Posi-traction

Did the 89 2wd F250's come with a positive traction or limited slip differential? Mine only drives one wheel and will get stuck on wet grass. My 87 F150 drives both rear wheels and gets far better traction. Guess I need to look up the VIN and see what it is supposed to have. And NO, Shameless, I don't need a Chebby.

there should be a sticker on the drivers door... there are several "codes" listed on the sticker... there is one called AXLE that has two digits or a letter and a digit.. that will tell you the axle ratio and if it is conventional or LS unit.

Edited by steve(ill) - 26 Jan 2019 at 9:49pm

a buddy had one, he would gits stuck on a slight incline in dry gravel. he always had me come to pull his wagon loads of grain to what ever town he needed to go. one time I used a Malibu station wagon to pull his 300 bu wagon, he couldn't pull it with his ferd truck! took him years of embarrasement, but he don't buy ferds no more!

any Truck with Limit Slip will not have the traction of a 4 x 4.. Don't matter who built the truck. Trucks by nature are light in the back end.. They are made to haul heavy loads. Put a ton of fire wood or gravel in the bed and you see a big difference... That being said, my 1989 F250 with LS rear end went a LOT of places a Conventional Rear Axle would not go... But not nearly as much as my 2013 F150 4 x 4.

Those push button 4wd trucks are finicky. I had one and mine would go sometimes and not others. Wound up changing the servo motor in the transfer case and it worked right up until I traded. Pricey fix

As noted, posi don't mean much if yer empty.  just get you 20' stucker...

I have one of those Chevys that will get stuck on wet grass. Only had to be pulled up a gravel driveway one time so I guess that's not bad for past 25 years.

thendrix wrote: Hey Hubert, if you need an 86 F250 with the diesel let me know. I know a fella that has one. I see him every morning when I look in the mirror

4 wheel drive gets you 2 times stucker which only makes it 2 times harder to get unstuck because of all that extra stuckiness.

Thinking back to my old rear engine VW beetle days with skinny tires that would go anywhere I'd question if you shouldn't have tried narrower tires. Not as much profit for tire companies but who cares.

Edited by Walker - 27 Jan 2019 at 5:26pm

steve(ill) wrote: My 1989 F250 had the 351 and wide ratio ZF 5 speed manual... 2 wheel drive with LS unit.. You put 5-6000 pounds in the back end and drop it in LOW gear ( 6:1) with a 4:10 rear end and that thing would climb a tree...... Sure like the newer 4 x 4, but miss that old F250.

I had the same truck, but with a 460. Unless you had 2000+ lbs in the back, you did not need to put it in low. And not to far away, there is a steep/straight/1 1/2 mile long hill.
4000 lbs in the back, 55 at the bottom,5th gear and you could top it at 75-80.
gears
1- are we moving
2- I can walk faster than this
3- finely at 30 mph
4- 55-65mph
5- just passed a vet and red line on the rpm's is still along way off.
I would do that every chance I got.
Open 4-lane, that fast car would come up beside my old beatup truck and I would pull just a few feet ahead and stay there. I would have to backoff around 90mph as the steering would start to get lose.
My 2001 F250, 7.3, 6 speed, is a baby, to that truck. Even empty, you have to hit the bottom of that hill, at 65, to make the top at 55.

In about '76 or '77 I worked for a local heating contractor serving mostly home furnaces, most were oil fired. I was provided with a new Dodge van, slant six engine with a 3 speed stick transmission and snow tires. We had a lot of snow that winter. I've never driven a 2 wheel rear axel vehicle go in snow like that one did.

1978 GMC 1ton 4x4 with 350 engine limited slip 4.56 axle . Could pull anything with 2 ends. Go anywhere but by a gas Station ! Probably the best truck I ever owned and cost $6,000 new!

the biggest thing now a days is that most people won't buy mud/snow tires. they think they can do both with the advertised "all season" tires. all they are...are street tread with the tread just a wee bit spaced, not enough.

That's religious freedom.