02 F150 Transmission

[1900_LE]

Ok here is my situation. When I bought my truck it had 235 tires on it. When I bought a P/U camper for it last year I wanted a little heavier tire. My tire guy said go with 265 tires. So I did. Which of course that changed my gear ratio. Now my truck seems to do a lot of shifting out of O/D. I read in the owners manual that the transmission has a memory in it so it will remember how you drive. If I was to disconnect my battery would this change or reset the memory? If so, would it start shifting different , meaning different RPMs, or would it stay the same? Or should I go back to the 235 tires which is what it came from the factory with? It is a little week on power and the fuel mileage is terrible. I got as low as 7.5 towing my 4 wheeler to Mn a few weeks ago. Although it is a side by side with a windshield. Lots of drag, especially into any wind at all.

I need to figure something out until I can find a diesel P/U for a fair price. Thanks for any input you might have.

[Hafnutz]

265 tires may not have much more load capacity than 235s. They will have a larger diameter which will change your gear ratio and give you less power. There are tires available with a higher load range and the ability to carry more weight. I.E.: load range "C" or "E". However your truck is not designed to use the load range "E" tire. They will fit and work but your rims and rear axle will not carry the loads the tires will carry. If that's not bad enough, very few slide-in campers will work on an F-150 without overloading it weight wise. My guess is you just don't have enough truck to safely haul all this. There is no easy solution other than getting a bigger truck...

[jeffreyd]

do you turn off the o/d when you have the camper on? it would say tow and is located on the end of the shifter. you should be turning it off when you have extra load on.

[1900_LE]

I am not talking about when I have the truck loaded. I sold the camper anyways. I'm talking about everyday driving situations. Places where it would not downshift, such as small hills, inclines, stuff like that, it's now downshifting. When I pull my boat, 4 wheeler, I leave the O/D off. Unless I'm on flat ground, such as I-35 between Des Moines and Minneapolis. Maybe I don't sound real intelligent about my truck but I've had it long enough to know it's lacking a little power. Maybe I just better go back to the 235 tires?

[Hafnutz]

Awwww..that being the case. Go back to the 235 tires. The larger diameter of the 265s is the same as changing the gear ratio from say a 3:73 to a 3:55. Results in less power going down the road. Your speedometer is probably off as well. I think you will notice quite a difference.

[1900_LE]

Speedometer is off. And the tires I kinda figured that. But my main question is about the transmission. Got any idea about that?

[Big Buck Buster]

Speedometer is off. And the tires I kinda figured that. But my main question is about the transmission. Got any idea about that?

Your computer in the truck uses the output speed sensor and other sensor to calculate shift points. If your speedo is off, then your shift points will also be off.

Go back to the 235's, and it should go back to the way it was before you put the 265's on.

[Tom7227]

Since it's agreed that the speedo is off maybe your MPG isn't as bad as you think. If you're going an extra distance every time the wheel goes around (because it's bigger) then you're getting further than you thought. Some math wizzard could figure that out for you. Just trying to save you some money if it's the mileage that has you burning.

[efgh]

I think I remember reading some where that the difference in milage between the 235 and 265 by 16 is 1 tenth in 10 miles, so in 100 miles you went 110.