Horsepower loss

[Cooter199]

I am going to get a 86 Ford ranger as my first truck. me and my dad already drove it but its lacking power. does anyone have any ideas for getting a reasonable amount of power but without a lot of money? thanks for reading my post.

 

[Big Jim M]

Put shorter tires on it!!
Big JIm

 

[Cooter199]

but its going to be going on dirt roads. and needs bigger tires

 

[Cooter199]

otherwise i would

 

[CountryBoy704]

as long as you're not in deep mud or something extreme the tread is more important than size, also when i bought my '87 i gained a lot of power by just cleaning and replacing all the fluids and running seafoam for about 1000 miles, it wasnt taken care of and everything was gummed up pretty bad

 

[Big Jim M]

Howdy cooter

but its going to be going on dirt roads. and needs bigger tires

When the tire size is larger than stock size the engine thinks the truck is going UP HILL at all times. So the engine loses power.. POWER is in rpm's. The closer to idle speed the engine is the LESS power it has.
So by using SHORT tires you will have the most power the vehicle can muster.
There is another alternative... change the rear gears out to a higher numbered ratio. That will allow the engine to gain rpm at all speeds and will get some power back.
Big Jim

 

[jhammel85]

These things are pretty slow in all honesty. I know mine only got worse once the 30.5"'s went on.

There's tons of threads about adding power but your best bet is a fresh tune up, oil change and possible regearing. Personally, I haven't regeared because I really dont care that it's so slow. Gets me where I need to go, it just sucks merging onto a highway.

 

[Beanmachine7000]

*cough* V8 *cough*

 

[Cooter199]

i dont have the money or time. and would prefer to have basically the same engine because its one of my dads old friends truck and he just died awhile ago. so in respect i want to keep it somewhat stock

 

[gaz]

"Cooter199",

I agree with BIG JIM but the converse is also true. Since your are planning on larger tires correct for the gearing and call it as cheap as it gets. I see sets for these things all the time for $50 or so.

Find out which gears you currently have, which axles and post the info so the forum can assist you selecting the gears that will best correct for the larger tire size.

Back to BIG JIM being correct, it is still more weight to spin so even when the math all balances out you will be using more force to spin the new weights so don't expect it to go faster with only a tire and gear swap.

I happen to have a set of Ford 4:10LS for the stock 7.5 rear and the D28 front. We could talk SONGS. It is possible that you are already enjoying 4:10's so check them first and find out.

 

[Cooter199]

i was just thinking it over and decided that i would leave the stock height but dont want to put smaller tires on it

 

[strvger]

don't know what you're "stock height" is. my 83 4x4 came with 195/75x15 tires! yep, 26.5 inches tall!! check your axle tag or the door sticker (then the tech library here to read it), and if you have the 3.73 or 4.10 gears, then i'd go either 235/75x15 or 30/9.50x15 tires. they are essentially the same height. much better choice of tires that will fit easily without needing a lift. even the 3.45 gears that many came with would handle the larger tires without much of a problem really. good luck, and welcome to TRS!