Posted by Keith in Washington on Monday, August 15, 2005 at 11:57AM :
In Reply to: 70mph on stock axles? posted by lee Alessi on Monday, August 15, 2005 at 10:04AM :
My WC 53 has stock axles with 9.00 X 16 Michlin XL along with 4.89 gears. I have a 327 Chev V8 and a 4 speed with a NP 200 transfer case. I have front disk brakes and have rebuilt the entire steering and suspension. I have combat rims. I have never balanced the tires. I am really surprised that they are really quite smooth riding.
I can travel at 65 to 70 MPH all day long. It is hard on the tires however. The engine is turning 3000 RPM at 60 and 3500 RPM at 70. Needless to say gas milage is not great. Front disk brakes are manditory. You will never get there with the flathead 6. It is noisy but it is very stable at that speed (the lugs on the tires create quite a bit of noise). No wandering and no stability issues with hitting the brakes hard at that speed. Everything in the steering and suspension must be tight and in top notch shape. I had problems at first with the truck diving to the right when I hit the brakes. Found out it was a bad tie rod ends (just a little sloppy which allowed the right tire to turn to the right when the brakes were applied). Problem went away when I replaced them.
I will see if I can send you a picture of the truck.