I ran 265/70r15s on the 66 F-100 that I had. It had a mini-spooled rear end and didn't squall or whatever that bad. They were some pretty wide tires also. Not sure if you can run something that wide on a maverick. Wider = more squall
Mine are 235/55/17. I have tall gears and tall tires with great tread and I still lose traction when I take off. I think a locker of some kind will remedy that, but I also feel pretty certain that if I'm going to take apart the rear to install a spool or LSD then I'm gonna swap gears too and that's gonna change things up. And of course I need to keep the budget down so a mini spool is looking very tempting, but this is what I drive every day and I have small bumpers which are mostly just decorative, no airbag, a wife, a kid and I don't wanna die... Decisions, decisions...
Very true, but they are VERY fun when you ARE expecting them... Otherwise, I agree with Ray 100% in his description...I hear mine most when I get on gravel or a driveway that has a little rocky debris. Then you hear the rocks moving around. When driving normally, i hear nothing, and just a tiny scuff on sharp 90* right turns in the neighborhood.
Running 4:30 gears with 275/60R 15 Tiger Paws. Not the best tires in the world but they were on the car when I got it.
Interesting. I would have thought the lower gears would be problematic, but your gears are lower and your tires are wider than I'll probably ever run. Is that the key then? Wider tires? Scooper, your tires are nowhere near that wide though, right? But your gears are pretty low. Is it the gears then? I get the impression that both of you consider your cars to be pretty streetable. Would either of you be hesitant to drive your cars on a wet road? How 'bout every day to work? Do you think there's undue stress on the reareng or suspension when you're not making all your trips in a straight line a quarter mile at a time?
Gear ratio has some to do with it... But my old 66 bone stock 390 would peel a 2.79 31'' tall tire off in a heartbeat Put cam, intake, headers, 3.70 gears and a minispool and the 275/70s and it wouldn't turn a tire unless you really made it. Never spun at the track if id just barely heat the tires. Wider tires and both axles having to turn helps quite a bit for traction I drove this truck everyday to work, and up to the track ever weekend (about 140 miles round trip I think) and never once hesitated to drive it. If its the only car you have and your family rides in it... it's all up to your driving skill but Id shy away from a mini-spool if its the only vehicle you have just for piece of mind.
Oh, no... We have the Mom Mobile for that. A very safe, practical, economical and utterly gutless '04 Dodge Stratus. It's actually safer for me to not drive that, lest I forget that I can't merge in it. No one else in my family has driven the Maverick, although there has been more than one unauthorized attempt:
my tires are 255 wide, next size down from Ray's. Widest I can fit between my fender lip and leaf springs. Streetable? Completely, yes. Rain? Yes, but I would never accelerate through a turn in the rain. I have driven it in the rain and I just pretend it has 600 hp (drive with a VERY light right foot), and I am safe. If I hit it on wet roads or even accelerate hard on a turn on dry roads, the back end will break loose. If there is nobody on the road with me, I do this on purpose ALOT to practice for the time that WILL occur when I don't mean to have the rear end break loose, and I will have had the practice to correct it. I have not yet popped out the axles to check for twist. When I put the spool in, I bought new axle bearings and stopped at the last minute and started an experiment. I was going to put a thousand miles on the spool then pop out the axles and check for twist. I took a chunk of titanium ground to a point and scratched a line the full length of each axle with a straightedge, and when I pop them out to swap bearings, I will measure for twist. This will show how much twist I am getting from several trips to the track and much daily and street driving. I just haven't got a thousand miles on them yet, and have had several other projects pop up. But I still have the bearings.
Man, I sure said "twist" and "measure for twist" alot in that post... Faceless, I always pictured you being just a little bit older than that. Good looking car, by the way
I first finished this car in 04 and have only had it on the track on two occasions, both times at the Maverick Round-Up in 05 and 06. The gears prevent me from driving long distance on the highway so I have to trailer it to shows far away. If it's within 30 miles, I usually drive it. This past October, I put about 700 miles on it in one week of cruising. It's totally a street car and lots of fun to drive. However, I would not drive it every day to work with these gears. I have another car I'll be building soon to be my long distance cruiser...with a/c and all the extras.
Good to know. I think the lowest gears I'll want would be 3.55. I hope you'll share the results, sounds interesting. I used to do quite a bit of that "practicing" you mentioned in my previous car, with a 3.42 posi. I think I could handle that behavior, but I'm sure not saving any money if I wear out my rearend prematurely... Based on your previous post I feel pretty sure I would break the rear loose practically every time I drive it, with my somewhat narrower tires. I already manage to do that pretty regularly. If I hit the gas in a right turn I just peel, but if I do it while turning left I can swing it around, which of course I enjoy a lot... Thanks! That would be Reilly, my 16 month old. If I'm in the garage and he knows about it, he must be in there with me. And if I don't open the car up for him to climb around in, he will start sticking anything he can find into the door locks.
