I have a new-to-me 2010 F250 that I use for driving forest roads in the PNW often to get to trailheads. Due to all the rain (and general lack of maintenance funding) our forest roads here are in pretty bad shape with many pot holes and rocky sections. I’m not looking to do any serious off-roading, just drive rough forest roads with confidence.
So far I’m planning on getting better off-road tires since that’s low hanging fruit. Beyond that, I was wondering about a limited slip differential? I’ve definitely had a few times where the open diff would result in one wheel spinning when the other still had good traction. I’m not sure how difficult/expensive that would be, but would it be worth it?
Aside from that, are there any suspension mods to help with the many pot holes maybe? Anything else to consider?
OR/AT tires, obviously.
LSD is okay, it’s not an absolute requirement but if you are noticing your wheels slipping often in the way you drive, an LSD can help prevent that.
You can also look into metal skid plates. They can protect your oil pan, transmission, and other parts close to the ground from rocks/logs that may puncture them from underneath.
A winch can be helpful if you get stuck in mud or a deep ravine or something. Can help you get out by yourself instead of needing to wait for another person to show up and offer to use theirs.
Upgraded suspension or a lift can help too but its highly dependant on if you plan on only staying on roads or not. If youre only going on roads and trails, stock suspension is typically fine. Anything more than that and youll have to upgrade probably.
OR lights (LED) are also helpful if you plan to do a lot of night time driving.
Ah yeah, a winch is a great idea. Yeah, I’m staying on forest roads, but those roads have tons of potholes so I was thinking something for a better suspension would be best even if staying on the roads. I already upgraded the headlights to LEDs which are super bright. I think a candle was brighter than the stock sealed beam ones!
Also keep what you have clean and maintained. Rust is usually the worst enemy in the long run.
Good tires.
Limited slip differential, sure if you’re significantly spinning a drive tire regularly.
Unpopular opinion: nothing else matters. You already have sufficient ground clearance.
About the suspension part. Depending on how long you’re really stressing and working your suspension and how fast you’re taking those Forrest roads I’d look into a suspension that has a remote reservoir. Just for the added thermal protection. If you have big money and want an all in one kit Carli suspension makes great kits for F2/350s. They address a lot of issues people have with the trucks and some claim it makes them ride incredible, but SFA says that might not still be close to an IFS truck/SUV.
Get a winch. You may be able to get one for your existing bumper, otherwise you’ll need a new bumper too, but the winch is completely worth it. Those backroads have little to no service and while you can use satellite phones and long range radios in personally someone that likes to rely on myself first. A winch on those roads is perfect. Especially in the snow when you can pull others out, or on the road when you get stuck in mud and can pull yourself out in a pinch.
Tires will be the biggest help. I’d buy either a built in air compressor, or get the ARB compressor in a box so you can air down and air back up when you need to. Lowering your PSI in them tires will make the ride on rough roads more compliant, prevent you from easily getting stuck in mud, and giving you a more sure footed feel. It’s gonna kill your MPG on the road though so airing up after is helpful. Potentially an auxiliary fuel tank or extended tank. Since you’re going off the path and may be out for a long time I always like keeping extra fuel on me for my trips out in remote places.
A good set of Maxtrax would be helpful. The truck weighs a lot so make sure it can handle it, and don’t rely on them, but they’ll work in a pinch. Especially if your truck isn’t 4WD.
Whew, that’s a lot to consider! This truck previously had a snowplow on it. Any chance of using that mount for a winch?
You bought a plow truck? Definitely check for rust
“Bought” as in handed down from a family member so who am I argue to with that? It’s fairly low mileage (<50k) and it wasn’t used as a dedicated plow truck, just had a plow installed during the winter for dealing with clearing a long road back to a cabin. It wasn’t laying down salt at all. But yes, rust is certainly something I’ve been keeping an eye on.
Get a winch. If yoy get stuck in mud, better to get out in minutes than wait hours for help.
A skidplate can definitely help protect. You don’t want a hole in your oil pan.
I drive on a poorly maintained 3 mile road to get between my house and the freeway.
A/t or m/t tires are a must.
Recovery board, camp shovel.
LSD would be nice. A locker might be better for getting unstuck. I’m assuming you don’t have 4wd?
Harbor freight has cheap winches that could get you unstuck but you would need to tie it to something like a tree.
Ultimately I bought a new bronco. Way more capable with 4wd, lockers. I kept my f250 but without 4wd it’s just too easy to get stuck.
I would see how the tires help since if they + traction control help enough with traction you might not need to worry about an LSD as much.
Good point, I think the on-road tires on it already are the biggest thing holding me back, not the diff.
Upgraded shocks and springs can make a very noticeable difference. Good tires, too. But try not to bulldoze through potholes either way.
Limited slips are always worth it, even on the street IMHO, of you drive in any inclement weather. You might look to see if there was a complete factory differential from a wrecked truck you could just swap in.
A shock upgrade is probably in order too. No need to go lifted, just better quality shocks.
Thanks! Yeah I know the F250 had an option for an LSD so I was hoping it would be fairly straightforward to swap one in.
Any advice on what to look into for shock upgrades? And yeah I have no problems with clearance so I wasn’t planning on doing a lift. These roads would be closed by the forest service long before I ran into clearance issues on one of them!
You might look for bilsteins. No affiliation with this company: https://www.stage3motorsports.com/bil-24-18601824-186025-05-16-f250-4wd-bilstein-5100-front-rear-shocks.html
Not sure if it’s necessary if you have stock tires, but a steering stabilizer might help if you’re dealing with logging roads at all.
