How fast...?

[Kazer]

not a sport trac, but at 108 mine cut out. 3.55s, 245/65r17. 4.0 sohc

 

[OffTrac]

I honestly can't remember if I've ever had the Sport Trac over 80. I certainly won't be trying it with 35s.

 

[Clusterpup]

I honestly can't remember if I've ever had the Sport Trac over 80. I certainly won't be trying it with 35s.

I don't think I've ever gone over 75 in mine, I usually stay under 70 though. I did 145 in a Supra once and felt safe doing it.

 

[koda2000]

Did you miss the part where he said he was wondering and just curious. And how do you know none of us went to a strip to find out. Instead of being so critical just leave the conversation alone.

well when i read comments like "100 mph in my neighborhood" and i don't see anyone posting any et's with their speeds, i have to assume you're doing these speeds on public streets and highways and not the salt flats or a drag strip. if you think i'm being critical, then you've obviously never lost any friends or family in street racing or high-speed accidents. with enough room, pretty much any stock vehicle is capable of between 100/120 mph. despite the work SPORT in the name your truck it's no sports car so what's the point of seeing "how fast will it go".

that said, i'll be happy to butt out of your conversation.

 

[WidgetTrac]

I have taken my 'trac to run at drag strips several times. After cleaning the leaves & trash out of the back, it passed the safety inspections. In accordance with NHRA and IHRA rulebooks and wearing my DOT approved safety helmet, I was allowed to run in a safe and responsible manner.

Running the trac in the 1/4 mile was useless - the ET's were terrible for one thing, like 17's or very high 16's iirc, and 60' times were sluggish and inconsistent. On a "good" run (cough, cough!) it would reach the governor speed and shut itself down before the finish line, so trap speed varied greatly depending on where it hit the governor.

Running at the 1/8 mile track was better because of not reaching the governor speed, but I still found it difficult to get a consistent launch. It seems to sometimes start in 2nd gear and then downshift AFTER it gets moving... weird, and not identical run after run, so I never brought home any trophies in the trac unless using it to tow the Mustang.

Now, having said all that... I have hit the governer while driving on the highway many times. It has never happened while I was looking at the speedometer, because I was not trying to "see how fast it would go", I was just trying to pass somebody or get somewhere in a hurry, BUT the 'trac has such a plush ride and stable handling that in most cases the governor was activated before I realized I was going that fast, and my first flash of thought is usually "out of gas!!!", until the speedo drops a few mph and the power comes back. The gov seems to kick in at 99 or 100 - I think that was the speed rating on the original tires, so maybe ST's with higher rated oem tires have a higher gov set point.

Side note - back when the 55mph speed limit was the supreme federal limit for the whole USA, I once had an absolutely beautiful blonde woman from the assistant district attorneys office (after saying her office would not reduce or dismiss charges), tell me that she had once _personally_ gone out in her car and gotten it up to 70 on the freeway, just to see what it was like. She went on to say that in her job she was always sticking it to speeders (she said it nicer) and she'd wondered if that was wrong, because several of these dangerous criminals had told her that 70 really wasn't all that fast... So she decided to see for herself - she got up to 70 and she was really scared. She could tell it was not safe!

So that's how she knew going 70 was dangerous... I set it for trial and won, and shortly after that the national 55mph speed limit was repealed and 70 became normal again.

 

[JohnnyO]

Speedometers are notoriously inaccurate once you get up to real high speeds. On a Sport Trac the limiter will kick in around 95 to 100 mph. At those speeds an SUV is going to be kinda squirrely, plus the tires aren't meant to go that fast. I always say if you want to go that fast buy a Mustang. A chip or tuner can remove the limiter but if you wreck and kill yourself, don't come crying to me.

 

[05dakotatrac]

anyone remember that glorious firestone issue way back when??? maybe pushing SUV/SUT to upwards of 80-100 MPH was the cause and not manufacturing defects. growing up in chi-town i see sploders, expos, f-series 1-3, and other suv, trucks going 80 in traffic swerving and being reckless. i swear that most anyone on here with stock tires dont have any rated over 85 MPH.

this is your vehicle your life be sure you do it safely and not around others as to eliminate risk to others if you do loose control. best of luck

 

[WidgetTrac]

85mph? Seriously??? what kind of tires do you have?

I don't remember the specs on the original firestones, but the 255/70-16 Michelin LTX M/S tires I got thru the recall program are "s" rated, which is 105mph iirc.

The "metric 35's" BFG AT KO 305/70-17's are available in an "r" rating (100mph, or ages 17 & up ) as well as an "s" rated for a few $$ more - and considering their load rating vs the actual weight of a 'trac, they shouldn't be feeling much stress.

and I think I saw some toyo's or nitto's in about a 33 that were "t" rated - 112mph. Keep in mind the rating is not the speed at which the tires will likely fail, it is the speed at which the lawyers figure there is pretty much no way they will get sued because testing & engineers say the tires are good for a lot more. In other words, they "downgrade" the rating to provide a safety factor.

Having said that, I'll just add that no vehicle is truly "safe" at ANY speed, but the faster you go, the carefuller you better be! sound machine, 2 eyes looking FAR ahead, 2 hands holding tight and steering very very s m o o t h l y, and 100% of your brain peering into the immediate future...
And no witnesses - firstly because you can't trust them. You never know what boneheaded move they'll pull at exactly the wrong time, but the faster you go the more likely they'll do something unexpected. And secondly because you are putting THEM in danger. Even if there are no cars, please remember that houses don't have airbags for the people inside!

 

[05dakotatrac]

https://treadwright.com/p-62-265-75r16-guard-dog-m-t-d.aspx

those are my tires there widget. i now what your saying and youre correct im going off what that company told me is that 85 MPH is the max sustained speed you should go on them.