck and I have seen your post of trying to make the thing as light as possible, you are doing essentially the same thing we did with the above Nova project by moving the weight off of the front end, making the suspension weight lighter on the front 2 tires, when you do that the suspension rises closer to the topping out point loosing front end travel in which I THINK is a definate in the needed category with the stock suspension. If it ends up with to much travel you can always limit it , but it is just another adjusting tool that can be built into the suspension of a race car or in this case a stock suspension truck.


These are just my opinions Josh, Something to think about. I am sure others will have some good input on this also.


Let the arguing begin...........

Cool info, thank you!

Copperhead wrote:........truck guys run a 27-1/2 - 28" tall tire. Anything less and they start to look out of place,.....

That is a good point.

A set of real short front runners like say 23-24" will get the nose down lower, but would really look out of place with some trucks bigger wheel opening.

a bigger tire will also give you more roll out,not a bad thing.

Josh look at my truck.
I think the fronts look out of place on it. It might just be me though since the last set on the truck measured 38.5x11x15.
They are 205-60R-15 tires on the factory aluminum outlaw 2 style wheels.
Something like 26 1/2" tall.
mike